E L I S A   M O N T E   D A N C E

EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVES

ARTS EDUCATION is an important part of each artist’s job.  Over the years, Elisa Monte Dance has taken a practical and integral approach to this duty, regularly teaching workshops and master classes, as well as conducting lecture demonstrations and open rehearsals.

These and other educational activities – specifically tailored to the institution and the broader community being served – are offered in conjunction with company performances at venues throughout the United States and the world.  Elisa Monte Dance also conducts extended residencies, often in tandem with the creation of new work, which provide in-depth focus on dance creation, preparation, and performance.  Residency activities are geared to every level of dancer and student, from community non-dancers and novices to advanced-level students.

Elisa Monte Dance employs a comprehensive approach to its activities, utilizing a broad range of skills and techniques from Pilates and a Pilates-based warm-up and work-out to a focused ballet barre; from Graham-informed floor work (Monte is a former Martha Graham principal dancer) to yoga (Monte is also a seasoned Hatha yoga practitioner and teacher).  Components of residency activities can include a range of ballet, modern/contemporary, and repertory classes at various levels, depending on the ability of the students involved.  Open rehearsals, dubbed “Sneak-a-Peek”, are favorites among communities – open to all and providing a unique insight into the creative and rehearsal process.  Artistic Director Elisa Monte and the company members frequently conduct impromptu Q&A sessions at these open rehearsals.

Monte and company members perform various aspects of each residency activity.  The vast and diverse cultural backgrounds and experience represented in the company offer students a unique and varied perspective on how differing styles and cultures can be beautifully blended to create a cohesive troupe and powerful performances.

By fully immersing the students and integrating them into our company for an extended period, we hope to both improve the students’ technique and to instill in them a greater understanding of themselves and of the “process” of dance and choreography.  For the duration of longer-term residencies, we assume that students are members of our company and treat them as such.  We believe that by maintaining high expectations, we instill in the students a sense of responsibility that enables and encourages them to achieve great leaps in ability and understanding.  It is our feeling that constructive and positive comments are most successful and forceful, and that a non-threatening environment is most conducive to the retention of knowledge.  – Elisa Monte

In 2002, the company undertook a major arts-in-education initiative with an NEA-sponsored Harlem ARTS Project that took Elisa Monte Dance to the Harlem School of the Arts as artists-in-residence.  The company rehearsed, taught master classes, and brought performances and lecture demonstrations to an uptown audience via Harlem School of the Arts.

Elisa Monte Dance has conducted extended "home-base" residencies, supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, at Lake Placid Center for the Arts, SUNY/Fredonia, and Hamilton College, SUNY/Buffalo, and the new Kaatsbaan International Dance Center. Additional residencies have included California State University's Summer Arts program, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Studio, and Dance Strides Barbados, among others internationally.