Masterclasses
Stay tuned for the next opportunity!
Graham Lustig
Join Graham Lustig, artistic director of Oakland Ballet, for a ballet masterclass, available to participants thanks to a partnership between Northrop and JSB. This class is for intermediate/advanced level dancers and will bring focus to placement, musicality, and expression.
Free for University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. Participants will receive a 50% off discount code to attend 10,000 Dreams on either Apr 12 or 13.
For the past twelve seasons, Mr. Lustig has presented his critically-acclaimed production of The Nutcracker at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre, as well as an annual spring season rooted in contemporary works creating partnerships with local artists. In 2016 he began presenting Luna Mexicana, a celebration of Día de los Muertos, and Dancing Moons Festival, the first Asian American Pacific Islander ballet showcase in the nation, of which received an Isadora Duncan Award in 2021. Under Lustig’s watch, Oakland Ballet has grown its Discover Dance Program to provide in-school and in-theater arts programming for nearly a dozen East Bay school districts, reaching more than 15,000 East Bay students each year. He has also curated the You Can Dance! Program that brings movement based learning into the schools.
Trained at the Royal Ballet School in London, Mr. Lustig danced with the Dutch National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet before embarking on a freelance choreographic career that has included operas, ballets and musicals. He serves as a founding member of the Artists Committee of Americans for the Arts, and has served numerous times on the Dance and Policy Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Oakland Ballet website
Northrop event website
Saturday, February 17th, 10am-11:30am
Ivan Cavallari
Artistic Director, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
As a choreographer, he... [brings] the company’s repertoire in a resolutely classical direction while remaining anchored in modernity.
This class is available to participants thanks to a partnership between Northrop and James Sewell Ballet.
Participants will receive a 50% off discount code for a performance of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens Dancing Beethoven at Northrop Feb 17-18.
Born in Bolzano, Italy, in 1964, Ivan Cavallari received his initial training at the Teatro alla Scala Ballet School in Milan. His teachers recognized his talent by awarding him a scholarship to the Bolchoi Ballet School in Moscow in 1981, where he continued his training until 1983. From 1984 to 1985, he danced with the Scala Ballet School before joining the Stuttgart Ballet in 1986, where he became a soloist and then principal dancer under the successive directorships of Marcia Haydée and Reid Anderson. He danced all the leading roles of John Cranko’s ballets and regularly staged the latter’s works with the Royal Ballet Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Czech National Ballet, among many other companies. He also staged numerous works by Uwe Scholz, and choreographed ballets for the Stuttgart Ballet, the State Opera Ballet in Hanover, the Lodz State Opera Ballet in Poland, the Mannheim Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, the Staatsgallerie Stuttgart and the Liaoning Ballet of China.
From 2007 to 2012, he was the Artistic Director of the West Australian Ballet, the oldest dance company in Australia. In 2013, he was named the Artistic Director of the Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin, where he staged such works as Dolly in April 2013, and his own choreographies of Pinocchio in 2014 and The Nutcracker in 2016.
He takes over the helm of Les Grands Ballets as Artistic Director as of the 2017-2018 season. As a choreographer, he creates new pieces such as Presto-Detto, Giselle and Romeo & Juliet, bringing the company’s repertoire in a resolutely classical direction while remaining anchored in modernity.
IVAN CAVALLARI IN A FEW DATES
1981 – Scholarship to the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow
1984 – Dancer at the Teatro alla Scala Ballet
1986 – Dancer at the Stuttgart, Ballet, principal dancer from 1991
2007 – Appointed Artistic Director of the West Australian Ballet
2008 – The Nutcracker with the West Australian Ballet
2012 – Appointed Artistic Director of the Ballet de l’Opéra national du Rhin
2017 – Appointed Artistic Director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
2019 – Premiere of Giselle
2022 – Premiere of Romeo & Juliet
Les Grands Ballets Canadiens website
Move with exciting leaders in the Twin Cities contemporary dance scene
The goal of this series is pure process. The leaders get to see ideas actualized on movers in the room, and movers get to experience a single-day choreographic workshop with each leader.Geared toward adult dancers (18+) with Int/Adv technique who are:
Schedule
featuring guest instructor & choreographerShohei Iwahama!
Overall I loved this intensive! It was amazing. Being in close contact with the company members was definitely my favorite thing. Being able to watch them in class and take their advice gave me an entire new perspective on not only how I dance, but also how I think about attacking or conserving my movements in a step. I am so grateful I was given this opportunity!!
Student from 2018 Twin Sky Intensive
I was welcomed each day in class by being pushed to work harder as well as acceptance of where my movement level stands. Each teaching artists had so many unique offerings that each day felt like a whole new world of ideas. Finally, despite the days being long they did not feel that way, it was such a fun program to be a part of!
C.R., reflecting on JSB's August 2022 Intensive
I most enjoyed having the privilege of working with such a great group of non-judgmental and passionate people.
Student from 2018 Twin Sky Intensive
Over the course of the rehearsals and performance, I realized that effective movement felt like a language I didn't know how to speak, and that the company dancers were completely fluent in. It highlighted my insecurities, but it also felt like it opened my eyes to how dance can serve as a language and a means of communication. I loved the experience overall, learned so much, and developed even more respect for the dancers.
