SUNY Potsdam Alumna Tatyanna Hall ’22 Completes Campus Residency Focused on Dance & Movement
Seen here in a dance performance as a SUNY Potsdam student, Tatyanna Hall ’22 (center) will return to her alma mater to lead movement classes and dance performances in Spring 2025.
The SUNY Potsdam LoKo Arts Festival is proud to present three semester-long movement and dance workshops, which are free and open to the public. Drop-ins are welcome, and prior registration is not required for these programs.
Leading these events is alumna Tatyanna Hall ’22, a SUNY Potsdam dance graduate, who will be in residence on campus for the duration of the Spring 2025 semester.
Improvisation class
Hall will offer a twice-weekly improvisation class, starting Tuesday, Jan. 21 and ending Thursday, May 8. The class will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., in the Performing Arts Center in Studio 126.
In this course, Hall will guide participants in personal movement exploration, improvisation and choreographic development. It will be appropriate for participants ages 16 and older, and no dance experience is necessary. This course will be an opportunity for movers of all levels of experience, to explore self-expression by way of free form movement without the pressure of “knowing” how to dance. These sessions will include a warm-up and then participants will be led through a variety of explorations.
Slow movement class
The visiting artist will also lead a weekly 1-hour movement class for area older adults, starting Tuesday, Jan. 28 and ending Tuesday, May 6. This class will be held on Tuesdays from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., in the Wagner Institute for Sustainability and Ecological Research (WISER) Greenhouse in Stowell Hall on the SUNY Potsdam campus.
Hall describes these sessions as “slow movement inspired by both the presence of plants and reflections on their life sustaining processes.” An emphasis on motility and stretching through gentle and low-impact movement will be offered in these classes.
Additional activities
For other activities of this residency, Hall will be choreographing a dance to be performed in the SUNY Potsdam Spring Dance Concert, which will be held from May 1 to 4. Auditions for the dance recital will be offered on Saturday, Jan. 25, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center Dance Theater.
She will also engage children in weekly movement and dance activities at the SUNY Potsdam Child Care Center throughout the semester.
Since completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in dance at SUNY Potsdam, Hall has been exploring and developing her relationship with improvisation and free-form movement in classes—including breakdance, house, and contact improvisation—during personal studio time, on the dance floor (her favorite place), and with friends—both dancers and musicians. She has also been honing her choreographic tools through experimentation with fellow creators and movers in the classes she teaches at her local YMCA. Also, while working at a community farm in Schenectady, N.Y., she has enjoyed learning from and working with many elders to tend the land and grow food together.
About LoKo Arts:
Thanks to the spirit and generosity of the festival's benefactors, Kathy (Kofoed) Lougheed '54 and her husband, the late Donald Lougheed (Hon. '54), SUNY Potsdam celebrates the campus culture of creativity and reinforces how important the arts are to learning environments for every discipline, as well as a lifetime of creativity. The LoKo Arts Festival was founded in 2012 with the purpose of infusing energy and opportunity into the visual and performing arts of the SUNY Potsdam campus and community. This year’s LoKo Festival will be held from April 30 to May 4. To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu/loko.
For more information, contact Tatyanna Hall at hall.tatyanna@gmail.com or Robin Collen at collenrl@potsdam.edu.
The Department of Theatre and Dance cultivates an innovative, experiential, and multidisciplinary education within an inclusive community, which prepares students for leadership and service in the arts as global citizens.
About SUNY Potsdam:
Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America’s first 50 colleges—and the oldest institution within SUNY. Now in its third century, SUNY Potsdam is distinguished by a legacy of pioneering programs and educational excellence. The College currently enrolls approximately 2,500 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its challenging liberal arts and sciences core, distinction in teacher training and culture of creativity. To learn more, visit www.potsdam.edu.
Arts & Culture General News