DISCO RIOT classes are by donation ($10 suggested) because we believe that class should be affordable and accessible in order to enhance working artists’ ability to take class and continue training. We offer classes with rotating teachers to promote a culture of sharing, exploration, diversity, expanding perspectives, and community. Class is a place of personal growth, community building, curiosity, skill-building, and play. We learn from one another. We grow together. Join us!
Drop In, Spiral Out
Advanced Level Contemporary Modern
Rotating teachers: Odessa Uno, Aisha Reddick, sol dela rosa
Authentic Movement Foundations
6 Session Series facilitated by Jane Blount, HHP
May 8, 22, June 12, 26, July 10, 24
Wiggle It Wednesdays
All Levels Level Contemporary Modern, first 3 Wed. of each month
Rotating teachers: Alyssa Rose, Joyce Lien Kushner
Movement Enthusiast
All Levels Improvisation, 4th Wed. of the month
Rotating teachers: Alyssa Rose, Zaquia Mahler Salinas
Drop In, Spiral Out
Advanced Level Contemporary Modern
Rotating teachers: Chelsea Zeffiro, Lauren Christie, Marty Dorado
DISCO RIOT + Fresh Congress
Drop In, Spiral Out with Zaquia Mahler Salinas
or
Contemporary Floorwork with Rachel Catalano
Check out the drop down menus below for detailed class descriptions and rotation schedule.
Monday Teaching Rotation
5/8 & 5/15: Aisha Reddick
5/22 & 5/29 Odessa Uno
6/5 & 6/12: Nicole Oga
6/19 & 6/26: Odessa Uno
Friday Teaching Rotation
5/12 & 5/19: Chelsea Zeffiro
5/26 & 6/2: Marty Dorado
6/9 & 6/16: Lauren Christie
6/23 & 6/30: Chelsea Zeffiro
Aisha: This class was built on the foundations of release and modern techniques, floorwork exploration, improvisation practices and having fun! Finding efficiency in the pathways of the body to bring awareness to the connections of body+mind+soul+space make for a perfect Monday morning blues remedy! It’s suggested that the limbs are covered for this class — long sleeves, pants, knee pads and socks.
Odessa: This class prioritizes finding a personal rhythm and movement vocabulary rooted in individual self-expression, groove, and a deep sense of connection to music.
sol: Play is the foundation to sol’s class. Incorporating play as a way of exploring our bodies, creative minds, our environment, and our world. Through functional movements we will play with our bodies range of motion, degrees of effort, balance and begin self discovery. Moving from the floor to standing we will dance with gravity and organize through space, movement sequences, and through each other as a community.
Monday Themes
For the next few cycles, Monday classes will focus on community and open discussion, harnessing energy, getting lost in the movement, rigorous but low stakes play.
Chelsea: Rooted in Release Technique, this contemporary dance class utilizes visualization and progressions to engage and specify body pathways — moving fluidly through floorwork and phrasework.
Lauren: My class will progress from a floor warmup to standing exercises to phrasework that moves through the space and in/out of the floor. We will explore groundedness and buoyancy, stability and freedom, momentum and control. I am interested in flow, transitions, suspension, breath, and efficient use of energy. My aim is to foster a non-judgmental class culture, to allow space for individuality, and to encourage open awareness within the space.
Marty: A mixed class of dance and basic fitness elements designed for sharpening the body and the mind. We’ll explore exercise and movement patterns in longer sequences for a full body warm up, and grounding in some floorwork and inversions. Followed by traveling exercises focusing on flowing in and out from the ground, exploring and activating efficiency and intention in the body and mind. We’ll finish with a cumulative contemporary phrase focused on speed and directional changes. Alternative movements and various suggestions will be offered throughout class.
Friday Themes
Friday classes for the next cycle will focus on the use of imagery, particularly the elements; using images of air, water, earth, and fire as tools of interest to convey, portray, and experience exercises/movements/concepts in each class.
no dance experience necessary
Teaching Rotation
May: Alyssa Rose
June: 6/7 Joyce Lien Kushner – 6/14 NO CLASS – 6/21 Alyssa Rose
July: Alyssa Rose
August: Nicole Oga
Alyssa: This class is an open invitation to practice dance fundamentals and explore movement. We will prioritize personal needs and deep listening, while moving through set exercises created to deepen our awareness and strengthen our understanding of how the body can move safely and efficiently. Heavily guided, this class is for you if you are interested in dipping your toes into a dance environment, or desire a refresh of fundamentals in a low-stakes environment.
