Elizabeth Auclair

Elizabeth came to dance via athletics. As a swimmer and runner, she felt the power and life force energy that was activated through movement. At 14 she had her first dance classes (jazz and tap!), which revealed the incredible expressive and communicative qualities that dance offers. While still a teen, she came to NY to study at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and later the Martha Graham School. She became a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company, performing on extensive U.S and overseas tours. She also danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, in films, and with many other companies and choreographers. Elizabeth served as Associate Director for Graham II, Rehearsal Director for the Graham Company, 360 Dance, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, and as Director of Expression of Emotion Through the Art of Dance, a school outreach program formed in the wake of the events of 9/11 in NYC, designed to give children access to the expressive possibilities contained within the unique movement language of Martha Graham. Elizabeth has held posts at numerous institutions, including, Kobe College (Japan), Hofstra University, University of the Arts, Taipei National University, and currently at Marymount Manhattan College. She continues to stage the ballets of Martha Graham, teach technique and master classes for professional companies, universities, and dance academies. Martha Graham once noted, “The body says what words cannot”. Elizabeth is grateful for the chance to share in the beautiful process of awakening and the development of each dancer, as they tap into their own life force and inner voice through dance.

Class Description
Martha Graham founded, in 1926, what is now the oldest American modern dance company. The unique and enduring technique she developed revolutionized dance, influencing every dancemaker who followed. As it has integrated into the larger dance world, elements of it can be detected in the work of choreographers of all genres. The Graham technique teaches us to go deeply into the core, explore the torso as a primary tool of expression, to move from the inside out, and find greater depth of expression in doing so. In learning to use the pelvis, spine and core to initiate movement, as well as cultivating a deep, three-dimensional use of the back, we develop increasingly greater expressive capacities in our bodies. The movement brings heightened sensitivity and connection to our “inner landscape” as Graham termed it, and ways to manifest this through the body, resulting in deep core strength, greater expansiveness, range of motion, spatial awareness, and the ability of the body to speak with intention, authenticity and power.