A Weekend of
Learning and Exploration
4 jumpstart classes
18 workshops
Class descriptions and instructor biographies are below the schedule.
In every class students practice both leading and following. Giving us all an opportunity to experiment. Maybe you've never tried to lead, to follow, danced tango, blues, or west coast swing, or even jumped into martial arts. City In Motion is your chance to try new things, to find something you want more of, and especially find new inspiration in the familiar.
FRIDAY
January 12, 2018
8:00pm-9:00pm
Intro classes will be offered before the night dance for
- Blues with Nathaniel A'Brea
- Argentine Tango with Moti
- West Coast Swing with Chris Chung
- Kizomba with Olga Hermann
SATURDAY
January 13, 2018
11:00AM-11:30AM
Tai Chi
with Mario
11:30am-12:45pm
Bluesin' Your Fusion
with Kelly Howard & Mark Carpenter
or Capoeira
with Capoeira Brasil
or Blues Building Blocks
with Nathaniel A'Brea
1:05pm-2:20pm
Tools of Tango
with Moti Buchboot
or American Tribal Belly Dancing
with Sabrina Fox
or Brazilian Zouk Connection and Foundation
with Rachel Meth
2:20pm-3:10pm
Meal Break & Open Discussion
Topic TBA
3:10pm-4:25pm
West Coast Swing Fusion
with Shaheed Qaasim
or Solo
with Angie Huang
or Trust In Motion
with Laura Boddorf
4:45pm-6:00pm
Music: A Magic Beyond All We Do Here
with Jamie-Lynn Figure
6:00pm-7:00pm
Partnered Stretch
with CC
SUNDAY
January 14, 2018
1:00pm-1:30pm
Tai Chi
with Mario
1:30pm-2:45pm
Swingin' on the West Coast
with Shaheed Qaasim
or Solo
with Angie Huang
3:05pm-4:20pm
Tools of Tango
with Moti Buchboot
or We're Made of Starstuff
with Jamie-Lynn Figure
4:20pm-4:50pm
Meal Break & Open Discussion
Topic TBA
4:50pm-6:05pm
Advanced Blues
with Kelly Howard & Mark Carpenter
or Tai Chi Push Hands
with Mario
6:05pm-7:05pm
Partnered Stretch
with CC
Class Descriptions
In Alphabetical Order
(mouse over photos to view biographies)
Nathaniel M Abrea is a nationally acclaimed blues dancer who loves to social dance, compete, and teach as much as he sleeps. He is known for having precise musicality, playfully rhythmic movements, and expressive body shaping as a lead, follow, and solo dancer.
Nathaniel first explored dancing through a catchy choreography on YouTube in his bedroom, and continues to do so to this day. Since his first encounter with dance, he has lightly explored other various dance forms that have deeply influenced the way he likes to move: Studio Hip Hop (New Style Choreography), Dancehall, West Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, and more. Coming from a non-technical background, he is highly attuned to his intuition for body mechanics and musicality. His intuition-first approach allows him to craft intellectually accessible and relatable lessons that reward students with new techniques to challenge themselves on their own time. He also executes each lesson with as much patience as he has excitement, and hopes to empower his students to start navigating their own personal expression of Blues.
Within the past several years, Nathaniel has worked with dedication, and competed and won at many national events such as: BluesSHOUT!, Austin Blues Party, Rain City Blues, Snowbound Blues, Rose City Blues, Northstar Blues, and more. He has won competitions as a Lead, Follow, and Solo, and is proudly recognized as the first to officially qualify in the All Star division as both a Follow and a Lead. Nathaniel continually strives for new ways to grow, and for more things to learn, in hopes that he can share his newfound knowledge and experiences with his students.
Kelly Howard & Mark Carpenter
Bio on the way...
Rachel Meth is a dedicated and passionate educator and dancer as well as the founder and director of Embodied Dance Company and Embodied Life LLC in Raleigh/Durham, NC. Her deep passion is to empower others and build community, as well as to inspire an embodied and compassionate life through dance, movement, and mindfulness practices. Her enthusiasm for teaching has inspired both her Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Education, and she has been teaching around the country in addition to creating and contributing to local dance communities for over ten years.
