FoCo Technique™

March 18 + 19, 2023
12:00 pm-4:00 pm daily
Gibney 280 Broadway (Studio U)
$100

ABOUT YIN YUE

Yue Yin is an internationally recognized performer, choreographer, and the founder and artistic director of YY Dance Company (YYDC). Yin studied at the prestigious Shanghai Dance Academy and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she received her MFA in 2008.

In 2018, Yin founded YYDC, an NYC-based, non-profit contemporary dance company dedicated to the teaching, production, and performance of original choreographic works by Yin. The company incorporates Yin’s signature FoCo Technique™ which represents a dynamic fusion of Chinese dance, folk, and contemporary movement language into live performances and choreographic commissions as well as educational endeavors.

Yue Yin was the recipient of the 2021 Harkness Promise Award. This prestigious award recognizes her innovation in choreography and education. She was the winner of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago 2015 International Commissioning Project, winner of the 2015 BalletX Choreographic Fellowship, and winner of Northwest Dance Project’s 5th Annual Pretty Creatives International Choreographic Competition in 2013. Through these high-profile successes, Yin has received commissions from all three widely-recognized companies as well as other companies and organizations namely Gibney Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, Boston Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Limon Dance Company, Alberta Ballet, Balletto Teatro di Torino, Peridance Contemporary Dance Company, USC Kaufman School of Dance, Tisch School of The Arts, George Mason University, Rutgers University, Point Park University, West Michigan University and Juilliard School for Dance and more.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

FoCo Technique™ is an original contemporary dance technique developed by Yue Yin, influenced by traditional Chinese dance, folk forms, ballet, and contemporary movement. The technique uses 3 progressive and interconnected training stages: Activating, Rooting, and Mapping to guild dancers to experience the active integration of traditional and contemporary movement and explore the mind and body connection. The FoCo Technique™ class requires sophisticated understanding of dance technique and demands strong physical and mental stamina. In each of three stages, students are led by the instructor to develop awareness in muscular structure and response in order to achieve precision and control, identify and embody rhythmic pattern and dynamic change, form strong interaction and connection with gravity and generate heat in the body to prepare for the phrase work. In the second part of the class, a specific phrase work will be created and taught in details. Through learning the movement, students will experience the coaching style and learn the quality of the movement. By the end of each class, the phrase work will be performed in smaller groups. It is your time to fully embody the combination, apply the instructions and enjoy the dance.

ABOUT GIBNEY’S EDUCATION PROGRAM

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Photo by Anton Martynov