DanceAction Summer Workshop: Contemporary Pathways & Architecture

DanceAction’s Summer workshop for dancers, performers, or movers of any kind offers an integrated experience that includes dance training, improvisation, and composition. This comprehensive dance experience will enable participants to access a unique combination of dance techniques, discovering DanceAction’s “Pathways & Architecture” style, playful improvisation approaches, and dance-making tools and strategies that will ignite their creativity and broaden their physical ability and versatility as movement artists.

DanceAction’s Summer Workshop will explore three key components of a comprehensive dance experience: technical training, improvisation, and dance-making. 

The Contemporary dance training segment offers a unique blend of dance techniques and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham, Release, Argentinian Tango & Folk Dance, Salsa, and Partnering Techniques), designed to build strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination, and movement mechanics. Through a series of exercises that study the shape and pathways of energy in space, dancers will discover innovative strategies for exploring the swift changes in levels and navigating the space between vertical and horizontal planes. Each training segment concludes with an exploration of DanceAction’s repertory through accessible phrase work, providing an opportunity to implement these training strategies. This practice will enable participants to explore a diverse range of movement languages and styles, thereby expanding their overall physical abilities and enhancing their performative interpretation.

An Improvisation segment will follow, inviting participants to immerse themselves in a playful experience. This will include theater and movement games, movement explorations, structured dance improvisations, score-building exercises, partnering approaches, and open dance. By navigating these activities progressively, participants will gain awareness of the people they are moving with; they will experience clarity and ease in decision-making scenarios and will develop a sense of alertness and strong presence in spontaneous situations. They will also integrate the concept of “Yes and!” within the group practice of dance improvisation and enhance their listening skills in dance. 

Lastly, a portion of the class will be focused on Dance-making exercises that will serve as a laboratory for developing the participants’ choreographic ideas and also contribute to DanceAction’s latest project in development, Pathways and Architecture. Participants will be able to discover these composition tools and their practicality by learning excerpts from the DA repertoire. These choreographic tools, along with the improvisation strategies, will be applied in the creation of short dances that participants will perform at the workshop's culminating Performance on Friday, August 8th.

Culminating Performance

The Workshop will conclude with an informal presentation of short performance works created by the participants at the DanceAction Garden Series on Friday, August 8th, at 8 pm*. The event will also feature excerpts from DanceAction’s repertory, including its latest work, "The Price is Right (De-Valued)," and its current development project, "Pathways and Architecture." All workshop participants who attend the entire week of classes will be eligible to perform in the culminating performance event. 

*In the event of inclement weather, the showing will be rescheduled to take place at the Center at West Park, 3rd floor studio, on Friday, August 8th, 2025, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. 

The Audition

We are seeking dancers, performers, or movers residing in New York City to join the company this fall and participate in its programming through the winter and spring of 2026. BIPOC and Immigrant Artists of any gender identity are encouraged to apply! These dancers will be instrumental collaborators in developing a new choreographic project to be performed in the Fall of 2025 and the Spring of 2026, as well as restaging the company’s signature piece, BLINDSPOT. This year’s programming includes outdoor performances, a summer workshop, classes, and a series of full evening performances.

​Applicants should have broad experience in contemporary dance forms, including movement improvisation, floor work, partnering, and physical theater. A passion for working in a collaborative environment is a must, along with excellent communication skills. DanceAction’s choreography blends an array of movement languages and styles (Flying Low, Cunningham Technique, Improvisation, Release, Argentine Tango, Salsa), connecting body architecture, spirals, and pathways of energy in space. DanceAction’s Artistic Associates are creative, problem-solving individuals with a genuine interest in building meaningful connections with others while using dance as a catalyst for social change.

To Audition, interested applicants should attend at least one session of DanceAction’s Summer Workshop at the Center at West Park (165 West 86th Street, New York, NY 10024) from Monday, August 4th to Friday, August 8th, from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. Participation in the entire workshop is not required, but is highly recommended to be considered for this opportunity, as it will familiarize you with DanceAction’s choreographic style and movement language. Register for the workshop through Eventbrite.

