Yoga, breakdancing and hip-hop, oh my!
Dance Oregon, the University’s dance club, is sponsoring a nine-day celebration of shakin’, jumpin’ and deep breathin’ during National Dance Week.
“Our goal is to get the community to try new dance forms or try dance,” said Rachel Onkka, the director of Dance Oregon.
The organization will kick off National Dance Week tonight with Glenna Blessing’s MFA concert at 8 p.m. in the Doherty Dance Theater, and it will continue to get students and faculty moving all week with a variety of unique workshops scheduled for each day.
The workshops will include Capoeira dance — an African-Brazilian martial art — African dance, jazz, yoga dancing, hip-hop, breakdancing and a massage workshop. Dance Oregon has brought five instructors from the Northwest and one from Paris for this event.
Suzee Grilley, who is instructing the Capoeira workshop, has toured the world with the Nikolais Dance Theatre and will perform in the Oregon Cabaret Theatre’s century closing production, “Full Circle.” Yoga dancing will be instructed by 14-year veteran Theresa Elliott, author of “Stillness in Motion: Yoga Vinyasa.”
Students are anticipating a week full of dance classes and learning from practiced instructors who aren’t available on campus.
“I am excited to try urban style dancing because it has to do with the hip-hop culture and community,” said Josh Finderup, a sophomore pre-journalism major who plans to attend Saturday’s breakdancing workshop.
Although the event is not annual, Dance Oregon is hoping to create a new tradition, Onkka said. The workshops are for all skill levels and are an excellent opportunity to try something new. In order to keep the workshops affordable, Dance Oregon requests a small donation of $1 to $5 per workshop, which will help dance students raise funds to attend the American College Dance Festival next year.
For more information and a schedule of the workshop times and locations, check the Dance Oregon Web site at http://gladstone.uoregon.edu/~danceorg/ or visit the third floor of Gerlinger Annex.