BIOGRAPHY
Uila Marx (they/she) is a movement artist and educator from O’ahu, Hawai’i, based in occupied Lenapehoking / Brooklyn. Uila’s movement lineage is informed by a lifelong education in hula and an ever transforming relationship to the soil, wind, and water. Their work centers collective care, tenderness, queer joy, and an urgency toward communal healing and survival. Uila received BAs in dance and psychology from Barnard College and is a 2024 Hula Olapa graduate at Ka Pa Hula O Ka Lei Lehua.
Uila is in artful community with DELIRIOUS Dances (Edisa Weeks), Troy Ogilvie, Lucia Gagliardone, and Rae Su. They have also performed works by Okwui Okpokwasili, David Thomson, Mark Morris, David Dorfman, Colleen Thomas, and Will Ervin Jr. Uila hosts Emergent Improvisation, brainchild of Troy Ogilvie, at Gibney and Peridance, is a Community Actionist in Gibney’s Hands Are for Holding program, choreographs for Dancewave youth in Brooklyn, and regularly hosts the pay-what-you-want class series, Body in Play at Chez Bushwick.
CLASS DESCRIPTION
When gut, heart, and brain are trusted, a dialogue forms between conscious and intuitive physicality. The tension between abstraction and narrative - form and content - adds context to this dialogue. Class physically and mentally prepares dancers and/or actors to contribute to this conversation whether they produce their own work or interpret the work of others. Warm-up begins with meditative form and graduates to rigorous alignment. Blood pumping continues with improvisation techniques and games; both known and unknown. Class finishes with phrase work and related improvisations.