2024 FACT/SF WINTER Dance Lab
FACT/SF is no longer accepting applications for the Winter Dance Lab.
January 26-28 & February 2-4
12pm-5pm Daily
Joe Goode Annex, 401 Alabama St., San Francisco
Dancers are invited to attend either or both weekends.
Photo by Alina Fejzo
OVERVIEW
The 2024 FACT/SF Winter Dance Lab (WDL) is divided into two parts. The first weekend (January 26-28) is open to dancers new to Countertechnique and those with prior experience. The second weekend (February 2-4) is designed for dancers who have already had some experience with Countertechnique. The first weekend is led by Charles Slender-White, and the second weekend is led by both Slender-White and Samuel Melecio-Zambrano. Dancers are invited to apply for either or both weekends. More information about the Winter Dance Lab can be found below.
DAILY SCHEDULE & DETAILS
WEEKEND ONE
January 26-28, 2024
12pm-5pm Daily
The first weekend of the Winter Dance Lab is open to dancers new to Countertechnique and those with prior experience. The first weekend will focus on Countertechnique basics, providing dancers new to the practice with an introduction to the technique and its underlying principles. For dancers already familiar with Countertechnique, this first weekend will allow them to return to fundamentals and discover new opportunities to apply Countertechnique tools, especially during the simplest of exercises. Classes will be led by Charles Slender-White. Each day will start with an extended Countertechnique class followed by explorations of anatomy, space, momentum, and cognitive awareness.
WEEKEND TWO
February 2-4, 2024
12pm-5pm Daily
The second weekend will have more complex movement patterns, and is designed for dancers who are already familiar with the Countertechnique class structure and toolbox. This weekend will provide ample opportunities for dancers to explore Countertechnique concepts in greater depth, to address specific questions and challenges, to refine cognitive processes, and to discover new opportunities to apply directions and counterdirections while dancing. Classes will be led by Samuel Melecio-Zambrano, with Slender-White providing individualized, 1-1 feedback for dancers. Each day will start with an extended Countertechnique class. Dancers will then take a deep dive into applying Countertechnique to choreography, experimenting with either their own movement phrases or with excerpts from FACT/SF repertory.
TO APPLY
We want to learn more about you! Interested dancers should send in their application materials via THIS APPLICATION FORM.
Please email workshop@factsf.org with any questions.
Within one week of applying, applicants will be contacted by FACT/SF regarding their participation in the Dance Lab. Please note: FACT/SF will be on vacation from December 23 - January 7 and we will review applications shortly after returning from holiday.
TUITION
ONE WEEKEND (Either January 26-28 OR February 2-4)
$210 (applications received by January 12th)
$330 (applications received after January 12th)
BOTH WEEKENDS (January 26-28 AND February 2-4)
$310 (applications received by January 12th)
$430 (applications received after January 12th)
Note: Applicants are accepted on a rolling basis until the Dance Lab has reached its 20-person capacity. All tuition payments are non-refundable, except in the case of illness.
SELECTED PARTICIPANTS
Once notified of acceptance and successful processing of tuition, participants will receive a Welcome Packet. Information will include: area attractions, directions, public transportation, parking, Dance Lab Detailed Schedule, and supplemental information on Countertechnique.
QUESTIONS
If you have any questions or would like more information, please email the Dance Lab Registrar at workshop@factsf.org. Or, call 415.349.0878.
ABOUT COUNTERTECHNIQUE
By continuously and sequentially directing and counter directing parts of the body through space, Countertechnique allows the moving dancer to work with an ever-changing dynamic balance. This dynamic balance reduces the pressure on the overall body structure and can be changed at any given moment. The consistent use of the counter direction in all movements is key to the technique; both the awareness and application of this principle is trained throughout the Countertechnique class. The Countertechnique theory is organized around two principal notions: the ‘toolbox’ and ‘scanning’. The toolbox is the systematically organized collection of tools for body and mind with which Countertechnique works, often visualized as a virtual map that dancers carry with them. Scanning defines the process of dancers continuously and actively observing their mindset and body in order to choose the most appropriate tool(s) from the toolbox for the situation they find themselves in. Scanning allows dancers to make active use of the toolbox in their daily practice of training, rehearsing and performing. Countertechnique was developed by Anouk van Dijk throughout her twenty-five year career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. Over the last fifteen years, the knowledge and experience she gained – in constant dialogue with her dancers – was gradually transformed into a detailed theoretical system and a teaching method, which now together form the Countertechnique system.
In the 2024 FACT/SF Winter Dance Lab, Countertechnique will be taught by Charles Slender-White (first weekend) and Slender-White and Samuel Melecio-Zambrano (second weekend).
ABOUT THE TEACHERS
Photo by Kim Doeleman
SAMUEL MELECIO-ZAMBRANO
Born and raised in Florida, Samuel is a dancer, maker, and teacher based on Ramaytush Ohlone land (San Francisco, CA). Since first encountering Countertechnique in 2017, they have attended three One Body, One Career intensives (2018, 2019, 2021) and completed the Countertechnique Teacher Training in 2021.
In 2018, Samuel received a BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida (USF). They then relocated to Melbourne, Australia to continue their training and study Countertechnique with founder Anouk van Dijk and other certified teachers. Now in San Francisco, Samuel has danced with BANDALOOP, FACT/SF, Robert Moses’ Kin, Jennifer Perfilio Movement Works, and Mark Foehringer Dance Projects, among others. They have taught Countertechnique for Bates Dance Festival, Hollins University, Utah Valley University, ODC Dance Commons, and more.
Photo by Alina Fejzo
CHARLES SLENDER-WHITE
Charles has been a Countertechnique practitioner for 19 years, and became a Certified Teacher in 2012; there are 52 Teachers worldwide. Charles has taught Countertechnique at the American Dance festival, University of Calgary, Loyola Marymount University (Los Angeles), the University of San Francisco, UC Berkeley, CSU East Bay, L’Artere (Quebec City), Circuit-Est (Montreal), Love-In (Toronto), and at numerous dance centers throughout the SF Bay Area. He began his dance career in 2006 with Tatiana Baganova’s Provincial Dances Theatre in Yekaterinburg, Russia. In 2008, he returned to his native California to start FACT/SF in order to make his own contributions to innovation and excellence in contemporary dance. Over the past 11 years, Charles has created 38 works, with commissions by the US Department of State, CounterPulse, Acid Rain (Chelyabinsk), Dialogue Dance (Kostroma), the Yekaterinburg University of the Humanities (Yekaterinburg), and others. Described as ‘utterly absorbing’ and ‘mesmerizing’ (SF Bay Guardian), Charles’ work with FACT/SF has been performed throughout California, in Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, Durham, North Carolina, across Russia, and in Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, and Macedonia. Throughout 2012, Charles was a mentee of Elizabeth Streb as part of CHIME Across Borders at the Margaret Jenkins Dance Lab. Charles graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, with degrees in Dance & Performance Studies and English Literature. (Photo by Kegan Marling)
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