Professional Classes

Having trained in a plethora of dance genres, Liam's ‘contemporary’ class explores an array of movement approaches. His class uses improvisation as the glue to connect exercises focused on alignment, coordination and rhythm. We will tendu, curve, roll and groove.

About

Liam Francis is an award nominated dancer, award winning choreographer, movement director and facilitator. With experiences as both a creator and performer across dance, theatre, film and television, Liam has enjoyed working with world renown choreographers and organisations (e.g Rambert Dance Company, LostDog and ZooNation). Liam is also the founder and director of FranDanCo and The Artistic Gremlins.

Gravity, release, falling, and suspension are key elements in my movement practice, shaping my dance classes. Integrating Gaga principles, we explore deep body awareness and the pleasure in subtle weight shifts. Beginning with yoga-like movements to connect with different states of awareness, we then move into Cunningham and ballet exercises to explore body alignment. This helps participants build strength for suspension and pulling. Cross-floor exercises, inspired by Counter and Release techniques, focus on falling. The class concludes with sequences that blend these elements, encouraging dancers to express their individual artistic style and rediscover the joy of movement.

About

I’m Sam Vaherlehto, a dancer, choreographer, and educator based in London. I was a full-time dancer with the Finnish National Ballet and spent five years with Phoenix Dance Theatre. I have worked with independent contemporary dance companies around the world, most recently with SLATE in Shanghai. I hold a First Class Honours degree in Contemporary Performance from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a Level 2 Qualification in Dance Leadership. Throughout my career, I have focused on blending performance, teaching, and choreography to create meaningful and innovative work.

Drawing on his years of experience with Richard Alston Dance Company, James uses his innate sense of musicality to explore phrasing through movement. This dynamic Cunningham influenced technique class will strengthen and increase awareness of the body. Starting with a series of simple back exercises, the class work then develops in to longer travelling sequences, exploring a fresh approach to direction and timing.

About

James graduated from Central School of Ballet in 2006 and has since danced with Northern Ballet, Peter Schaufuss Ballet, Theater Ulm and Richard Alston Dance Company. Following his retirement from the stage in 2018, he continued to work closely with Alston and fulfilled the role of Rehearsal Director for the Company in 2019. James Currently works as a freelance teacher in both Contemporary and Ballet and delivers regular classes for The Place on their Adult courses. He also teaches at Middlesex University, DanceEast and English National Ballet.

This contemporary class focuses on developing flow and communication throughout the body to increase awareness and expand movement quality. The class takes inspiration from martial arts, movement culture and floorwork practices; and uses familar forms to expand our creative reach.

Thoughout the class we will use set material, partner-based tasks, and improvisation to challenge and develop our physicality and creativity. The aim is to provide tools to expand individual movement vocabulary and enhance our physical awareness.

About

Jannick is a contemporary dance artist based in London. He trained at Trinity Laban, graduating in 2015. He is a Senior Dance Artist with Stopgap Dance, performing internationally (Frock/Lived Fiction). He has also worked as a performer for Errant/Vinicius Salles (Ox, Glitch), Abbott Dance theatre (Launch Day, Deeds not Words) and Vivian Triantafyllopolou (Ego mas). He has worked as rehearsal director for Olga Spiraki and Vivian Triantafyllopolou; and as a movement director for Scrum Theatre. He has taught at Scottish Dance Theatre, Rambert Pro class and others. He is also a certified Gaga teacher, and teaches regularly across the UK.

Luke teaches a dynamic released based class which is informed by improvisation and somatic practices. The class will explore body patterns focused around energising the core of the body, and connecting to the ground with our weight. Usually beginning with improvisation/experiential anatomy, we will then explore set exercises and sequences to develop our bodily organisation and connectivity. As well as technical challenges, a sense of dynamic versatility, a playful questioning and finding both clarity and spontaneity are encouraged.

About

Luke began training at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and completed his BA Hons degree at Laban. In 2009 he joined post graduate dance company Edge at London Contemporary Dance School.
Professionally he has performed for a variety of companies (Punchdrunk, Flexer and Sandiland, Janine Harrington) internationally alongside working with visual artists performing in galleries (Tate, Hayward Gallery)
His choreographic work has been shown at Canterbury Festival, Saddlers Wells (Damn Fine Dance at Elixir Festival), The Place, Siobhan Davies Studios, Move it 2016 and Arts Depot. His most recent work commissioned by Loop Dance Company is currently touring the UK.
Luke also has a passion for teaching and has delivered classes and workshops with Greenwich Dance, The Place, Independent Dance, Laban, London Studio Centre, Salzburg Academy of Experimental Dance, Shobana Jeyasingh and Candoco.

This ballet class is tailored to contemporary dancers and starts with simple warm up barre exercises to establish clear placement, core stability and movement clarity. The material then progresses and builds up in pace and complexity to prepare the body and the mind for centre work. This consists of longer combinations with a particular emphasis on coordination, timing, use of space and dynamics. The main aim of the class is fluidity and flavour, with research and care for movement transitions as opposed to aesthetic forms.

