Ricardo Zayas is from Brooklyn, NY and studied on scholarship at the schools of the Dance Theater of Harlem and the San Francisco Ballet. In 2005 he graduated with honors from Fordham University. He was invited to be a member of Ailey II his senior year and has danced with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Sidra Bell Dance New York, Post:Ballet, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet as well as the creation of Bill T. Jones' FELA!  In 2009, Dance Magazine named him one of "25 to Watch."

Working on rep!

Thanks for awesome workshop Ricardo!

Hey guys! Here's an update on the past week!

 Wednesday, January 8 we had a beautiful ballet class led by Anne White! We are really getting our ballerina status on! Later in the day we had a workshop led by Jesse Zaritt. Jesse received his MFA in Dance at Hollins University/The American Dance Festival in 2008. He also teaches modern at University of the Arts.  He is a former member of Shen Wei Arts Dance Company and Inbal Pinto Dance Company. The workshop focused on BMC which is Body-Mind Centering. We did a lot of exercises and improvisation to get in tuned with our senses as well as our inner body such as our veins, arteries, fat, fascia and so much more. We also did some partnering exercises and looked at a few pictures of the human body/skeleton. Everyone looked beautiful in class and through the energy we know a lot of research was being done by the dancers. Jesse was very insightful, inspiring and his charismatic approach to dance was very soothing.  I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!
"We need to have a certain facility and options... possibilities in our bodies...we are training to be artist not robots!" -Jesse

Here are a few photos from the day! Enjoy!

Today was an exciting day! We started off this morning with a Gaga class led by Douglas Letheren and then learned repertory from one of his favorite pieces; continuing what we worked on yesterday. What an awesome way to begin these chilly mornings. Something that Douglas has brought up more than once is the idea of "falling" and how we can use this feeling of falling to float. Floating is used often when practicing Gaga and instead of always thinking of the up floating sensation we can use this falling into the float idea. Some food for thought!
The day ended with a pow with our guest Ayo Jackson! Ayo received her BFA at North Carolina School of the Arts and was a former member of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. She has accomplished so much in her life and is still yet to continue on in her career! She brought so much laughter and joy into the room with her big smile, warm and welcoming heart, her passion for dance, and can not forget her rockin' music (BEYONCE). Definitely a good day!

Off to a great start!

All I can say is these two weeks are going to be phenomenal. Today we had our first GaGa class and after students participated in a Q&A to chat a little with Doug Letheren himself. Here are a couple of the ideas and terms he shared with the class today...

• Roping arms
• Snake of spine
• Full Cross- cross of two diagonals through the body
• Lala (lay-lah) the connection between the finger tips and heart 
• Groove- a force/ connected to passion to move but more playful/ connection to sexuality
• Natural generosity you have with your body

Below are a few pictures from Repertory. Enjoy!

"Gaga challenges multi-layer tasks. 
We are aware of the connection between effort and pleasure, we are aware of the distance between our body parts, we are aware of the friction between flesh and bones, we sense the weight of our body parts, yet, our form is not shaped by gravity... we are aware of where we hold unnecessary tension, we let go only to bring life and efficient movement to where we let go . . . We are turning on the volume of listening to our body, we appreciate small gestures, we are measuring and playing with the texture of our flesh and skin, we might be silly, we can laugh at ourselves. We connect to the sense of  "plenty of time”, especially when we move fast, We learn to love our sweat, we discover our passion to move and connect it to effort, We discover both the animal we are and the power of our imagination. we are "body builders with soft spine". We learn to appreciate understatement and exaggeration, We become more delicate and we recognize the importance of the flow of energy and information through our body in all directions. we learn to apply our force in an efficient way and we learn to use "other" forces. 
We discover the advantage of soft flesh and sensitive hands, we learn to connect to groove even when there is no music. We are aware of people in the room and we realize that we are not in the center of it all. We become more aware of our form since we never look at ourselves in a mirror; there are no mirrors. We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities. 
Yielding is constant while we are ready to snap...
We explore multi-dimensional movement, we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it. We change our movement habits by finding new ones, we can be calm and alert at once. 
We become available . . ."

 - Ohad Naharin

Dance Study Cycles 2014 Winter Intensive Begins!