Brazilian Zouk Connection and Foundation
Rachel Meth
In this workshop, we will explore the connection and fundamental concepts of this beautiful partner dance from Brazil. From breathing and connecting to creating an awareness of energy receptiveness and exchange, we will learn how to move with our partner while also learning foundation steps, movement, and technique for Brazilian Zouk.
Jamie-Lynn ZYCIE
Jamie-Lynn first experienced partner dance in 1994 in the form of ice dancing. While progressing through competitive circles, she cross-trained with ballet, jazz, modern, and cardio dance classes. In 2005 she put on her first pair of ballroom shoes; in 2006 she fell in love with swing and blues. Addicted to new dancing experiences, she added Argentine tango to her repertoire in 2007. Basically, she loves to dance any way she can. Students of her weekly blues, swing, and connection lessons feel that their creativity, expressivity, and knowledge of fundamental concepts are challenged and expanded during each of her lessons. She's happy to have been a part of The Las Vegas Fusion Exchange and The Denver Fusion Exchange.
Fusion Connection (We're made of starstuff)
Jamie-Lynn Figure
No matter what our backgrounds are, we're all made of the same basic dance elements. But we each have a unique composition of those elements. Here, we will explore different ways of combining those elements in a partnership to create something distinctive. We will focus on how common ground and connection can be found between dissimilar elements by listening to each other and the music.
Music: A magic beyond all we do here
Jamie-Lynn Figure
We’ve been taught to blues to blues music; tango to tango music; swing to swing music, etc to etc music. But no one on earth has been taught how to dance ALL of the dances to ALL of the music. We will practice adapting our skills to suit different musical styles, shape shifting with the music while retaining technique and connection. We will turn the tempo, rhythm, and energy way up and way down
Angie Huang
Bio coming soon
SOLO Movement
Angie Huang
Class Description
Coming Soon
Sifu Mario Mayorga, Co-owner of 5 Elements Martial Arts & Wellness Center, has trained in various forms of martial arts, including: Taekwondo, Aikido, Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Chi Gong, since 1993. He earned his black belt in Kung Fu in 1999 and specializes in teaching Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, Zhaobao and Yang-style Tai Chi Chuan. Since then, he’s been teaching kung fu at martial arts studios, public schools, and in private lessons all over San Diego. His passion for teaching is driven by showing his students to find a deep and expressive connection within themselves.
In 2000 Sifu Mario met Master Zhao Weidong, a 13th generation Zhaobao Tai Chi Master. Sifu Mario feels that Master Zhao was the most influential teacher in his martial arts training, and helped him to uncover the many internal secrets hidden in tai chi. In 2010 Sifu Mario became certified as a massage therapist, and opened 5 Elements with Instructor Keith, with the main focus of combining the Northern Shaolin and Wing Chun Kung Fu. 5 Elements also provides many other healing bodywork practices such as yoga, tai chi, chi gong, and massage therapy. In 2012 Sifu Mario finished his Holistic Health Practitioner’s training at the Internal Professional School of Bodywork (IPSB), with over 1200 hours. In 2014 he completed a special teacher-training course at IPSB, and has been continuing his mentorship with many great healers. Sifu Mario feels that continued self develop leads to becoming a better practitioner of your craft.
He is currently spending much of his time refining his martial arts skills and exploring different martial art styles such as Brazilian Jui Jitsu, and training with ICE Urban Combat Martial Arts. In addition to his martial arts training, he has spent extra time exploring activities such as yoga, gymnastics, ballroom dancing, hiking, and bike riding.
Tai Chi
Mario Mayorga
Tai chi chuan (taijiquan) is a soft internal style of Chinese martial arts. The movements in tai chi develop mindfulness, using conscious breathing with soft graceful movements that are low impact and easy on the joints. Tai chi movements linked with breathing encourages a natural state of mind and body that is calm, relaxed, and present, which improves the quality of someone’s life. Movements improve strength, balance, coordination, lowering stress hormones, and enhances cardiovascular health. When movements and principals of tai chi are practiced, a person will start to unify the body, mind, and spirit, by balancing the energy in the body. This training is seen as an efficient health system that increases the health and longevity by bringing harmony to the emotions, and opens the spirit.
