Gaga/dancers deepens dancers’ awareness of physical sensations, expands their palette of available movement options, enhances their ability to modulate their energy and engage their explosive power, and enriches their movement quality with a wide range of textures. The classes are built on the same principles as Gaga/people classes but also employ the specific vocabulary and skills that are part and parcel of a dancer’s knowledge. The layering of familiar skills with Gaga tasks presents dancers with fresh challenges, and throughout the class, teachers prompt the dancers to visit more unfamiliar places and ways of moving as well, unlocking the endlessness of possibilities. Dancers are guided to connect their effort to pleasure and to discover the virtue of silliness.
Artist Bio
Anna Long is a performer, choreographer, and certified Gaga teacher based in the United States. Raised in Massachusetts, Anna began her dance training with New England Dance Academy of Attleboro. She earned her degree in dance and biology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. In 2011, Anna was accepted to the pilot Gaga Teachers Training program in Tel Aviv, and trained under Ohad Naharin, Gaga faculty, and members of Batsheva Dance Company.
Anna became a certified Gaga teacher in 2012. Since then, she served as a guest teacher for CSU Long Beach, Columbia College, TU Dance, Lee Saar, and Punch Drunk Theatre’s Sleep No More. She has also hosted Gaga/choreography workshops in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Paris, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles. She served on faculty as a Gaga instructor for Hubbard Street Dance Company’s Pre-professional program and teaches Gaga around the world. Anna now offers classes through Zoom to her community.
Anna has produced and created works independently and has choreographed commissions by Visceral Dance Chicago, the Cambrians, Dance Works Chicago, Elements Contemporary Ballet, Loyola Marymount College, Dance in the Parks Chicago, Extensions Dance Company, and James Graham Dance Theater in San Francisco. Anna was chosen as a featured artist for Dixon Place’s Under Exposed series in New York City and presented work in the inaugural Netherlands Choreography Competition in Spring 2017, the 2019 Boston Contemporary Dance Festival and at the 2019 VHS International Solo Dance Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany.
Most recently, Anna wrote, directed, and produced her first independent short film, titled EVEN. The film will be available in 2021 to any and all who contribute to the film’s GoFundMe campaign.