DanceAction Summer Workshop 2025: Contemporary Pathways & Architecture
August 4th to August 8th, 2025, from 4:30 to 7:30 PM
The Center at West Park
165 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024
Workshop Presentation:
Friday, August 8th, from 8 to 9 pm @ DA Garden Series
Workshop Fees: Sliding Scale (Pay what you can**)
$15/Workshop Day - $70/Full Workshop
$20/Workshop Day - $90/Full Workshop
$30/Workshop Day - $135/Full Workshop
**Email me at danceactionnyc@gmail.com for Need-based Workshop Scholarships.
We won’t turn anybody away.
DanceAction’s Summer workshop for dancers, performers, or movers of any kind offers an integrated experience that includes dance training, improvisation, and composition. This comprehensive dance experience will enable participants to access a unique combination of dance techniques, discovering DanceAction’s “Pathways & Architecture” style, playful improvisation approaches, and dance-making tools and strategies that will ignite their creativity and broaden their physical ability and versatility as movement artists.
This Summer Workshop will explore three key components of a
Comprehensive dance experience:
Technical training, Improvisation, and Dance-making.
The Workshop
Dance Training
"Pathways & Architecture"
& Repertory
Dance Improvisation
Dance-Making & Composition
Culminating Presentation at DanceAction
Garden Series
Friday, August 8th
from 8 to 9 pm
The Contemporary dance training segment offers a unique blend of dance techniques and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham, Release, Argentinian Tango & Folk Dance, Salsa, and Partnering Techniques), designed to build strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination, and movement mechanics. Through a series of exercises that study the shape and pathways of energy in space, dancers will discover innovative strategies for exploring the swift changes in levels and navigating the space between vertical and horizontal planes. Each training segment concludes with an exploration of DanceAction’s repertory through accessible phrase work, providing an opportunity to implement these training strategies. This practice will enable participants to explore a diverse range of movement languages and styles, thereby expanding their overall physical abilities and enhancing their performative interpretation.
An Improvisation segment will follow, inviting participants to immerse themselves in a playful experience. This will include theater and movement games, movement explorations, structured dance improvisations, score-building exercises, partnering approaches, and open dance. By navigating these activities progressively, participants will gain awareness of the people they are moving with; they will experience clarity and ease in decision-making scenarios and will develop a sense of alertness and strong presence in spontaneous situations. They will also integrate the concept of “Yes and!” within the group practice of dance improvisation and enhance their listening skills in dance.
Lastly, a portion of the class will be focused on Dance-making exercises that will serve as a laboratory for developing the participants’ choreographic ideas and also contribute to DanceAction’s latest project in development, Pathways and Architecture. Participants will be able to discover these composition tools and their practicality by learning excerpts from the DA repertoire. These choreographic tools, along with the improvisation strategies, will be applied in the creation of short dances that participants will perform at the workshop's culminating Performance on Friday, August 8th.
The Workshop will conclude with an informal presentation of short performance works created by the participants at the DanceAction Garden Series on Friday, August 8th, at 8 pm*. The event will also feature excerpts from DanceAction’s repertory, including its latest work, "The Price is Right (De-Valued)," and its current development project, "Pathways and Architecture." All workshop participants who attend the entire week of classes will be eligible to perform in the culminating performance event.
*In the event of inclement weather, the showing will be rescheduled to take place at the Center at West Park, 3rd floor studio, on Friday, August 8th, 2025, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm.
The Audition
We are seeking dancers, performers, or movers residing in New York City to join the company this fall and participate in its programming through the winter and spring of 2026. BIPOC and Immigrant Artists of any gender identity are encouraged to apply! These dancers will be instrumental collaborators in developing a new choreographic project to be performed in the Spring of 2026 and restaging the company’s signature piece, BLINDSPOT. This year’s programming includes outdoor performances, a summer workshop, classes, and a series of full evening performances.
Applicants should have broad experience in contemporary dance forms, including movement improvisation, floor work, partnering, and physical theater. A passion for working in a collaborative environment is a must, along with excellent communication skills. DanceAction’s choreography blends an array of movement languages and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham Technique, Release, Argentine Tango, Salsa), connecting body architecture, spirals, and pathways of energy in space. DanceAction’s Artistic Associates are creative, problem-solving individuals with a genuine interest in building meaningful connections with others while using dance as a catalyst for social change.
The audition will be held on a Saturday afternoon in August. Selected applicants will receive the audition date information upon registration. Interested applicants are encouraged to attend DanceAction’s Summer Workshop at the Center at West Park (165 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024) on Monday, August 4th to Friday, August 8th, from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. Participation in the workshop is highly recommended to be considered for this opportunity, as it will familiarize you with DanceAction’s choreographic style and movement language. To register for the workshop, SIGN UP HERE: https://forms.gle/fxztF8b9T9ucLnYP8
DanceAction’s Artistic Associates will receive hourly rehearsal compensation and a performance stipend.
In-person Rehearsals will start in the fall and take place on Mondays and Thursdays, between 4 and 8 pm, and on Wednesdays or Fridays in the morning, between 10 and 2 pm, at different studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The complete rehearsal calendar will be posted at the end of the summer. If you have conflicts with the schedule but would like to participate, send a message, and we will discuss whether accommodations can be made.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, please email Carmen Caceres at danceactionnyc@gmail.com your resume, Headshot (or a picture of yourself), samples of your dance and performance work (reels/videos/website/links), and a few words describing yourself and why you would like to join the company. In the subject line, include the following message: “DA AUDITION 2025 - Your Name.”
Meet The Artists
