Appalachian Flatfooting Workshop with Nic Gareiss

For movers of all experience

Play American folk music with your feet! Flatfooting is a solo form of improvised percussive dance originating in the Appalachian mountains of what some people call the United States, with sonic and gestural connections to West African, Indigenous, and Western European dance. Using the toe, heel, and ball of the foot to strike and slide across the floor, flatfooting articulates the rhythms of old time fiddle and banjo tunes. Wear comfortable clothes and smooth-soled supportive shoes with a low heel or no heel for this class.

About Nic Gareiss
One of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch,” Nic Gareiss (he/they) has been hailed by the New York Times for his "dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance," and called "the most expressive and inventive step dancer on the scene" by the Boston Herald. Informed by 30 years of ethnographic study and performance of many world dance practices, Gareiss’ work draws from many percussive dance traditions to weave together a technique facilitating his love of improvisation; traditional clog, flatfoot, and step dance footwork vocabulary; and musical collaboration. In 2020, Nic was awarded the Michigan Heritage Award, his state’s highest honor bestowed on traditional artists. In addition to his two solo performances (Solo Square Dance and The Art of Treepling), Gareiss has concertised in seventeen countries with many of the luminaries of folk music and dance (including Bill Frisell, Martin Hayes, This is How we Fly, Yasmin Williams, Jake Blount, Liz Carroll, Bruce Molsky, and Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot) at venues including London’s Barbican Centre, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Munich Philharmonic, and Carnegie Hall. www.nicgareiss.com // @NicGareissLFI