In partnership with Co. ERASGA
September 11/13/15: Alvin Collantes
Cover and page photo by Rita Couto
Class Description:
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. Gaga/dancers classes are open to dancers and advanced dance students ages 16+. Classes last between an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.
Alvin Collantes is a Filipino-Canadian queer dance artist, Certified Gaga teacher and photographer based in Berlin, Germany. Alvin started his work as dance artist in Toronto at the age of 18 where he performed in numerous shows including International Dance Day (2012), Nuit Blanche Toronto (2012) and Toronto’s Original Choreographer’s Ball (2012). As a guest artist, he has performed with Toes For Dance (2014), Frog In Hand’s “Creature” (2017) & “The Fall”(2018) as well as TranscenDance Project’s “Eve of St George” (2019). He has worked with choreographers Robert Kingsbury, Colleen Snell, Julia Cratchley, Scott Fordham, Shameka Blake and many more. Currently, he is a part of Kiani Del Valle’s KDV Dance Ensemble and has performed in “Las Casas Invisbles,”which debuted at the iconic Funkhaus last February of 2020.
He completed the Gaga Teacher’s Training Course in 2018 under the artistic direction of Bosmat Nossan and Saar Harari with the generous support from the Ontario Arts Council’s Skills & Careers Development Grant for Artists of Colour and Canada Council for the Arts’ Career Development Grant. During the course, he participated in Gaga intensives and a guest at Batsheva Dance Company under the artistic mentorship of Ohad Naharin. He has been teaching Gaga/people & Gaga/dancers classes around the globe including The Philippines, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Thailand and Canada.