Summer Baroque Dance Workshop

An intensive workshop in baroque dance (European ballroom and theatrical dance of the late 17th and early 18th centuries). Classes in technique, repertoire, and dance notation, with opportunities for independent projects.

As in past years, the summer Baroque dance workshop will be allied with the International Baroque Institute at Longy (IBIL). This year’s IBIL theme is “Paris/Versailles—crossroads of Europe”. Dancers are invited to attend IBIL lectures and concerts, and to participate in the IBIL student performance on Saturday, 28 July. A portion of the dance workshop will be devoted to preparing dances for this performance.

The dance workshop will focus on French dances that have a Paris/Versailles connection, including dances from Le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos, by Favier. Repertory will include menuets, gavottes, sarabandes, bourrées, and other baroque dance types.

The workshop will be held at Integrarte studios in Jamaica Plain, Boston, with the first and final days at the Longy School of Music of Bard College. Integrarte’s regularly-scheduled classes, including ballet and yoga, are available to workshop particpants at a discounted rate.

Top of page | Tentative Schedule | Students | About the Instructor | Location and Housing | Tuition and Registration | For Further Information

Students

This course is for students who have a serious interest in baroque dance. Experienced baroque dancers are welcome, as are dancers and dance teachers from other dance genres, such as ballet or modern dance, or musicians who have had some dance training. No prior experience with early dance or with dance notation is required, but some dance background is essential. Classes may be split into separate groups to accommodate students’ interests and abilities.

About the Instructor

Ken Pierce trained in ballet and modern dance, studying on scholarship at both the American Ballet Theatre School and the Merce Cunningham studio. He has specialized in early dance—especially, late-Renaissance and Baroque dance—for the past three decades, as choreographer, reconstructor, performer, and teacher. Companies he has performed with include the Court Dance Company of New York, the New York Baroque Dance Company, Ris et Danceries (Paris), Danse Baroque Toronto, and the baroque dance trio Hémiole (Paris), of which he was a co-founder. He directs his own company, the Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Company, for which he has choreographed or reconstructed dances for performances with Tafelmusik, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Copenhagen, The King’s Noyse, Handel & Haydn Society, and the Boston Early Music Festival. Choreographic credits include dances for Les Élémens, Les Festes d’Hébé, Tirsi e Clori, and les Festes de l’Amour et de Bacchus; King Arthur at the Boston Early Music Festival, and such twentieth-century premières as Le Carnavale Mascarade; Les Plaisirs de Versailles, with Ex Machina Baroque Opera Ensemble; the masque Oberon, at Case Western Reserve University; and le Mariage de la Grosse Cathos at the Amherst Early Music Festival. He was assistant choreographer for Quelques pas graves de Baptiste, Francine Lancelot’s baroque-style piece for the Paris Opera Ballet, whose cast included Rudolph Nureyev. Mr. Pierce has taught at summer dance and music workshops in the U.S. and abroad. He directs the early dance program at the Longy School of Music of Bard College (Cambridge), and teaches classes and workshops at the Integrarte studio in Boston.

Top of page | Tentative Schedule | Students | About the Instructor | Location and Housing | Tuition and Registration | For Further Information

Location

Integrarte is located in Boston’s Jamaica Plain district, a short walk from restaurants and shops and close to the Green Street stop on the MBTA Orange Line. There is free parking in a lot across the street from the building.

Housing

Please contact Integrarte for information about housing options near the studio.

Those wishing to explore other housing options might visit MIT’s temporary housing page or Harvard’s list of short-term accommodations.

Tuition and Registration

Tuition for the workshop is $350. You may register

• In person at the Integrarte front desk.
• By mail: send a check, made payable to Integrarte, to

  INTEGRARTE
  85 Seaverns Avenue
  Boston, MA 02130

• Through MindBody, the secure site used by Integrarte for online registration. (You will be asked to create an account if you do not have one already.)

If you have not previously attended a summer workshop taught by Ken Pierce, please send him an e-mail message summarizing your prior baroque dance experience, your prior experience with other forms of dance, and your main reasons for wishing to attend this summer’s Baroque Dance Workshop.

As part of the registration process, each workshop participant will be asked to sign Integrarte’s standard waiver form.

For Further Information

For further information about the workshop, please contact the instructor, Ken Pierce, at kpierce@mit.edu.

Top of page | Tentative Schedule | Students | About the Instructor | Location and Housing | Tuition and Registration | For Further Information

Please note that schedules and other program details outlined above are subject to modification.