ALTERNATIVA is an apparatus for deeply integrated contemporary dance and music via creation, improvisation, performance, education and curation. Based in San Francisco, dancer Kathleen Hermesdorf and musician Albert Mathias collaborate on investigations into the ineffability of the human condition. The organization supports the creative work and acts as an umbrella for Alternative Conservatory and AM Audio/Media. ALTERNATIVA is in residence at KUNST-STOFF arts and a founding member of [ABC] Arts Building Consortium.
Kathleen Hermesdorf is a San Francisco-based dance artist and Director of ALTERNATIVA and Alternative Conservatory. She has been a member of Bebe Miller Company, Contraband/Sara Shelton Mann, and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company. She was co-director of Hermesdorf & Wells Dance Company with Scott Wells and Collusion with Stephanie Maher, with whom she produces PORCH summerschool at Ponderosa in Germany. Her work has been supported by the Zellerbach Family Foundation, CASH/Theatre Bay Area, CHIME, San Francisco Arts Commission and The Suitcase Fund. Hermesdorf holds a BFA and MFA in Dance Performance & Pedagogy. She teaches, creates and performs around the world.
Albert Mathias is a San Francisco-based musician creating composition and sound design for dance, theater, audio and film. He is the Music Director of ALTERNATIVA, and was a member of Bebe Miller Company and Contraband/Sara Shelton Mann. He has produced 10 CDs of original music and collaborated in numerous bands, most notably LiveHuman, an improvisation-based trio with Andrew Kushin and DJ Quest. Mathias has had the honor of studying with some true masters, including Amiya Dasgupta, John Bergamo, Leonice Shinneman, Pandit Swapan Chauduri, Sri Ravi Bellare and Tony Williams. His sounds can be found on I-Tunes, Bandcamp, CDbaby and more.
Class Description: GUT MOTIVES A general unified theory of the act of motion from internal impulse to external expression, utilizing a hybrid of forms to encourage deep awareness and understanding of the body. Motivated from the gut (center & viscera), requiring guts (courage & instinct) and translating to ‘good’ & ‘possession’, the practice is a progression of energy cultivation, hands-on investigation, somatic improvisation, technical experiments and methods of falling, flying & inversion, culminating in dynamic, 3-dimensional phrase work. An intimate and animated arena for physical and artistic exploration, deeply informed by live original music, the class cultivates sensate virtuosity, kinetic efficiency and inter-active intelligence.
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