.:. ODC .:. Events

August 23, 25, 27
10am - 12pm

$50 for all 3 classes
$20 drop-in

Petronio Technique is a uniquely sophisticated language of movement developed over the past 25 years. Classes are focused on building rigorous and intelligent movement. Beginning with a warm-up, which guides the participants to make a muscular and skeletal connection to their unique physicality, emphasis is placed on the articulation of the spine, the opening of the joints and the direction and flow of energy throughout the body and into space. This preparation is followed by phrases and variations of movement derived from Company Repertory addressing its unique focus on dynamic sequencing, poly-rhythmic initiation and a sense of fearlessness within a complex architectural forms.

Amanda Wells (Dancer) was born in San Francisco, where she began her formal dance training at the San Francisco Ballet School. Her training and performance experience continued with the Boston Ballet and Richmond Ballet Company. Amanda relocated to New York in 2001 to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Immediately after graduation, she joined the Stephen Petronio Company. She recently served as Mr. Petronio’s assistant for a full-length commission project with Ballet-de-Lorraine. Amanda is also currently on the faculty at The New England Academy of Dance.

This year the Stephen Petronio Company celebrates its 25th Anniversary Season. Acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, Petronio is widely regarded as one of the leading dance makers of his generation. New music, visual art and fashion collide in his dances producing powerfully modern landscapes for the senses. Founded in 1984, Stephen Petronio Company has performed in 26 countries throughout the world including the presentation of over 35 New York City engagements. The Company completed their largest US tour to date in 2007, including return engagements to San Francisco Performances, UCLA Live!, New Art New Mexico, UC Santa Barbara, Alverno College, UMASS, World Music/Crash Arts, Walker Art Center and UC Santa Cruz. The Company also presented engagements at University Musical Society, Ann Arbor; John Michael Kohler Center, Sheboygan; The Egg, Albany; Seattle Theatre Group; White Bird in Portland, Oregon and Cornell University, Ithaca. In 2008 the Company completed a 9-city tour throughout the United Kingdom including performances in London, Sheffield, Cornwall, Bradford, Bromley and Northhampton, England; in Cardiff, Wales; and in Glagow and Inverness, Scotland. I Drink the Air Before Me, the centerpiece of SPC's 25th Anniversary, premiered April 28, 2009 at theJoyce Theater in New York City and will tour throughout the country and overseas for the next two years.

Stephen Petronio, Artistic Director/Choreographer of Stephen Petronio Company, was born in Newark, New Jersey, and received a BA from Hampshire College in Amherst, MA, where he began dancing in 1974. Initially inspired by the dancing of Rudolf Nureyev and Steve Paxton, Petronio was the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Company (1979 to 1986). He has gone on to build a unique and powerful language of movement in a career than spans 25 years. He has received numerous accolades, including a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as awards from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, an American Choreographer Award, and a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award. He has created over 35 works for his company, and has been commissioned by some of the world’s most prestigious modern and ballet companies, including William Forsythe’s Frankfurt Ballet (1987), Tulsa Opera (1990), Deutsche Oper Berlin (1992), Lyon Opera Ballet (1994), Maggio Danza Florence (1996), Sydney Dance Company (2003, full evening), Norrdans (2006), Washington Ballet and The Scottish Ballet (2007). Stephen recently completed an evening-length work for 30 dancers in collaboration with composer Ryan Lott (aka SON LUX) for Ballet-de-Lorraine. The dance, titled Tragic/Love, premiered in Montpellier, France in June 2009. His company works have been set on Norrdans in Sweden, The Scottish Ballet, Dance Works Rotterdam, Diversions Dance Company of Wales, and X Factor Dance Company in Edinburgh, among others. Major repertory works have recently been set on Ballet-de-Lorraine, Ballet National de Marseille, Diversions Dance Company of Wales, London Contemporary Dance School, Dance Works Rotterdam, and Barnard College and Marymount Manhattan College in New York.