Int/Adv Contemporary Explorations with Amy O’Neal

From floor work into improvisation

The class begins with breath, the body's center and routes for moving onto and off the floor. Standing exercises shift attention to movement awareness, stability and mobility; later improvisation and phrase work explore texture, embodiment and musicality. That outline gives prospective participants a sense of the work without promising a set routine or separate weekly topics.

The movement concepts draw on more than 30 years of training and research across modern and contemporary dance, ballet, Pilates, functional movement, yoga and street-dance forms. The listing presents these as influences on the class, not as individual techniques scheduled for particular meetings.

Further reading: Int/Adv Contemporary Explorations with Amy O’Neal - Seattle Theatre Group ↗

Interpretation is part of the work

O’Neal’s background in contemporary dance comes from concert dance and experimental theater. The class description puts individual expression ahead of flawless execution, shared learning ahead of competition, and the work of making movement ahead of a finished product. That emphasis helps explain why improvisation and phrase-making sit alongside the more structured floor and standing exercises.

O’Neal taught in Seattle Theatre Group’s education programs for 15 years, moved to Los Angeles in 2016 and returned to Seattle in 2025.

Further reading: Int/Adv Contemporary Explorations with Amy O’Neal - Seattle Theatre Group ↗

A class in a historic arts-education building

Kerry Hall was built in 1921 and was the original home of Cornish College of the Arts in the early 1920s. Seattle Theatre Group now operates the Capitol Hill building for public use and community arts programming, giving this class a place in a venue with a long connection to arts learning.

Further reading: Kerry Hall - Seattle Theatre Group ↗