INTENSIVES
The VALLETO Dance and Heal intensives happen twice a year. They are global, inclusive, transformative incubators + dance training programs that combine dance, holistic methods, and the experience of collaborating with other dancers, with a performance experience for a live audience (summer intensive only).
NEXT INTENSIVE: MIAMI SUMMER INTENSIVE 2022
Week 1: July 18th-July 22nd
Week 2: July 25th-July 29th
Monday - Friday
10:30am-6:30pm
Performance Project: July 30th
4pm - 10pm
Location:
Miami Light Project
404 NW 26 Street
Miami, FL 33127
United States
Miami Summer Dance Intensive 2022
VALLETO summer intensive is a 11-day dance training workshop designed for dancers who wish to strengthen their techniques, expand their dance network, connect with their artistic mission and be in a creative and choreographic process. This intensive includes dance techniques such as floorwork, ballet, gaga, dance theater, partnering, improvisation, and flying low taught by invited guest artists and director Valeria Gonzalez. In addition to our physical training workshop, and our creative choreographic process, the students will have the time to engage in conversation, journaling, holistic methods and mentorship. Every VALLETO summer intensive culminates with a performance project open to the public.
VALLETO COMPANY CLASS
Unpredictable Bodies
Valeria's classes take you on a physical and sensorial journey to awaken the unconscious, and emotional inner knowledge. Valeria cultivates a safe space for the students to have a deeper connection to the movement practices. Her workshops also focus on exploring partnering dynamics, undoing old movement habits, and unveiling the psyche through a variety of contemporary dance methodologies, improvisation, and acting methods. Her goal is to invite the students to have more awareness of their bodies, their minds, and their spirits to find freedom in the uncomfortable. Valeria encourages her dancers to tap into their imaginations, and their desires for unapologetic self expression.
She also includes:
ºHolistic Approaches (Meditation)
ºDialogue
ºEmbodiment Practices
ºDiscovering What Is Your Artistic Statement (Journaling)
VALLETO CHOREOGRAPHY/CREATIVE PROCESS
Valeria’s choreographic process excavates deep emotional states and memories through movement research, shapes, geometry, voice, the outer and inner world, sound, curiosity and collaborative exploration. She safely invites her dancers to be vulnerable and allows them to unveil the many layers that our collective consciousness hides.
Valeria is interested in the creature we all hold within. The curious creature that needs to be fed, the creature we had abandoned when we were children. Her goal is to awaken, and allow uninhibited self-expression in all aspects of the process to happen.
Guest Artists: Paulina Espinosa (Flying Low), Two In Seven Billion (Floorwork), Nicole Gerkey (Nourish/Holistic Approaches) + More to be announced
Participants must be 18 years old or more by the date of the workshop.
Two options are available.
Both have a 4 part payment plan available:
ºFull 10-day session + Performance Project: July 18th-July 30th, 2022
Early Bird: $950 (Deadline for Early Bird: March 31st)
Full Price: $1275
º5-day session from July 18th-July 22nd:
One Week Early Bird: $500 (Deadline for Early Bird: March 31st)
One Week Regular Price: $700
Places are limited. Selection is on a first-come, first-serve basis.
To register, dancers must fill out our registration form by sending their CV, a headshot, and a demo video. Participants must be 18 years old or more by the date of the workshop.
COVID SAFETY PROTOCOL:
Participants must send proof of vaccination or negative test prior to the intensive.
Scholarship Opportunities
There are two full scholarships available for dancers who are in financial need.
Deadline to apply is March 25th
NOTE:
*Participants are responsible for their transportation, lodging, and meals.
*We don't not offer refunds for this purchase. However, if an emergency arises we can offer credit for future workshops.
SUMMER 2022
Week 1: July 18th-July 22nd
Week 2: July 25th-July 29th
Monday - Friday
10:30am-6:30pm
Performance Project: July 30th
4pm - 10pm
Location: Miami Light Project
404 NW 26 Street
Miami, FL 33127
United States
**we have a four part payment plan available through sezzle**
Photo Credit: Alba Garcia
"I found the effects of the intensive even weeks later, rewiring my brain into new ways of thinking and appreciating both myself and the people around me. Experiencing and communicating constantly with the other individuals was more powerful than I realized at the time."
Intensive Participant
Winter Intensive 2023
Heal + Dance Edition:
This course is designed for all humans who crave to be in a safe and intimate space for unapologetic self- expression and movement exploration. This exploration involves several modalities we utilize in VALLETO choreographic processes such as improvisation, conversation, acting methods, meditation, partnering, embodied and somatic practices, sound, and more.
