• CONTACT INFO
• Getting to the farm by bus, train or driving
• Details about the farm house and barn studio
• Climate
• Things to do and visit in the area

Join members of SPAN: Spontaneous Performing Artists Network, a national group of improvising artists, June 22-July 1st, 2012 for an intensive exploration of improvisation through somatic modalities, Contact Improvisation, site-specific exploration and performance.

Located at Wild Meadows Farm in Schellsburg, PA, and surrounded by 200 acres of secluded mountain ranges and fertile valleys near the Allegheny Mountains, the intensive will provide ample opportunities to nurture, expand and challenge your improvisation practice.

Activities will include classes in: Contact Improvisation, improvisational performance,

View over the valley in which wild meadows farm is nestled. Over 200 acres from one ridge to the next secludes the farm from everything

developing site specific approaches, the Bartenieff Fundamentals, Six Viewpoints and Authentic Movementt.

Facilitators include Nicole Bindler, Cyrus Khambatta, Daniel Burkholder. Click here for bios

GENERAL INFORMATION: Wild Meadows is surrounded by secluded mountains ranges and fertile valleys, an ideal location for reflective thought and investigation into the practice of improvisation. Some previous experience is requested. Break periods will be scheduled to enable participants to take in the glorious natural surrounding of the farm.

FOOD: is included and will be communally prepared. Each participant will be requested to assist in the preparation of 2-3 lunch/dinner meals (with work study assistance).

COST:
Early registration sliding scale: $275 - $425 (full payment due by May 1st)
Regular registration sliding scale: $300 - $450 ($75 deposit due by May 1st)

DEPOSIT: $75 deposit due by May 1st, remaining amount due June 15th
You're welcome to pay whatever you can afford within the sliding scale. Please keep in mind when choosing your fee that the market rate for a retreat of this scope is $450 or higher. We're offering a sliding scale a scale rate to include folks with varying incomes/situations.

*Cost includes all food, lodging, and workshop, except travel

To pay online see link above.

Checks should be made payable to:
The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company and sent to
Cyrus Khambatta, 5609 34th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98126

WORKSTUDY:

Two positions available, first-come first serve for a discounted rate of $200. Full payment needed to secure workstudy position.

Please email Wildmeadows [at] PHFFFT.org a few sentences about your interest in the retreat and financial need.

CONTACT:
Questions? Please contact us: register@phffft.org

TRAVEL: Participants can arrange with others coming from the nearby cities of Washington D.C. New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The farm is 2.5 hours from Washington D.C., 5 hours from New York City, 3.5 hours from Philadelphia and 2 hours from Pittsburgh. There are also buses and trains to Altoona or Breezewood near the farm where pick ups can be made. If you would like to drive click here.

CONTACT: for more information, email Cyrus at Wildmeadows [at] phffft.org or by phone at the numbers below:

SEATTLE: (206) 552-0694

WASHINGTON D.C.:(301) 254-6930

Nicole Bindler, (b.1977), is an experimental dance artist, inspired by her studies of new dance, dance-theater, contact improvisation, and butoh. She is also a bodyworker and uses healing practices, as a source of creativity, inspiration and physical training. She researches extended dance techniques, which are unique movements, individual to her particular body and develops teaching methods to help other dancers find their own extended techniques. Dance is a social art form and Bindler is a promiscuous collaborator. She is mostly known for her collaborations with avant-garde musicians, but also works with other dance, theater and visual artists. Her dances are most often improvised with varying degrees of preparation. Her work is always site-specific, seeking to activate and enliven all performance spaces whether they are theaters, studios, homes, places of business or the outdoors. Bindler has choreographed over fifteen original dance works and has performed over 100 improvised dances in cities throughout the U.S., Canada, Argentina and in Berlin and Tokyo. In August 2004, her solo "Places I've Never/Been" was performed in Quito, Ecuador by dancer, Stephanie Sherman. Bindler has performed in The High Zero Festival, The Transmodern Age Festival, The Shawinigan Street Theater Festival, The Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues and Ideas, The Philadelphia Live Arts Festival, the D.C. Improvisation Festival, Fireside Festival, the Performance Mix Festival and the nEW Festival. Her work has been supported by Philadelphia Dance Projects and Dance Advance. Bindler holds a degree in Muscular Therapy from the Muscular Therapy Institute and a BA in Dance and Poetry from Hampshire College. She has taught New Dance, Improvisation, Contact Improvisation and Experiential Anatomy throughout the U.S. and Argentina. She is a member of the Spontaneous Performing Artists Network, Mascher Dance Cooperative and she curates the StudioSeries at Studio 34 in Philadelphia. www.nicolebindler.com

