COMPANY CLASSES
Michael Loehr’s company classes are very much adaptable to the company’s artistic profile and consequently to the dancers’ needs. First and foremost designed to physiologically and psychologically prepare the dancers for a full day of rehearsals or performances, Michael’s warm up is intended to quite literally raise the body temperature in order to facilitate the flow of oxygen, to improve the efficiency of muscle contraction and to soften the dancers’ bodies in order to free their articulation and prevent injuries.
Stylistically in line with his open classes and his focus on functionality, Michael proposes different additional blocks concentrating on contemporary technique and floorwork, choreographic work or improvisational exercises depending on what is most beneficial in the given context. The general idea is to stimulate and challenge the dancers’ bodies and brains without exhausting them before their working day even starts.
Photos by Gabi Rácz
My class develops from plain and pure body-work / work-out exercises, through short floor- and standing combinations into more complex choreographic sequences. Some of the basic principles which are constantly worked with are: finding, strengthening and shifting the center, being on and off balance, resting and exploding into space, moving expansively and taking risks. The class is very physical, energetic and athletic but it also focuses on increasing the physical awareness in order to be able to work within a frame in which one can push his individual limits but keep the body safe.
It‘s an essential part of the class to discover and make full use of the logic that underlies every movement phrase. Based on that understanding i want to encourage the participants to take their own decisions, so they can find their own way of playing with quality, musicality and dynamics and strengthen their individual expression as a performer.