Our mission is to inspire the participants to believe in themselves fully. This workshop is made to support you in your own healing journey and to accelerate and bring to life those desires that you hold and dream.
Our Core Values: Liberation, Self-Expression, Autonomy, Curiosity, Trust, Safety, Sisterhood, Safety, Inclusivity, Movement Research, Empathetic Listening,
Communication, Integrity, Fun and Respect.
Our intentions are:
To create a supportive and loving community.
To connect with our intuition, our inner self, our truth & our power.
To express ourselves fully, and be witnessed with love.
To connect and explore our feminine power.
To reclaim our voice and bodies.
To learn healing and holistic modalities.
To empower you.
To prioritize our pleasure and self-care.
To unleash your sensuality.
To dance our souls out.
To create a positive transformative experience.
If you choose to be part of this space you agree to:
Honor your Bodies and Needs
Please listen to your body. Honor your needs, and communicate to us if you are dealing with anything.
Confidentiality
Being part of this VALLETO intensive requires mutual trust. What is shared in this intensive should stay in this intensive.
Practice compassion
For yourself and others in this process.
Respect
For others and yourself by listening and holding the space for each other.
"Working with VALLETO has been a source of rich, inquisitive stimulation that has opened my mind to what might be possible for the future of collaboration, art, and movement. As the world adapts to the “new normal” everywhere we turn, it gives me hope that movers across the globe have not lost the desire to exercise their creative and physical muscles, finding ways to keep the spirit of dance alive. I am inspired by this team of artists, and I have been reminded that movement has the power to heal us all and this is what unites us. I was drawn to VALLETO for their genuine efforts to amplify female-identifying voices, and give them a place where they feel liberated, supported, and ready to take risks. Every day I am examining what it means to unapologetically be myself, and I feel I am getting closer to the answer through this collaboration with VALLETO."
Jessica Germano
FORMER VALLETO DANCER
SUMMER 2022
Week 1: July 18th-July 22nd
Week 2: July 25th-July 29th
Monday - Friday
10:30am-6:30pm
Performance Project: July 30th
4pm - 10pm
Location: Miami Light Project
404 NW 26 Street
Miami, FL 33127
United States
**we have a four part payment plan available through sezzle**
Photo Credit: Alba Garcia
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis and will close when all spots have been filled.
We have a four part payment plan available through Sezzle.
Photo Credit: Alba Garcia
"I never expected to be a part of something so real. The environment we have created in VALLETO has allowed me to experience this entire process with honesty and to give full-bodied attention to the work, to the cast, and to myself."
Adie San Diego
FORMER VALLETO DANCER
Flying Low Class Description:
David Zambrano is the creator of this technique; Paulina Espinosa is his direct disciple and he has expressly given her his approval to teach and share this technique.
Flying Low is a technique that focuses on the correlation between the person and the floor, it generates routes to go into and out of the floor efficiently and maintaining a centered state. Movement patterns that involve breathing, speed, and the circulation of energy coming and passing through the person´s core will be developed throughout the class, all of these based on three basic principles of physics: cohesion, expansion, and free fall.
The main goal of the class is to find the spirals that already coexist in the space and finding pathways to move through them, to connect one´s body to its surroundings and companions to, therefore, be able to perceive others and the space through such spirals and realize that not only the bodies, but also the room itself is constantly moving.
We will practice an Athletic physicality that breaks away from the conventional dance doctrine to discover new movement technologies to optimize motion and make it more efficient. The practice begins on motion silence, and it gradually grows into an electric and dynamic configuration: running, going in and out of the floor, flowing through your center and finding and moving through spirals. We will reach a vertiginous speed that, precisely, evokes the dynamics of free falling, to achieve more agile bodies that go beyond their limits.
Building Space
Movement exploration
Keeping in mind the principles of spiraling, cohesion, expansion and free falling of Flying Low and passing through, this portion of the workshop focuses on individual movement exploration as part of a collective to find or build more space to question and challenge one´s creative and physical limits.
The structure of the class is very specific and challenges the body gradually from mild, to moderate and finally very physically intense scores. This is a movement exploration practice that collects and transforms principles from very traditional research techniques to very current and contemporary methods. As a result of the practice there will be a common place in body mechanics as a group since we would all have collectively developed a movement language, yet individually each participant will have planted the seed to germinate new ways of moving by taking the scores given above and beyond.
