Technique Workshop: Dance with Coco Karol

Instructors:

Coco Karol is a New York based dancer, teacher, and artist. She began her career as a classical dancer with The Boston Ballet, and now makes cross-disciplinary performance works that draw inspiration from many dance and visual art forms including, ballet and butoh. She holds a BFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA from Hollins University.

As a dancer, Karol has had the privilege of performing for Misnomer Dance Theater, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance Company, and Christopher Williams, as well as being a part of projects by Bill Young, Jose Navas, and Steven Petronio. Karol has created work with musicians including Bjork, Ryan Lott (Son Lux), Koh Ohtera, Sean Ali, Lacy Rose, Alaina Ferris, Daniel Carter, MAGIK*MAGIK, Amanda Palmer, and her husband Sxip Shirey. Karol’s collaborations with visual artists include, photographer – Steven Sebring, sculptor- Eve Bailey, architect- Marcos Zotes, stereoscopic artist- Gerald Marks, videographer- Azmi Mert Erdem, designer- Louda Larrain, and multi-disciplinary artist, Benjamin Heller. Her work has been shown internationally as well as across New York at Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, BAX, Ibeam, Spectrum, D.U.M.B.O Under the Bridge Arts Festival, New York Studio Gallery, Galapagos, Death By Audio, curated by AUNTS, and National Sawdust. Karol often uses local communities in her choreography which she creates in community-inclusive performance workshops which she calls MOVEMENT BEFORE DIALOG workshops. These have taken place in San Francisco, CA to musicians of the Magik*Magik Orchestra; in Istanbul, Turkey, concerned with movement/ social movement, in Roanoke, VA and New York, NY, investigating non-verbal communication and gestures of care with hospice workers/ caregivers. In the latest iteration of community- inclusive works, Karol is using dance to interview people in a process she developed called “MOVEMENT INTERVIEWS.” She has done over 100 “MOVEMENT INTERVIEWS” of local community members, students, and choir members for the upcoming works ( Winter/Spring/ Fall 2018) by Sxip Shirey and Choral Chameleon. Karol is a dedicated maker and teacher. Her creations are informed by her work in hospice, her studies in improvisation, butoh, authentic movement, meditation, and her belief that we move to move, and to be moved. Karol started Red Sole Productions, LLC, a small production company for dance-based media, in 2011. In 2016 she was fiscally sponsored through New York Live Arts.