Modas Dance promotes process-based dance education by creating enriching environments that cultivate exploration, independent thinking, diversity, fluency, and excellence. Modas collaborates with experienced master teachers and dance organizations from around the world spanning a variety of mediums in ballet, modern, contemporary and commercial dance, offering valuable training, resources, networking and scholarship opportunities to young artists.
Modas Dance Continuum &
The Alchemist Circle
A reimagined model for a new world
Sept. 22nd – Oct. 23rd 4-week residency $1300 suggested investment
*virtual participation and in-person available
Oct. 27th – Nov. 24th 4-week residency $1300 suggested investment
Nov. 30th – Dec. 20th 3-week residency $1000 suggested investment
Dec. 27th – Jan. 16th 2021 3-week residency $1000 suggested investment
6 weeks (two three-week residencies) $1800 suggested investment
7 weeks (one four week and one three residencies) $2100 suggested investment
8 weeks (any two four-week residencies) $2300 suggested investment
11 weeks (two four week and a three week) $3100 suggested investment
14 weeks (all) $3600 suggested investment
What does suggested investment mean and how was this calculated?
The arts have suffered tremendously from participating in capitalist models and it is my belief that artists of all kinds are needed to create the new structures and systems we need to live in true equal civilization. So with this goal in mind, we are starting in our own backyard by practising radical service, integrity and vision. We are creating a new framework that allows all humans access and an invitation to participate in realizing their full potential and cultivating their gifts. This framework is truly a collaborative collective where all voices participate in the process and are responsible and accountable. We are trusting that participants in this collective come to it with this understanding and will invest according to their perceived value of this work and what they can reasonably afford. We came to the suggested amounts based on the resources we would like to provide to facilitate this work, to ensure that each individual can have access to the resources they need to pursue their chosen life path, and to create real change and positive growth in ourselves and in our communities.
This is a very new and radical idea in the field of dance education and art-making. The more money invested in the program means the higher the quality and quantity of those resources available to us. Each of us contributes to and is invested in the program in this way rather than a pay to play format or money coming in to support indirect aspects of an organization. For example, a lot of training programs and summer programs are created and run to support the expenses of a professional company, or to support overall operational expenses of a multi-faceted organization or to line a very small number of people’s pockets. In essence, to support profit over service. This is not the structure of Modas and The Alchemist Circle. We are placing our trust and belief in the people, extending a layer of trust that those interested in this process will contribute thoughtfully and honestly what they can, and will understand the value of what we have to offer each other and our world in this new way of approaching our work and the pursuit of our dreams and our gifts.
Size and Schedule
We expect the program to be intimate, between 8-15 artists per residency spanning the range from students to professionals. The basic schedule will be Tues-Fri. 9am-3pm. Scheduling is somewhat fluid depending on the needs of the collective.
This size of the programs helps us ensure the safety measures that are required now and in the future regarding the coronavirus. New Mexico has been and will continue to be one of the most stringent and cautious states in this regard. New Mexico is a safe haven place to be during these times.
Core Mentors/Guides/Artists/Teachers
Layla Amis
Ekalos Reed
Jocelyne Danchick
Vladimir Conde Reche
*guests artists will vary as the members of each residency will have a voice in determining guest artists
Modalities
A central part of this program is about developing movement language that is universal, versatile and authentic for each artist. We will draw from many established techniques including Ballet, Modern, Feldenkrais®, Improvisation etc... but we will approach all of these with an open mindset and a desire to question and reimagine their uses and how we can evolve the classic languages to reflect the world we are in and the world we wish to create. New languages will be developed as a collective.
Performance Projects
Each session will work on collaborative performance projects which will be determined as a collective and will be unique to each session and each group. This could include site-specific work, traditional performances in a theatre and anything we imagine together. Each project selected will serve both as a learning tool and resource for the personal goals of the group and as a service to the community. There will also be opportunities to work with local arts companies and organizations on various projects and collaborations.
Apply
We are interested in dancers of all backgrounds. Please send a 3-5 min video of any work that you feel represents your truest voice at this time. If can be you improvising in the studio in any style or form. Please include a letter stating why this program interests you, what you hope to offer and any other thoughts you wish to share. Multidisciplinary artists are encouraged. You do not have to be a classically trained dancer to apply.
If selected from this process we will schedule an interview and then we will make the final selection of artists.
Modas Dance Summer 2020
Summer Intensives 2020
Lakeland, Fl July 25th-Aug. 4th
Albuquerque, NM July 5th-July 25th
 |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
 |  |
"Modas Dance has been influential in creating a dance community full of love, passion and engagement between the students and teachers. Modas has shaped me into the artist I am today and spending the last three summers with this amazing faculty has been the best decision I have made so far in my dance career."
Samantha Frost - Dance Major Florida State University
"Modas Dance has helped shape me into the versatile, confident dancer I am today. This program provides a safe space for one to be their most vulnerable in all styles of dance. There is no place else I would rather spend my summer."
Abbey Klinger - Dance Major Point Park University
"Modas Dance fosters each student to be the absolute best individual they can be. There is no pressure to look or move like anyone except for the dancer that the whole faculty knows you are capable of becoming."
