We are excited to co-host guest artist, Kelsey Paschich and her community Countertechnique® workshop!

Register for one, two or all three via each link below!

Monday, March 4

5:15-6:45pm

First Street Studio

REGISTER

Tuesday, March 5

10:15–11:45am

Ballet Afrique

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Thursday, March 7

10:00–11:30am

First Street Studio

REGISTER

The Countertechnique® class is a contemporary dance technique class. It stretches, coordinates and strengthens the body, making the dancer sweat, build stamina and really move. The class starts with a recurring set of exercises, allowing dancers to investigate the Countertechnique® principles in detail. The second half of the class consists of changing components, working towards luscious movement combinations and jumping at the end. The Countertechnique® class results in dancers using less energy, losing their fear of taking risks and gaining speed in changing direction.

ABOUT KELSEY

Kelsey Paschich is a versatile dance artist whose work bridges tradition and innovation. As a performer, she has a diverse 20-year international career with renowned companies and choreographers including The Moscow State Classical Ballet, DCDC2, Thodos Dance Chicago, River North Chicago Dance Company, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and more. She integrates dance and emerging technologies to cultivate new modes of choreography and performance. Her boundary-pushing interdisciplinary collaborations integrate dance with film, animation, and interactive media, creating immersive experiences presented globally. Her digital work has been screened in a variety of festivals across the U.S. and Europe.

As Assistant Professor of Innovation in Dance at Western Michigan University, Kelsey strives to cultivate the next generation of artists, using her classroom as a creative laboratory. Her work has been recognized through numerous awards and residencies including the WMU Presidential Innovation Professorship Award 2023, the Choreographic Coding Lab in Germany, and the Dancing Lab: Art Speaks 2.0 residency.

Holding an MFA from the University of New Mexico, a BFA from Point Park University, and as a Countertechnique® certified teacher, Kelsey’s breadth of experience across performance, choreography and scholarship informs her versatile, multi-faceted career. Her curiosity and bold vision reveal dance as a perpetually evolving art form which she continues to shape.

FIRST STREET STUDIO | 701 Tillery St. Austin, Texas 78702

Mondays 5:15-6:45pm

$10.00-20.00 Sliding Scale per Class

Venmo: @Erica-Saucedo

PayPal: ericapsaucedo@gmail.com

This class explores ways to attune to and connect with the body as a vessel of wisdom, culture, and connection. This contemporary dance class activates ritualized movement sequences and sensation hunting to achieve bold modes of presence, play, and expression. Class will begin with a thorough warm-up that navigates between internal and external landscapes while cultivating a deepened awareness of the structural desires of the body. Building on exercises and choreography that focus on balance, strength, flexibility, rhythm and coordination, this class dives into the cathartic and creative potential of movement and togetherness. Recommended for dancers with a basic understanding of modern/contemporary dance, though all levels are welcome and encouraged to join!

ABOUT US

Emily Rushing (she/her) has spent her entire adult life putting down roots in the Austin creative performance community. Even before graduating from UT Austin with a BA in Theater and Dance, she was already working with some of the most seasoned contemporary choreographers in the city.

A natural collaborator and community builder, Emily discovered the best way to grow as a creative is by working with and building up the other artists in the scene. In 2018, she co-founded The Seam Project, a series of backyard shows for local performers and audiences alike. These radically-accessible shows ran for two seasons and hosted scores of artists. As Jonelle Seitz wrote about her in 2023: “More than anything, Emily thrives in collaborating and finding ways to support others’ work.”

Emily has choreographed, collaborated, and performed with local artists and companies including Chaddick Dance Theater, Blue Lapis Light, Jennifer Sherburn, BLiPSWiTCH, Kathy Dunn Hamrick Dance Company, Ellen Bartel Collective, Lisa Nicks, Sharon Maroquín, Rosalyn Nasky and Carissa Fisher. She continues to find inspiration through continuing education in her movement practice, which has led her to train with Deborah Hay, Fabian Wixe, Anouk Van Dijk, and Anton Lachky. Studying with David Zambrano, she completed 50 hours of Flying Low and Passing Through.

As a choreographer, her work has been seen in various settings including parks, backyards, local businesses and festivals such as Austin Dance Festival and Strictly Seattle Dance Festival. She received a nomination for Best Dancer in 2018 by the Austin Critics Table for her dancing in Flicker.Burn.Repeat., a collaborative piece with Carissa Fisher and Cody Rushing. Most recently, she co-produced the Austin-based dance festival, Dance Carousel (founded by Ellen Bartel in 2004), is one of three in a multimedia collaboration called Vessel Project with Rosalyn Nasky and David Sydiongco and continues to collaborate with the many talented artists in her city.

In her work, Emily aims to get to a place of honesty and reveal the lesser seen, but desperately there parts of herself. She enjoys following her natural curiosity in movement. "When she springs into movement, it’s like, oh, you thought I was just chilling here—you had no idea." is how her dynamic movement style has been described.

Erica Saucedo (she/her) is a movement artist, educator, and scholar based in Austin, Texas. Erica's pedagogy, artistry, and organizing efforts are guided by questions of legacy, leadership, and longevity.

Erica received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and has been commissioned to create works for Offbeat X (BLiPSWiTCH, Austin), Mini Movement Festival (Dallas, TX), First Street Studio (Austin, TX), 92Y Street Festival (New York, NY), Danspace Project (New York, NY), Triskelion Arts (New York, NY), Austin Dance Festival (Austin, TX), and the Actors Fund Center (New York, NY). Saucedo is a 2019 ARCOS Dance Artist Development Award grantee and a 2019-2021 resident artist in the Latino Artist Access Program (L.A.A.P.) at the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican-American Cultural Center.