"I lost many things because of domestic violence... The way you brought our disparate pieces together to form a seamless flowing whole was truly inspiring."
-Adwoa, Voices of Women workshop participant
Workshops
We are available to lead dance workshops in your community. A workshop may be structured as a stand-alone event or as a series of multiple sessions over a few days or during the span of a month. Workshops culminate with a performance by the participants. In addition, we can be in residence at your venue. Residencies may last for varying time periods and will include workshops, classes and performances.
Working to Strengthen Communities
Movement and storytelling workshops are a powerful tool for building and strengthening communities. Communities we have worked with include:
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Survivors of domestic violence
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At-risk teens
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Senior adults
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People with physical and developmental disabilities
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New speakers of English
For more information, click HERE.
Working with Colleges and Other Dance Training Programs
We offer master classes and workshops for dancers and choreographers in technique, repertory, improvisation and composition.
For more information, click HERE.
Working to Strengthen Communities
Dance has the power to bring people together. The very act of breathing is a dance, and like breathing together, dancing together can reveal a profound commonality between people - even those who are hard to reach, even those who seem to be adversaries.
Our movement and storytelling workshops enable participants to see themselves in others, and others to see themselves in them, while at the same time seeing the differences that make them unique. A strong connection is forged between participants as they see that similar movement looks strikingly different and yet recognizable across a range of bodies. This connection is a basic building block of healthy communities. Our workshops make this connection apparent and accessible.
Over the past 15 years, Risa Jaroslow has developed techniques that engage non-dancers in a wide range of communities, from senior adults to pre-teens to people with disabilities to survivors of domestic violence. Past partners have included the New York Society for the Deaf, the Lower East Side Girls Club, Voices of Women, Dwa Fanm, Project Home, the Initiative for Women with Disabilities, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center, and University Heights High School.
Jaroslow bases her exercises on ideas like the origin of a person's name, their favorite recipe, or a place where they have felt at peace. Movement is derived from simple tasks that anyone can do, like making a shape around another's body or leading another person on a circuitous path. Creating art from the material of our own lives is a revealing experience. When participants use dance as a means of self-expression and as a way to share their experiences, they see themselves and others in new ways, take leadership roles, set and achieve goals, educate others, and find a new appreciation of their own voices and stories.
Workshops meet for 1-2 hours per session, for 1-12 sessions, and conclude with a presentation by the participants for others in their community.
Photo by Steven Schreiber
Photo by Steven Schreiber
Photo by Anja Hitzenberger
Working with Colleges and Other Dance Training Programs
Risa Jaroslow & Dancers offers residencies, master classes and workshops for dancers and choreographers in technique, repertory, improvisation and composition. Our classes and workshops offer rigorous physical training. They also help dance artists tap their own experiences as a source of creativity, and introduce innovative processes for making dances. Risa Jaroslow & Dancers has taught at:
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University of Maryland
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St. Joseph's College
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The Open Look Festival (Russia)
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The International Festival of Contemporary Dance (Poland)
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Contemporary Dance Theater of Cincinnati
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Adelphi University
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American University
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CW Post College
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Dartington College (England)
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Pratt Institute
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Trinity College
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Wayne State University
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University of Wisconsin
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University of Central Lancashire