InvertED is underway!  We taught a day of performance/workshops at Inner-City Arts in December 2009 and July 2010 and we are in the process of developing a more extensive long-term program in partnership with this wonderful organization.

Laura (artistic director), Sofia (assistant director) and Toby (musical director) are all taking part in ICA's Creativity in the Classroom series, which is a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of useful information.

To see photos of our InvertED adventures so far, click here.

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We are working on our Dance for PD program.  Laura and Sofia, along with advisory board member Linda Berghoff, are flying to New York in May to train with the Mark Morris Dance Group/Brooklyn Parkinsons Group in how to teach dance to people living with Parkinson's disease.  This is a long-standing dream of ours and we really look forward to moving forward with it!

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In April 2009, Invertigo Dance Theatre was invited to perform at Explore-a-Story, a benefit for children's literacy by Wonder of Reading.  For more info, click here.  For photos, click here.

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Artistic Director Laura Karlin has experience in Education and Outreach programs – she has taught dance and yoga in many venues, from Maximum Security Prison to Beverly Hills High School to the L.A. County Museum of Art.

Invertigo approaches Education programs with this philosophy: “We will challenge you to do things you think are difficult or beyond what you would normally dare to do. It is our job to do that. But it is also our job to help you to meet those challenges.”

Students will take away new ideas for both minds and bodies. They will feel ready to create new things, because they have learned to think and move outside their own box, and found joy in doing so.

As part of Laura’s work with the L.A. Contemporary Dance Company, she and Kate Hutter created an outreach program run in conjunction with LACMA’s exhibit focusing on the surrealist artist Rene Magritte. It consisted of two components: one for families and the other for educators. The first was a weekly performance and workshop with children of all ages to bring concepts of surrealism into a playful, challenging environment. The second was a performance and workshop with educators to bring Magritte and surrealism back to the classroom through movement in order to encourage curiosity, develop critical thinking and articulate appreciation of art.

This work inspired Laura to continue creating Education/Outreach programs with Invertigo Dance Theatre.