Weekly Professional Class with Nic Gareiss

Appalachian Flatfooting (for movers of all experience)
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 music. Wear smooth-soled comfortable shoes with a low or no heel for this class.

Nic will perform with Ultan O'Brien at the Dancing The Line album launch at Coughlan's later that evening.

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." Gareiss engages many folk movement traditions, weaving together a singular contemporary practice marked by his love of clog, flatfoot, and step dance footwork vocabulary; improvisation; and musical collaboration. He has performed in seventeen countries including at London's Barbican Centre, Toronto's Fall for Dance North, the Irish National Concert Hall, the Munich Philharmonic, and the Kennedy Center. In 2011, he performed Steve Reich's Clapping Music in a self-duet with video installation at the Cork Opera House's Reich Effect festival, celebrating the composer's 75th birthday. This performance was hailed by the Irish times as "a left field tour-de-force with irresistible wow factor." Gareiss has performed and collaborated with The Chieftains, The Gloaming, Colin Dunne, Bruce Molsky, Sandy Silva, Bill Frisell, Jake Blount, Phil Wiggins, and Liz Carroll. He holds a MA in Ethnochoreology from the University of Limerick and his thesis became the first piece of scholarship to center the experience of LGBTQ Irish step dancers, leading eventually to a chapter in the 2017 book Queer Dance: Meanings & Makings, edited by Clare Croft on Oxford University Press. www.nicgareiss.com // @NicGareissLFI