- the GROUNDING year - the first year of the first block of study
- the LOCATING year - the second year of the first block of study

GROUNDING

In the first year at SEAD the emphasis is on gaining concentrated experiential knowledge of in-studio work: daily classes in ballet, contemporary techniques and yoga make up the morning. Afternoons are spent in workshops in improvisation, composition and related subjects. Working with a variety of teachers and methods, students are introduced to vigorous and rigorous physical practices: energetic and soft, internally and externally driven, set or in-the-moment, old and new forms - all are engaged in to begin to inform each students aesthetics and goals. Introductory classes in anatomy, rhythm, injury prevention and production that are intended to contribute to the students knowledge and orientation of areas of interest are offered. In addition, a project for the whole group with a choreographer is undertaken in one of the year's later sessions.

A major component of the first year is an intensive in-studio workshop with a single artist. In this class, students are introduced to choreography and performing by dancing/making/improvising with a variety of methods intended to help each student in the group find his/her own creative potential and preferences. Work is done in the group to support one another's ideas with generosity and curiosity; while at the same time finding individual strategies toward doing one's best work and clarifying methods, goals and issues.

LOCATING

This second year both expands on the first and introduces new information The aim of the second year is to further locate and validate one's own creative practices. To that end, students work with several dance artists in the first half of the year. Theory and repertory classes are also introduced in the second year to provide historical and aesthetic overviews of the field, intended to give the student enough exposure to make informed choices for more concentrated study and pursuit. In the second half of the second year students start to articulate to themselves and to SEAD how they will spend the second block.