About

Beatrice is a London-based Italian teacher and dancer. In 2016 she completed her MA in Contemporary Dance at the LCDS. She has been teaching ballet and contemporary dance classes to young people and adults for the past 12 years in several vocational and community settings. She currently works for several organisations such as IRIE! dance theatre, Ballet4life and Move into Wellbeing. In 2018 she created with her colleague Orley Quick, BOTH Dance Classes, a company which offers adults dance classes in South East London. Alongside her teaching, Beatrice continues to perform for choreographers in projects and independent work.

Hannah's movement style is rooted in ground-based explorations, combining fundamental floorwork practices with fast-paced challenge and a work-hard-play-hard group energy. Hannah has spent a number of years researching her movement practice and enjoys sharing this with other passionate individuals. Expect a high energy class, a spicy playlist and a friendly space to discover, move and play.

About

Hannah Thomas is a British movement artist, performer and teacher, currently performing with Joshua Monten Dance Company in Switzerland. Previously, Hannah has worked with Wee Dance Company and WomanEwer. In addition, she has performed under the direction of James Finnemore, Alison Curtis-Jones and Thomas Page. Hannah is an avid teacher, having shared her practice with a number of professional companies and groups across the globe, including St. Gallen Dance Company, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Sydney Dance Company. Hannah’s movement practice is driven by her love of climbing, play fighting and snowboarding.

This contemporary ballet class invites us to find our way of moving through a ballet technique. Marie-Astrid loves to use grounding techniques such as breathing, patting and setting an intention to start the class with a state of relaxation and slowly wake up the body by articulating the feet, turn out, etc. It is a journey to rediscover our body's ability, freedom and technique by softening our approach to ballet and deleting expectations.

About

Marie-Astrid Mence is a performer with a decade of experience performing in the UK for esteemed companies such as Ballet Black, Phoenix Dance Theatre, and the West End, as well as in television productions. In 2016 she was promoted "dancer of the month" in February by the Magazine Dancing Times UK. From 2018 to 2022, Marie-Astrid was featured in a few dance series as a body double for lead actress for productions such as OCS, Disney and Hulu and also featured in Netflix's Queen Charlotte’ as a dancer. From 2019 to now, she has been commissioned by a few artists as a writer and dancer-choreographer with musician Fro. creating several films that delved into the relationship between improvisational electro/hip-hop music and dance as art forms. At the end of that year 2020, Marie-Astrid performed, wrote and shared her story in the Nowness short film 'The Truth of Being a black Ballerina' by Rebecca Murray. In November 2023, Marie-Astrid performed as a TEDX speaker in Paris. She discussed the notion of success and the courage to find our voice in an unfair and discriminatory environment. Throughout her career, she delivered several ballet classes and workshops to artists at all stages of their career and taught to established companies and schools in the UK such as Rambert, Wayne Mcgregor, New Adventure and lately at Laine Theatre Arts.

TBC

In Flying Low and Passing Through we practice movement pathways from the ground to standing as effortlessly and smooth as possible. Originated by David Zambrano, the idea of spiral and curved pathways in the body and in space are paramount. We flow in and out of the earth, moving as one group together, using our eyes to connect to each other and the space equally. Amarnah’s work has emphasis on connecting to the community we are sharing the space with, practicing togetherness and cultivating joy in our dancing.

About

Amarnah Ufuoma Cleopatra is a London born Nigerian Contemporary Dancer, Flying Low and Passing Through Teacher, Choreographer, Movement Facilitator, and Vocalist. Since completing a BA at LCDS in 2015, and PG Dip at NSCD in 2016, Amarnah has successfully built a career combining her passion for dance, music, teaching and performance. Her work has led her to appear on Stages, for T.V, Short Films, Music Videos, featured in Albums and Gallery spaces nationally and internationally. Amarnah’s work has emphasis on connection to we are sharing the space with, practicing togetherness and igniting that which inspires us to express ourselves.

We will start by developing our personal way of moving through guided tasks and then move onto set material based on floor work. We will work with body connections to play with our energy, qualities and find flow in movement. We challenge the physicality of the body , the speed and rhythmically. We aim to find efficiency in moving in and out of the earth, clarity and details. Expression and creativity are key points in our work, as well as the connection with the group and the ideas of self and togetherness. And most of all, in this workshop we want to rediscover the joy and passion of dance itself.

About

Vivian Triantafyllopoulou comes from Greece and studied contemporary dance at Trinity Laban(2012-2015). Then was a member of Jasmin Vardimon 2 and Akram Khan experiment project. She has professionally performed for Jose Agudo/Theatre Rites, WenHsin Lee &Elgiva Field, Alleyne Dance (Dance Captain), Bittersuite, Emily Robinson, Hagit Yakira, Vinicius Salles , Museum of London and others. She also works as a rehearsal director. She teaches professionals, dance students and young people in places like Rambert, The Place, Laban, Tripspace, NDC Wales and others. She has her own dance company since 2019 that has also been supported by Arts Council and also choreographs for commissions and movement directs films.