movement of the PEOPLE dance company

Master Classes/Workshops/Lecture Demo's: Socially Conscious Choreography, Afro-Brazilian Dance and Culture, Simonson Jazz, Site-Specific Choreography, Dance as Social Justice in Brazil

In-School Residencies: World Dance, Hip Hop, Socially Conscious Choreography, Poetry in Motion

Assemblies: Alma Liberada - journey through time and space to colorful and vibrant Brazil. Learn about Brazilian history and culture within it's lively music and dance.

Interested in Master Classes, Workshops or Lecture Demo's? Contact us!

Photography by: Athena Castillo, Tyrone Bevans, The Festival of the Moving Body SUNY Stony Brook, Mario Galeano

Master Classes | Workshops | In-School Residencies | Lecture Demo's | Assemblies

Movement of the People Dance Company fosters creative holistic outlets for people of all ages and dance experience. We provide workshops, classes, performances, and lectures to diverse populations that benefit from kinesthetic artistic expression. Over the years we have taught at Colleges and Universities across the country, international dance studios, in homeless shelters, with children in foster care, with adults with mental illnesses, in impoverished communities in Brazil, and public schools throughout NYC with a long standing relationship in the South Bronx. We have built partnerships with organizations including Casita Maria, FREE Arts NYC, The Bubble Foundation, and Flushing Town Hall.

Teaching Philosophy

Dance is an essential aspect of our human oral tradition. It is an artistic form that passes down history, morals, and emotion through the embodied knowledge of motion. As dance educators we see the very essence of dance as a catalyst for the development of autonomous, creative, critical thinkers. We are interested in the exploration of movement for dancers at all levels. We facilitate experiential environments that are an engaging balance of holistic, nurturing, rigorous, and thought provoking practices that are conducive to self and group investigation. We value deeply investing ones movement clarity, dynamics, breath, musicality, alignment and collaborative efforts. We believe that dance, no matter what genre, should be as informative as a social studies class. Dancers and dance teachers are historians; they are both witch doctors and storytellers. Through movement we teach, heal, and pass on historical and sociocultural information to the rest of society. Within each class setting we encourage content mastery, experiential learning, competency, accountability, verbal discourse, life-long learning, problem solving, engaged citizenry, individual fulfillment, discovery and knowledge generation, and movement integrity. Our teaching style is energetic, supportive, and positive. Through continued encouragement, diversity of methods, and intercultural sensitivity, students are better equipped to seeing dance as a nexus of cultures and themselves as ambassadors of artistic sociocultural change.

MOPDC in-school interdisciplinary workshops are catered to the communities and environments of each school we serve. Our primary focus is Multicultural Dance and History/Social Studies, further connecting students to their own cultural heritage as well as facilitating and providing the tools for students to make parallels with dances of other world cultures. We look to aid the development of self-expression, technique, self-esteem and cultural awareness in each student. Classes are tailored to the needs of the class community, and are open to all dance levels and experience. Our assemblies include engaging age appropriate performances by our company of professional dancers/dance educators, interactive historical information, as well as a dance making community building component where students learn and create dances they share with their peers.

Book MOPDC for in-school workshops, residencies and assemblies through our partners: Flushing Town Hall

Present and past partners include: Casita Maria,Free Arts NYC, Ilê Aiyê (Salvador Bahia, Brazil), Bronx Arts Ensemble, The Bubble Foundation Ltd., Harvest Home, Family Life Charter School II, Mott Haven Academy, Mother Hale Academy/P.S. 65, Hospital Audiences Inc., M.S. 51, High School of Law and Justice, Associcão Creche Comunitária (Fortaleza Ceará, Brazil).

Past conference workshops on socially-conscious choreography and the nexus of cultures through dance include: National Dance Education Organization (2015-2012 & 2008), Left Forum (2015),American College Dance Festival (2013), The Festival of the Moving Body (Stony Brook University, 2012 & 2014), Society of Dance History Scholars Conference (2012), New York State Dance Education Association (2008), World Learning School for International Training (2007), Common Ground Conference (2006), Encontros dos Tribos Jovens (Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, 2001).

For more information and booking: contact(at)movementofthepeopledance.com