Special Friday Masterclasses on October 18th

We are thrilled to announce our master class teachers for Special Friday on October 18th!

OPEN TO TISCH DANCE MAJORS ONLY 

Melissa Riker

Artistic Director and Choreographer of Kinesis Project dance theatre. She is a New York City dancer and choreographer who emerged as a strong performance and creative voice as the NYC dance and circus worlds combined during the 90’s. Riker’s dances and aesthetic layer her training as a classical dancer, martial artist, theatre choreographer and aerial performer. She creates dances on site - and in context. Riker invents large-scale out-door performances and spontaneous moments of dance for individuals and corporate clients. Audiences and critics have called Riker’s work “a Marx Brothers’ routine with soul,” “A movable feast.” And from The New York Times, her choreography is: “comically acrobatic, gracefully classical, visually arresting.” Her work has been seen and supported nationally, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Boston, Philadelphia, Vermont, Florida and in New York City at such venerable venues as Danspace Project, Judson Church, Joyce Soho, The Minskoff Theatre, The Cunningham Studio, West End Theatre and Dixon Place.  The company dances outside in sculpture gardens, universities, and annually since 2006 in Battery Park’s Bosque Gardens and The Cloisters Lawn as well as hosting over 30 surprise performances all over New York City and the tri-state area as an element of the company’s earned income and outreach programming with volunteer populated flashmobs. Residencies include: Earthdance 2006, Omi International Arts Center 2008, Kaatsbaan International Dance Center 2011, TheaterLab 2014, Adelphi University 2014. Ms. Riker is a 2016 and 2017 CDI Residency Fellow, 2015 LMCC Community Arts Fund grantee and was commissioned by The Brooklyn Botanic Garden for a surprise large-scale work. Performances of the Company’s work Secrets and Seawalls were seen at Omi International Arts Center, LongHouse Reserve, Gateway National Park in partnership with Rockaways Artist Alliance and The South Street Seaport Museum. Ms. Riker has received commissions from Carson Fox and the Ephemeral Festival in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 for large-scale outdoor events, NYU in 1998, for an outdoor work long before “flashmob” was coined, 2006 and 2008 grants from the Puffin Foundation for her work Community Movements, a dance work with community volunteers, Fellowships from the Dodge Foundation, Space Grant Residencies from 92nd St Y, The New 42nd St Studio, Gibney Dance Center, and The Joyce Theatre Foundation, and grants from The Bowick Family Trust and John C. Robinson to support the continued work of Kinesis Project dance theatre. Kinesis Project’s home studio is part of the Nord Anglia International School NY 5th Floor Artist in Residence program on Second Street in the East Village.

Michael Nickerson-Rossi

Class description: An athletic release technique fostered by gravity allowing the dancer to experience various levels of space and momentum. We, as a class, will be challenged by expansion of movement that incorporates precision, fluidity and form, subtlety and bigness, that engages the dancers spacial intention.

Founding Artistic Director of Nickerson-Rossi Dance and International Dance Festival in Palm Springs ( Previously, Palm Springs Dance Festival ). Nationally, he has premiered work in San Diego, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Tempe, Princeton, Miami Beach, Palm Springs, Philadelphia, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, New York, and internationally, Belize and Italy. Michael's work was commissioned at: Alex Theater, McCallum Theatre, Annenberg Theater, Marsee Theater - Center for the Arts, Royal Theater

(Teatro Regio, Torino, Italy), New York Live Arts, Barclay Theater, Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts ( Belize City, BZ ),  among many others. Michael is a passionate lifelong educator and has worked with 23 universities and community colleges crafting and spreading his wealth of knowledge in dance as resident choreographer, instructing master classes/workshops, and hired as an adjunct faculty member.

Nickerson-Rossi Dance created and performed “Deeply Rooted” in the Cape Cod Dance Festival in Provincetown, MA alongside the Martha Graham Dance Company, Paul Taylor, American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet and others. In February 2015, the company premiered “CHECKMATE”, their evening length work at the Helene Galen Performing Arts Center in Rancho Mirage, CA. In 2016,  Michael produced “Past and Present,” a performance in the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum, where he also served as the Creative Director of Dance 2015/2016. Michael transitioned to the east coast, where he served as Creative Director of Dance and resident dance company for the Uptown Knauer Performing Arts Center in Chester County in 2016/2017. His newest endeavor has landed him back into Palm Springs and is recently titled, Director of Dance Programming, at Coachella Valley Repertory's newly built state of the art theater.

