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September 30, 2006
Lynn Simonson, Founder of the Simonson Technique and Co-Founder of Dance New Amsterdam, 9-29-06
Lynn Simonson is the mind and body behind the Simonson Technique which she has been teaching for over 35 years. The Simonson Technique is a concert jazz dance form founded on anatomically based principles of body awareness and alignment. Her Technique is currently taught in 19 countries worldwide.
For the last ten years Lynn has directed Expanded Dance, an annual summer retreat for holistic dance practitioners located in Rockport, MA. She is a choreographer in her own right and was director of the Jazz Project and New Vision for Dance at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for over 12 years. Lynn's expertise in concert jazz, anatomy awareness classes and her educational methods in training future teachers has her sought after by dance schools and organizations worldwide. Lynn devotes her time away from Dance New Amsterdam as a tireless international guest teacher.
Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), one of New York City’s premier dance service organizations, offers professionally produced performance opportunities for dance artists as well as dance education of the highest caliber at all levels. Established in 1984, DNA serves over 2000 dancers from across the globe in 130 classes each week, as well as presents more than 40 concerts in its 135-seat theater each year. DNA’s commitment to the creation, education and presentation of contemporary dance includes artist residencies, subsidized low-cost rehearsal and administrative space, a Commissioning New Works Performance Program and a host of other programs dedicated to presenting the unique range of today’s contemporary artists. As a unique organization able to provide the entire range of dance services to both artist and audience under a single roof, DNA is proud to have been the first cultural institution to relocate to Lower Manhattan post 9/11, and helped ignite the cultural revitalization of this vital area.
DNA is home to the Simonson Technique, an organic approach to movement created and developed by Master Teacher Lynn Simonson. Based on principles of anatomy and kinesiology and inspired by jazz music, this comprehensive technique has received recognition from dancers throughout the world for over 35 years. Hailed as an intelligent and logical method to prepare the body for dance, the Simonson Technique, with its emphasis on injury prevention, comprises a complete dance technique that not only trains dancers in jazz dance, but prepares them equally well for working in modern dance and other dance vocabularies. Offered daily at four levels — from beginner through advanced — Simonson Technique classes currently make up over one-third of the classes at DNA. The Simonson Technique is also taught by certified teachers in 19 countries worldwide.
Posted by David Lemberg at September 30, 2006 03:02 PM Return to ARTSCAPE home page