In this class we will explore shifting states of mind and reconnecting with our body in the present moment. We will do this by playing with breathing exercises linked with movements, which are connected with various styles of chi gong. Students will also experience a flow through of the first 3rd of the Yang-style tai chi chuan short form. Students will see how this is a meditative dance, playing with natural rhythms of the body as we listen closely to the flow of movement, breathing, heart tempo, and clarity of mind.
Push hands is a two-person drill that helps a student to understand the principals of tai chi and movements found in the form. One person applies linear force to their training partner, and the other person yields the force in a circular motion and redirects. This can be used as a catalyst towards understanding the physics of motion, energy, and force. Students learn to maintain their strength and balance by responding to force using sensitivity, coordination, timing, leverage, and body alignment.
In this class we will learn how to respond to external stimuli using ideas and movements practiced in the form. By training with another person, we develop sensitivity to feel the direction of movement, so that we can build a sense of defensive, and offensive movement found in tai chi. We will discuss maintaining a postural advantage, spatial awareness, and how to use incoming force to feed or redirect. Students will practice slow movements, breathing, and a calm state of mind during push hands to help promote a fun and safe environment to learn.
Moti Buchboot [site]
Moti informally started his tango training over twenty years ago when he began to study martial arts. His interest in body movement brought him into contact with a variety of styles led him to dance and mainly to Argentine tango. A dance he has been teaching and performing for over a decade and a half. His dancing style is dynamic, experimental, and innovative. It abounds with creativity and continually evolves to explore new forms of expression, while simultaneously striving to be mindful and respectful of tradition
Tango Toolset
Moti Buchboot
First Toolset will introduce the essential esthetic and movement elements of Argentine tango to fusion dancers , in a way that will allow for immediate incorporation to personal style. We will bring elements of modern dance and contact improve to make this experience educational and help develop floor awareness and the most important part HAVE FUN while doing it.
Second Toolset will build on the first Tool set, expend the Argentine tango vocabulary and introduce more advanced concepts (such as universal embrace and intuitive following)
All classes will be geared towards the level of the students taking the lessons as well as everyone experiencing the lead and follow part of the dance. And yes. Fun fun fun…
Laura Boddorff was a classical dancer all her life, until, in 2004, she began ballroom dancing and discovered the joy of movement as interaction. Laura has studied over 25 styles of dance, and teaches aerial silks at Pole Dance Fitness in her home in Pennsylvania. She has placed in several competitions; however, her joy in dancing is in the social experience. She loves creating new conversations on the dance floor, and introducing students to new vocabulary to allow them to experiment further and express more fully. Come to her classes expecting to play!
Trust in motion
Laura boddorff
Class Description on the way
Shaheed Qaasim a trained jazz and hip-hop dancer, in the mid 2000’s was introduced to partner dancing and he has never looked back. Shaheed is known for his musical creativity and innovative style. His joy for dance is as infectious as his teaching style. Specializing in bringing out the best in an individual dancers style and presence. His high energy teaching style makes his classes fun and provides easier access for that “Aha!” moment that his students love. Having extensive training in Westcoast Swing, Lindy Hop and Blues, Shaheed is one of the few leaders in the country who is proficient in all three of these styles giving him a unique and diverse knowledge that evident in his dancing, teaching and choreography.
CC Wagner
Partnered Stretch
CC Wagner
After a full day of awesome dance classes, it's time to take care of your body with a unique partner stretching routine that will not only relieve stiffness, soreness & loosen tight muscles in your body, but will also improve your flexibility & balance. Using relaxation breathing & partner stretching techniques, you will learn to work in pairs & in groups to stretch & lengthen muscles & tendons which will allow you to keep on dancing!! The movements used in this class are designed specifically for the goals of a dancer, & can me modified or intensified to meet all levels of flexibility.