January 21 - May 6, 2025

Irene Dowd presents:

Kinesthetic Anatomy and Biomechanics of Motion: The Limbs

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

This course has been created to provide participants with functional and kinesthetic comprehension of our musculoskeletal system of the extremities, i.e. the legs and arms. We will study the bones, joint biomechanics (kinematics) and muscles of the limbs. We will practice choreographed sequences created to provide a kinesthetic understanding as well as physical training of our hip, knee, ankle, foot, shoulder girdle, shoulder joints, elbows, forearms, wrists and hands. We will also consider how these joints move and the patterns of muscle coordination that move them in the activities of daily life, such as walking, lifting, carrying and manipulating objects. For schedule of topics please see flyer link below.

Time: Tuesday's, 2:30pm-4:30pm (16 weeks)

Fee: $1,100 must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

February 15, 2025

Irene Dowd presents:

Chronic Pain: Factors That May Contribute To It And How We Might Manage It And Perhaps Lessen Its Power To Degrade Our Lives

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Chronic pain is generally defined as pain that lasts for more than 3-6 months. It can be due to habits that require over-use of certain muscles, injury to any of our tissues that results in swelling or inflammation, hypersensitization due to experiencing too much physical &/or emotional trauma, fear of the implications and losses entailed in an injury or illness, inability or resistance to deal with a trauma, too many stressors or crises taking place at once, sustained increased physical demands, excessive physical weakness that creates vulnerability to injury in daily life. We will consider ways of creating strategies for dealing with chronic pain that are suitable to ourselves. This sometimes means transforming the “meaning” of the pain, managing our fear, finding alternative lifestyle activities that do not stress the painful areas, building strength, becoming more aware of unconscious habits of usage that cause us pain, transforming our physiological stress reactions, or creating different new strategies.

Date: February 15, 2025

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

March 8, 2025

Irene Dowd presents:

Positive Functions Of Eccentric Contraction And Ways Of Creating Eccentric Contraction Programs For A Specific Individual Muscle

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Eccentric contraction is activation of a muscle while it is elongating, such as lowering our spoon slowly into our soup by eccentrically contracting the muscles that cross the front of our elbow. Eccentric contraction has many benefits including: decreasing spasticity due to some neurological conditions, building strength more efficiently and quickly, increasing control and decreasing impact when landing from jump/running/walking, recovering from muscle injury, increasing bone building, enhancing muscle awareness, and more. We will learn how to create personal programs of utilizing and enhancing eccentric contraction of each and any muscle of our body, without involving special equipment or settings.

Date: March 8, 2025

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

April 15, 2025

Irene Dowd presents:

Identifying Personal Dynamics And Phrasing Patterns: Considering Their Effect On Physical Condition And Performance Of Our Chosen Activities

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Think of music and consider the way in which it can be performed in entirely different ways so that our listening and our reaction to the music is affected differently, even though the notes are the same. Similarly, the way we move through time when we are walking can vary greatly, even though we are performing the same skeletal joint movements and shapes in space. We can be recognized (even from a distance) by our preferential dynamics/phrasing when we are walking, and our friends can generally also determine our state of mind by just looking at how we are moving at the moment. In this workshop, we will identify each of our own personal phrasing/dynamic preferences and repertoire, as well as explore additional new repertoire that is unfamiliar. We will probably explore just a few elements such as: moving fast or slowly, accelerating or decelerating, moving smoothly/sustainedly or sharply/ballistically/in sudden bursts (think of the slow loris in contrast to the squirrel, for example).

Date: April 15, 2025

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

April 26, 2025

Irene Dowd presents:

Adaptive Goal-OrientatedStrategies For Mentoring Dancer: Focus On Knee

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Our knee joints are complexly structured (both internally and externally) and can do many things. Their complexity also makes them vulnerable to trauma. Many dancers fear knee injuries, with good reason. We will practice analyzing patterns of usage of the knee that are less likely to cause injury or excess wear-and-tear, strategies for building balanced strength of muscles surrounding the knee and hip joint that affect knee usage and motion, increasing coordination of our whole body to minimize stress on knees, enhancing the joint motion of our knee joint in various dance activities, and ways in which we can address common dance goals to enhance knee well-being. In other words, we will create a little knee health insurance policy (not guaranteed to protect us from the risks of living, but nonetheless offering some protection). We will consider some of the aesthetic issues surrounding our knee joints in dancing, and ways to address those.

