Hot Spot: Charles Slender-White

Hot Spot: Charles Slender-White

April 23 - May 11
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10:00 - 11:30am

Drop-ins welcome. ODC class passes accepted, or pay a $15 drop-in fee per class.

The ODC School invites guest artists to come teach Int/Adv classes in the Hot Spot on Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays. Keep an eye out for who’s coming to the Dance!

Charles Slender-White is the Founding and Artistic Director of FACT/SF. He began his career in 2006 when he joined Tatiana Baganova’s Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Since then, he has performed, made choreography, and taught across North America, Europe, Russia, and in Hong Kong. Charles' work has been commissioned by the US Department of State, CounterPulse, Acid Rain (Chelyabinsk), Dialogue Dance (Kostroma), and others. He has been a Countertechnique practitioner for 10 years, and is one of twenty Countertechnique Teachers worldwide. Charles spent 2012 in mentorship with Elizabeth Streb as part of CHIME Across Borders, and graduated with honors from UC Berkeley with degrees in English Literature and Dance & Performance Studies.

Class Description
Countertechnique, developed by Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk, is a 21st century contemporary dance technique that trains dancers' bodies and brains for today's diverse and demanding field. Countertechnique coordinates, stretches, and strengthens the body, making the dancer sweat, build stamina, and really move. Class starts with a recurring set of exercises allowing the dancers to investigate the principles of Countertechnique in detail. The second half of class consists of changing components that work towards luscious movement combinations. By continuously and sequentially directing and counter directing parts of the body through space, Countertechnique allows the moving dancer to work with an ever-changing dynamic balance, which reduces the pressure on the overall body structure. The consistent use of the counter direction in all movements is key to the technique; both the awareness and application of this principle is trained throughout the class. In the end, dancers use less energy, lose their fear of taking risks, and gain speed in changing direction. Class will be geared towards Intermediate to Advanced dancers.

photo by Kegan Marling