MOVEMENT INVENTION PROJECT®
MISSION STATEMENT
The Movement Invention Project is a unique three-week summer intensive in New York City for advanced dancers, 17-22 years old. Dancers work with an extraordinary faculty of teachers, choreographers, and mentors in a project that encourages creativity, collaboration, and the development of improvisational skills. A supportive environment is created to prepare participants to work in collaboration with today’s choreographers. The program includes ballet, improvisational workshops, Forsythe technologies, Gaga for dancers, and the exploration of the creative process.
MIP is an expansion of the New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble's (NJDTE) Educational Programming and originally began as a collaboration with the Arts Umbrella (Vancouver, CA). MIP also has an invited program for younger dancers 15-17 years old, entitled Pre-MIP.
For more information on Pre-MIP, click /pre-mip.html.
LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Dear Dancers,
In the past eight years I have witnessed a dramatic change in the professional dance world. As founder and Artistic Director of Springboard Danse Montreal, I have worked with over 25 companies over the past 12 years including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, BJM, Batsheva, Goteborg Ballet, Luna Negra, Cedar Lake, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet BC, Abraham In Motion, Sidra Bell Dance NY, Gallim Dance, as well as with Jill Johnson, stager of William Forsythe’s works. In my experience, I can confidently say that these companies are looking for a new breed of dance artist. I have seen many beautiful and highly qualified dancers who still somehow lack the skills necessary to survive in these creatively charged environments.
WHAT IS THIS NEW BREED OF DANCE ARTIST?
Beyond strong technical skills, intelligence, versatility and musicality, a dancer must be curious, open and prepared to make choices at any moment. A dancer in 2013 will be asked to improvise, “change up” a set movement phrase, retrograde material, or reinvent solo work into a duet. In addition to the physical articulation of the movement, a dancer needs to be able to verbally articulate their thoughts in order to teach other dancers their own movement material, relay insights to the choreographer, or answer questions in a post-show talk back. The dancer is an integral part of the creative process. How exciting to be a dancer today!
HOW DO YOU BECOME THIS DANCER?
MOVEMENT INVENTION PROJECT is a place where these new skills can be explored. Our brilliant, supportive faculty offer the tools and skills necessary for understanding the multiple improvisational languages that are relevant in today’s dance environment. These teachers are ready to share their knowledge with you in a safe, and creative environment. MIP fuels the fire of each dancers innate creativity.
Join us this summer in New York City at Movement Invention Project 2013. I think you will have a wonderful time exploring possibilities and discovering your own voice. I look forward to meeting you!
Cheers,
Alexandra Wells
Concept and Artistic Director, MIP
QUOTES FROM FOUNDING COLLABORATORS
"It's for dancers 17-22 years old, it's to give them improvisational skills in an environment that's safe and supportive, so they can do research without being judged. There isn't a wrong and a right, there's just exploring from the inside out and not the outside in."
-Alexandra Wells, Concept & Artistic Director
"I'm hoping the students will hear their own voices actually, so it's not that they're looking for things they already know, they're looking to discover things they don't know. I would characterize it as the vitality of thought, the versatility of thinking."
-Jill Johnson, Founding Collaborator
"One of the dancers the other day gave us some feedback and said 'I'm making the connection for the first time of being a human, and that's connected to being a dancer.'"
-Jill Johnson, Founding Collaborator
""The thing that makes me excited about participating in MIP is that it has a mission that is really in tune with where the dance world is going. Actually, where it is already."
-Andrea Miller, Founding Collaborator
The Movement Invention Project is a unique three-week summer intensive in New York City for advanced dancers, 17-22 years old. Dancers work with an extraordinary faculty of teachers, choreographers, and mentors in a project that encourages creativity, collaboration, and the development of improvisational skills. A supportive environment is created to prepare participants to work in collaboration with today’s choreographers. The program includes ballet, improvisational workshops, Forsythe technologies, Gaga for dancers, and the exploration of the creative process.
MIP is an expansion of the New Jersey Dance Theater Ensemble's (NJDTE) Educational Programming and originally began as a collaboration with the Arts Umbrella (Vancouver, CA). MIP also has an invited program for younger dancers 15-17 years old, entitled Pre-MIP.
For more information on Pre-MIP, click /pre-mip.html.
LETTER FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Dear Dancers,
In the past eight years I have witnessed a dramatic change in the professional dance world. As founder and Artistic Director of Springboard Danse Montreal, I have worked with over 25 companies over the past 12 years including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, BJM, Batsheva, Goteborg Ballet, Luna Negra, Cedar Lake, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Ballet BC, Abraham In Motion, Sidra Bell Dance NY, Gallim Dance, as well as with Jill Johnson, stager of William Forsythe’s works. In my experience, I can confidently say that these companies are looking for a new breed of dance artist. I have seen many beautiful and highly qualified dancers who still somehow lack the skills necessary to survive in these creatively charged environments.
WHAT IS THIS NEW BREED OF DANCE ARTIST?
Beyond strong technical skills, intelligence, versatility and musicality, a dancer must be curious, open and prepared to make choices at any moment. A dancer in 2013 will be asked to improvise, “change up” a set movement phrase, retrograde material, or reinvent solo work into a duet. In addition to the physical articulation of the movement, a dancer needs to be able to verbally articulate their thoughts in order to teach other dancers their own movement material, relay insights to the choreographer, or answer questions in a post-show talk back. The dancer is an integral part of the creative process. How exciting to be a dancer today!
HOW DO YOU BECOME THIS DANCER?
MOVEMENT INVENTION PROJECT is a place where these new skills can be explored. Our brilliant, supportive faculty offer the tools and skills necessary for understanding the multiple improvisational languages that are relevant in today’s dance environment. These teachers are ready to share their knowledge with you in a safe, and creative environment. MIP fuels the fire of each dancers innate creativity.
Join us this summer in New York City at Movement Invention Project 2013. I think you will have a wonderful time exploring possibilities and discovering your own voice. I look forward to meeting you!
Cheers,
Alexandra Wells
Concept and Artistic Director, MIP
QUOTES FROM FOUNDING COLLABORATORS
"It's for dancers 17-22 years old, it's to give them improvisational skills in an environment that's safe and supportive, so they can do research without being judged. There isn't a wrong and a right, there's just exploring from the inside out and not the outside in."
-Alexandra Wells, Concept & Artistic Director
"I'm hoping the students will hear their own voices actually, so it's not that they're looking for things they already know, they're looking to discover things they don't know. I would characterize it as the vitality of thought, the versatility of thinking."
-Jill Johnson, Founding Collaborator
"One of the dancers the other day gave us some feedback and said 'I'm making the connection for the first time of being a human, and that's connected to being a dancer.'"
-Jill Johnson, Founding Collaborator
""The thing that makes me excited about participating in MIP is that it has a mission that is really in tune with where the dance world is going. Actually, where it is already."
-Andrea Miller, Founding Collaborator
