Monday + Wednesday + Friday, Feb 12 + 14 + 16
4-6pm
@ Dance Mission Theater

This dynamic class is perfect for all levels within House Dance, for beginners that are new to the style, as well as more experienced dancers that want to improve in their quality of movement. This class is focused on making you feel more comfortable dancing to House music, by working on many different aspects of the dance: Groove, Feeling, Footwork, Floorwork, Turns, Isolations, Flow, Transitions, Freestyle expression and more. The focus of the class isn’t choreography, but to give you tools in the foundation, as well as body awareness. Choreo will be used in the end as a way to help you further feel the connection between movements. Rama will also share history and context of House Dance culture within this workshop.

Rama Hall is a professional dancer based out of the Bay Area, California. He’s been studying street dance styles for the last 14 years. His main style is House Dance, but he also studies Freestyle Hip Hop, Popping, Locking, Breaking, and other street dance styles, as well as various African Styles, Contemporary, and Capoeira.

For 14 years Rama has been a core member of the Bay Area dance theater company Embodiment Project, performing for sold out audiences in the Bay and other areas in the country.

One of Rama’s greatest passions is teaching dance to adults, young adults, and youth, in the Bay and abroad, and has been teaching weekly adult classes for the past 10 years, including 8 years at Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco.

Rama is a Co-Director of the youth theater company “Seeds” based out of ODC Dance Commons in San Francisco. Rama is also a Teaching Artist for Destiny Arts Center teaching the youth and servicing schools in East Oakland.

Rama has made a name for himself in the battle/competitive scene in the US and Europe winning many competitions in places such as the Bay Area, NYC, DC, Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, London, Mexico City, and Peru. One of Rama’s biggest highlights is competing at the Juste Debout Finals in Paris in front of 16,000 people, and also making top 6 and top 4 two different years in House Dance Forever Amsterdam.

Rama is deeply rooted in community, and supports the Bay Area, as well as the international dance community in many ways. Rama spends several months every year since 2010 traveling the world, gaining inspiration in dance, and bringing that experience back into his teaching and artistry in the Bay. Rama is a passionate steward and educator of House Dance and Street Dance culture.

Tuesday + Thursday, Feb 13 +15
4-6pm
@ Dance Mission Theater

"MoveThru" is a space where all emotions and feelings are honored. It is a space where we can utilize the tool and magic of movement to move with and through all the feels. With an emphasis of afro-diasporic movement, elemental inspiration, breath, and stretching.

Born and raised in the Bay, Amber Julian is a professional dancer of over 20 years whose style is often described as fierce and groovy. Her background and primary training is in Hip Hop and House, and she considers herself a freestyle dancer with an emphasis on somatic healing. She started dancing in Mix’d Ingrdnts Dance Company in 2013, and she was a primary multidisciplinary artist of over 7 years with Embodiment Project. She teaches classes regularly in Oakland and is currently a performing arts professor at USF. She believes that dance is medicine and a tool in moving and exchanging deep rooted energy in order to heal, make change and exude dynamic forms of visual expression.