French choreographer Lucas Viallefond, a guest teacher at the School of Dance this semester, is offering a month-long workshop based on the Folkwang approach.
Mr. Viallefond trained as a dancer at Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) and later received further training at the Folkwang University of the Arts. He also took part in training programs in Pina Bausch's dance company.
He has created dances and performed roles in Berlin, London, Paris and many other cities. He has played roles in masterpieces by Anna Sokolow, Alwin Nikolais, Angelin Preljocaj, Merce Cunningham, and others.
He has given lessons to the Preliocai company and to the Bolshoi dancers, and has run workshops in Israel.
At the TNUA workshop, he taught the dance skills of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch. He said the training approach blends creativity and performance.
He said he hopes the training can help the students build up their creativity and expressiveness on the bodily skills they have already acquired.
Mr. Viallefond noted that his training approach requires the students to have an acute awareness of their bodies and breathing. The technical work at the barre also helps improve the preciseness of the body movements.
The guest teacher is also working with the students to create dances in the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch style. The dances will be staged at the end of the semester.