Winter Workshop 2024

January 2-6, 2024

Join NVA & Guests January 2-6, 2024, Tuesday through Saturday at New York City Center Studios for 5 days of technique classes, creative process, professional development, a showing, and more! This is an advanced workshop designed for professional dance artists.

Location:

New York City Center - Studios

130 W 56th St, New York, NY 10019, USA (enter via the backstage door)

TUITION 

Early Bird Tuition: $575 USD (through November 26th)
Standard Tuition: $645 USD (beginning November 27th)
Registration Fee: $25 USD

While filling out the registration form please, submit your payment before exiting. If you happen to lose the Google Form before submitting your payment, you can also find the payment page HERE.

Important Dates & Deadline

• Scholarship Application Deadline: Sunday, November 5th at 9pm ET

• Scholarship application recipient announcement: no later than November 12th

• Early Bird Extended Deadline ends: November 26th at 9pm ET

• Registration Deadline ends: December 3rd at 9pm ET

• Workshop January 2-6th, 2024 (Tuesday through Saturday)

No audition is necessary. We encourage early applications – first come, first served – subject to availability.

SCHEDULE - See Draft Below

Tuesday, January 2, 2024, through Saturday, January 6, 2024, from 9AM to 4PM (except Thursday, January 4th we will go until 6PM). A daily schedule will be sent to accepted applicants a few weeks before the program starts.

The week will culminate into a Friends and Family invited showing on Saturday, January 6th in the afternoon.

Registration

You’ll be asked to upload your headshot and resume (one-page PDF only) when filling out your registration. You will be prompted to submit payment upon submission of the form.

Scholarship Opportunities

There are a few scholarships for artists who identify as Black, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Latino/a/x, and/or Trans available for this intensive. These scholarships come with a few responsibilities to support the intensive before, during, and after the program dates, including opening and closing the studio and taking photos and videos for social media and archival content. The scholarship application is due Sunday, November 5th, 2023 at 9pm ET and is included at the end of the workshop’s application form.

Please be prepared to upload a 2-minute video reel that best represents you and the works you’ve been a part of as a dance artist. Please also be prepared to upload a 500-word letter of motivation (1 page, PDF only) answering the following questions: (1) Why are you in need of a scholarship? (2) What is your character and work ethic? (3) How could this workshop serve your future aspirations as a dancer/artist? (See here for tips on how to best write a motivational letter)

Applicants will be notified no later than Sunday, November 12th, 2023.

COVID 19 Policies

NVA & Guests is continuing to follow CDC guidelines and recommendations. Any changes to COVID-19 protocols will be shared as soon as possible and be made in compliance with local and federal guidelines.

• Attendees must provide proof of full vaccination

• Participants might need to provide a negative COVID test

• Participants might need to wear a mask

WHAT IF I TEST POSITIVE FOR COVID 19?

If you test positive for COVID-19 before the start of the workshop you must provide a positive test result in order to receive a refund, or credit towards a future workshop.

CONTACT

Please look at our Frequently Asked Question webpage for any questions you might have. If you can’t find any answers, please email us at workshop@nvonarx.com

Teaching Artists

Draft Schedule (as of November 14, 2023)

*All subject to change

Tuesday

9:00-9:30 Orientation / Space to Warm Up

9:30-10:50 Warm-Up Class with Nicole von Arx

11:00-12:20 Rep with NVA & Guests

LUNCH

1:00-3:00 Creative Process with Nicole von Arx

3:00-4:00 Panel Discussion or Career Development

Wednesday

9:00-10:20 Warm-Up Class with NVA & Guests

10:30-12:30 Masterclass with invited Guest

LUNCH

1:15-3:00 Creative Process or Rep with NVA & Guests

3:00-4:00 Panel Discussion or Career Development

Thursday

9:30-10:20 Warm-Up Class with NVA & Guests

10:30-12:15 Creative Process or Rep with NVA & Guests

LUNCH

1:00-2:45 Photography Workshop with Jim Lafferty

3:00-6:00 Mock Audition with Elena Vazintaris and Fatima Wilson (Dancer and Choreographer Agent at UTA)

Friday

9:00-10:20 Warm-Up Class with NVA & Guests

10:30-12:15 Masterclass with invited Guests

LUNCH

1:00-2:45 Creative Process with Nicole von Arx

2:45-4:00 Panel Discussion with invited Guests

Saturday

9:00-9:30 Space Open to Warmup

9:30-10:50 Warm-Up Class with NVA & Guests

11:00-12:45 Creative Process with NVA & Guests

LUNCH

1:30-3:15 Rehearsal with NVA & Guests

3:30-5:00 Invited Friends + Family Showing

*All teaching artists and schedules are subject to change

ABOUT THE CLASSES

Contemporary Forms with Nicole von Arx

Nicole von Arx offers an advanced-level dynamic contemporary class that incorporates elements of floor work, yoga, improvisation, and her latest choreography research. She encourages you to embrace physical and emotional effort and explore the extent of your body and mind’s capacity. Her warm-up is a series of challenging exercises focusing on isolating, strengthening, aligning, and balancing the body.