Date: April 26, 2025

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

Past Workshops

November 2, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

An Introduction To Ideokinesis: a strategy for enhancing motor learning

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Ideokinesis is a strategy for enhancing our ability to move. It involves a process of visualizing a pathway or vector of motion through one’s body, with the purpose of fine-tuning movement performance. The practice of Ideokinesis can be utilized to refining and heightening coordination, equilibrium, motor skill, efficiency and ease during performance of everyday activities such as being on Zoom or other on-line interfaces, reading, talking, lifting and carrying a heavy bag; or more specialized activities such as engaging in intense physical exercise, performing as a musician, dancer, actor, etc.

In this workshop, I will provide a very brief introduction to the teachings of Lulu Sweigard as I received them at the Juilliard School in the time between 1968 and 1974.
I will present some of the applications I have made of the practice of Ideokinesis to optimizing such activities as walking, sitting down and standing up, picking up and carrying a heavy weight, using a computer or other electronic devise without getting a sore/tired neck, upper back, lower back.

Date: Novemebr 2, 2024

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

October 19, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Increasing Range of Motion Through Muscle Training: role of stretching, releasing, strengthening and coordination

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

It is not always obvious what is needed when we can’t achieve the full active range of motion with the ease that we aspire to. For many, the first strategy is to stretch, but that isn’t always effective and may even decrease range and ease. Being able to exert the muscles required to produce the motion, can be the limiting factor (and exerting muscle/s on one side of a joint may reflexively release/relax the muscles on other side of the joint being moved due to reciprocal inhibition). Sometimes it is our idea of the movement that is getting in our way of being able to perform (e.g. locating hip joint in a different place than it actually is, assuming that only that one joint is allowed to move when most activities involve motion in many if not all our joints). We will first consider general principles and strategies that enhance muscle length, muscle relaxation or contraction, strength, endurance and coordination, and other strategies of muscle training.
Then we will consider specific joints including hip joints, knee joints, ankles, spine – as each provides unique challenges.

Date: Saturday October 19, 2024

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

October 5, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Adaptive Goal-Orientated Strategies for Mentoring Dancers - Focus on the Foot

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

In this workshop, we will review how to create adaptive strategies to address the needs and dance goals of different types of dancers – each with their own unique body and mind and individual goals as an artist. This will be a practical class in which Irene will demonstrate strategies adapting to individual volunteers. The volunteers must present specific dance goals of their own, especially focused on dance issues pertaining to the foot such as: functional and dysfunctional pronation, balance issues, pushing off and landing from a jump or leap, etc.
Irene will teach a series of warm-up & training choreographies,
Then she will coach dance volunteers.

We will all practice and see the results – Irene will measure “before-and-after” differences in the desired performance of the strategies she will devise, which can include specific warm-ups, movement sequences, increased clarity about anatomy/kinesiology the joint motions and muscle use patterns required to perform the dance skill, imagery, and pursuit of clear spatial and theatrical intent.

Date: Saturday October 5, 2024

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

September 17 - December 3, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Kinesthetic Anatomy and Biomechanics of Motion: The Spine/Trunk

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

In this course we will review the anatomical bone structure, joint motion, muscles and potential actions of the spine/trunk. Focus will be on joint motion (kinematics) and on movement choreographies that engage all the muscles of the spine and trunk.

Emphasis will be especially on how each bone of pelvis, each vertebra, each rib, skull and bones of skull move at their various joints. We will locate each of these joints in our own body and visualize all the potential motion that can take place at each of these joints.

Learning a series of short movement sequences choreographed by Irene will not only give us a kinesthetic experience of all of our spine/trunk muscles, but can potentially enhance our dynamic stability, mobility, control, coordination, and readiness to move our spine/trunk in all directions - including our head, rib cage, pelvis.

We will consider such issues as hypermobility/hypomobility of spine, spine/pelvis asymmetries, functional postural concepts, etc. Common daily life and skilled activity challenges will be considered and addressed as time permits - potentially inducing the creation of some new training choreographies.

Time: Tuesday's, 2:30pm-4:30pm (12 weeks)

Fee: $800 must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School, Movement Research, and Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. She has been a long-time regular guest to NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Canada's National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education since 1970 in NYC, while continuing to be a guest teacher in academic and dance institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Irene is recipient of the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, 2015 Juliard John Erskine Faculty Prize, 2016 Dance Science & Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award, and 2018 Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban Conservative of Music and Dance.