Joyce: Drawing from various modern and contemporary disciplines, Joyce’s class provides a strong foundation for contemporary floorwork, as well as classic contemporary modern techniques. Class begins with a floor warm-up where somatic, improvisational and release ideas are introduced. We then move to our feet, going from center work to across the floor, exploring contemporary and modern techniques through the lens of sequencing, movement pathways, and energy directing. If time allows, we finish off by building a final phrase that will have us moving in and out of the floor. Moving big while also moving safely and efficiently are emphasized. Space for questions and explanations will always be provided. **Knee pads are suggested if you are new to floorwork.
Wednesday Themes
The next few Wednesday cycles will focus on learning how to safely move the body, taking time to get into the details, and an emphasis on fundamentals, while exploring opportunities to find variations and modifications to increase challenge or add more support.
no dance experience necessary
Teaching Rotation
May: Alyssa Rose
June: Zaquia Mahler Salinas
July: Alyssa Rose
August: Zaquia Mahler Salinas
The fourth Wednesday of the month is always Movement Enthusiast – an all levels improvisation practice grounded in creative movement, exploration and playful community. Movement Enthusiast is an improvisation-based movement practice that incorporates concepts and practices from dance, yoga, somatics and other modalities to facilitate a community space of physical and creative exploration, mindful movement, and playfulness.
Saturdays are for synergy! Come enjoy offerings by both DISCO RIOT and Fresh Congress on rotation each month. You can catch DISCO RIOT’s signature Drop In, Spiral Out (contemporary modern with an emphasis on advanced concepts for thinking and moving), or Fresh Congress’ Contemporary Floorwork (the ins and outs of all your favorite floor moves).
Donation Structure
For months when DISCO RIOT teaches, donations can be made via this page, or our Venmo. For months when Fresh Congress teaches, all donations should be directed via Venmo to @freshcongress
Saturday Teaching Rotation
May: Zaquia Mahler Salinas (DISCO RIOT)
June: Rachel Catalano (Fresh Congress)
July: Nicole Oga (DISCO RIOT)
August: Rachel Catalano (Fresh Congress)
Drop In, Spiral Out w/ Zaquia Mahler Salinas: We’ll use technical exercises, improvisation, phrase-work, and partnered feedback to probe beyond the mechanics, think critically about the tools, make connections, and deepen sensory awareness as a means for honing artistry and dynamics. Explore space, dance fully, explore weight, and challenge your edges while staying curious, in community with others.
Contemporary Floorwork w/ Rachel Catalano: In this class, our main focus will be finding softness in our minds (towards ourselves) and in our bodies (towards the floor). We will start with a long and gentle movement exercise that plays with weight, initiation, momentum, and counter direction to warm our bodies up and guide us into a relationship with our own bodies and the floor. Focusing on specific pathways of floorwork techniques, each class will underscore the elements introduced in the class before and build on those movement principals to create some phrase work. This class will also incorporate elements of contemporary technique and improvisation, and will move at a quick pace to keep the warmth and grow the softness.
RSVP Required
$100 – $200 for the series, $20-$40/session drop in rate for those with prior Authentic Movement Experience.
Center, enter, uncover, and deepen conscious embodiment through the healing and transformative practice of Authentic Movement. This profound discipline, involving inner-initiated movement, with eyes closed in the receptive presence of a witness connects us to the inner wisdom of the body.
For those new to and/or familiar with the practice of entering into an empty space and either choosing to follow inner impulse or waiting to be moved, in this foundations course we will explore the elements of Authentic Movement: seeing and being seen, the roles of mover and witness (both inner and outer), how to connect with one’s authentic movement, silent witnessing, gesture witnessing, verbal witnessing; conscious use of language; various forms of practice such as dyads, the breathing circle, and the long circle.
Stillness, movement, rest, play, silence, sound, laughter, tears, and more may all be part of the experience. There are no movements to learn, only one’s own to discover. In each session there will be time for reflection through journaling, drawing, and/or speaking to integrate your experience.
To learn more about Authentic Movement here’s a wonderful introductory article by Daphne Lowell, or visit Artof-Massage:Authentic Movement
About Jane Blount
I am holistic bodyworker, dance artist/educator, Qi gong teacher, an embodied anatomy geek with an HHP in Integrative Somatics from the International School of Professional Bodywork (IPSB), and founder of Art Of Massage: Holistic Bodywork. I was introduced to Authentic Movement in 1993 and have been practicing this form more deeply since 2007 when I co-founded a San Diego Authentic Movement Peer Group. In addition to my deep engagement with Authentic Movement, I had an extensive career in dance working in the companies of Jean Isaacs, Nancy McCaleb, John Malashock, Elisa Monte, and Danny Buraczeski among others. I was a co-founder of Lower Left Performance Collective, and have taught and performed contact improvisation, postmodern and contemporary dance throughout San Diego, the Midwest, and NYC. I find deep, quiet joy in sharing the practice of Authentic Movement.