Rianne Svelnis

Photo: Carla Alcántara
Cover Photo: David Cooper

*Please note class on April 29 will be in the Kraul studio on the 4th floor

Class Description: 

I celebrate dance class as a site-specific practice, a community gathering space, and a place of witnessing, bonding and multidirectional knowledge sharing. Warming up improvisationally, we’ll lasso our attention towards the body’s play with physics. We will cover floor work fundamentals, increasing the complexity and range of level and dynamic to culminate in collective dancing.  Set phrases are studies of cradling, swinging, blooming, yield and rebound, falling, being upside down, suction, reach, slithering and anchoring.


Rianne Svelnis is a queer dance artist and a settler of European descent living in colonially occupied so-called 'Vancouver', on xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and sə̓lílwətaʔɬ territory.  She is a graduate of Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Training Program, and has continued her training with significant mentors such as Peter Bingham, Justine Chambers, Helen Walkley, Emmalena Fredriksson and Damián Criollo (Ecuador).  Rianne has taught at Harbour Dance Centre, Training Society of Vancouver, All Bodies Dance Project, Polymer Dance, Echoing Frog and Espacio Expectante (Mexico).  Rianne also co-facilitates Movement Classes for Support Workers with Alexa Solveig Mardon and All Bodies Dance classes at Carnegie Community Center with Lance Lim and Kevin Li.

Rianne has had the pleasure of performing in works by Ziyian Kwan (Dumb Instrument Dance), Justine Chambers, MACHiNOiSY, Emmalena Fredriksson, Olivia Davies, romham gallacher, Sasha Kleinplatz, Daisy Thompson, and Damián Criollo (Ecuador), among others.  Rianne has also created choreographic work in collaboration with All Bodies Dance, Zahra Shahab, Kelly McInnes and Areli Moran (Mexico) and is co-creator of the digital archive waterfallfallingforeveragain with Andrea Cownden and Layla Marcelle.  .