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

June 14-16, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Evolving Effective Strategies For Mentoring Dancers

What IS a mentor? According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, a mentor is “an experienced and trusted person who gives another person advice and help, especially related to work or school over a period of time.” Thus teaching, at its best, IS a form of mentoring. The amount of time isn’t necessarily specified – as sometimes a single meeting can be remembered as a very important mentorship.

How does one go about mentoring effectively?

1) find out what the other person wants and needs

2) be clear about one's own limitations and biases

3) determine if there can be common ground

4) if that is possible, collaborate in creating a progressed program that has potential to bring the person from their current condition and abilities into one of being able to achieve their goals

5) keep intercommunicating so that both you and other person are understanding each other and the reasons for pursuing the chosen path; recognizing the points of disagreement/incomprehension on the way; re-configuring the pathway in acknowledgement of the confusions/discomforts and other impediments, so that new pathways can be formed that goes around these difficulties

use every possible sensory means of achieving/sustaining clear intercommunication (visual, auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, etc.)

7) continually reconsider assumptions/beliefs/theories in order to adapt and change strategies as needed to achieve a common dance goal (which itself might also transform and change)

Date: Friday June 14- Sunday June 17, 2024

Time: 2:30-5:30pm

Fee: $350

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

March 2, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Enhancing Eccentric Contraction to Build Functional Strength and Resilience: Using Pilates Equipment and Equipment-free Training Practices on Zoom

Eccentric contraction is the type of muscle work that makes our muscles stronger (producing a thicker cross-sectional area), our tendons stronger and more resilient, and even plays a role in maintaining adequate bone density. It also makes us sore, and is most likely to result in musculo-skeletal dysfunctions when we are not adequately prepared for what we are currently doing.

What is eccentric contraction? It is what we do when we are contracting a muscle even as it is elongating. Examples of activities that require eccentric contraction include landing from a jump as quietly as possible, lowering a sleeping child into bed and tiptoeing away, or lowering the ladle into the gravy dish without spillage. It serves everyone who wishes to enhance skill, control, and safety from the sports field to the dance theatre to the dinner table.

In this workshop, we will see how the use of Pilates-equipment springs, straps, push- bars, and gravity can efficiently serve us in the creation of gradually progressed and safe eccentric muscle strengthening programs for various specific muscle group.

We will also learn some sequences choreographed by Irene that emphasize eccentric control of various major muscles groups of spine/trunk - designed to enhance ability to perform extravagant spine motion with control and safety.

In other words, we will study the What, When, Where, How and Why of eccentric contraction - and learn strategies for pursuing it most effectively.

Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024 On Zoom

Time: 2:30-4:30pm

Fee: $80

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

February 6 - April 9, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Nerve Dances and Mapping of our Peripheral Voluntary Nervous System

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

The human nervous system provides connections throughout our entire being, everywhere in our body. It is a prime "communicator" and "coordinator" of all our bodily actions and functions. It also connects us with the world we live in, and also initiates our interaction with that world.

The central nervous system includes all the nerves and their connections contained within our skull and spine. The peripheral nervous system includes everything outside of those bony structures - all the nerves passing throughout the rest of our body.

The peripheral nervous system includes our "voluntary" nervous system that innervates our muscles and joints, and our "autonomic" nervous system that innervates our organs and glands. We will focus primarily on our voluntary nervous system, in this course.

The nerves of our voluntary nervous system enter/exit at apertures between our skull, all of our vertebrae, and our sacrum. We will consider each, including their pathways of joining and separating outside of our spinal cord

Nerve signals are electro-chemical in nature (and can vary in effect according to the exact properties of the signal being conveyed). Sensory signals travel from everywhere in our body to our spinal cord and potentially to our brain. Motor signals travel from our brain and spinal cord to our muscles. A motor nerve signal is necessary in order for a muscle to contract (except under very special circumstances).

If a nerve signal arrives to or departs from the cerebral cortex ("skin of the brain") - we can become "consciously aware" of it. This means that we can "feel" a sensation, and we can intentionally direct our body to move in a particular way or toward a specific action goal (through the coordination of our muscles).

In order to gain a functional kinesthetic experience of our voluntary peripheral nervous system, we will:

a. chart the mappings of each major nerve (note that an individual named nerve is composed of many individual nerve fibers)

b. practice a series of "nerve dances": choreographies that involve traversing the pathway of each nerve with our own touching fingers, stroking the areas from where the sensory part of the nerve provides sensation, and actively exerting the muscles that the motor part of the nerve innervates. Some nerves are exclusively sensory, motor, or both sensory and motor.

