Arts Umbrella's International Summer Dance Intensive is underway, gathering talents from across the globe
Acclaimed faculty join Arts Umbrella Dance’s artistic director Artemis Gordon, with repertoire by the likes of Johan Inger and Crystal Pite
Post Sponsored by Arts Umbrella
Arts Umbrella’s International Summer Dance Intensive in 2021. Photo by Michael Slobodian
The acclaimed International Summer Dance Intensive is in full swing at Arts Umbrella, running to August 26 at the group’s flagship facility on Granville Island.
One hundred and sixty dancers, ages 12 to 22, have come from all over the world to train for three intensive weeks under world-renowned teachers, choreographers, and repetiteurs.
Approximately 30 percent of attending students are international, coming to Arts Umbrella from the U.S., Taiwan, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Introduced in the early 1990s, Arts Umbrella Dance’s rigorous ISDI program includes classes in ballet, repertoire, pointe, pas de deux for advanced students, Gaga, modern, Limón technique, partnering, contemporary, movement exploration, coaching, and conditioning. The 2022 repertoire includes works by renowned choreographers Johan Inger, Crystal Pite, and Jiří Kylián.
Led by Arts Umbrella Dance’s artistic director Artemis Gordon, this year’s faculty includes Gioconda Barbuto, Donna Krasnow, Risa Steinberg, Rena Narumi, Yvan Dubreuil, Anna Herrmann, and Tom Weinberger, among many others.
Notably, Risa Steinberg was just named Dance Teacher’s 2022 Awardee of Distinction for her decades of achievement performing and teaching Limón technique at the Juilliard School and around the world.
Francisco Martinez, dance faculty member at the Juilliard School, is also returning, having taught at ISDI for more than a decade now.
Joining the faculty this year is Beatrice Larrivée, a graduate of the Arts Umbrella Dance Post-Secondary Program and former Batsheva-The Young Ensemble dancer who will teach Gaga technique and Ohad Naharin repertoire, as well as excerpts of her own work.
Dancers are encouraged to spend the three weeks challenging themselves to expand their ideas about what dance is and fully immerse themselves in the experience of what it means to be in a professional dance environment. The intention of ISDI is to foster a lab-like setting where dancers can try on what it means to be a working artist and observe what excites them through the art form and by their fellow artists. It is Arts Umbrella’s hope that all of the dancers leave with a sense of thrill and excitement, profoundly changed by this intensive experience, and with a renewed sense of vigour for why dance is important to them.
Registration for Arts Umbrella Dance’s 2023 Audition Tour will open in October. Auditions for the 2023 International Dance Intensive and Arts Umbrella Dance’s Post-Secondary Program will be held in person in Vancouver, Toronto, New York, and Amsterdam.
To be the first to hear about dates and to receive more information, please email Natalie Kardum, Dance Admissions Specialist, at nkardum@artsumbrella.com.
Post sponsored by Arts Umbrella.