2008 DANCE WEAVER CLASSES, WORKSHOPS & EVENTS:

My dance studio in Mill Valley, CA where the private sessions and workshops take place, is very close to San Francisco-just 15 minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge heading north on Hwy 101. It has a lovely maple wood dance floor and expansive, inspirational views.

NEW! I will also start teaching drop-in group classes in June on Thursday nights at the Tamalpais Community Center in Mill Valley. Learn more about Dance In Marin.

READ Lisa's new dance BLOG for dance stories, movement tips, playlists, student poetry & more.

Exotic locale extended workshops take place in California, New Mexico, Molokai, The Big Island of Hawai'i and Mexico. Some workshops combine dancing with writing, poetry, painting, Intuitive Development, Sculptural Movement, and Bone Building. All deposits for workshops, intensives and classes are non-refundable.

PRIVATE DANCE SESSIONS:

90-minute private classes with Lisa in Mill Valley, Marin County, CA. can be scheduled anytime. The fee is from $80-$95 on a sliding scale.

These private dance classes with Lisa are tailored to your needs and desires regarding your dance practice. First she gets you grounded and aligned in your body before you start to move. This helps her see where you might need to focus attention and how to draw more awareness to those parts of the body that are less active and awake. This prevents injury and helps you overcome physical road blocks. Lisa then works on developing your creative flow and stamina, build your confidence, nurture your dance practice, and guide you in healing the places in your body that are numb, ignored, injured and not expressing themselves fully. Questions about this multi faceted art form that brings joy to the spirit? Please feel free to contact Lisa on how you can use dance as a rejuvenative practice.

GROUP DANCE CLASS SCHEDULE:

TAMALPAIS VALLEY COMMUNITY CENTER IN MILL VALLEY

Thursday evenings from 7 - 9 pm

June 5, 12, 19, 26 * July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 * no classes in August *

September 4, 11, 18, 25 * October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30

Sliding scale $10 - $20 per class.

Each group class is formatted to include a deep stretch, plenty of free-form dance time to a wide variety of music and surprise elements that arise from the group energy and inspiration which comes to me in the moment and usually end up enhancing our connection to our own dance and the dance of others. The class ends with a restful meditation. For more details go to Dance In Marin

Directions to the Tamalpais Community Center at 203 Marin Ave. Mill Valley, CA 94941: Take the Stinson Beach/Mill Valley/Muir Woods exit off of Highway 101. Go 0.1 mile on Hwy 1; turn Left onto Tennessee Valley Road; Go 0.4 mi. to the intersection of Marin Avenue. Entrance to parking lot is to the right.

WEEKEND DANCE WORKSHOPS:

The River Guidess & Lisa Alpine present:

KINGS RIVER FLOW FEST: A Movement & Rafting Adventure
June 20 - 24.   $250 for 3 days, $400 for 5 days (includes all meals & land-based activities; optional rafting @ $100/day.) Save 10% and ensure your space in a raft with a deposit placed by MAY 22nd. Raft spaces cannot be guaranteed after this date.

Join our fun-loving, creative community in a wilderness paradise, just 90 minutes east of Fresno, California, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada range. Pitch a tent at our spacious group campsite, and become immersed in “the flow” with friends old and new together with some exceptional Bay Area teachers, artists, musicians and healers coming to share their gifts with our community.

On the sandy banks of the Kings River, Lisa shall guide us each morning with a fluid, warming stretch and meditation session. Later during the day, inspired by the tall trees, whispering winds and flowing river, she shall lead us into the artistic relationship of Sculptural Movement--an interactive artistic dance with nature as your muse.

Savor organic, cooked and raw vegetarian fare, lovingly prepared and served by Lydia of Lydia's Lovin' Foods. Enjoy comfortable, secluded and spacious riverside camping beneath a crystal clear, star-filled sky (sleep in your tent or out on a tarp for stargazing), and warm summer nights around the fire. Unlike the Bay Area, summers at the Kings FEEL like summer, with dry air temperatures generally between the upper-80's and low-100's. Whether rafting or not, become refreshed, awake and alive as you dip in and out of the cool river throughout the day.