Time: Tuesday's, 3:00pm-4:30pm

Fee: $500 must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School, Movement Research, and Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. She has been a long-time regular guest to NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Canada's National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education since 1970 in NYC, while continuing to be a guest teacher in academic and dance institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Irene is recipient of the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, 2015 Juliard John Erskine Faculty Prize, 2016 Dance Science & Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award, and 2018 Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban Conservative of Music and Dance.

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

February 7 - April 10, 2024

Irene Dowd presents:

Kinesthetic Anatomy of Lower Extremity: Focusing on Joint Motion (Kinematics) and Full Range of Motion

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

Content and Goals of the Course: In this course, we will be studying our lower limbs: pelvis, thigh bones, hip joints, lower leg, knee joints, ankle joint and foot.
We will be focusing on how each bone moves on the adjacent bones in detail. We will precisely locate each of these lower limb joints on our own bodies. Then we will visualize all the motion that can potentially take place at that joint. This serves to clarify our understanding of how our lower extremity moves.
We will also learn choreographies that engage each of the muscles that move these joints from its most elongated to its most shortened length – providing a strong kinesthetic experience of our muscles that move our hip joints, knees, ankles and feet. All the choreographies together can provide a warm-up, conditioning, and training program for our lower extremity. The choreographies can also be tailored toward different goals such as: enhancing active range of motion, strengthening muscles, both protecting and mobilizing our joints, addressing joint motion imbalances, etc.
Our feet are often our interface with the ground and so they are engaged in walking, running, jumping, and all other locomotor activities. How our feet contact the ground (and therefore, how the ground contacts our feet) involves our entire lower extremity and coordination with the rest of our body - and many of the choreographies reflect that coordination of our whole body in every little or big action of our feet/legs.

Week #1 - basic elements of joints and of hip joint in particular


Week #2 – movement of the hip joint and choreographies for the muscles of the hip joint


Week #3 – coordination of hip joint, pelvis and lower spine


Week #4 – structure and movement of knee joint


Week #5 –choreographies for the muscles crossing the knee joint


Week #6 – choreographies to stabilize knee joint in action


Week #7 – structure and movement of the ankle joint and the joints between the tibia and fibula

Week #8 – choreographies for the muscles crossing the ankle joint


Week #9 - structure and movement within the foot


Week #10 - choreographies for the muscles of the foot


Time: Wednesday's, 2:30pm-4:00pm

Fee: $500 must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School, Movement Research, and Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. She has been a long-time regular guest to NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Canada's National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education since 1970 in NYC, while continuing to be a guest teacher in academic and dance institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Irene is recipient of the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, 2015 Juliard John Erskine Faculty Prize, 2016 Dance Science & Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award, and 2018 Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban Conservative of Music and Dance.

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

November 4, 2023

Irene Dowd presents

Iliopsoas: A Mysterious and Multi-Function Complex (On Zoom)

Content of the workshop includes:

Reviewing anatomy and location of ilio-psoas (e.g., psoas located behind diaphragm crura, in front of kidneys and ureters, behind other organs including liver and digestive tract, iliacus located behind pelvic organs, both then attach to lesser trochanter on femur)

Considering functions of the ilio-psoas: note that these two muscles serve slightly different functions but generally work together - with variable amounts of one predominating over the other in different actions and joint positions - the story is convoluted

Strategies that can elongate ilio-psoas

Protocols that can strengthen ilio-psoas

Ways of enhancing quick response time of ilio-psoas

Learning a series of short sequences that involve releasing, elongating, exerting, shortening iliacus and psoas - each and both - weight-bearing without equipment and utilizing Pilates-based practices

Coordinating in daily life of ilio-psoas with other hip joint muscles, abdominal wall muscles and spinal muscles

Date: Saturday, November 4, 2023

Time: 2-4pm

Fee: $75

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com<

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

October 21, 2023

Irene Dowd presents

Knee: A Delicate Balancing Of Forces (On Zoom)

Content of the workshop includes:

Reviewing exactly how the knee moves (kinematics) between bending, straightening, and hyperextending.

Locating the structures that support the complex motion of knee.

