Lindy on the Rocks and Hot Night Fusion Weekend are hosting the Origin Stories Virtual Series. Join us each weekend for conversations with different guest speakers, classes on solo dancing, classes on partnered dancing, and maybe some other surprises. We NEED your help! Please donate now to CMDance to help us provide programming to thousands of students and community members. Your gift directly supports the livelihood of artists who have been effected by the pandemic.
All dance classes will be available at $10/household, all talks will be open to the public with a requested donation to CMDance. Tickets are now on sale, but each session’s tickets will close 10 minutes prior to starting.
Schedule Subject to Change, all times are posted in MDT
Saturday, September 19th
2:00-2:45 pm MDT African Venaculary Dance Discussion w/ DeAndre Carroll
3:00-4:00 pm MDT House Dance Class w/ DeAndre Carroll
Sunday, September 27th
2:00-3:00 pm MDT Origins of Movement Dance Class w/ Jesica Cutler
Sunday, October 4th
2:00-3:00 pm MDT Origins of Brazilian Zouk: Dance Class w/ Devon Near-Hill
Saturday, October 10th
11:00 AM-12:00 PM MDT A New Spin On An Old Connection pt. 1
Saturday, October 17th
11:00 AM-12:00 PM MDT A New Spin On An Old Connection pt. 2
Saturday, November 7th - ASL Interpreter Provided
11:00 AM-12:00 PM MST Women in Jazz w/ Dr. Marie N’Diaye
Saturday, Date TBA
11:00 AM-1:00 PM MST Mentors & Movement w/ Ryan Francois
More to Come
Origin Stories Virtual Series 2020 Guest Artists
Community-Minded Dance is pleased to bring artists from across the globe to Denver to talk, teach, dance, and inspire.
DeAndre Carroll
DeAndre Carroll is well versed in many African-American dances. His knowledge of the Diaspora dances and contemporary dance styles give him a unique ability to teach movement and history. DeAndre is the artistic producer of the Funkinetic Project and runs the Disciples of Funk based in Denver. He focuses on building and developing communities through the power of dance.
Jesica Cutler
Jesica is a trained massage therapist, as well as a teacher of Tango, Lindy Hop and Blues. She employs her extensive anatomical and dance knowledge to analyze movement and help her students better understand the mechanics of their own bodies.
She has been dancing and teaching Tango with John Miller since 2012, and in that time have developed a teaching style that is fun, accessible, and precise. They have an easy rapport with students, extensive knowledge of technique and structure, and superb understanding of body mechanics and movement.
Devon Near-Hill
Devon Near-Hill is a teaching and performing artist currently based in Northern California. Her movement background includes bellydance, ballet, salsa, and modern dance. Devon fell in love with lambada and Brazilian Zouk five years ago and has since been exploring its depths. As an advocate for understanding the roots of a dance, she made the pilgrimage to Rio De Janeiro to perform with Renata Pecanha’s company and complete her teacher training program, learned from Braz Dos Santos in his 50-hr teacher training in Key West, trained and toured with Mestre Gilson Damasco, and deeply immersed herself in the school Renata Pecanha USA directed by Cristi and Clinton. She won first place in the first ever lambada competition at New York City Zouk Festival and second place in the LA Zouk Festival Semipro US Zouk Open competition as the first female lead to ever compete. Devon produced & hosted LA’s only Lambada & Zouk social, ENERGIA in 2018. That same year she began collaborating with Jerry Lai to continue expanding his pedagogy, Deconstructing Zouk with the goal of creating versatile and connected dancers. To cultivate freedom of movement and safety in social dance for followers, Devon also created The Efficient Follow curriculum. Together Devon & Jerry went on tour to teach both programs in London, Washington DC, Warsaw, Paris, and are now teaching online! Devon recently became certified as a Judge for the Brazilian Zouk Council and scored her first intermediate competition in January. Devon’s goal is to use information from multiple modalities to create well-rounded and informed dancers who move from the inside out. She is so excited to share with you!
Irina Amzashvili
Dancing has always been a passion for Irina, her expression completely and boundlessly inspired by music. She began learning Lindy Hop in 2009 at the age of 15 and fell in love with it after her first night of social dancing.
Shortly thereafter, her passion for Swing dancing expanded to include Balboa, Collegiate Shag, and solo Jazz. Since her start in Orange County, CA, Irina has taught these dances all across the U.S. as well as Europe, Asia, and Australia.
As a teacher her goal is to patiently guide her students through building solid foundations and technique as well as inspiring individuality in personal movement. Irina's greatest joy as a teacher is to see her students progress with their dancing, no matter the increment.
Anthony Chen
Anthony first started dancing at age 8 when his parents convinced him to learn and perform Chinese lion dances. As a young teenager he stumbled upon breakdancing, which kept him out of trouble until he found his true love in swing. Since then, he has trained in other dance styles ranging from hip-hop to West Coast Swing, but most of all he enjoys using this background to expand upon his technique and creativity in Lindy Hop. On the social dance floor he is known to be playful, musical, creative, and clear. He holds first place titles from events such as Lindyfest and Lone Star Championships, Montreal Swing Riot, Ultimate Lindy Hop Showdown, Lindy Focus, and International Lindy Hop Championships. Combined with his professional background in education, his love of both leading and following have been instrumental to making the classes that he teaches both clear and intuitive. He is an active scene builder in his community and founded Salt City Swing, where he teaches locally.
Dr. Marie N’diaye
Dr. Marie N'diaye (PhD) is a Jazz Dance choreographer, performer and educator as well as a dance researcher.
She specializes in Jazz Dance (African American Vernacular Jazz) and its partnered form (Lindy Hop), focusing on the legacy of Harlem dancers from the Savoy Ballroom as well as the chorus line tradition from night clubs and theaters (such as the Apollo Theater, the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn...) and has applied her scientific method and dance education to conduct an embodied practice-based research of Jazz dance through the study of original video clips and collaborations with established dancers.
Origins of Movement w/ Jesica Cutler
Float like a jellyfish, stand like a mountain. Experience movement through bone stacking and 360 breathing. These foundational skills are essential for all dancers and movers of any discipline.
Origins of Brazilian Zouk w/ Devon Near-Hill
From its origins in Afrodiasporic dances, to it's borrowing from Brazilian ballroom dance, salsa, merengue (and others), to the appropriation of Caribbean Zouk music, Brazilian Zouk is truly a fusion dance! Join Devon for a journey through movement guided by story and music. This class will cover timing, the evolution of head movement, and lead up to a few sequences characteristic to what we know as traditional Brazilian Zouk today.
A New Spin On An Old Connection, pt. 1 & 2 w/ Anthony Chen & Irina Amzashvili
Here we will build off of your connection and stretch fundamentals to create new variations and explore a less well-known side of your dancing. Partner required, intermediate and up.
Women in Jazz w/ Dr. Marie N’diaye
Women have been as much a part of the Story of Jazz dance as men but they have achieved much less recognition. In this talk we will present notable but also less well known jazz dancers.
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Please support our mission and programs by donating to CMDance. We support local and worldwide artists make a living as well as providing dance education and cultural preservation to thousands of local Denver youth. Your gift will directly support artists’ livelihood during the pandemic and provide programming to thousands.