DanceAction Summer Workshop: Collective Radical Imagination
About this Event
DanceAction’s Summer workshop for dancers, performers, or movers of any kind offers an integrated experience that includes dance training, improvisation, and spontaneous composition. This comprehensive dance experience will enable participants to access a unique combination of dance techniques, discovering DanceAction’s “Pathways & Architecture” style, playful improvisation approaches, and collective choreographic strategies rooted in the practice of spontaneous composition. This experience will ignite participants’ creativity, deepen their listening skills, and broaden their versatility as movement artists.
DanceAction’s Summer Workshop “Collective Radical Imagination” will explore key components of a comprehensive dance experience: technical training, improvisation, and spontaneous composition.
The Contemporary dance training segment offers a unique blend of dance techniques and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham, Release, Argentinian Tango & Folk Dance, Cuban-style Salsa, and Partnering Techniques), designed to build strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination, and movement mechanics. Through a series of exercises that study the shape and pathways of energy in space, dancers will discover innovative strategies for exploring the swift changes in levels and navigating the space between vertical and horizontal planes. Each training segment concludes with an exploration of DanceAction’s repertory through accessible phrase work, providing an opportunity to implement these training strategies. This practice will enable participants to explore a diverse range of movement languages and styles, thereby expanding their overall physical abilities and enhancing their performative interpretation.
An Improvisation segment will follow, inviting participants to immerse themselves in a playful experience. This will include theater and movement games, movement explorations, structured dance improvisations, score-building exercises, partnering approaches, and open dance. By navigating these activities progressively, participants will gain awareness of the people they are moving with; they will experience clarity and ease in decision-making scenarios and will develop a sense of alertness and strong presence in spontaneous situations. They will also integrate the concept of “Yes and!” within the group practice of dance improvisation and enhance their listening skills in dance.
This year’s workshop will delve into a range of strategies for navigating collective spontaneous composition. This portion of the session will serve as a laboratory for exploring through a durational movement practice, heightened presence, and radical imagination within the group setting. These explorations will contribute to DanceAction’s latest project in development, El Péndulo. Participants will be able to discover multiple instant composition tools and their practicality by exploring DA’s inventory of choreographic approaches. Ultimately, these tools will be used to create short improvisational scores that participants will perform at the workshop's culminating Performance on Friday, August 14th.
Culminating Performance
The Workshop will conclude with an informal presentation of short improvisational scores created by the participants at the DanceAction Garden Series on Friday, August 14th, at 8 pm*. The event will also feature excerpts from DanceAction’s repertory, including its current project, "El Péndulo." All workshop participants who attend at least 3 workshop classes, including Friday, August 14th, will be eligible to perform in the culminating performance event.
*In the event of inclement weather, the showing will be rescheduled to take place on Saturday, August 15th, or Sunday, August 16th, 2026.
The Audition
We are seeking dancers, performers, or movers residing in New York City to join the company this fall in our new immersive experience, “El Péndulo.” Selected dancers will be instrumental collaborators in developing this new project to be performed on October 4th, 2026, and other tentative performance events throughout the fall. BIPOC and Immigrant Artists of any gender identity are encouraged to apply!
Applicants should have broad experience in contemporary dance forms, including movement improvisation, floor work, and partnering. A passion for working in a collaborative environment is a must, along with excellent communication skills. DanceAction’s choreography blends an array of movement languages and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham Technique, Improvisation, Release, Argentine Tango, Salsa), connecting body architecture, spirals, and pathways of energy in space. DanceAction’s collaborators are creative, problem-solving individuals with a genuine interest in building meaningful connections with others while using dance as a catalyst for social change.
To Audition, interested applicants should attend at least one session of DanceAction’s Summer Workshop at New York Live Arts (219 W 19th St, New York, NY 10011) from Monday, August 10th to Friday, August 14th, from 10 am to 2 pm. Participation in the entire workshop is not required, but is highly recommended to be considered for this opportunity, as it will familiarize you with DanceAction’s movement language and improvisational approaches. Register for the workshop through Eventbrite.
DanceAction’s collaborators will receive hourly rehearsal compensation and a performance stipend.
This is a temporary Part-time position through the month of September and early October, for 8 to 16 hours per week, with some week-long residencies. In-person Rehearsals will start in the late summer/early fall and take place 2 to 4 times a week, Monday to Friday, between 4 and 8 pm, at different studios in Lower Manhattan. The complete rehearsal calendar will be posted by the time of the workshop. If you have scheduling conflicts but would like to participate, send a message, and we will discuss whether accommodations can be made.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, please email Carmen Caceres at [email protected] and submit your resume, Headshot (or a picture of yourself), samples of your dance and performance work (reels/videos/website/links), and a few words describing yourself and why you would like to join this new project. In the subject line, include the following message: “DA El Pendulo AUDITION 2026 - Your Name.”
About Carmen Caceres
Carmen Caceres is a dance artist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been creating dance works in Argentina and New York since 2009. Her work has been presented in several venues, including Dixon Place, Green Space, Triskelion Arts Center, Teatro Sea, The Mark Morris Dance Center, The Center at West Park, and the Center for Performance Research. In 2013, she founded DanceAction, a dance company that serves as a creative platform for producing performing arts works in collaboration with musicians, dramaturges, and visual artists. She worked with artists such as Lisa Parra, Sarah Berges, Elia Mrak, and Jody Oberfelder as a performer and collaborator. Carmen received an MA in Dance Education at Hunter College, a BA in Dance and Education at SUNY Empire, and deepened her studies in dance at the former Merce Cunningham Studio. She has also studied with renowned artists like David Zambrano, Shelley Senter, Robert Swinston, and Ashley Tuttle. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and studied Dance Composition at UNA. Carmen also works as a dance educator and consultant for various organizations in New York City, including 92Y, DEL, PS 89, and Show Kids. https://www.carmencaceres.com/carmen-caceres
About DanceAction:
DanceAction is a contemporary dance company based in New York, led by Argentinian dance artist Carmen Caceres. With a culturally diverse team of artists, we create educational opportunities and artistic experiences that foster collaboration and inclusion and promote critical thinking. Together, we develop performing arts works that reflect social realities that concern people, relationships, and social justice. Our primary purpose is to interpret these issues and use our work to propel change. DA participated in numerous festivals, performance series, and residencies in New York and abroad, including the Center at West Park’s Evolution Festival, Take Root at Green Space, Under Exposed at Dixon Place, the Women Center Stage Festival, Festival FIDCDMX in Mexico City, and Ticino in Danza in Ticino, Switzerland. DA has self-produced and presented several full-length works, including “Pathways & Architecture” (2025), “The Price is Right (De-Valued)” (2024), “BLINDSPOT” (2019), “BMH” (2018), and “Game Night” (2015). DA's awards include the Brooklyn Arts Council Community Fund, the City Artist Corps, and the LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. Through DA, Carmen Caceres produces the DA Garden Series, a performance event held at her home-built garden dance floor, which welcomes artists from diverse disciplines to showcase short works rooted in improvisation and spontaneous composition practices. https://www.carmencaceres.com/about
Photo Credit: Alice Chacon
https://vimeo.com/1176780987
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