SYMPATHETIC BODIES offers a gentle space for connection with self and others. Time in this creative workshop will be spent in breath-work, imagination, consensual touch, movement and vocalizations. This workshop offers a meditative atmosphere for deep internal listening, rest and rejuvenation. Space will be made for altered states of creative consciousness to emerge and be observed. Participants are invited to move with the needs of their nervous systems. We will tend to the water of our bodies and make space for song to vibrate. We will dance together with polyrhythms and music toward the practice of cultivating trust and centering hope. 

No previous ‘dance training’ is required for this workshop. 

Please reach out with any disability access needs. 

Bio:

Fana Fraser is a Trinidadian artist, producer, director and performer. Her work gravitates to expressions of power, eroticism and compassion. Fana is a Visiting Lecturer in Dance at Harvard University for Fall 2024.

Fana’s short film, ‘nesting’ was commissioned by TBA21-Academy in 2023.

A Spring 2023 faculty guest at Northeastern University - College of Media, Arts and Design; Fall 2023 Artist-in-Residence at The Watermill Center; Petronio 2022 RETREAT & RESTORE resident; 2022 BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) Artist-in-Residence; 2021-22 Abrons Arts Center Performance Artist-in-Residence; and 2021-23 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow in Dance, she is a 2023-2024 Movement Research NYSCA Artist-in-Residence.  

Her work has been presented at several venues including: Brooklyn Museum, New York Botanical Garden, Movement Research at the Judson Church, BAAD!, Gibney, and Dance Mission Theater in San Francisco.

From 2020-2022, Fana taught as an adjunct professor at University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  At NYU Tisch and Adelphi University she has led workshops in BFA Dance Programs. Fana has also taught workshops in the MFA Dance Program at Sarah Lawrence.

She was shortlisted for the 2020 BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Caribbean-American Writer’s Prize.

Fana served as Rehearsal Director for Ailey II from 2016-20. As a dancer and collaborator, she originated roles and toured internationally with Camille A. Brown & Dancers and Ailey II. She has also done performance work with Samita Sinha’s ‘Infinity Folds’, Nia O. Witherspoon’s ‘Priestess of Twerk’, Sidra Bell Dance New York, The Metropolitan Opera, Bard SummerScape Opera, Andrea Miller for Hermès, The Francesca Harper Project, Raja Feather Kelly and the Feath3r theory, Miriam Simun, Jonathan González, Roya Carreras, Ryan McNamara, and many others.

A certified Gyrotonic® Instructor, Fana has extensive experience in Yoga, Pilates, Alexander Technique and Somatic Experiencing®. She is also a full spectrum doula.

Sunday Sessions is about creating intersections with different artistic communities and students through the practices of improvisation from dance artists who are makers of performance. Beth Graczyk curates this series and co-produces with Peridance & our nonprofit Beth Graczyk Productions, Inc.