giant steps lab
[ a dance school curated by alina sokulska ]
The main mission of the courses of the Giant Steps Lab is to facilitate our students the tools for accessing their creativity & expression, refining the technique and the quality of movement, guiding with the ways for their research.
All the courses and classes are designed according to Alina's original methodology of her artistic and movement research, as well as the pedagogy.
[ AUTumn'24 season is open! ]
REGULAR CLASSES:
Body Movement basics
in-person / online / group / 8 weeks / 1,5 hour sessions / saturdays / start: October 5
one of our student’s most popular and favourite courses: where we go back to the very root of the movement and practice the development of its smallest quants. body isolations technique that go together with rhythm and musicality, go together with somatic practices that take human anatomy as the principle source of the movement mechanics.
Duration: 8 weeks, START: October 2024
Schedule: Saturdays 5/10 – 30/11, 10:30-12:00
Mode: in-person & online (Zoom), at the House of Giant Steps, Barcelona, Sagrada Familia
Level: open (experience doesn’t matter)
jazz techniques
in-person / group / 10 weeks / 2 hour sessions / thursdays / start: october 3
a course on how to develop your dance expression through a hybrid style of jazz dances and contemporary dance approaches to movement. here we will be learning a certain technical aspect of movement (jazz vocabulary, footwork, coordination, body isolations, musicality, rhythm, etc.), and then apply it to an improvisation strategy that Alina will be proposing to you. the peculiarity of this course is that you can discover the freedom of your movement, organizing it in space and time, based on the improvisation principle of jazz, and the movement technique which is a hybrid between social jazz dances and contemporary dance, Alina’s unique research in both social and contemporary dances.
Duration: 10 weeks, START: 3.10
Schedule: Thursdays, 19:30 – 21:30
Mode: in-person, at the House of Giant Steps, Barcelona, Sagrada Familia
Level: open with previous experience
Thinking the Dance
Telegram chat / group sessions / 5 weeks / individual flexible schedule / start: october 2 / 30 minutes of individual daily work
On this course students are offered to learn the dance and critically think about it, from various perspectives and practices that help me to shape my dance, message and mission, and keep it nurtured daily. My proposition is to create a space where we think through the movement, and do it independently, everyone at its own rhythm according to their needs, coming together for a group discussions in the chat.
Throughout the course I will guide you and accompany you in the chat through a thoroughly prepared and structured dance and thinking practices: video tasks to dance, texts to read and reflect upon, texts to write, dance pieces and other inspirational video footage to work with consciously, movement fundamentals and anatomy materials to familiarize with and contribute to the consciousness of how you move, audio messages with necessary explanations, music to listen and to practice to, emotional support and accompaniment from me in the chat throughout all the month. The tasks are given to you daily or once in 2-3 days, depending on how much effort and time the task demands. I will go through all the tasks with you and live this experience together with students.
Duration: 5 weeks
START: 2.10
Level: everybody, open with dance experience, teachers of social dance, amateur social dancers, beginners and advanced.
IMPORTANT: If you sign up for “Thinking the dance” course, make sure you make time to be actively involved in the courses’ activities and group discussions.
Price: 100 euro (early bird before 9.09), 130 euro (normal price)
the polyrhythmic body [at CC Barceloneta]
in-person / group / 1,5h sessions / wednesdays / regular course / 10 weeks
A dance workshop that places rhythm and musicality as a central topic of the movement research and construction of the improvisation flow. With 14 years of experience of collaborating with live jazz music, Alina has developed her method to approach the rhythm through choreographic decisions of spontaneous composition. Alina is going to introduce her approach to train rhythms and develop polyrhythmic relations through the individual body movement as well as group dance expression.
Duration: 10 weeks, start 18.09 (open class!), 2.10 – 4.12
Schedule: Wednesdays, 18:00 – 19:30, 1,5 hour sessions
Level: everybody, open with dance experience, teachers of social dance, amateur social dancers, beginners and advanced.
INTENSIVES
[NEW] COMPOSITION
in-person / group / intensive 3 hour sessions / morning schedule / beginning professionals or professional social dancers
aimed at beginning creators and dance professionals, as well as teachers of social dances. on three 3 hour sessions we will practice the ways of composing a dance piece through spontaneous composition, as well as will work profoundly on pedagogies of dance improvisation. the knowledge that you will get from this course is applicable to your showcases and scenic creations, as well as teaching.
Duration: 3 classes, 9 hours in total
Schedule: Tue-Thu, September 3, 4, and 5, 10:00-13:00
Mode: in-person only, at the House of Giant Steps, Barcelona, Sagrada Familia
Level: beginning professionals, professional social dancers, dance teachers
individual mentorship
in-person or online / individual / 4 classes minimum / 1 or 2 hour sessions / individual schedule
personalized lessons according to the student’s request. if there is any specific aspect that you want to work on, or prefer individual classes to group, then this format is for you. the content of the lessons is designed specifically and accordingly to the student’s needs, level and rhythm of learning. the advantages of personalized courses is individual feedback and flexible schedule.
Duration: 4 classes, 5 hours
Schedule: to be agreed individually
Mode: in-person, at the House of Giant Steps, Barcelona, Sagrada Familia, or online in Zoom
Level: any