Branching Out
2026 Spring Symposium
Join us April 18th at Murmurations Aerial for a day of masterclass workshops being offered by a range of Dance teachers throughout Vermont! Come try out a new form of dance, meet other members, and get to know some of the incredible styles of dance and teachers we have in our state!
After a day of classes we will have a works-in-progress showing of pieces developed throughout January as a part of NACHMO-National Choreography Month!
Branching Out Schedule & Tickets
Click on the class or showing below to purchase tickets. There is a $5 off discount code for current VDA members. To set that up, please reach out to info@vermontdance.org with your VDA associated e-mail.
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The body is everything. It is where we begin, and it is enough. You are enough. From the body, everything else moves outward.
In this class, we work with a butoh-based movement practice that invites us to reimagine what the body can do and to rediscover what movement can do. As we reorient to our own bodies, new possibilities begin to open.
Through guided explorations, improvisation, and shared movement material, we enter unfamiliar territory. Habit loosens, perception shifts, and the body begins to move in ways we may not yet recognize.
No previous experience with butoh or dance is required. Only curiosity and a willingness to explore.
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This workshop begins with a postmodern warmup infused with a bit of cheeky fun and phrasework. Participants will then break into small groups. Much like camp games of old, each group will pull a prop or two, from a paper bag and create a mini movement sketch with laughter as the goal. We will share at the end of class.
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Plenty of fantastic lunch options around to check out with your friends from class! Some suggestions: Nomad Coffee, Onion River Co-op, Burlington Beer Co., and more!
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Contemporary floorwork combines vocabulary from breakdancing, Capoeira, Bartinieff fundamentals, and other Modern, contemporary, and street dance styles. In this open level skills lab, dancers will work almost exclusively across the floor, providing ample runway for play, failure, and epiphany. Focusing on one exercise or "move" at a time, we'll progress from simple, warming rolls and slides toward more "spicy" weight shifts and (potential) inversions that will eventually form a culminating, traveling phrase. Though no formal floorwork-specific training is necessary, dancers should expect to get low, sweat, and slide--meaning full-length pants, shirts with sleeves, and confident body awareness are required. Soft knee pads may also be helpful for those with joint sensitivity or concerns.
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Using Hanna’s devised dance scores and tactics for community movement rituals, we will combine our energetic fields and brilliant choreographic minds to sculpt a new reality, using just the immediate moment. Come with a journal and pen, clear mind and willing body. Dance experience recommended.
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This workshop is designed for dancers wanting to explore the possibilities of loft, suspension, friction, and release. We'll combine improvisational scores and fabric techniques. Class will begin with a somatic interaction with the fabric to arrive in the space and in community with others. We'll warm our bodies with simple floor scores that utilize the fabric for pulling, sliding, and rolling. We'll rise to the level of our feel and continue exploring holding/being held, finding support/providing support. Finally, we'll build a sequence that combines aerial technique and improvisation, ending with the satisfying feeling of flight and strength. All bodies welcome, mature teen/adult.
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In studio showing of works-in-progress by Dance alliance members who participated in NACHMO (National Choreography Month)! Throughout the month of January VDA posted daily choreographic prompts on social media to keep our members creatively energized. Come see what we’ve made!
Workshop Instructors
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Meshi Chavez
Butoh: Rewild the Body
Meshi Chavez is a Visiting Professor of Dance at Middlebury College, teaches Butoh and somatic practices that cultivate curiosity, presence, and full embodiment. His work guides participants to inhabit the body fully, awaken relational awareness, and explore movement as a path toward creativity and the unknown.
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Sonia Plumb
Funny Business: Dance, Props and Comedic Timing
Sonia Plumb is a choreographer, performer, dance educator and Teaching Artist. Sonia grew up in rural Vermont, migrating to Hartford, CT, where she received a B.A. in Theater and Dance from Trinity College. She has choreographed over fifty dancers during her career, has thrice received the CT Office of the Arts Fellowship for Artistic Excellence and was one of nine artists nationwide to receive a National Artist Community Legacy Award. Many of her works are evening length performances with theatrical elements that often include a sense of humor infused within the sublime. Curious by nature, Sonia has found that dancing is the best way to get out of her head and into the present moment. Her work has been showcased in festivals throughout the Northeast including Wax Works, NYC; Shared Space at Mark Morris, Dixon Place, NYC, The Performance Garage, Philadelphia, to name a few. Sonia returned to Vermont in 2023.
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Caitlin Morgan
Contemporary Floorwork Lab
Caitlin Morgan is a Burlington-based creative, interested in flow-state embodiment as a means of eliciting nuanced, collective understanding and alchemical impact. Her choreography—commonly inspired by ecosomatics, communication theories, and postmodernism—has been featured across New York, Vermont, Ohio, and Michigan. Around a perpetual movement research practice, Caitlin edits (and reads) novels, performs with other local makers, and facilitates dance and yoga classes at Lines Vermont, Studio 3, and Sangha Studio.
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Hanna Satterlee
Improvisation as Composition
Hanna Satterlee creates performance experiences and conceptual artworks for stage, site and film. Hanna holds degrees and certifications in dance therapy, psychology, performance, choreography, vinyassa/yin/restorative yoga, non-profit management and arts integration. Hanna shares these passions as an intergenerational educator, interdisciplinary performer + collaborator, experimental curator and event producer.
From 2010-15 Hanna served as the Director of Professional Programming & Director of Teen Jazz at the Contemporary Dance & Fitness Studio in Montpelier Vermont, and has been a guest lecturer at Johnson State College and Middlebury College, and adjunct faculty at Vermont Law School, the University of Vermont, Northern Vermont University and currently at Saint Michael's College. In May ’17 Hanna founded the Vermont Dance Alliance, and served as the Executive Director through June 2021. Hanna launched ANIMAL Dance in 2022, a performance and production company based in Burlington Vermont. ANIMAL Dance is the producer of the INSTINCT Experimental Dance Festival. In continuous conversation as a curator, an educator, a choreographer and a performer, Hanna is as passionate for the form of dance as she is in connecting people to it. HannaSatterlee.com
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Nicole Dagesse
Contemporary Aerial
Nicole Dagesse is a Dance Artist, Teacher and Director with an MFA in Dance from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the Founder and Artistic Director of Murmurations Dance in Burlington, VT. There, she teaches aerial dance to humans of all ages. Her work is inspired by the palimpsest of place and is interdisciplinary and immersive. She strives to bring imagination, embodiment and creativity to life through her teaching, choreographing and directing. She is the mother of two extraordinary young humans and the partner of a poet/adventurer; they share a life of abundance, creativity and chaos in Jericho Vt.
Murmurations Aerial, 208 Flynn Ave., Unit 3K, Burlington, VT, 05401
If you’ve found a parking lot with the World’s Tallest Filing Cabinet, you’ve found us! Enter the main doors right off Flynn Ave., across from the Onion River Co-op, and Murmurations is the first doors on the left!