DanceAction’s Artistic Associates will receive hourly rehearsal compensation and a performance stipend.

In-person Rehearsals will start in the late summer/early fall and take place on Mondays and Thursdays, between 4 and 8 pm, and on Wednesdays or Fridays in the morning, between 10 and 2 pm, at different studios in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The complete rehearsal calendar will be posted at the end of the summer. If you have conflicts with the schedule but would like to participate, send a message, and we will discuss whether accommodations can be made.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, please email Carmen Caceres at ZGFuY2VhY3Rpb25ueWMgfCBnbWFpbCAhIGNvbQ== your resume, Headshot (or a picture of yourself), samples of your dance and performance work (reels/videos/website/links), and a few words describing yourself and why you would like to join the company. In the subject line, include the following message: “DA AUDITION 2025 - Your Name.”​

About Carmen Caceres

Carmen Caceres is a dance artist originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has been creating dance works in Argentina and New York since 2009. Her works have been presented in several venues, including Dixon Place, Green Space Studio, Triskelion Arts Center, Teatro Sea, The Mark Morris Dance Center, The Center at West Park, and the Center for Performance Research. In 2013, she founded DanceAction, a dance company that serves as a creative platform for producing performing arts works in collaboration with musicians, dramaturges, designers, and visual artists. Her works have been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund Community Grant, the Dance/NYC Emergency COVID-19 Grant, the City Artist Corps Grant, and most recently, the LMCC Creative Engagement Grant. Along with her husband, Carmen also produces the DanceAction Garden Series, a multidisciplinary performance event at their home in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

As a performer and collaborator, she worked with artists Ines Armas, Anabella Lenzu, Katie Rose McLaughlin, Isabel Lewis, Jillian Peña, Lisa Parra, Sarah Berges, Elia Mrak, Sari Nordman, and Jody Oberfelder, among others. Carmen is pursuing an MA in Dance Education at Hunter College and holds a BA in Dance and Education from SUNY Empire State College. She deepened her studies in dance, performance, and choreography at the former Merce Cunningham Studio in New York, where she completed the Professional Training Program and participated in several repertory and composition workshops organized by the Merce Cunningham Trust. In her native city, she graduated from the National School of Dance and has studied Dance Composition at the National University of the Arts, UNA.

Carmen also works as a dance educator and program director for different art education programs and community-based organizations in New York City.

About DanceAction

DanceAction is a contemporary dance company based in New York, led by Argentinian choreographer Carmen Caceres. Our culturally diverse team comprises artists from various disciplines, including dance, music, drama, media, and visual arts. Together, we create dance works that reflect social realities that concern people, relationships, and social justice. Our primary purpose is to interpret these issues and use our work to propel change.

DA participated in numerous festivals and performance series in New York, such as Performance Studio Open House (PSOH) at Center for Performance Research, Take Root at Green Space Studio, Open Performance for Movement Research, Under Exposed at Dixon Place, and SharedSpace at the Mark Morris Dance Center. In January 2018, DA produced an entire evening of works inspired by political activism and social justice at the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, NY. DA's works have been awarded the Brooklyn Arts Fund Community Grant, the Dance/NYC Emergency COVID-19 Grant, the City Artist Corps Grant, and the LMCC Creative Engagement Grant.

DA has also been invited to international dance festivals in different cities. Its first full-length work, Game Night, was part of the First International Contemporary Dance Festival of Mexico City (FIDCDMX) in August 2016. In July 2018, the company participated in the International Contemporary Dance Festival and Campus Ticino in Danza in Ticino, Switzerland, performing 2 Minutes Hate. The company also presented this thought-provoking piece in October 2018 at Women Center Stage Festival – Directors Weekend II, organized and curated by Culture Project. Last fall, DA presented their latest work, The Price is Right (De-Valued), at the Evolution Festival at the Center at West Park.

Photo Credit: Nir Arieli

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