Organizing weight from spine to feet, and/or feet to spine, in order to minimize unnecessary twisting forces on knee

Balancing the muscle action of muscles crossing the knee to protect the knee from excessive twisting and sheering forces on knee

Building control, coordination, strength, flexibility, and endurance of the muscles that control knee motion Practicing sequences to promote these goals - both weight-bearing without equipment and utilizing

Pilates-based practices

Date: Saturday, October 21, 2023

Time: 2-4pm

Fee: $75

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com<

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

October 11 - Decemebr 6, 2023

Irene Dowd presents:

Kinesthetic Anatomy of Upper Extremity: Focusing on Joint Motion (Kinematics) and Full Range of Motion

Hybrid Course: In Person & On Zoom

CONTENT AND GOALS OF THE COURSE:
 I’m resuming my kinesthetic anatomy course after the hiatus caused by covid shut down, just as I was getting ready to teach the upper extremity. Instead of continuing with the old plan, this will be a different approach to upper extremity, based on the work and thinking I have been doing between then and now.
We will be focusing on how each bone moves on the adjacent bones in detail. We will precisely locate each joint on our own bodies. Then we will visualize all the motion that can potentially take place at that joint. This serves to clarify our understanding of how our upper extremity moves. We will also learn choreographies that engage each of the muscles that move these joints from its most elongated to its most shortened length – providing a strong kinesthetic experience of our muscles that move our shoulders, arms, and hands. All the choreographies together can provide a warm-up, conditioning, and training program for our upper extremity. The choreographies can also be tailored toward different goals such as: enhancing active range of motion, strengthening muscles, both protecting and mobilizing our joints, addressing joint motion imbalances, etc.
Using our hand in even the simplest actions, involves our entire upper extremity and coordination with the rest of our body - and many of the choreographies reflect that coordination of our whole body in every little or big action of our hands.

Week #1 - shoulder girdle


Week #2 – shoulder joint


Week #3 – shoulder girdle and shoulder joint coordination

Week #4 – elbow joint and forearm joints

Week #5 – wrist joint


Week #6 – hand


Week #7 – hand/wrist/forearm/elbow/shoulder coordination

Week #8 – review of sequences

Time: Wednesday's, 2:00pm-4:00pm (8 weeks with "snow-date" December 13, 2023)

Fee: $550 must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School, Movement Research, and Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. She has been a long-time regular guest to NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Canada's National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education since 1970 in NYC, while continuing to be a guest teacher in academic and dance institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Irene is recipient of the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, 2015 Juliard John Erskine Faculty Prize, 2016 Dance Science & Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award, and 2018 Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban Conservative of Music and Dance.

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

March 11 and 25, 2023

Irene Dowd presents

Classic PNF Patterns and Ways to Adapt them to Different Goals (On Zoom)

Workshop ONE on March 11: Lower Limb PNF patterns

Workshop TWO on March 25: Upper Limb PNF patterns

In each workshop, we will:

*Learn the classic PNF pattern

*Observe the presence of the pattern in many daily life activities (e.g. walking, running, jumping, kicking; throwing, putting on coat, picking up a heavy knapsack and throwing it over shoulder)

*Practice focus on initiating from most distal parts of body (i.e. toes/fingers) with an action intention, as is recommended for maximizing whole body integration

*Consider strategies to stabilize vulnerable areas such as sacro-iliac joints and shoulder joints (which can be destabilized in efforts to perform these patterns, especially if seeking to maximize range of motion)

*Pursue strategies that involve entire body engagement (rather than leaving out some areas of chronic "tension" and "holding")

*Personalize orientation relative to gravity, etc. in a way that more fully enhances action goals

Date: Saturday, March 11 and March 25, 2023

Time: 2-4pm Zoom Recording available for viewing for 7 days afterwards

Fee: $120 for both or $75 each

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com<

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

October 22 and November 12, 2022

Irene Dowd presents

Honoring Individual Anatomical Structure with Individualized Adaptive Training (On Zoom)

It is easy to think that there is "one ideal structure" and that any deviations from that aberrations or distortions. Nothing could be farther from the reality. There are enormous variations in skeletal structure within the human race, each and all of which have their special advantages. In this series of 2 workshops, we will consider areas of the body that vary considerable between people.

Workshop ONE on October 22: the hip joints and pelvis and lumbar spine

Workshop TWO on November 12: the feet and ankles

In each workshop, we will review those variations associated with a body part, consider the functional advantages of each of those variations, and explore how to adapt the training and usage protocols for each person's structure toward their chosen activities.

Date: Saturday, October 22 and November 12 2022

Time: 2-4pm Zoom Recording available for viewing for 7 days afterwards

Fee: $120 for both or $75 each

Instructor(s):Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com<

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.

