Professional Classes
WCD offers advanced/professional level classes. These classes are typically technique classes and run in conjunction with WCD’s project work and often serve as company class. Most classes are free.
All current information about WCD class is posted here.
Classes listed here are also open to drop-in’s; if you have not yet joined us for class since January, 2023, please register in advance.
To register and reserve your spot please email communications@winnipegscontemporarydancers.ca
UPCOMING CLASSES:
May 10,11, 15
All classes run 10:30am – 11:30am
Professional Classes 22/23:
April 03-07
March 20-24
March 13-17
March 06-10
February 28-March 03
February 21-24
January 30-February 03
January 23-27
January 16-20
December 19-21 & 23
December 12-16
December 05-09
November 30-December 02
November 02
October 07-27
September 09-22
June 13-17
All classes run 10:00-11:00am.
*A well-fitted mask that covers the nose and chin are required for all class participants. Please self-screen for Covid symptoms prior to coming to class. Please do not attend class if you have Covid symptoms or are feeling unwell.
Classes are geared towards advanced/professional level contemporary dancers and often serve as WCD’s company class. Participants often include WCD dancers, independent dancers, graduates and aspiring graduates of professional training programs, and/or those that are working, or aspiring to work, as a contemporary dancer.
Classes often led by Artistic Director, Jolene Bailie with live drumming by Ian Mikita. For 22/23, Guest Artist Idan Cohen, also taught class in conjunction with WCD’s project work.
TRY CLASS AT HOME: Scroll down to the bottom of this page to access WCD: Class at Home, free online and on demand.
In conjunction with seasonal programming, WCD may also offer workshops that are open to movers of all levels and all artistic genres. Recent workshops include the Improvisation Workshop with Guest Artist Daina Ashbee, the In the Body workshop with Guest Artist Marie-Josee Chartier and the Creative Workshop with Guest Artist Sara Porter.
Workshops 22/23
An Improvisation Workshop with
Internationally Acclaimed Artist, Daina Ashbee
Monday, November 28
10:00am-1:00pm
Beginning with a gentle warm up that carries us closer to our body’s presence. We explore rituals that lead us to places of calm and of trance. Exercises encourage us to activate an innate wildness, a liberating calm, and guided improvisation concepts bring us to our own creative processes or serve us as we are guided into Ashbee’s unique choreographic repertoire. As a group we seek harmony and coherence within the concept that our bodies and minds behold unlimited potential for creative exploration, yet we are often confined to one space, one time. Our reservations become our tools as we require structure as much as we do freedom. Moving meditations open our connection to our subconscious mind, resulting in a creative clarity and deeper connection to our sensations.
About Daina Ashbee
The workshop is led by award-winning and internationally acclaimed Metis/Dutch Canadian artist, Daina Ashbee.
Artist, performer and choreographer based in Canada, born in Nanaimo, British Columbia known for her radical works at the edge of dance and performance. At the age of 26, she had already won two awards for her choreographies. She was a double prizewinner at the Prix de la danse de Montréal, winning both the Prix du CALQ for Best Choreography of 2015-2016 for her choreographic installation When the Ice Melts, Will We Drink the Water?, and the Prix Découverte de la danse, for Unrelated (her first choreography). Daina was named by the prestigious German TANZ magazine as one of 30 promising artists for the year 2017 and named one of 25 to watch by the American publication, DANCE in 2018.
Daina Ashbee’s bio here
PAST SEASONS
In 21/22, WCD offered 88 in-person classes and creative workshops/classes with Guest Artists Sara Porter, Jera Wolfe and Marie-Josée Chartier.
In 20/21, WCD offered 72 in-person classes, free online classes (see WCD: Class at Home, links below) and creative workshops/classes with Guest Artists Syreeta Hector and Marie-Josée Chartier.
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WCD: Class at Home!
Free! Online and on demand!
Geared towards advanced and professional level contemporary dancers, classes are created for a smaller dancing area and as an option for dancers to train at home during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two versions of each class are available. The first version has a breakdown and teaching of each setting. The second version moves at a much quicker pace, offering the option to run class.
Available for dancers to do at home and at their convenience.
Artist Fees for WCD’s online classes were made possible with the additional support of a Safe at Home grant from the Government of Manitoba.