Dance Advance in association with White Bird (Portland, OR) and anoukvandijk dc (Amsterdam, NL) present classes in The Countertechique© training of Dutch artist Anouk van Dijk. This workshop series will be led by company members Birgit Gunzl and Philipp Fricke. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Tim Motzer.

What is Countertechnique©?
Anouk van Dijk developed Countertechnique© during her 20-year career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher. Her company uses it as a daily training method to prepare for rehearsal and performance. The method focuses on both mental and physical aspects of dancing, endowing the dancer with a heightened sense of awareness that enables her or him to make conscious choices in training, rehearsal, and performance. In these classes company members Birgit Gunzl and Philipp Fricke will teach the basic principles of Countertechnique© through the practice of exercises and movement combinations. Dancers who can’t join the whole course, or only want to join for one class, can still experience a full training and warm up for the day.

Phrase work from anoukvandijk dc repertory
Workshop sessions will offer participants ways to explore applying Countertechnique© to choreography and performance through working with movement material from Borrowed Landscapes, anoukvandijk dc’s latest production. The workshop will stress two themes of the production, “the theatricality of the abstract” and “finding freedom within limitations.” In addition to learning movement phrases from Borrowed Landscapes, Birgit and Philipp will give participants the chance to experiment with the external voice, another important element of the choreography.

Philipp Fricke
After graduating from the Rotterdam Dance Academy, where he studied modern and contemporary dance, Philipp Fricke worked as a dancer for Holland-based choreographers Krisztina de Chatel, Leine & Roebana, Jaakko Toivonen, and Bruno Listopad, among others. A member of anoukvandijk dc since 2005, he has taught Countertechnique© since 2008.
Birgit Gunzl
A student of contemporary dance at the Arnhemse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (ArtEZ), Birgit Gunzl has danced with Piet Rogie, Hans Hof Ensemble, Dylan Newcomb, among others, and recently with Ultima Vez / Wim Vandekeybus. Birgit has been a member of anoukvandijk dc since 2002 and has taught Countertechnique© since 2007.

Anouk van Dijk
Anouk van Dijk has been running anoukvandijk dc since 1998.  A 1985 graduate of the Rotterdam Dance Academy, she for almost a decade performed as a lead soloist with the Rotterdam Dance Group and Amanda Miller’s Pretty Ugly Dance Company. She began to choreograph in 1989, and has created fifteen full-evening works and more than twenty shorter dances, receiving the prestigious Dutch Lucas Hoving Prize for her oeuvre in 1999.

dutch dance @ mt vernon
countertechnique© class with repertory
march 2-6, 2009 | monday – friday | 10.30am-1.30pm
These sessions are designed for professionally committed dancers and are offered free of charge. Full enrollment is encouraged. Anyone taking class will be expected to remain for the entire session. To register telephone 267 350 4975 or email jsmith@pcah.us and provide your name and telephone number. Capacity is limited and those who register will be given priority.

Mt Vernon Dance Space
1720 Mount Vernon Street (Art Museum area)
Home of Flamenco Ole!, BoanDanz Studio, and Silvana Cardell’s choreographic research center. The nearest subway stop for Mt Vernon Dance Space is Spring Garden Street on the Broad Street (Orange) Line, approximately four blocks away. SEPTA bus routes #2 or #43 serve the area as well.