Contemporary Dance Training

Join us at the Genevieve Ryan Dance Academy - Main Studio

for 3 consecutive Sundays 11am - 1pm

This is for movers with some experience, whether you're a professional or dance enthusiast.

Each session will be led by a different dance artists, allowing you to meet various ways of playing with dance.

• April 27th led by Magdalena Hylak

Magdalena Hylak is a dance artist based in the West of Ireland. She is the Galway Dance Artist in Residence for 2023-2024.

Born in Poland, she studied cultural studies, including theatre and dance, at University of Wroclaw.

She began her professional career in 2011 by working with Michael Keegan Dolan (IE), Liz Roche (IE) and Lea Anderson (UK) as part of Step Up Dance Project. She then worked with Ríonach Ní Néill (IE), Catherine Young Dance (IE), Emma Martin (IE) and Akiko Kitamura (JP) before starting touring nationally and internationally with John Scott-IMDT (IE) and Nacera Belaza (FR), with over 150 performances in 52 venues across 12 countries.

At the core of her research is the movement and sound outside of the question of style/genre or technique, as well as the exploration of the relationships and tensions between public-personal, inside-outside, visible-invisible.

Her dance work can be described as raw, repetitive, highly physical and emanating from within. She is working with the belief that dance is rooted in human existence and that there is no confusion in the public perception of a choreographic work. Therefore, she is interested in community works where she tries to go back to the beginning and work around an absolute idea of movement/dance.

• May 4th led by Fionnuala & Roberta / testing ground projects

Roberta and Fionuala are dance artists, regular collaborators, and friends. Care for each other and the spaces they inhabit are at the core of how they work and what they produce. Roberta’s individual practice is interdisciplinary and verges on the surreal and absurd, while Fionnuala is highly physical and her practice seeks to communicate what written and oral language cannot. Together they draw on each other’s strengths to create engaging and vulnerable work.

Fionnuala Doyle Wade is a dance artist & community organiser from Seattle & based in Galway city. She trained at Cornish College of the Arts in the pre-professional program. She has worked in a diverse number of settings & communities within the arts world including: dance in traditional & site specific contexts, theatre, film, young people with additional needs, & asylum seekers. Fionnuala has worked for organisations including: Galway Dance, Dance Limerick, Macnas, Baboró, fíbín sa taibhdhearc, & Rosan Sensory Adventures. She has received residencies from Shawbrook, Galway Dance, West Cork Arts Centre & Dance Ireland; & her work has been supported by the Irish Arts Council. She has performed for choreographers such as Laura Murphy, Minte Wolde, Maria Nilsson Waller, & Roberta Ceginskaite. Fionnuala is an active committee member of the Galway Community Action Tenants Union & organiser in the Apartheid-Free Arts Movement.

Roberta Ceginskaite's work focuses on collective training of resilience, endurance and empathy. She trained in Contemporary Dance ( BA Hons) at Fontys Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, in Tilburg (The Netherlands). Since returning to Ireland, she has created her own work through residencies in Dance Limerick, Dance Ireland and Galway Dance. Her work is supported by the Irish Arts Council and has been presented abroad most recently at FAKI Festival in Zagreb (Croatia). She has recently performed at the Dublin Fringe Festival in a dance work by Abby Zbikowsky. Roberta has completed a year long community project with Dance Limerick on the topic of climate action and dance. She continues to collaborate with Galway based artists Fionnuala Doyle Wade and Magdalena Hylak on dance based works.

• May 11th led by Samuel Melecio- Zambrano

Born and raised in Florida, Samuel Melecio-Zambrano is currently based on Ramaytush Ohlone land (San Francisco, CA). They first encountered Countertechnique in 2017 at ADF and were so thrilled they continued training extensively across the globe. After attending three One Body, One Career intensives (2018, 2019, 2021) they completed the Countertechnique Teacher Training in 2021 and returned for their second training in 2024.

In 2018, Samuel received a BFA in Dance from the University of South Florida (USF). Following graduation, they worked as a member of Tampa City Ballet, and then relocated to Melbourne, Australia, to study Countertechnique with founder Anouk van Dijk and other certified teachers. Now in San Francisco, Samuel has danced with BANDALOOP, Robert Moses’ Kin, Jennifer Perfilio Movement Works, and Mark Foehringer Dance Projects, among others. They have taught Countertechnique both nationally and internationally for One Body One Career, Bates Dance Festival, Hollins University, Utah Valley University, Alonzo King LINES Dance Center, and more.

Class description:

The Countertechnique® class is a contemporary dance technique class. It stretches, coordinates and strengthens the body, making the dancer sweat, build stamina and really move.The class starts with a recurring set of exercises, allowing dancers to investigate the Countertechnique® principles in detail. The second half of the class consists of changing components, working towards luscious movement combinations and jumping at the end.The Countertechnique® class results in dancers using less energy, losing their fear of taking risks and gaining speed in changing direction.

Find out more at countertechnique.com