Bio:
TWO IN SEVEN BILLION is a NYC-based physical dance theater company founded by emerging choreographers Alex Schmidt and Jessica Eckardt in 2019. Alex and Jessica met in the Alonzo King LINES Ballet training program where they graduated from in 2017, and then moved to New York City shortly after. The company premiered their first evening length ‘TWO IN SEVEN BILLION’ to sold out audiences in December of 2019. The company has taught their movement in pop up classes and intensives throughout the city and for other companies such as MICHIYAYA Dance, mignolo dance, Valleto Dance, and moveDIPR. They also created their first film, ‘MERDE’, in December 2020. TWO IN SEVEN BILLION premiered their second evening length, If Your Friends Jumped Off a Cliff, March 18-20 in Manhattan, NY. The company is looking forward to a summer full of dancing!
Class Description:
Our class motto is ‘fear doesn’t live here’: We enjoy making the impossible possible and surprising ourselves with our body’s thrilling capabilities. Playing with challenging movements and momentum- driven flux, this technique is fun and engaging for all levels and ages with modifications provided to promote inclusivity. Energetic music and lively zest enable a judgement-free zone, where muscle memory is built and bravery and stamina strengthened through rounds of trial and error. The participants will come out of these classes in an euphoric state of exhaustion ready for more, and empowered by their beast from within. Together let’s embrace this wild ride together and burn, fly, roll, and flip.
Bio:
Nicole Gerkey is a freelance dancer and movement coach from Detroit, Michigan. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Dance with a Minor in Theatre from Wayne State University, and is a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
Nicole has been able to combine her love of dance and fitness to create her own coaching practice. She uses techniques from dance, strength training, and mindfulness to create programs tailored to individuals needs, mainly to bridge the gap between physical and mental wellness. Nicole’s goal in teaching is to help participants feel a sense of autonomy over their bodies.
NOURISH Class Description:
A class focused on nourishing movement for the body through strength, mobility, and improvisation, as well as discussions about how to nourish the body through food, self care, and understanding your cycle (menstruation).
Cassidy Wagner
Bio:
Colorado native, Cassidy graduated from NYU with a degree in Dance and has been honored to professionally perform with Rashaun Mitchell, Silas Riener, and Netta Yerushalmy, while furthering her education through Intl. workshops and company immersions.
In 2019 Cassidy was invited by Ohad Naharin, artistic director of Batsheva dance company and creator of Gaga movement language, to participate in the Gaga teacher training program. Cassidy was selected as one of a small group of dance artists for this specialized training. She considers Gaga to be her primary movement practice, and is committed to exploring this research daily.
GAGA Class Description:
We will move together, continuously for approximately one hour without pauses based on overlapping instructions. It is important not to stop and to keep your eyes open. Please arrive early. Bare feet with comfortable clothing is recommended. Injuries or limitations are welcome, as long as you listen to your body before telling it what to do. The only pain we want is the burning sensation in our muscles.
We will sweat, dance, connect effort to pleasure, and get in touch with our silliness. Class is open to people ages 16+, regardless of their background in dance or movement.
TBA
Ballet
"Working with Valleto is always intense. Val is an intense person herself, and she embraces this part of her in her work. Her deep connection to her sexuality and her mission to unleash the inner sexual demon we all have in us allows a unique experience to shine through. Working with Val makes you realize you’re more badass than you know. She does this with incredible finess and ease, like she was made to bring about kings, queens and majestic beings in the world through her wild mind and incredibly emotional workshopping. Valleto is otherworldly."
Jensen Springer
VALLETO INTENSIVE 2019 PARTICIPANT
Photo Credit: Alba Garcia
"I feel like I grew so much from this intensive, not just as a dancer, but as a human being. We really pushed ourselves physically, but I always felt safe and supported. Everybody involved was able to tap into this really beautiful vulnerability and have the support of everybody in the room. Those moments are so magical because it is so rare and truthful. You feel safe to take risks and push beyond your limits because you know everybody is there for you."
Rachel Lovett
VALLETO INTENSIVE 2019 PARTICIPANT
PREVIOUS
2022
MIAMI WINTER INTENSIVE
Mariale Arrieta
Ayurveda
Nicole Gerkey
Noursih: Understanding your physical, creative, and emotional needs in relation to your cycle
Yanina Orellana
Soma Connection
2021
NYC SUMMER INTENSIVE
2020
NYC SUMMER INTENSIVE
2019
NYC SUMMER INTENSIVE
Find freedom in the uncomfortable.
INTENSIVES