Daniel Burkholder, is the Director of The PlayGround, a dance performance group, which was awarded the 2006 Metro DC Dance Award for “Outstanding Group Performance in a Dance Production” and a 2005 Local Dance Commissioning Project through The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Daniel’s work has been seen in the Metro D.C. area, New York City, San Francisco and the Mid-Atlantic region. Daniel served as the D.C./Local Dancers’ Rehearsal Director for the D.C. presentation of White Oak Dance Project’s “Past Forward” program and as guest teacher for Cirque du Soleil. He has taught at University of Maryland.

Cyrus Khambatta has presented choreographed and improvised CI-inspired works independently and with his dance company in eight U.S. states and fifteen countries on three continents. Some notable venues include The Spoleto Festival USA (SC), The San Francisco International Arts Festival, The Vancouver International Dance Festival, The World Expo (Lisbon), New York Improvisation Festival, The Young Choreographers Festival (Venezuela), the Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation, The Budapest Kontakt Festival and Trans Contact Festival (Romania) where he will also be teaching an intensive in the summer of 2012. In 2004, he was awarded California's Daman New Choreography award and selected for The National Dance Project's Regional Dance Development Initiative. He is the Artistic Director of The Seattle International Dance Festival, which has presented over 350 artists/companies from 20 countries. He also organizes The Fireside Series, a local Seattle-based improvisation festival, The Youth Dance Empowerment Project and Wild Meadows Improvisation Retreat. His work has been commissioned by Ririe Woodbury Dance (UT), Donald Byrd's Specturm Dance Theatre (WA), Evergreen City Ballet and other companies and universities/colleges. He has taught at numerous universities and dance programs internationally. He also runs Grassroots, a small studio in Seattle that invites national and international CI artists to teach. His company is currently touring India Calling, commissioned by Kirkland Performance Center (WA) and Myrna Loy Center for the Arts (MN), a collaboration with world renown India Veena player, Nirmala Rajasekar and composer/cellist Michelle Kinney (Sheryl Crow/Natalie Merchant) about the influence of genetics on our movement, thoughts and behavior. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.KhambattaDance.org.

MORE INFO:

THE HOUSE was built in 1875 by Quakers. It is rustic but has all the comforts of home. It has three floors. There are five medium size bedrooms that can fit 1-3 people each and a large finished attic space (the floor is rough so bring something fo your feet) which can sleep up to 10 people. There are an assortment of mattresses, air beds and futons. If you have special needs, contact us before coming. The house has a kitchen, two full bathrooms, a laundry room (because it is a septic minimal loads are permitted), nearly wrap around porches. The first floor has a large dining and living room. There is also an out of tune piano.

THE BARN-STUDIO is approximately 32 by 45 feet. It has three poles in the middle of the space. It has an older marley floor (Paul Taylor's old marley). It has huge doors that open on one side to the road so that it can feel like it is open air. It is located about 100 feet from the house.

Climate: The average high temperature for the period we will be at the farm is 83 degrees and the average low is 60 degrees. It rains at least once in the week, so bring rain gear if you need it. It does get cool in the evening, so dress accordingly.

Critters: Although I have never seen a single tic during all my trysts through the woods, ther is a good eal of poison ivy, so it is a good idea to have an extra pair of long pants, socks and a 2nd pair of shoes if you plan to traipse through the woods.

