Christian Von Howard is an independent choreographer who is renowned in the world of contemporary dance as well as teaching at ACDFA and works in New York City (link on his bio and website at the end of this post). September 19th: This day was comprised of having Ballet at 11am, followed by contemporary technique, a Van Howard master class during PDPR, directly followed by the audition on the Winship building. During the master class, I felt very loose and his personality was crazy as he calls himself as well as funny to listen to. Van Howard made us worn out before we even finished across the floor jumps and walks. However it was so fun and thrilling to get to see the style of a guest artist who has gone through the same pathway which we are going (he graduated BFA from TCU) and to see how much he has accomplished on his own is quite mesmerizing as NYC is NOT cheap. I noticed two differing styles of his between the master class and the audition. The master class felt compiled of a mix with african, jazzy, contemporary movements with jungle and clubby music. It was fast-paced but well explained overall, and I truly found myself enjoying it regardless of my "bun-head" ways, I am beginning to manage to integrate all sort of dances thereby creating my own style. Now for the audition part, the piece he chose to teach us seemed quite lyrical in a way, not Balanchine all the way, but showed enough parts of a ballet contemporary work and enough "interesting" (weird) but AWESOME moves that I felt super loose and relaxed to do where I could enjoy it. His choreography is just stellar, elegant, and vicious. It intrigues you into thinking where in the world does this man come up with gorgeous movements! Don't even get me started on his imagery. He had us "pee in hydrants" like dogs to fully perform a bent leg turned in to second position. I repeat, he told us to "pee in hydrants." He definitely knows how to balance when to break the ice and make a class enjoyable. Did I mention he's crazy? he's the "feel good" type of crazy though. Even though I wasn't selected into the piece, I learned a lot about being relaxed and less tense. It's funny how sometimes things FINALLY click in your head and maybe its because we finally are able to find that place in our bodies where the choreography and combinations feel just right (YAASSSSS!). |