This full time program focuses on the creative process through movement, dance, and symbolic color theory. Using the Tantric chakra system as a dynamic map of progressive mind-body development, the syllabus builds on the fall 2015 program, Dance as Art: Making Connections , and leads to the spring 2016 program, Creating Dance Sacred and Profane . Although designed to interface effectively with these programs, it also stands on its own and new students with prior experience in movement, dance, or visual art are welcome. The program goal is twofold: to refine awareness of the student's educational and life path through performance art, and to facilitate a dynamic interplay of inner connectivity with outer expressiveness through movement to establish and enrich a sense of cooperative community.

We'll explore how aesthetic color theories relate to the chakra system as an inspiration, structure, and methodology for creating dance that speaks deeply and eloquently to the human situation. We'll explore questions such as: What is my purpose or path in life? How can we nurture relationships that help achieve common goals through just and sustainable practices? How can we balance intuitive, creative imagination with concrete techniques producing verifiable results? The chakra system will be studied as both a dynamic structure for understanding human consciousness, and as a developmental process that locates, identifies, and provides methods for working with creative blocks. We will demystify chakra work to generate practical movement toward mind-body integration, clarity of intent, and a sense of community. Text and movement seminars explore the history, theory and practice of Tantric and Taoist philosophy, esoteric anatomy, artistic color theories, and dance kinesiology. Activities alternate, overlap, and integrate drawing/painting, selecting or making sound, and progressive classes in dance technique, theory, and composition in an experimental, non-judgmental, and collaborative workshop environment.