PERIDANCE FACULTY

Guest / Past

Raphaëlle Kessedjian

Graham Technique

BIOGRAPHY

Raphaëlle Kessedjian is a native from France and received her dance training at the Centre choregraphique Veronique Thery, The Rick Odums Institute in France and at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance on a full scholarship in New York. Raphaëlle has been a member of Graham II, Nu Dance Theater, Caliince Dance, and was a guest artist with the Martha Graham Dance Company for their Italian Production “Cercando Picasso”. She has performed work from Robert Battle, Pearl Lang, Stuart Hodes, Peggy Lyman and Virginie Mécene. She joined Adele Myers and Dancers in 2012 and the Caterina Rago Dance Company in 2015 and is currently touring and teaching with both companies. Raphaëlle teaches at the Martha Graham School for their Intensive Program, Young Artist Program, their Profesional Training Program and the school and Graham II auditions. She is the Graham teacher at Peridance Center for the Certificate Program, the Semester Intensive program and the Teens Summer Intensive.
Photo credit: Saan Saelee.

CLASS DESCRIPTION

The class taught by Raphaelle Kessedjian will be drawn from the syllabus of the Martha Graham Technique. The class will begin with the floorwork, moving on to the standing exercises, building into moving across the floor and a combination. The principals of the Graham technique will be explored such as the contraction, spirals, leg extensions, off balances exercises, shifts of weight, jumps, and challenging combinations incorporating all the basics elements.

The use of the back will be emphasized as the various floor exercises are evolved and the basics are mastered. The standing work will focus on sustaining balance while strengthening the use of the torso, the extremities, and challenging weight changes that define the Graham vocabulary.

As the class builds up the transitions, dynamics, and phrasing will be the major focus with the overall goal of finding how to create a dancing experience in the process of learning to speak the language.