Emotion and Intellect: What Graham and Cunningham techniques offer today

Dance International ran a great article by Rebecca Karpus, called Emotion and Intellect: What Graham and Cunningham techniques offer today. It looks at the enduring influence of Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham on the work and teaching of the SCA's Judith Garay and Megan Walker Straight, respectively. Here's how the article opens:

Sunlight spills through the window and into the white studio. The live accompaniment is quiet, yet intense. As the piano improvisation builds, one dancer slowly begins to move through the space. She walks among the group and then intentionally brushes past another dancer, as a cue to join. Intuitively, the cycle continues, until all 20 bodies are confidently weaving between each other like a carefully calculated ritual. There is a beautiful paradox within the Cunningham-inspired exercise — it is intricate and enticing, and yet, “the instructions are simple,” explains Simon Fraser University’s Megan Walker-Straight, who is teaching the class at the university’s downtown Vancouver campus.

Click HERE to read the rest.

While there is more than one kind of contemporary dance, in many ways this important, more experimental tradition Karpus describes reflects the scope and approach of the SCA's dance program. If any aspiring dance students are looking for something as engaging as it is challenging, apply to us! Find out more about dance at the SCA HERE.