"I am incredibly thankful to MODAS and its faculty. Without the training and knowledge I´ve received from Modas over the last few years, especially in the summer programs, I would have never been able to make it to Hubbard Street Profesional Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
Katie Coker - Dance Major University of Arizona
Jose Antonio Ventura - Hubbard Street Professional Program
Contact
8529 Indian School Rd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112
(505) 501-7116
Modas Dance Continuum &
The Alchemist Circle
Sept. 24th 2020 - Jan. 16th 2021
Four Residency Options Offered
Phoenix Heart - An activation immersion for artists
This program/offering has all of the excellence, quality, rigour and vision that Modas Dance is known for. Modas has always been about becoming the artist you are, nurturing the individual, exploring modes of operation, empowering the student/artist, and a lot of love. This program/offering is a response to the world we are living in and moving into, an evolution, adjustment and expansion of the Modas vision to better facilitate and support the goals and interests of each individual artist/dancer/student. It will include the rigorous and challenging dance that Modas is known for, but with refocused, reimagined and expanded purpose, resource, inspiration, intention, and action.
This offering is about activating our gifts, our voice, our language, to serve the human condition, to connect to ourselves and each other, to heal and reweave our story, to balance and discover our own unique classical form, to alchemize our light being and our physical body into transformative language. It is the pursuit towards mastery of sacred duality, to unconditional love and vulnerability. It is where the artist…the creator, destroyer, lover, warrior, yin and yang, masculine and feminine within is remembered, and activated…and we become the heart of the phoenix, deprogramming through pathways guided by our interests thereby activating our gifts. Through this process together, we will dissolve the obstacles…because the interest, the love, the calling, becomes stronger than the fear, because we stand in our truth, together, opening the portal to the possibility we did not yet dream, and because we can feel and vision the calling as we commit to the journey. All of our truths are meant to inform and alchemize each other in pursuit of higher consciousness existence. The journey of following our intertest is the path to our calling, to the love we can’t believe is possible, and to our deep meaningful participation in the web of humanity and the evolution of the human incarnation. It is the beginning of investigating together, all the ways we can imagine and action a new world.
Guides:
*also known as faculty
Layla Amis, Ekalos Reed, Elana Anderson, Jocelyne Danchick, and guests
Mediums:
Ballet – exploration of classical ballet technique, customs, and mechanics understood and reimagined
Modern - exploration of classical modern dance techniques, customs, and mechanics understood and reimagined
Contemporary – what happens when we reimagine all form… and everything within and around us
Other forms of dance/artmaking from guest artists TBA
Investigating Dance – a conversation facilitated by Elana D. Anderson PhD – I really need to say no more on this…
Site-specific work – allowing our surroundings to inspire, ignite, expand, and refine our vocabulary, understanding and perspectives
Writing – studying, experiencing, sharing, using words on paper
Speaking - studying, experiencing sharing, and using words out loud
Composition and Improvisation – ways to put all of the above together to form meaningful language, connection and a higher consciousness existence
Creating content for Dance Theater - Explore multimodal expressive forms through body-based narratives and social inquiry
Connecting, exploring, dialoguing, creating etc…The list of possibility is forever fluid and infinite
When:
September 24th - October 24th
October 27th – November 22nd
November 30th – December 20th
December 27th- January 16th
*this includes Modas 2020 winter workshop in Albuquerque Dec. 27-De. 30th
*You can do as many sessions as you like – they will each be unique, although the building of the web and overarching themes will be ongoing
Where:
Magnify Dance Center – Albuquerque NM
*The first residency has a virtual option – more will be announced as we go
Schedule (for now):
Tues. 9:30-12:00 exploring AUTONOMY, FELT-SENSE, IMAGINATION, LEARNING, GIFT and CHANGE through movement
Wed. 9:30-1:30 class/workshop alternating Layla/Jocelyn Danchick/guest
Thurs. 9:30-1:30 class/workshop Layla
Fri. 9:30-1:30 class/workshop Layla
Sat. 9-1 small breakout groups/project work/Improvisation/Composition/Repertoire
Sun. 9-1 small breakout groups/project work/ Improvisation/Composition/Repertoire
*Sat and Sun alternating Layla/Elana Anderson/Jocelyn Danchick/guest)
*always fluid and subject to adjustment based on need
Open Class:
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday technique classes will always happen from 9:30-11:00. This will be an offering open to anyone virtually or in person. Sign up and is first come first serve for those that are not in the full Phoenix program. Anyone is welcome, but the material will be of an advanced level. Suggested minimum gift for single classes is $10.
Gift Economy:
In light of what we observe in the world, we are investigating ways to engage monetarily that supports equality, accessibility, collaboration and transformative experience for all. As part of this inquiry, we are looking at what it means to create this type of gift economy. We are offering this residency/program in the spirit of the GIFT.
You as the collaborator will contribute based on what you feel this gift, this experience of activation and connection at this level is worth to you, with a thoughtful reverence for the practicalities that are necessary to offer this gift, and what your financial situation permits. We are still in a time and place where the importance of money is very much a reality in producing programming of this impact and vision. As a guideline, a similar 4-week residency/program of this echelon with full participation would be about $1200.
We do need participants to contribute money in order for this offering to fulfil its vision and purpose. However, there are many ways to contribute that are equally valuable and needed, so we invite you to be creative and thoughtful about the ways you feel you can contribute.
Structure:
We will listen to and access all of the interests, needs and practicalities, get input from you, and then we will create programming and projects together in a way that makes sense for our lives and our goals as individuals and a collective. I want to make it as accessible as possible both virtually and in-person so each person’s contribution and participation is tailored to them. Content and tasks will be all accessible via online platforms (vimeo, Mighty network, etc...)
How flexible is this, can I do some but not all?
Yes – individual schedules can be arranged as well as some drop-in – contact layla@modasdance.info to discuss options.