Big Sky community member, reflecting on a 2019 workshop and performance experience with JSB
The JSB summer intensive was a lovely experience that helped me to ground myself in my body and my movement style! Every class set me up for success and the reflections from company members and teachers have impacted my dancing in more ways than one! It was an incredible experience to learn from so many wonderful artists and I am extremely grateful for the company, teachers, pianists and my fellow dancers for all of the special moments that have come from this intensive.
A.S., reflecting on JSB's August 2022 Intensive
What you need to know:
Program Basics
Classes will take place in beautiful studio 2B at the Cowles Center in downtown Minneapolis.
We are located one block from the Warehouse District LRT station on the Blue Line. There is ample street and lot parking available nearby.
Questions may be directed to info@jsballet.org.
Health and Safety Policies
Effective June 20th, 2022, the Cowles Center will require masks only when attending a performance in the theatres. Masks are no longer required in hallways and dance studios. JSB will adhere to this policy, making masks optional in our classes until further notice. JSB reserves the right to make changes to these policies at any time.
Leaders
Monday (Dec 18)
Photo by Blake Nellis
Javan relocated to Minnesota in 2021 by way of Portland, OR. He graduated from Western Oregon University in three years, magna cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science in Dance and Sociology. At present, he dances with James Sewell Ballet, ARENA Dances, and Rhythmically Speaking. He has previously been a company dancer with Black Label Movement, Collide Theatrical, Threads Dance Project, Dar Vejon Jones Dance Ensemble, and BodyVox. He has also had the privilege of performing as a guest artist for numerous companies such as HATCH Dance, Analog Dance Works, Ballet Co.Laboratory, Heidi Duckler Dance, Cynthia Gutierrez’s Company Movimiento, and Dar Vejon Jones Dance Ensemble. Javan is a certified instructor of The Ellové Technique®; he has taught at many studios in Oregon and Minnesota. This season Javan is teaching at Hothouse MN and Out on a Limb.
Tuesday (Dec 19)
Photo courtesy Berit Ahlgren
Native to St. Paul, Minnesota, Berit Ahlgren gained her foundational dance training from Minnesota Dance Theater and received a BFA in Dance from St. Olaf College, where she also studied biomedical studies. Ahlgren was a founding member of TU Dance under the artistic directorship of Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands, and performed with the company between 2006—2016. Having received Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s highly competitive Next Step Grant in 2011, Ahlgren had the opportunity to study the Gaga Movement Language in Tel Aviv, and moved to Israel to pursue teacher certification between 2011— 2012. Ahlgren earned her MFA in Dance from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts in 2016, and has since been on faculty at the University of Minnesota and Winona State University, performing with independent choreographers between Minneapolis and New York, and choreographing her own body of work for both stage and camera under her fledgling dance organization, HoneyWorks (2019). Ahlgren has had the great pleasure to work with Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Netta Yerushalmy, Dimitri Chamblas, Gregory Dolbashian, Dwight Rhodan, Ashwini Ramaswamy, and Helen Hatch, among others. In addition to her work as dancer-choreographer, Berit teaches weekly Gaga/people classes throughout the Twin Cities.
Wednesday (Dec 20)
Photo by Bill Cameron
Thursday (Dec 21)
Photo by Dahli Durley
Elayna Waxse (she/they) is a choreographer, dance educator and performer based in Mni Sota Makoce on the ancestral lands of the Dakota and Anishinaabe, now known as St. Paul, Minnesota.
Originally from Overland Park, Kansas, she began her training with Alecia Good and also at the Kansas City Ballet School under the direction of Karen P. Brown, spending her summers at the School of American Ballet in New York City. They continued their training at the Professional Division program at Pacific Northwest Ballet School in Seattle, WA., where they regularly performed with the company.
Professionally, Elayna has danced with Minnesota Dance Theatre, Colorado Ballet/Colorado Ballet Studio Company, Black Label Movement, BodyCartography Project, and with Cie. Ismael Ivo at ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival and in São Paulo, Brazil.
She was a member of TU Dance from 2012 to 2019, performing works by Alvin Ailey, Dwight Rhoden, Jawole Willa Jo Zoller, Katrin Hall, Francesca Harper, Stephanie Batten-Bland, Gioconda Barbuto, and Gregory Dolbashian among others. They were part of the original creation team of Come Through, the collaboration between TU Dance and Grammy-award winning musical group Bon Iver. Through this collaboration Elayna performed at the Hollywood Bowl (LA, CA), the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D.C.), and at Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival (Manchester, TN).
Elayna is 2019 recipient of a McKnight Fellowship in Dance, through which they worked with choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith on an original solo.
Previous choreographic commissions include Minnesota Dance Theatre, University of Minnesota Dance Department (2022 Cowles Visiting Artist), Carleton College Dance Department, Threads Dance Project, St. Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists, University of Minnesota Opera Theatre, and Zenon Dance Zone among others.
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Registrants will need to send additional paperwork (medical information, asset release, etc.) to be submitted via email.