Camille Cusumano & Lisa Alpine present:

A TANGOED WEB OF WORDS: A Workshop of Improvisation & Total Presence in Writing & Dance
July 19 & 20.  10 AM - 4 PM. $145 (includes a hot Latin lunch both days)
Held at the Dance Weaver studio in Mill Valley, CA.

Camille is author of the upcoming Seal Press book, TANGO: an Argentine Love Story, "a spicy travel memoir of a woman who loved, lost, got mad---and decided to dance." She will be teaching writing exercise with Lisa and tango steps with her one of her dance partners, Tomasso.

Tango, like Zen/or any meditation fast-tracks one to a sacred place of bliss, harmony, rapture. In tango, one must be totally present, and yet "not-think". In writing one must be totally present, and honest - and allow the deeper voices to guide. The dancer quiets her mind; the writer quiets the chatterbox narrator and lets the deeper self emerge and write. We'll weave back and forth between the dancing and writing.

Our theme of tango is a dance of improvisation, where there is a leader and follower, who meet and pool their identities for the greater good of a dance. We'll have specific exercises for the writing - how the seemingly separate roles of "leader" (or male impetus) and follower (or female receiver) affect one's writing. We all have both the male and female energy to greater or lesser degrees. When writing these two energies also improvise and dance together.

Camille will demonstrate how tango is a simple dance in many ways --- all its patterns emanate from infinite variations of just six basic steps. She will also provide handouts on tango terms and a list of dance teachers around the Bay Area if students decide to develop their tangoed ways even more.

STORYDANCE: A Dance & Writing Workshop
August 2 & 3. 10 AM - 4 PM. $125 (includes lunch both days)
Taught in Mill Valley, CA.

How do these two art forms support one another? The mind is loosened by the movement and the movement is defined by the words. I believe that dancing and writing make a lovely duet in the creative firing of the inspirational juices. This workshop will cover these territories in both dynamic art forms: Setting the scene * Awakening all the senses * Building tension * Developing character * Adding emotional qualities.

Learn how to infuse your dance and writing with detailed imagery, passionate feeling, poetic depth and evocative sensual description. Bring writing paper or your laptop, and healthy snacks. Wear comfortable, layered clothes, including socks or dance shoes if you prefer not to dance barefoot. Held at the Dance Weaver studio in Mill Valley, Marin County, CA.

Audette Sophia & Lisa Alpine present:

POETRY IN MOTION: Weaving Words with Movement
September 27. Noon - 5 PM. $85
Taught in Mill Valley, CA.

Take a leap into a new, stimulating and healthy way to explore your poetic flow. Add dance to your writerly repertoire, and find a new way to tap into the poetry that dances within you. We'll flex not only our movement muscles, but our ability to pull descriptive words from our subconscious and string them into dance-inspired poetry.

This workshop will begin with a movement warm-up to a wide range of music. Then we begin the interplay between dancing and writing in organic and structured ways. Stimulating solo and group poetry exercises will include dialogue duets, condensing free-write "hot spots", and Poetic Synergetics.

Bring healthy snacks and writing paper.  NOTE: No previous dance or poetry writing experience is necessary. This is a fun class that ANYONE can enjoy!

Audette Sophia is the author of Poetessence, a multi-modal performing artist and creative educator/coach.

CONTACT IMPROV: Dancing Dark & Light
Date TBA. 10 AM - 4 PM. $75
Taught at Ken's studio in the town of Sonoma

ENHANCE YOUR DANCE: Increasing Your Dance Skills
Date TBA. 10 AM - 3 PM. $75 (includes a feast after class)
Taught at Mill Valley, CA.

One of the most satisfying experiences in life is experiencing the growth of your artistic abilities . . . the gift given you to express yourself in this lifetime. Let's amp up your dance potential with a full throttle exploration of enhancing your existing dance patterns and developing new skills and techniques. This will be a very hands-on workshop with Lisa guiding individual students into deeper, stronger and more expressive ways to dance.

A delicious feast follows the workshop. This allows students to share inspirational conversation in good company!