Photo: Rahi Rezvani
Cover Photo: David Cooper
Class Description:
The class will develop from an internal warm-up to work with some structured exercises combined with improvised interludes to find coordination, balance, articulation and using gravity as a tool. Through sensation-based tasks we will focus on the source of movement initiation, building a sense of momentum to develop coordination, dynamics and freedom of movement while incorporating a somatic approach to find awareness and agency.
We will progressively work towards expanding the imagined space of your physical presence and travel building up to some combos.
Lesley Telford is a choreographer, educator and the Artistic Director of Inverso Productions based in Vancouver on Coast Salish Territory. Her work has been described as having “a profound way of tapping into deep recesses of our emotional and intellectual landscapes”. She began her career with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, worked with Nacho Duato at Compañia Nacional de Danza in Spain and spent over a decade dancing and creating at Nederlands Dans Theatre 1, where she worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Paul Lightfoot and Sol Leon, William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Crystal Pite and others.
As a choreographer, she has created works for Les Grands Ballets Candiens, Ballet BC, Netherlands Dans Theater 1, Zfin Malta, Hubbard Street Dance Company, Compañia Nacional de Danza, Ballet Vorpommern, Butler Ballet, International Project for Dance in Rome (DAF), University of Utah and Arts Umbrella Dance Company. Through Inverso, Lesley choreographed and produced 4 full evening works which have been presented the Netherlands, Spain and Western Canada. Lesley teaches workshops internationally in many companies and schools. Locally, she has a long-standing commitment in support of emerging dance artists and has developed outreach and professional platforms to provide valuable opportunities and experience. She has a Master of Arts in Cultural Production from the University of Salzburg.