“Who is this Body?” is a movement experience that is open to movers of all ages and experience levels. This class strives to create an inspiring, supportive environment in which students feel comfortable and free to take risks within and outside of their bodies. We will take a playful, hands-on approach to understanding our structures, heightening our awareness of ourselves and how we navigate through space. I encourage movers to discover or redefine their movement potential and identity through exercises that emphasize correct alignment, softness into the floor, articulation, energetic efficiency and ease. We will work with touch, breath, voice and imagination to inspire curiosity and creativity that will hopefully stay with us as we leave the studio and re-enter the world around us.

$8-16 sliding scale

Laurel Snyder is a dance artist, educator and musician based in NYC. Since receiving her BFA in Dance from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2009, Laurel has performed with artists such as Faye Driscoll, Tere O’Connor, Tatyana Tenenbaum and Kendra Portier at NYC venues such as the Chocolate Factory, Danspace, BAM and the Kitchen. Laurel’s choreography has most recently been presented by Triskelion Arts, Center for Performance Research (CPR), Chez Bushwick, Movement Research at Judson Memorial Church and the Tank and she and collaborator, Adam Schatz are 2017-2018 recipients of Exploring the Metropolis' Choreographer + Composer Residency. Laurel is passionate about teaching movement and vocal practices and has been invited by various local and international organizations such as Rutgers University, Colby College, Leviathan Studios (BC), Gibney Dance and Dance Exchange as a guest teaching artist. Additionally, Laurel has acted as a vocal consultant for choreographers such as Nadia Tykulsker and Ivy Baldwin. In May 2017, Laurel curated, co-produced and performed in three evenings of interdisciplinary performance at Threes Brewing (Brooklyn, NY) and she is dedicated to creating more opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations in casual spaces. Laurel's work and her teaching practice emphasize self-acceptance and explore the complicated relationship between performer and witness, fear and fantasy, the voice and the body and the truth behind this layered expression.