Mentorship Program

with Artistic Director, Roni Koresh

5-day mentorship program dives into the history of the Koresh Style with in depth discussions regarding movement, culture, music & text influences. Artistic Director, Roni Koresh will guide dancers in creating, editing and developing their own choreographic artistic voice through movement assignments and in-person & virtual mentoring. This program is designed to challenge the next generation of choreographers' notions around research, creation, and performance. Through choreographic investigation & guided discussions Roni Koresh will mentor the artist to find their unique movement vocabulary for expression.

day One: Introduction to Roni Koresh & the Koresh Style

—-Online Discussion with Roni Koresh—-

Discussions Points:

• How is Israeli Culture shown in Koresh style?

• What attracted Roni to the US?

• What is considered a culture dance?

In-Class Movement Assignment: Create a phrase that is representative of you and the influences and environment (culture) that has shaped you.

Day Two: Developing your Phrase

—-Online Discussion with Roni Koresh—-

Part 1: Class showing of individual phrases.

Part 2: Discuss how text and music influence a dance

• What is your experience with text/spoken word in dance? What did it add or detract from the piece?

• What lenses are you focusing on when watching a piece? Do you gravitate towards the music, movement, text, etc?

In-Class Movement Assignment: Layering different music and text and seeing how it shifted the phrase

Homework Assignment: Identify 2-3 artists and/or experiences that inspire you

Day Three: Finding Inspiration

—-Online Discussion with Roni Koresh—-

Discussion Points:

• How has Roni’s work evolved over time?

  • Influence of Donald Byrd and how his input/critiques helped shape Roni's work.

• Creating work for self vs the audience

  • Creation of “Evolution” became a turning point in Roni’s choreographic career.

• What are your thoughts on creating choreography for yourself vs creating it for an audience? What are the pros and cons of each one?

• What are different intentions for creating dance?

• How do you pull inspiration from other companies/artists/choreographers without copying?

In-Class Movement Assignment: Revisit your personal phrase and manipulate it to be influenced by your inspiration.

Day Four: In-Person with assistant ARTISTIC director, Melissa Rector

Day Five: In Person with ARtistiC Director, Roni Koresh