Choreographer Masterclass Series
Join RESILIENCE this fall for our Choreographer Masterclass Series, featuring three acclaimed guest choreographers: Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson, Annie Rigney, and Hélène Simoneau. As each artist sets new work on the company, they will also lead exclusive masterclasses open to the public.
​
These classes are designed for dancers ages 16 and up at the intermediate, advanced, and professional levels. It’s a unique chance to explore diverse choreographic styles, strengthen your technique, and deepen your artistic voice.
​
The drop-in rate for each class is $15, and dancers who attend at least two masterclasses will receive 50% off a ticket to Entry Points—our fall performance showcasing these new works.
Space is limited, and registration is required via our Punchpass system.
Learn more below about each choreographer and the details of their upcoming masterclasses.
August 23rd
September 13th
September 27th
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson
Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson is a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work bridges contemporary dance, opera, and theatrical performance. He holds a BA in Music and an MFA in Dance with an emphasis in Choreography from Sam Houston State University. As a performer, Jorrell has worked with renowned choreographers including Jessica Lang, Tommie-Waheed Evans, Kirven Douthit-Boyd, Omar Román De Jesús, and Norbert De La Cruz III, experiences that continue to shape his choreographic approach and movement vocabulary.
​
In addition to his dance work, Jorrell has contributed to a wide range of operatic and theatrical productions, collaborating with directors such as Francesca Zambello, Rob Ashford, Robert Wilson, Phelim McDermott, and Louisa Proske in both performance and artistic design capacities. His creative partnership with Proske has led to major interdisciplinary projects, including serving as choreographer and associate director for Primero Sueño, a processional opera inspired by the writings of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. The work premiered at the Met Cloisters in collaboration with VisionIntoArt and MetLiveArts in January, and will be remounted in Mexico City and Puebla this December, with Jorrell stepping into the role of revival director and choreographer. In February, he also remounted the critically acclaimed production of Rinaldo in Detroit.
​
Jorrell’s choreographic work encompasses both narrative and abstract modalities, with a focus on contemporary partnering and improvisation as tools for embodied storytelling. His choreography is marked by its capacity to build immersive, atmospheric worlds that encourage audiences to suspend disbelief and engage emotionally. By shaping detailed environments and textured movement vocabularies, he seeks to create space for heightened receptivity, allowing viewers to access meaning through experience as much as interpretation.
About Jorrell's Masterclass:
On August 23rd, join choreographer Jorrell Lawyer-Jefferson for a contemporary phrasework workshop that utilizes improvisation techniques and mindful articulation to explore shifting quality and embodied nuance. Rooted in both precision and play. Participants will work with tools that deepen texture, dynamic range, and personal interpretation while investigating how intention alters form. Mild floorwork might occur; therefore, sweats are suggested.
Jorrell's Masterclass:
When: Saturday, August 23rd | 3:30PM - 5:00PM
Where: Webster Loretto-Hilton Studios |
130 Edgar Rd, Webster Groves, MO 63119
Cost: $15
Annie Rigney
Annie Rigney is a New York based dancer, choreographer, Gaga teacher and Ilan Lev Method therapist. Annie is an Alumnus of the Conservatory of Dance at SUNY Purchase. She danced with the Batsheva Ensemble under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin, toured internationally with Inbal Pinto and Avshalom Pollak Dance Company and was a cast member of Punchdrunk's immersive theater production, Sleep No More, from 2015-2019.
In April, 2023 Annie premiered a new choreographic work, "Get Up, My Daughter," commissioned by and created for the Martha Graham Dance Company and presented at the Joyce Theater. Her choreographic work, “Galithea" was featured as a part of the 92nd Street Y’s Future Dance Festival and performed at the Joyce Theater. Annie was guest choreographer for the Fall Concert at NYU Tisch School of Dance this Fall and has also been commissioned for the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance, the University of the Arts, and Resilience Dance Company, among others. She was a recipient of the Moving Women Residency from Gallim Dance, a 2023 CUNY Grant recipient, and a choreographic fellow for Robert Battle's New Directions Choreographic Fellowship program at the Alvin Ailey School.
Annie was the 2023-2024 Artist in Residence at the 92nd Street Y and premiered her evening-length work entitled, "...she was becoming untethered." at their newly renovated Buttenweiser Hall. She is an adjunct professor at the Alvin Ailey School, Tisch School of the Arts, and the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance.
Annie has been a practitioner of the Ilan Lev Method since 2012 and runs a private practice treating dancers and musicians for injuries and functional limitations. She is currently the Director of the Ilan Lev Method School in New York.
About Annie's Gaga Masterclass:
Gaga classes offer a framework for users to connect to their bodies and imaginations, experience physical sensations, improve their flexibility and stamina, exercise their agility and explosive power, and enjoy the pleasure of movement in a welcoming, accepting atmosphere.
​
Throughout the class, participants are guided by a series of evocative instructions deployed to increase awareness of and further amplify sensation. Rather than turning from one prompt to another, information is layered, building into a multisensory, physically challenging experience. While many instructions are imbued with rich imagery, the research of Gaga is fundamentally physical, insisting on a specific process of embodiment. Inside this shared research, the improvisational nature of the exploration enables each participant’s deeply personal connection with Gaga.
​
Based in Ohad Naharin’s movement language “Gaga”, Gaga Classes use imagery and sensation-based instructions to investigate texture, speed, and delicacy and to connect students to their imagination and physical potential.
​
Information about the class:
Gaga classes are open to people ages 16+, regardless of their background in dance or movement. Classes last approximately one hour.
Annie's Gaga Masterclass:
When: Saturday, September 13th | 3:30PM - 5:00PM
Where: Webster Loretto-Hilton Studios |
130 Edgar Rd, Webster Groves, MO 63119
Cost: $15
Hélène Simoneau
Hélène Simoneau is a Guggenheim Fellow and a New York City Center Choreography Fellow. Most recently, she was awarded a Pillow Lab residency at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA and a residency at Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. She was also a resident artist at Baryshnikov Arts Center, NYU/Tisch, NCCAkron, and a fellow of The NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts, Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab, the Bogliasco Foundation, and the Swiss International Coaching Project for Choreographers (SiWiC) in Zurich. Simoneau was awarded first place for Choreography at the 13th Internationales Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, for her solo “the gentleness was in her hands.” Her choreography has been commissioned by Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard School, Charlotte Ballet, PARA.MAR Dance Theatre, Vitacca Ballet, The Ailey School, BalletX, and the American Dance Festival. Hélène is originally from Luceville, a small village near Rimouski in Eastern Québec.
About Hélène's Masterclass:
This class offers an immersive introduction to Hélène’s movement practice and choreographic approach. You'll begin with guided improvisation, move through a dynamic standing warm-up, and then dive into phrase work drawn from her repertory and current research with Resilience Dance Company. Whether you're new to her work or a returning mover, the class provides several entry points into her evolving creative process.
Hélène's Masterclass:
When: Saturday, September 27th | 3:30PM - 5:00PM
Where: Webster Loretto-Hilton Studios |
130 Edgar Rd, Webster Groves, MO 63119
Cost: $15
