Workshops and Seminars

All students will benefit from a specific topic in depth.  Students who are especially keen, such as those in the competitive programme will enjoy the opportunity to explore topics that regular class time rarely allows. 

Workshops

A workshop format is a deep dive on a specific topic.

Seminars

Seminars are the same as a workshop with the addition of prepared hand-outs and the allowance of filming the session for later review. 

With sufficient notice, topics for both workshops and seminars can be requested topics. 

Requests can be made by:

• Teachers
• Studio Owners
• Students

Popular Workshops and Seminars

There are an infinite number of topics that can be done for dancers.  The topics below are simply the most commonly requested and within the skills of Mariah-Jane. 

If the students you wish workshops for have a particular challenge or desire that is not addressed below, simply reach out to request this topic.

The Diamond Method:

Backstage Strategies to Shine On Stage

This is a powerful workshop that will forever change how students prepare for any performance, whether it is on a stage at a dance competition or in the studio for an exam.

Upon the foundation of understanding how the brain responds to stress, students will be lead through movements that maintain or bring the brain back into integration. 

Discovering your unique brain profile will give you clues for how you respond under stress so that you can quickly notice and reverse the effects with targeted movements. 

Understanding the Dual Nature of your Feet:

Foundation and Propulsion

This workshop will explore the design of the foot and how to fully mobilize the foot for increased function. Understanding the construction of the arches, along with the development of the arches will then give us the natural springboard created by pronation and supination.

Assessment of various key movements and steps will help to apply the new knowledge, such as in glissade, travelling waltz and pas de basque.

Understanding Upper Body Placement and Port de Bras Secrets

How do you get students to have open shoulders and flat shoulder blades?  How do you get students to keep the shoulders down when the arms go up?  And most importantly, how do you actually teach expressive ports de bras.

All that and more will be delved into in this workshop, with unique solutions drawn from sources such as Body-Mind Centering. 

Busting Posture Myths & Clearing Up Confusions

Understanding posture is so essential to good development of technique, efficiency and longevity.  Many students work on static posture and struggle to relate it to dynamic posture.  While posture is complex, it is really only complex because of the confusion between static and dynamic.  By embracing how the spine and pelvis work together, along with breathing, dancers can find the freedom given by good posture, instead of the common restrictions that posture seems to place on movement when misunderstood.

Maximizing Turn-Out Potential in Your Students

Once you understand the many ways that students block their turn-out via misunderstandings and movement habits, you can then address activation of the turn-out.  Generally however, working to increase turn-out leads to blocks being created because of the order of the priorities teachers layer onto students. 

Students may have a lot more turn-out then initially believed when flow and dynamic changes are returned to the hip socket.  Maintaining healthy turn-out is all about allowing for change within the hip socket. 

Spatial Clarity for Enhanced Form & Function

This workshop will help students across ages to immediately connect to the benefit of paying attention to the space and the body relationship to 3D space.  From understanding distance eye audience, "riding the vertical" and the use of negative space expanding and compressing to create support all aspects of using space will be explored. 

Drawing from decades of studying Laban Movement Analysis and combining with equal time working to coach students to develop the link between technique and performance, Mariah-Jane will show both teachers and students the power of adding discussions, cues and imagery about space, spatial pulls and spatial clarity. 

Managing Hyperextended Knees

Managing Hyperextended Knees

The issues of hyper-extended knees has been one that rarely is truly solved.  Mariah-Jane has hyper-extended knees herself, so she knows first hand how much of the traditional advice, such as "pulling up the knees" and get used to feeling the knees as being a bit bent, truly does not work.  These pieces of advice only serve to breed tension around the area and since a joint is meant to be about movement, any tension is counter productive to efficient movement. 

This workshop will give students unique information about the origin and therefore the solution to hyperextension, drawing from the field of reflex integration.

Along with understanding weight placement differently than traditionally taught, new concepts to have the body (and therefore the knees) to truly discover and naturally be aligned vertically. 

Mariah-Jane has done extensive training in numerous modalities.  When working privately, she draws on whatever is necessary to achieve the goals of the client.

The various threads that may be used in a session include:

• Bartenieff Movement Fundamentals
• Brain Gym
• Emotion Code
• Emotional Freedom Technique
• Essential Oils
• Flower Essences
• Franklin Method
• Injury Release Method
• Reiki
• Rhythmic Movement Training

Injury Release Method

When an injury occurs in the body, especially an acute injury, the soft tissues of muscles, ligaments and tendons do heal, although often not completely.  However, without proper care, the nervous system remembers. This prevents not just complete healing of the tissues due to a protective bubble around the injury site, but an overall body tightening.

The shock of a sudden and intense pain, causes a response of the nervous system.  Through a series of processes, this stress response can be resolved.  The result is a return of sensation, proprioception, function and flexibility not just around the injury but throughout the whole body.

Up to 5 different injury sites can be resolved in one session. 

For about three years, I have struggled with severe pain in my right ankle. After Mariah-Jane worked with me in a single session of the Injury Release Method, I no longer have any pain. I have been able to dance for several hours a day and just returned from a 22-mile hiking trip….still no pain! Additionally, this bodywork has improved my hip flexibility. Prior to her work, I could only hold my leg at hip height; now, I can développé up to my shoulder! Mariah-Jane is fantastic to work with, she is a great listener, highly knowledgeable, and made me feel safe as we worked together.

Sarah Newton, MFA, NCPT

TCU School for Classical and Contemporary Dance

The Diamond Method Private Session

A private of this nature is ideal for students wishing to break through blocks that are inhibiting learning or performance.

Additionally, dancers who have anxiety with performance or exams can find great relief with the techniques that are designed to go beyond coping skills to actual change in the wiring of the brain.