Other Items to Bring: The sun rises early and is quite bright throughout most of the bedrooms. However, if you need an alarm clock to wake up, you will need to bring this. For those who are light sleepers, it is recommended that you bring ear plugs in case snoring is an issue. If you need allergy medicine, please bring it.

Coming from Washington. D.C.

From Constitution Ave, take I-66,US-50 West for 0.4 miles. Bear right on ramp at sign reading "US-50 W Arlington Blvd / G W Parkway" and go Northwest for 0.3 miles. Continue on George Washington Memorial Pky,Gw Pky and go Northwest for 9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-495 N to Maryland" and go West for 0.4 miles. Continue on Capital Beltway,I-495,I-495 Innerloop and go Northeast for 3.9 miles. Continue on I-270-Spur at sign reading "Exit 38 I-270 to Rockville / Frederick" and go North for 2.0 miles. Continue on I-270,Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy,Washington National Pike and go Northwest for 3.9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "Exit 8 to Shady Grove Road" and go North for 900 feet. Continue on I-270 Local,Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy,Washington National Pike and go North for 0.5 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-270 N to Frederick" and go North for 1000 feet. Continue on I-270 and go Northwest for 24 miles. Take ramp at sign reading "I-70 W to Hagerstown" and go Northwest for 0.7 miles. Bear left on I-70 and go Northwest for 76 miles Continue on Lincoln Hwy,US-30 and go West for 26 miles to Schellsberg. At stoplight, take a right on Route 96, go about 1/4 mile, take a right at sign to Fishertown. Go about 3 miles, pas an electrical substation and behind a large red barn situated immediately on the left of the road, take a left onto Smith Road. Go up road (becomes gravel) and house (grey-blue) is 3/4 mile up on left.

Coming from New York City
Take the Lincoln Tunnel at W 39th St at sign reading "I-495 W Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey / Newark International Airport" and go Northwest for 180 feet. Bear left on I-495 and go Northwest for 3.9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "N.J. Turnpike South to Trenton / Newark Airport" and go West for 0.5 miles. Bear right on I-95,New Jersey Tpke and go Southwest for 6 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-78 to Exit 14-14A-14B-14C / Newark Airport / Holland Tnl and US-1 / US-9 / US-22" and go Southwest for 1.7 miles. Continue on I-78 and go Northwest for 400 feet. Continue on I-78 Express Ln at sign reading "I-78 West Express to Garden State Parkway / Clinton" and go West for 9 miles. Continue on I-78 and go West for 126 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-81 S to Harrisburg" and go West for 0.8 miles. Continue on I-81 and go West for 37 miles. Bear right on ramp at sign reading "Exit 17 US-11 to New Kingstown / Middlesex / Turnpike and I-76" and go Southwest for 0.3 miles. Turn right on US-11,Harrisburg Pike and go West for 1.0 miles. Turn right on ramp at sign reading "Penna Turnpike to Philadelphia / Pittsburgh and 1-76" and go West for 0.7 miles. Bear right on I-76,Pennsylvania Tpke and go West for 81 miles. Bear right on ramp at sign reading "Exit 11 US-220 / I-99 to Bedford-Altoona / Johnstown" and go North for 0.2 miles. Turn left on US-220-BR,PA-4009 and go North for 0.3 miles. Turn left on ramp and go West for 0.7 miles. Turn right on US-220,Appalachian Thwy and go South for 1.9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "US-30 W to Greensburg" and go West for 0.3 miles. Bear right on US-30,Lincoln Hwy and go West for 8 miles. From here, follow directions as indicated above.

Coming from Philadelphia

Take highway 76 out of Philadelphia toward Harrisburg and continue until Bedford exit 11. Follow directions as indicated above.

Coming from Pittsburgh

Take 376 out of Pittsburgh and onto The PA Turnpike (76) toward Harrisburg. Exit at Bedford exit 11 and follow directions as indicated above.

*The deposit and fee are non-refundable unless the workshop is cancelled for any reason beyond the control of the payee.