Kristina Berger
V.11 Daglig Träning/Daily Training
CONTEMPORARY
Måndag-Torsdag 12-13.30
Bio:
KRISTINA BERGER has been performing, teaching, creating, and celebrating Dance around the World for over 30 years. While Horton Technique is her foundation as dancer and teacher, she also incorporates the fluidity of Hawkins Technique, the intelligence of Pilates, and the power of Strength Training into her work. Kristina has been on Modern Dance Faculty teaching Horton and Hawkins Technique at Marymount Manhattan College, Steps on Broadway, Joffrey School of Ballet, Peridance Capezio Center, Ballet Arts at City Center, Taipei National University of the Arts, La Guardia High School of Performing Arts, Tecniche di Danza Moderna, Lake Tahoe Dance Festival, Dean College, and more!
Kristina’s professional career ranges from Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus Showgirl, to Principal Dancer with The Erick Hawkins Dance Company; Soloist of original Lester Horton works at venues ranging from The Kennedy Center in Washington DC to Taipei Artists Village in Taipei, Lake Tahoe Dance Festival in California, and The National Academy of Dance in Rome; Dancer with Molissa Fenley & Company, Washington Opera Ballet; to First Female and Westerner to perform the virtuoso Solo “Hanuman The Monkey King” in Bali, Indonesia and worldwide.
As described by Gia Kourlas of the New York Times, “Ms. Berger maintains the extreme power of strong positions while exuding a peaceful, free-flowing elasticity. For Hawkins’s choreography, it is just the right kind of poetic juncture.”
It is this balance of power and elasticity which has made it possible for Berger to sustain such a versatile career. A life dedicated to Dance at the highest level has led Kristina to discover multiple ways of working with movement, and it is Kristina’s passion to share these methods with a greater population, within the Dance world and beyond! Kristina is grateful to now be doing just that in Sweden, through teaching Pilates, Horton Technique, and her own movement method “Energy & Flow”. In Gothenburg, Kristina is on Dance Faculty at Balettakademien and Dansforum, a guest artist at Artisten at Gothenburg University, Dance and Pilates instructor at Hagabadet, offers classes through her own company The Pilates Palace Goteborg, and continues to perform in Berlin and USA. Through sharing her passion for movement with ALL ages and levels from beginner to professional, Kristina is most passionate about inspiring others to experience quality of life through discovering their own ways of moving with intelligence, confidence, ease, grace, elegance, and FUN!
Class description:
IN CLASS The Horton Technique is powerful in its physicality while also subtle in its finesse and nuance of beautifully detailed isolations.
Kristina Berger’s class focuses on technical precision balanced with ease, flow and breath; the importance of transitions between the impressively athletic positions; and the vital collaboration between Dancer and Music to produce dynamic, confident artists who have the ability to communicate with their audiences honestly and passionately.
Whatever level, background, or age……the student will experience this as an art form that moves, breathes, and DANCES!
Other Influences:
Kristina has had the honor of performing original Horton works around the world, primarily the beautiful solo, “Sarong Paramaribo”, which she was coached for by original Lester Horton Dance Theatre member Don Martin as well as Frank Eng, and now has the exclusive rights to perform and share. Diving into Horton’s choreography gives an even deeper sensation of the richness of the technique and its versatile language.
Inspired by intense study, performance, and exploration of Balinese Dance in NYC and Bali, Kristina highlights the intricacies, richness, color and sheer magic of this form of dance, which relates directly to many stylistic aspects of The Horton Technique. Lester Horton himself was deeply influenced by Javanese and Balinese Dance, so the connection is crystal clear!
Kristina also draws from her experience as a dancer with Erick Hawkins Dance Company, and her in-depth studies of the technique with Artistic Director Katherine Duke. The sense of fluidity, spiral, overcurves, and undercurves will encourage the dancer to create beautiful, powerful, clear lines through curves and softening the joints, rather than forcing them with pure muscle.