In-Person & Online Classes
Pop Up Class: Body Watani (7/5 – 8/30)
Tuesdays 10-11:30 am CT with Noelle Awadallah
Body Watani (watani means homeland in Arabic) is both an improvisational movement practice and an emerging contemporary dance form developed by Leila and Noelle Awadallah, two Palestinian American dancers. The practice is a container with soft edges where improvisational research guides practitioners into their personal ‘body watani’ through spending time with ancestries, contemplating our complex relations to land/water/home, and activating embodied memories into one’s own dancing. Body Watani also manifests as a contemporary form with roots in dances of Arabic / **SWANA / Mediterranean lands through specific movement techniques, music of the region, and cultural/political content to engage with that deepens our relation to Body Watani’s context. **SWANA: South West Asia North Africa
Wednesday Water Dances
Wednesdays 9:30-11:00 am CT with Kealoha Ferreira
A weekly dedication to the vitality and life force of Water. In class, we will offer breath, dance, meditation, story, song, and reflection. Each class will take shape a little differently, staying responsive to the ongoing movements protecting the value and longevity of water worldwide. Facilitated by Kealoha Ferreira, an Ananya Dance Theatre Artist, Wednesday Water Dances will begin with grounding movement, flow into dedicated time for personal practice/research/reflection, and close with collective sharing. All who are committed to deepening their relationship with water are welcome to participate.
Yorchhā Elements | Yorchhā Integrations
Integrations every Friday 6:00-7:00 pm CT with Kealoha Ferreira (paused until further notice)
Elements every Saturday 9:00 am-10:00 am CT with Kealoha Ferreira
Yorchhā Elements | Yorchhā Integrations is a new approach to the previous Intro and Advanced class structure. Now, these classes are in conversation with each other, breaking down Yorchhā elementals like footwork or torso articulation in the Saturday “Elements” class and then adding continued complexity in the following Friday’s “Integrations” class.
*Yorchhā is Ananya Dance Theatre’s trade-marked contemporary technique that intersects principles of vinyasa yoga, classical Indian dance form Odishi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha), and martial art form Chhau (also from Odisha).
Yoga: Aligning With Land * Next four Sundays (8/28, 9/04, 9/11, 9/18) at Frogtown Farms!
Sundays 3:00-4:00 pm CT with Kealoha Ferreira
From Tadasana (mountain pose), the first asana in Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) A, we connect our feet to the ground and shift our internal landscape to find equity with the land that sustains us. Our practices of relationality and reciprocity are also building blocks for sustainable and regenerative body practices. This Vinyasa class introduces and deepens the fundamentals of structural and energetic alignment in Yoga while moving towards right-relationship between place and community. All are welcome to participate. Variations and modifications will be provided for multiple access points in each class. Mats and blocks are encouraged with limited supplies available at the Institute.
Students attending in-person classes must wear face masks during class. No exceptions.
Contact Kealoha at kealoha.ferreira@ananyadancetheatre.org for an online class link, or with questions about accessibility.
Payment Information
Classes are operated on a pay-what-you-can basis.
We suggest that participants pay $15.00 per class, but please donʻt let financial limitations stop you from participating! Another way to contribute is by sharing information about the classes on your social media or inviting people in your orbit to take classes with you!
Pay for classes here!
By participating in these virtual classes, you agree that Ananya Dance Theatre is not responsible for, and you hereby waive all claims for loss, injury, or illness to person or property relating to your participation in dance classes and other activities sponsored by Ananya Dance Theatre.
Ananya Dance Theatre is supported in part by an American Rescue Plan Act grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support general operating expenses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ananya Dance Theatre | Shawngram Institute for Performance & Social Justice
Mailing Address: P. O. Box 2427, Minneapolis, MN 55402-0427
Street Address: 1197 University Avenue West, Saint Paul, MN 55104