Repertoire with NVA & Guests

Workshop participants will have the opportunity to learn materials from NVA & Guests’ latest work stage production Mont Blanc. This will include partnering.

Creative Process with NVA & Guests

Throughout the week, NVA & Guests’ collaborators will be guiding the workshop participants to build a map of dance material that includes partnering, floorwork, improvisation, and theatrics. The work we will create together will be shown at our Friends and Family showing on the last day Saturday, January 6th in the afternoon.

Mock Audition

This is not an audition, but will feel like it!!! Dancers will be given a behind-the-scenes look into auditioning for a commercial dance project. They will receive a mock casting call prior to this workshop, learn choreography quickly, and attend callbacks. Dancers will gain insight and receive feedback on what to expect when they enter the audition room, how to submit appropriate materials, and what casting directors, agents, and choreographers look for. Our three-hour session will wrap with a Q & A. This workshop is led by choreographer and movement director Elena Vazintaris and dancer and choreographer agent at United Talent Fatima Wilson.

Photography Workshop with Jim Lafferty

Jim’s workshop segment covers: what to look for in headshots, a dance shot, how to prep for a photo shoot, and what to consider in hiring a dance photographer. A portion will be dedicated to a demonstration of headshot and dance photo sessions. See more of Jim’s work here.

Masterclass with Baye & Asa - Taste & Smell

Taste & Smell is an approach to dance. Hip Hop & West African dance languages inform the way we energetically confront contemporary dance & theater. This is not a Hip Hop or West African dance class.

Hearing, sight, & touch are always present in dance training. Our class asks dancers to connect more actively to their taste and smell, using those senses as a literal and metaphorical reference point to engage with movement.

We’ll sharpen our performance techniques & externalize our experience with our eyes, using an active focus to create a dialogue with our environment that invites the possibility of character & narrative. We’ll play with rhythm to understand its relationship to muscular tension and effort in the body. We’ll challenge the idea that dance should look and feel effortless. We’ll create an empathetic space to tackle phrases with physical courage. Class is sweaty. Everyone is welcome. More of Baye & Asa’s work here.

Masterclass with Hannah Garner - Text & Movement

This 2 hour shared practice will cycle through a grounded warmup intended to organize the body, conditioning to further investigate use of tone and economical energy, sequential and momentum-based traveling material, and will culminate in a final phrase designed to continue our physical research of that day. Text and/or vocalization is often utilized within this class structure in order to familiarize the body and mind with the task of speaking and dancing so that when we are asked to do so within a performance context we don't FREAK OUT.

Please join us in:

• Indulging in the support of the ground

• Twirling and whirling

• Falling and heaving

• Leaving our shit at the door

• OR carrying it in with us

• Yearning and reaching

• Singing at the top of our lungs (it can/should be bad)

• Rigorous physicality

• The search to know more

Panel DiscussionS

Do you have any questions about how to be a successful dancer in NYC? Do you have questions about what it’s like to be in an off-Broadway show, an opera, a repertory company, or working on a movie set? Are you looking at building your own dance company and want tools on how to build your work? Do you have any questions about budgeting, grant writing, marketing, etc.? Are you interested in dancing in Europe but don’t know where to start? Well… these panel discussions will cover all of this and more! Workshop participants will be asked to submit their questions in advance so we can answer specific interests you might have.

NEW NEW NEW! - ADD ON

Join us for an exclusive opportunity to work with the renowned photographer Jim Lafferty on Sunday, January 7th. This session, available only to workshop attendees, offers the chance to book a personalized photoshoot experience at Jim Lafferty's photography studio in Bushwick. Each session, lasting 45 minutes, will encompass both a professional headshot setup and a dynamic dance/movement setup. Participants will receive a comprehensive edit of their photos, including one retouched headshot, all for just $250 per session. With only 10 slots available for the day, secure your spot promptly as sessions will be scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Don't miss this unique opportunity to capture your artistry through the lens of Jim Lafferty.

• Dates: Sunday, January 7th, 2024

• Headshot and Dance shoot

• Pricing for a shoot: $250/session

• session length 45 mins

• 1 headshot setup and 1 movement setup

• You’ll get a broad edit of everything, and one retouched headshot.

• 10 Photography Session slots available

• Sessions will be scheduled first come, first served. 

• For NVA & Guests Winter Workshop 2024 participants only

• Contact Details: jimlaffertyphoto@gmail.com / 718-473-4956 

Past Workshops PHOTOS AND Videos