Equinox Dance Festival: Workshops

Welcome to the Equinox Dance Festival!

Master classes are open to all intermediate / advanced dancers ages 11+. We are excited to bring professional artists from across the state and country to Dance Theatre of Greenville to teach classes in multiple styles including floorwork, contemporary, and West African, among others.

Regisgtraion:

Passes include half day ($40), full day ($75), weekend pass options ($120), and single class options ($20). We believe in making dance affordable and accessible for folks of all backgrounds and are happy to offer financial aid and/or assistence. Please reach out to our team at [email protected] to discuss these options.

Meet the Guest Artists

Angela Gibson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is the founder and artistic director of Libation African Drum and Dance Ensemble. She has taught the history of all dances, choreography, and dialects of songs known along with the musicality of each rhythm for drummers and dancers of company members and community classes. She has constructed costumes and accessories for all company members. Talented in dance and technology, she has created a company website and all social media platforms. Mrs. Gibson currently teaches at Ballet Spartanburg’s Center for Dance Education at Chapman Cultural Center where she teaches for community members about traditional West African dance and drums. She makes the costumes for the community members for our annual recital. Mrs. Gibson served as Artistic Director for Zaki West African Drum and Dance Ensemble in Greenville, SC, October 2018 to December 2022. She was the Founder of Oluwaseyi Drum and Dance Ensemble in Fountain, Colorado, May 2005 to March 2017. She has performed with world-renowned dancer Djeneba Sako of Mali West Africa throughout Colorado.

Jedidiah Taylor trained as a dance artist in San Diego, California. He performed with San San Diego Dance Theater in the 2014 Trolley dances, choreographed and performed for Redding City Dance Company in 2017, 2018, 2019, and joined Ad Deum Dance Company's 2019 European Tour to Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Bulgaria. Jedidiah lives in Fountain Inn SC with his wife and two children.

Nikki Lee, a native of South Carolina, received her BFA in dance from Point Park University. Nikki performed domestically and internationally with Core Dance Company in Atlanta, GA and is the Contemporary director at Tapio Studio of Dance in Charleston, SC. As a graduate student pursuing Movement Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling, she is ecstatic to share movement with other eager individuals. Nikki has a strong desire to expand and share her knowledge of the arts and is equally excited by the opportunity to give back to the community and to other individuals who are looking to progress their craft!

Meet the Aritist-in-Residence, Decent Dance

Tony Guglietti received his BFA from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Upon graduation, he became a founding member of Sean Curran Company and toured across the globe. Kristin Wagner hasn’t done any of that, but she manages to work through her inferiority complex in rehearsal just fine. Together as Decent Dance, the pair creates accessible contemporary performance works that dabble in comedy, dramedy, and all things silly, sweet and true. The duet’s collaborative creative process relies on a foundation of sharing space and weight, balancing impulse and input, the occasional lovers’ quarrel, and Cheez-Its®. Tony and Kristin take great joy in teaching composition and expression through a contemporary dance lens to students of all ages, and have taught at the Dance Theatre of Greenville (SC), Free Form Dance Academy (MA), New England Conservatory (MA) and The Dance Complex (MA). Decent Dance has presented work in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Maine, at The Dance Complex, the Boston Center for the Arts, AS220, and the Maine International Dance Festival. Their favorite performance to date was their wedding in September 2022 at the cutest little flower farm you ever did see in Barre, MA. In late 2023, Decent Dance welcomed Nico Guglietti to the company after a lengthy audition process. He made his stage debut in June 2024, at six months old. To learn more: decentdance.com / IG: @decentdance.

Class Descriptions

Yoga with Kristin: Yoga is an eight-limbed practice of self discovery and community awareness that is cultivated through mental, physical and spiritual explorations; the physical practice of yoga is known as asana, which is what this class will explore. In this flow style class, students will be prompted to connect deeply with their interior selves through meditative moments and mindful pose sequencing. You can expect to strengthen and lengthen your muscles in equal measure, with plenty of opportunity to explore poses at your own pacing and depth.

West African Technique:

Partnerin with Kristin & Tony: We believe that anyone can partner anyone, no matter your physical size or strength. In this contemporary partnering class, we will guide participants through exercises designed to build trust and awareness, together cultivating a sense of physical empathy and a deep understanding of the self in relation to others. We will counterbalance, share weight, fly, fall and laugh, all while building a million miniature dances together.

Four legged fundamentals (Intermediate) with Jedidiah Taylor: Explore fundamentals of mobility and flow patterns with four legs. Explore Rolls, transitions and inversions at an intermediate level to increase your floorwork vocabulary.

Four legged fundamentals (Advanced) with Jedidiah Taylor: Explore advanced mobility and flow patterns. Investigate rolls, transitions and inversions to broaden your floorwork vocabulary.

Contemporary Grooves! with Nikki Lee: In collaboration with the music, this class aims to explore groove, also defined as the enjoyment or pleasure each individual holds within. This class will consist of a guided warm-up that encourages isolation, strengthening, and the refinement of each individual’s internal groove. We will dive into movement sequences flowing in and out of the floor and will end with a final phrase, allowing all to sweat, grow, and groove together!

About DTG Performance Company

DTG's Performance Company, founded by Cindy Nunweiler in 2015, is a non-profit organization with the sole mission to create new contemporary dance work with pre-professional dancers, inspire the community through movement, and captivate audiences of all ages in the Greenville area. The Performance Company provides educational and performance opportunities for dances ages 11-18 with yearly performances spotlighted at The Peace Center's Gunter Theatre and in our studio home at the Dance Theatre of Greenville, among others. www.dtgperformancecompany.org

The Equinox Dance Festival is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. This project is also funded in part by a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of The Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina.

Host or Publisher DTG Performance Company