MMAC Presents Workshops With Larry Keigwin

Manhattan Movement & Arts Center presents workshops with Larry Keigwin on Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6 from noon - 2pm at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 W. 60th Street, NYC (between 10th and 11th). The cost of the workshop is $95 ($75 before January 3, 2011). Registration is available at www.manhattanmovement.com.

Larry Keigwin's choreographic workshops at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center will introduce the process of dance making and the rewards of performance, utilizing his electrifying brand of contemporary dance. During two 2-hour classes, Keigwin will engage in a collaborative process with students, using a quirky but highly athletic and vigorous aesthetic while sampling from various influences, including American pop culture, to create a final dance to be performed in the class setting. The class is structured to conjure up the instincts of the creative process while encouraging each individual's sense of artistry and allowing the students to take an active part in designing a new dance.

Larry Keigwin is artistic director of KEIGWIN + COMPANY, founded in 2003 to create and share provocative, witty and engaging dances. Combining physicality with theatricality, K+C's electrifying brand of contemporary dance samples a variety of mediums and fuses art with entertainment. In addition to his work with K+C, recent commissions include Works & Process at the Guggenheim, The Juilliard School, The New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute and The Martha Graham Dance Company, among many others. This past summer, Keigwin was named the Vail International Dance Festival's first artist in residence, during which time he created and premiered a new work with four of ballet's most prominent stars. He most recently staged the opening event of Fashion Week: "Fashion's Night Out: The Show," which was produced by Vogue and featured over 150 of the industry's top models strutting in formation around the fountain and plaza at Lincoln Center. In 2004, Dance Magazinenamed Keigwin in their annual list of "25 To Watch." Keigwin's other choreographic credits include work with the pop band Fischerspooner, comedian Murray Hill, and as an associate choreographer for both The Radio City Rockettes and the Off-Broadway musical The Wild Party. Keigwin has also created Keigwin Kabaret, a fusion of modern dance, vaudeville, and burlesque presented by The Public Theater at Joe's Pub and by Symphony Space. He is a co-founder of the Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado, a multi-disciplinary festival designed to increase cultural opportunities in the region, as well as provide creative residencies to young, emerging choreographers. Keigwin's newest work, Dark Habits, will premiere at KEIGWIN + COMPANY's second week-long season at The Joyce Theater on March 8-13, 2011.

About Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center was developed by Rose Caiola as the home of the Manhattan Youth Ballet, a graded, pre-professional ballet academy and performance company. Ms. Caiola, a former dancer and actress, founded the academy in the fall of 1994 as Studio Maestro at 48 W. 68th Street, and serves today as the youth ballet's executive artistic director.

The school is modeled after the European academies and adheres to the French School of classical ballet technique. Under the direction of Francois Perron, managing artistic director, the Manhattan Youth Ballet has acquired a reputation for excellent teaching in an intimate and individually supportive environment. The school's graduates have danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nederland Dans Theater, Ballet de Espana, San Francisco Ballet and Complexions.

As the ballet academy grew, the search for a larger space inspired in Ms. Caiola a highly personal vision of a studio and theater complex that would encompass all aspects of dance education and performance.

mmac opened its doors in June 2008, occupying a dramatic bi-level space within The Element, a luxury high-rise condominium located to the southwest of Lincoln Center. In addition to the Manhattan Youth Ballet, mmac's studios and theater host daily adult dance and fitness classes, the mmac Kids program, summer intensive programs, as well as an array of performances and special events.

For more information about mmac, visit www.manhattanmovement.com.