January 14 - March 31, 2020

Irene Dowd presents

Understanding Individual Muscles Through Multiple Senses: Focus on the Muscles of the Lower Trunk

The purpose of this course is to understand the "functional profile" of individual muscles in a deep, multi-sensory physical way. We will do that by looking at the muscles, drawing them, feeling them on our own bodies, and performing mini- choreographies for each muscle in which muscle is engaged from its most elongated to its most shortened length (concentric contraction), and then from its most shortened to its most elongated (eccentric contraction) while sustaining its ability to contract and exert effectively. Most functionally useful, we will consider how each muscle can coordinate and collaborate with other muscles in the actions of daily living.

As a result of experiencing our body through drawing, touching and moving, we can become more skilled at visualizing and kinesthetically experiencing the ways in which each muscle serves our whole body to produce our movement through time and fully three-dimensional space. We might be able to more easily identify our "lazier" muscles and our "over-achieving" muscles, and how they might fully collaborate together.

The muscles of the lower trunk that we will investigate include: latissimus dorsi, lumbo-sacral and thoraco-lumbar erector spinae and transverso-spinalis muscle groups, abdominal wall muscles, and ilio-psoas. These muscles not only serve to stabilize the lower spine and trunk during weight shifts, walking/running, and arm/leg gestures; but also produce the significant actions of changing the relationships between pelvis and rib cage that are basic elements of our daily lives.

Dates: January 14 - March 31,20 (storm "make-up" day on Tuesday April 7 or 14, 2020)

Time: 1:15pm-2:45pm Tuesdays (12 classes)

Fee: $650

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School and Hollins University graduate program, and a regular guest at academic and dance institutions throughout the US and Canada. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education for 48 years in NYC. Irene has been awarded the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, and the 2015 Julliard John Erskine Faculty award, and the 2016 Dance Science and Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award from DSSE (Dance Science and Somatic Educators),and 2018 Honory Fellowship from Trinity Laban Cocservative of Music and Dance. Free access to her digital archive is available at: irenedowdchoreographies.com

To Register: Email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com.

Pre-registration is essential since the course will be limited; payment by check or cash only.

Download the flyer for this workshop here.

January 16-April 23, 2020

Irene Dowd presents:

Kinesthetic Anatomy & Biomechanics of Motion: The Limbs

This course has been created to provide participants with functional and kinesthetic comprehension of our musculoskeletal system of the extremities, i.e. the legs and arms. We will study the bones, joint biomechanics and muscles of the limbs. We will focus on how these joints move and the patterns of muscle coordination which move them in the activities of daily life, such as walking, lifting, carrying and manipulating objects. The schedule of topics is as fallows (subject to slight changes):

January 16 – structure and range of motion of hip joint

January 23 – muscles crossing the back and outsides of the hip joint and what they do

January 30 – muscles crossing the front and insides of the hip joint and what they do

February 6 – structure and motion of knee joint

February 13 – muscles and tissues crossing knee jont, their functons in motion

February 20 – strategies for enhancing knee joint function

February 27 – structure, motion, muscles of leg and ankle joint

March 5 – architecture and motion of foot

March 12 – muscles of the foot

March 19 – structure, motion, muscles of the shoulder girdle

March 26– structure and motion of shoulder joint, and rotator cuff function

April 2 – all muscles of shoulder joint, coordination of shoulder girdle with shoulder joint

April 9 - elbow joint and joints of the forearm, muscles and actions

April 16 - wrist joint and muscles; bones, structure and motion of hand

April 23- muscles, movements and activities of hand

Time: Thursdays, 2:00pm-4:00pm (15 weeks with "snow-date" April 30, 2020)

Fee: $900 no refunds after January 15. Pre-registration is essential; check or cash only. All payments must be made to Stephen Williams

Instructor(s): Irene Dowd is on the dance faculty of the Juilliard School, Movement Research, and Hollins University/ADF MFA program in dance. She has been a long-time regular guest to NYU Tisch School of the Arts and Canada's National Ballet School. Author of Taking Root to Fly, she has maintained a practice in kinesthetic anatomy and neuromuscular re-education since 1970 in NYC, while continuing to be a guest teacher in academic and dance institutions throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Irene is recipient of the 2014 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching at the American Dance Festival, 2015 Juliard John Erskine Faculty Prize, 2016 Dance Science & Somatics Educators Lifetime Service Award, and 2018 Honorary Fellowship from Trinity Laban Conservative of Music and Dance.

To Register: email Stephen Williams at nohostudio@yahoo.com. Download the flyer for this workshop here.