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Exploring the Nikolais Aesthetic —
An Emersion in Time, Space, Shape, and Motion
In Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Alwin Nikolais
Taught by Ruth Grauert and Melody Ward
July 11–17, 2010
Dance is action crafted by sensing the principles that govern the universe: Space/Time/Motion
- Space is from the minutest core to farthest rim, the embrace of point to the envelopment of edge.
- Time is continuum that waits for beginning, that holds space, incubating, hatching.
- Motion holds space/time, rocks it, explodes it, parts it and makes it visible.
This workshop is designed to stir the creative juices by presenting clear paths to creativity. Neophytes will find their personal ways to make dance, “old hands” will be refreshed, and teachers will find designs for instruction. We end with a public showing because dance is to be seen and savored. For more information on the Nikolais Aesthetic, please see bearnstowjournal.org.
We start the day with Mat Pilates, and then proceed to idea-directed improvisations. The afternoons are spent composing studies through improvisation based on Nikolais’s four dance elements—Time, Space, Shape, and Motion; the evenings with showing and discussing the work of the day. The end of the week concludes with a public performance.
From the Conference on the Nikolais Aesthetic, held at Bearnstow, August 2009. Photos © Arthur Fink, arthurfinkphoto.com
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RUTH E. GRAUERT holds a B.A. from Ursinus, 1939, and an M.A. from Columbia, 1941. She studied with Holm, Graham, Nikolais, Sokolow, Kashmann, Stewart, and Weidman. She was a member Nikolais Hartford Company, 1942 –43; assistant to Nikolais, 1948 –1988; stage director for Murray Louis, 1953 –1970; lighting designer and stage manager for Phyllis Lamhut, Beverly Blossom, and others, 1948 on; and she taught lighting at the Nik/Lou lab, 1948 –1995. She is founder and director of Bearnstow, a summer arts place, from 1946 to present; and has authored numerous articles on general aesthetics, staging, lighting, and Alwin Nikolais. She writes concert and book critiques and poetry. Ruth Grauert is the recipient of the 2005 Martha Hill Lifetime Achievement Award. She received a doctor of humane letters from Ursinus College in 2009. See her Web site, BearnstowJournal.org.
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PILATES
Of Pilates Melody Ward says, “At the Pilates studio of Gayla Zukevich I found for myself a balance of stretch and strength that has made my dancing clearer and bolder; I have incorporated this somatic practice in my teaching. The clear and functional exercises that flow into one another are focused on efficiency of exercise and how it can create a sense of balance and functionality.”
MELODY RUFFIN WARD is an associate professor in the Dance and
Performance Studies Program at Roger Williams University, and is the recipient of the 2008 Rhode Island State Council on The Arts Choreographers Fellowship. She currently dances for Daniel McCusker and just completed a shared concert of her work in Cambridge, MA, at Green Street Studios and the Dance Complex. Melody was a Green Street Emerging Artist in October 2009. She holds an M.F.A. in choreography and performance from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has been at Bearnstow for four summers.
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