About the Summer Dance Institute ONLINE

We are excited to announce that the 2020 Summer Dance Institute is moving online!

This summer the School of Dance is partnering with New York City-based choreographer and dancer Alexandra Beller and somatic practitioner Anna Vira Sullivan to help you hone your dance-making skills, keep your body in shape, and develop skills that prepare you for college and a professional career in the arts. Plus, you can earn college credit.

Specially designed for online learning, you'll enjoy daily Pilates and yoga classes, practice compositional techniques and make new dances in Alexandra Beller's renowned ChoreoLab workshop, and learn crucial skills such as resume and grant writing, how to manage your digital profile, and the workings of the non-profit arts sector.

Scroll down to learn more, including program fees, information on scholarships and financial aid, a daily schedule and class descriptions, and profiles of our guest artists.

Dates and Daily Schedule

All classes will be held via secure Zoom sessions and Google Classroom.

Sunday, June 7 / 5:00 PM ET
Welcome session   

Weekdays, June 8 - June 19

9:30-10:15
Warm up with a Pilates or yoga class led by Anna Vira Sullivan

10:30-noon
Alternating ChoreoLab composition workshop with Alexandra Beller and pre-college/pre-professional development seminars with OU faculty

Friday, June 19
Closing session and live showing of student choreography 

Class Descriptions

Yoga and Pilates with Anna Vira Sullivan

Anna teaches an alignment-based Vinyasa yoga class that is cued rhythmically with the breath. Her combination of strengthening, stretching, breath awareness, and mindfulness is valuable for enhancing a dancer's experience. 

Pilates complements dance technique through their shared principles of deep core support, pelvic alignment, joint stability, balanced strength, and coordination. This class will offer dancers an opportunity to focus on specific areas needed to prevent injury and heighten performance. 

ChoreoLab with Alexandra Beller

ChoreoLab is a composition workshop for dancers who want to practice and expand their dance-making skills. In this workshop you'll learn to create material in an uninhibited and impulse-driven manner, to be wild, fantastical, and daring. Equally, you'll also learn how to give and receive feedback in ways that help you edit and structure choreography. ChoreoLab is an opportunity to engage with a community of artists who support each other through a creative process. 

Some of the questions that we may engage with include: How do we invent movement that is fresh and unique? How do we challenge our habits? What are the uses of text within a dance and how do we respect the power of language and of movement equally? How does an object absorb the correct amount of value within a dance? How can we use sound to support, enlarge, or subvert our narrative? How do we engage with media, like video, projection, live music, live feed, motion sensors, and other forms of technology to support our work? How do we coach our performers to bring out their best performance while still encouraging their individuality? How do we use lighting, costume, set, prop, etc. to finish our images and tell stories of their own? How do we create a future for our work?  

Pre-college and Professional Development with OU Faculty

You will craft resumes and learn to manage your digital profile, practice grant-writing, explore dance company models, and gain a broader understanding of what it is to be a professional dancer in the twenty-first century. For those beginning a degree in dance, the SDI will prepare you for your experiences in higher education.

About our Guest Artists

Alexandra Beller

Alexandra Beller’s experience and achievements are diverse and span the disciplines of dance, dance studies, theater, and somatic practices. Her critically acclaimed international performance career includes seven years with the Bill. T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, and projects with Martha Clarke, John Turturro, and others. She created Alexandra Beller/Dances in 2001 and has created over 40 original dance theatre works, both for her own and other companies. Her choreography has been presented at/commissioned by Dance Theater Workshop, 92nd St. Y, Aaron Davis Hall, Danspace Project at St. Marks, Abrons Art Center, Joyce SoHo, P.S. 122, WAX, HERE, The Connelly Theater, SUNY Purchase College, Dance New Amsterdam, Symphony Space, and Jacob’s Pillow, and has been commissioned by companies in Arizona, Michigan, Texas, Korea, Hong Kong, Oslo, Cyprus, Maine, Ohio, New York City, Florida, Boston, Rhode Island, New Jersey and elsewhere. Alexandra currently holds a BFA in Dance, MFA in Dance, and CMA (Certified Movement Analyst) in Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals.

Click here to learn more about Alexandra Beller!

Anna Vira Sullivan

Anna Vira is a yoga educator (E-RYTRYT® 500, YACEP®), Pilates instructor, and holistic nutrition coach. Her approach is gentle yet challenging with a focus on building strength, joint stability, and overall body and breath awareness. She embraces a creative flow style of teaching that is uplifting and keeps her students moving throughout the practice. Anna also enjoys working with students individually to create transformational fitness and nutrition programs.

Anna began her wellness journey back in 2003 shortly after graduating from Ohio University with a BFA in Dance. She found great interest in yoga, Pilates, and nutrition in search of ways to heal and maintain her body as a professional dance artist. She loves sharing her diverse knowledge of the body with her students to help them feel their best inside and out.

Anna has been teaching for over a decade and in that time has achieved a number of certifications. She is a fully certified Pilates instructor through Pilates Sports Center, completed her advanced yoga teacher (300 hr) through Janson Crandell Yoga, and is also a certified holistic nutrition coach from Bauman College of Berkeley California.

Click here to learn more about Anna Vira Sullivan.

Program and Additional Fees

Program Fees
$295 (includes all classes and activities)

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Some financial aid and scholarships are available to assist with program fees. To apply, upload your financial aid and/or merit scholarship application along with your registration.

For merit scholarship applications, you will email a link to a 2-minute (maximum) audition video to summerdanceinstitute@ohio.edu or meet with an Ohio University School of Dance representative in person.

Staff, Faculty, and Alumni Discount

Ohio University staff, faculty, and alumni, as well as their children and dependents, receive a 10 percent discount on program fees. Enter employee name and department or enter your degree program completed and year of graduation at registration to receive your discount. Only one discount will apply.

Undergraduate Scholarships

Students who successfully complete a summer program in the College of Fine Arts may be eligible for additional Fine Arts Scholarships at the undergraduate level, should they choose to pursue a degree in the fine arts at Ohio University.

How to Register

Click the Register Now button and submit all registration information and any scholarship application material. 

Note: The Summer Dance Institute is open to pre-professional and professional dancers age 15 and older.

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You can make a payment when you register, but if you choose to make a payment at a later time, click the Make a Payment button below.

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