Anita Gonzalez, Tiye Giraud and More to Teach DNA Workshops

­ Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), NYC's foremost progressive dance education and performance center, announces two June workshops aimed at providing dancers the opportunity to learn vibrant performance-enhancing tools.

Four experts, who have successfully bridged the gap between theater and dance, will teach the workshops starting June 4-6, 2012. Anita Gonzalez and Tiye Giraud will teach Breath, Song, Dance: Singing Dance, Dancing Song, a three-hour, three-day workshop on movement and voice. A weeklong workshop, Intention of Movement: Exploring Acting in Dance, taught by Nina Goldman and Susan Misner, will explore acting for dancers. DNA is a leading choice by dance professionals who seek quality dance training ­ the two workshops provide performing artists an unparalleled opportunity to hone performance skills necessary to excel as artists in New York City.

Founding Urban Bush Women dancers, Gonzalez and Giraud, bring their experiences of developing theatrical works that blend music, dance and theater to a new workshop. Breath, Song, Dance allows dancers, actors and singers to connect to their breath as a sounding instrument that motivates movement. ³Tiye and I created the workshop because in our collaborative work with performers we found that few were able to dance and vocalize at the same time. Musical theatre performers usually learn song first and incorporate dance later, while dancers learn the steps and then try to sing on top of them," says Anita Gonzalez. ³This workshop at DNA is important to us because the center brings together artists of many different dance styles and heritages at a single location. We want to share our hearts and training with performing folk who will globally embrace the joy of dancing song."

In today¹s dance climate, dancers must be prepared to demonstrate more than technical proficiency ­ this was the impetus for Goldman and Misner¹s workshop Intention of Movement. The workshop has been a hit with Joffrey Ballet School¹s Performance Company. The classes challenge dancers to approach their work from a new and perhaps less familiar perspective ­ they learn how to weave their personal exploration into the larger context of the story. ³It became even more clear to us from our last workshop that each dancer has their own way of connecting with material; some dancers use personal experiences and others use imagined situations, relationships or emotions. There is no right or wrong, but only what is the most genuine connection for the dancer," says Nina Goldman. Susan Misner adds, ³our goal is to help each dancer hone, harness, and unapologetically work from exactly who they are ­ to come away from the experience with the ability to start from exactly where they are emotionally, and move truthfully from there."

To register for the workshops contact DNA¹s front desk at (212) 625-8369, ext.0. DNA is located at 280 Broadway, with entrance at 53 Chambers Street, New York. The studio is accessible by all major subway lines to the Chambers Street and City Hall stops. For more information, visit www.dnadance.org.