BRYRA MOVEMENT COLLECTIVE

Virtual Technique & Conditioning Classes

Dance artists Bryanna Cross and Rachel Dodson of Bryra Movement Collective have teamed up to create an exciting opportunity for dancers near and far to connect through innovative online dance programming. Each class is thoughtfully crafted for a positive and thorough student-centered experience with the intention of maintaining and building upon technique while conditioning through diversified practice. Dancers have the unique platform to study with different dance educators, connect with fellow students from all across the country, and explore healthy movement practices through a multitude of class and conditioning options.

Each class includes:

• A live class taught via the Zoom app and accessible by private link emailed at the time of registration
• The benefit of co-teachers with combined professional experience of over 40 years
• Optional sharing of your personal video feed with the group or not (honor the level of privacy you desire in your practice)
• Optional access to a digital archive of the class through Online Library Access
• The opportunity to dance, laugh and stay connected through our mutual love for movement, commitment to personal practice, and passion for self care

What do you need to take an online dance class?

• Floor space the width/length of a pilates or yoga mat
• A "barre" can be as simple as a countertop, the back of a chair or couch, windowsill, wall--so many options!
• Taking a class other than ballet? Then no "barre" necessary!
• Adaptation to your floors (i.e. Slippery wood? try barefoot! Getting rug burns? let's put socks on!)
• You may also choose to connect your phone to your TV for a larger screen or Zoom via laptop if it's more comfortable

Meet Your Teachers

Bryanna Cross started dancing at age nine. Two years later, she began her serious ballet training at the New Jersey Ballet School. Simultaneously, Cross’s love for teaching was born when she started assistant teaching at her local dance studio. At the age of 13, Cross attended the San Francisco Ballet School Summer Intensive and was invited to continue her training with the San Francisco Ballet's year-round program. At age 14, Cross developed a community outreach program providing ballet/creative movement classes for pre-school to early elementary school-aged children. Cross spent two summers at The School of American Ballet's Summer Intensive. Additionally, she trained privately with Marina Eglevsky, principal of the Harkness Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Hamburg Ballet. 

In 2009, Cross joined the Artesan Dance Company, dancing soloist roles in many original contemporary ballet pieces. She then taught upper-level ballet for a local dance academy. Cross also taught adult classes, beginning through advanced level, for Artesan Dance Company. Cross continued her teaching career at the Valley Dance Theatre teaching ages 3 through adults. There she also worked as a rehearsal director and choreographed for VDT's studio company.

Moving back to the east coast where her training began, Cross taught with the Eglevsky ballet school in Long Island, NY, meanwhile performing with the Eglevsky Ballet, Baltimore Ballet, Neglia Ballet, and Artesan dance company in several corps de ballet and soloist roles. Upon returning to the west coast, Cross continued teaching with multiple ballet schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. Alongside creating many original classical and contemporary pieces of choreography, she also directed and choreographed a full-length Nutcracker. Her final stop was teaching with the Contra Costa Ballet.

Additionally, in 2016, Cross started developing the Crossing Lines program, starting with seven workshops and a two-week summer intensive program in one year's time.

Cross's fascination with anatomy and physiology encouraged her to study how to more effectively teach young dancers to move through space healthily. Cross proceeded to obtain her 200 hour Yoga certification, Pilates Sports Center certification full apparatus, and Franklin Method lower back certification. Cross has worked to develop a method of teaching/training based on how the body naturally moves, cultivating healthy movement and keeping her clients/students from suffering chronic injuries, as well as feeling stronger, happier, and ever more powerful. 

“Though Cross is my last name, the meaning behind Crossing Lines Center encompasses much more - I did not invent any of these methods to gain physical, mental, or emotional health. But my dream is that my program will be a confluence of all these streams. I want my work to cultivate balance - balance of the mind, body, and soul.”

https://crossinglinescenter.com/ 

Rachel Dodson is a performance artist, educator, choreographer, and arts facilitator situated in the Pacific Northwest. As faculty at the University of Idaho (2018-2020) and the University of Colorado Boulder (2014-2017) she has offered studio courses in classical ballet, contemporary modern, Progressing Ballet Technique and somatic modalities to dance majors, minors, and non-majors. Outside of the academe, she offers community-based classes for participants of all levels of experience to explore diverse movement practices and deepen dialogue and communal action towards collaborative art making and performance. 

Dodson attended the Crockett Academy of Ballet in Sacramento after her love of dance blossomed at the age of five. At the age of 13 she was one of fifty-five dancers across the United States invited to attend the Boston Ballet Summer Intensive where her commitment to ballet, contemporary dance, and dance composition grew. After performing pre-professionally throughout her teens and commissioned soloist projects in her twenties, she became committed to sharing her love of dance and choreography with generations to come. Upon acceptance into the competitive conservatory-model dance program at the University of California Irvine, she began her study of dance at a collegiate level learning from artists and scholars such as Donald McKayle, Loretta Livingston, Israel "El" Gabriel, Molly Lynch, Jennifer Fisher, and Lisa Naugle.

Dodson holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance with an emphasis in Somatic Movement The Alexander Technique from the University of Colorado Boulder and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from the University of California Irvine. She holds additional certificates in Women and Gender Studies and College Teaching from the University of Colorado Boulder and received The Healthy Dance Practice certificate from SAFE in Dance International in 2016. In 2019 she added a teacher certification in the junior, senior and advanced programs of Progressing Ballet Technique with Marie Walton-Mahon and is presently in studying Laban Movement Analysis and Bartenieff Fundamentals at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York.

Dodson has performed with various companies and artists as a soloist, duet, and corps dancer as both a permanent and guest artist for over 20 years--including but not limited to performances with Merce Cunningham, Loretta Livingston, Gesel Mason, Nada Diachenko, Mel Wong, Donald McKayle, Architexture Dance Company, Boston Ballet, and the Gilbert Reed Ballet. Her original scholarly and creative research has been invited for presentation at the Hawaii International Conference in Arts and Humanities and FEM + FEST Feminist Art Festival while movement research has been presented at the Colorado Dance Education Organization and American College Dance Association conferences. Her choreography has been commissioned and featured nationally and internationally in Kyriat Ono and Herzliya Pituach, Israel; Boulder, Longmont, Louisville, Paonia, and Lafayette, Colorado; Templeton, Arroyo Grande, Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo, Irvine, and Santa Cruz, California; Spokane, Washington; and Moscow, Idaho. In 2020, she was selected as a creative grant recipient by artsIDAHO and the National Endowment for the Arts and the Professional Development Scholarship by the National Dance Education Organization.

What Bryra students are saying

Questions? Contact us at [email protected] or complete an Online Inquiry