Michael is ardent about the company’s outreach program, entitled uNdeRstanD, which is a platform of education for youth designed to provide both physical and emotional liberty through the medium of dance. Students are given the opportunity to perform alongside professional dancers with the many wonderful dance programs created by Michael Nickerson-Rossi. Michael’s work has been recognized as profound and it is with this passion he creates quality and meaningful programming throughout the United States. Currently, you can find Michael teaching choreography and composition at John Hopkins University "Peabody Conservatory" in Baltimore, Maryland and modern dance technique (principles/aesthetics) at Princeton Ballet in Princeton, New Jersey.  Additionally, he is hard at work programming high quality art and education for the International Dance Festival in Palm Springs. 

CORI KRESGE

Zero Balancing Introductory Workshop

Zero Balancing, or ZB, is a powerful body-mind therapy that uses skilled touch to address the relationship between energy and structures of the body. Using gentle pressure, Zero Balancing focuses primarily on key joints of our skeleton that conduct and balance forces of gravity, posture, and movement. By addressing the deepest and densest tissues of the body along with soft tissue and energy fields, Zero Balancing helps to clear blocks in the body’s energy flow, and contribute to better postural alignment, mindfulness, and ease. This workshop will introduce some of the key principles of ZB, giving students a hands-on oportunity to experience and practice conscious, respectful, theraputic touch. 

Cori Kresge is a NYC based dance artist, writer, teacher, and certified Zero Balancing practitioner. She has been a member of the Merce Cunningham Repertory Understudy Group, José Navas/Compagnie Flak, and Stephen Petronio Company. Kresge currently collaborates and performs with various artists including Rashaun Mitchell+Silas Riener, Rebecca Lazier, Sarah Skaggs, anonymous, Xavier Cha, Wendy Osserman, The School for Poetic Computation, and film makers Alla Kovgan, Zuzka Kurtz, and Charles Atlas. Her work has been presented by Goethe in the Skyways, Elevation 1049, Beach Sessions, Dance Roulette, and others. With Liz Magic Laser and Hanna Novak, Kresge created User Friendly, a performative workshop to foster a more mindful engagement with technology. She is a guest teacher at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, SFPC, and other institutions. Kresge is a 2019 winner of ND/SA chapbook competition for her debut poetry collection.

CHUCK WILT

UNA Productions

Raised in San Francisco CA, Chuck Wilt is the Artistic Director of UNA, and holds a BFA in dance from NYU Tisch. In 2013, Chuck founded his bi-coastal dance company UNA Productions, working in NYC and California. UNA has been co-presented by ODC Theater and presented by Fusion International (Kaga, Tokyo), Spectrum Dance Festival, Movement Research/Judson Church, 92nd St. Y’s Dig Dance and FAN, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, Springboard Danse Montreal, 14th St. Y, Dumbo Dance Festival, Tisch Summer Dance Festival, CPR and more. He has been a selected mentee of KT Nelson’s RoundAntennae and Doug Varone’s DEVICES. Wilt was commissioned by LITVAKdance to create a new work for the company’s 2019 Season. In addition, Wilt has been an emerging choreographer at Springboard Danse, set senior solo repertory at SUNY Purchase and Ailey Fordham, set repertory for the senior class of 2019 & 2020 at Ailey Fordham, set repertory for the ODC Youth Company, been on faculty for Tisch Summer High School Program, has taught at the Lines Ballet Training Program as well as internationally. In 2017 Chuck was a selected choreographic fellow for the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation NDCL, and in 2018 he was selected as a Dance Initiative Artist In Residence (CO), a recipient of the Rainin Opportunity Fund and an Artist in Residence at the 92nd St. Y (NYC). Recently Wilt was an Artist in Residence of Fusion International (Japan), and for 2019/2020 an Artist in Residence at Brooklyn College through the CUNY Dance Initiative.  In 2020, Wilt/UNA will be an Artist in Residence at Berkeley Ballet Theater, Wilt will create a new work for Berkeley Ballet Theater/Post Ballet to premiere at YBCA and will create a work for the LINES Professional Training Program.