"I have experienced Beth teaching percolating improvisational ideas that are easy and fulfilling to dive deep into and explore. She is very accessible, caring, encouraging and intelligent. Her directions are thorough, rich and clear. The unique captivating wisdom in her body inspires imagination and often humor in my own." - Belle Wolf, dance artist
"I particularly enjoy that Beth's classes and processes involve a high level of attention to sensation, whether it's through moving in and out of improvisation and set material, or exploring a physical task, or engaging with specific textures and imagery. More than anything, I've noticed that Beth brings me into a state of tasting movement, which helps push me out of habitual patterns and find new possibilities in my body. When I dance with Beth I feel more three-dimensional, as if I have tongues on every surface of my body, on my skin, in my muscles, on my bones."
- Jan Trumbauer, dance artist & writer
- Jan Trumbauer, dance artist & writer
Creative Inquiry My desire in teaching is to remove obstacles, both real and imagined, so that students may dive deeper into their innate creativity and physical capability both within and beyond codified forms of movement. I seek to concoct classes that aim to speak to the bodies in the room, instantaneously observing and acknowledging how the energy, the space, and the particularities of the individuals and the group generate a unique landscape of potential and ideas. Moving within improvisational scores, rigorous physical tasks coupled with lush imagery, and sequenced movement patterns, I offer a palate of possibilities for an individual to clarify, refine and enrich the arena of expression of the body both internally and externally. I naturally employ steps of the scientific method as a way to empower individuals to follow their own inquiries, so that they may spark temporal and continual lines of research beyond class.
Teaching Roster
Univeristy of Michigan Ann Arbor, Michigan Guest Artist, Teaching Residency November 2016 AmritaPuri Kollam, Kerala, India Guest Artist, Dance Club August 2015 Folded Paper Dance Theater Project Sacred Heart College Kochi, Kerala, India Guest Artist, Dance Club August 2015 Folded Paper Dance Theater Project University of Washington Seattle, WA Guest Artist, dance department March 2007- Present Cornish College of the Arts Seattle, WA Guest Artist, music department November 2013 SFDI Festival Seattle, WA Guest Artist, dance festival August 2013 Studio Current Seattle, WA Guest Artist, studio series October 2012 Velocity Dance Center Seattle, WA Guest Artist, studio series October 2012 Velocity Dance Center Seattle, WA Guest Artist, Strictly Seattle festival July 2011, 2007 Carol College Helena, MO Guest Artist, Scott Powell Performance January 2008 Dance Art Group Seattle, WA Guest Artist, studio series April 2008 Photo credits: Kirk Donaldson, University of Michigan, MI
Sen Jansen, AmritaPuri & Sacred Heart College, Kerala, India |
Creative Process in Dance & Science Presentations
Key to both artists and scientists is the process of asking questions that spark a pathway of discovery. Although we encounter fully realized performances or published science research often, we rarely, if ever, have a chance to understand the process of developing the ideas, or modalities in which the work gets generated. Beth Graczyk, who has balanced a 15-year career as both dance artist and scientist, offers personal accounts of discovery and creation, illuminating fundamental aspects that are cross-discipline, as well as define ways in which the processes diverge. The desire is to speak to diverse audience of those interested in generating dialogue in fields seemingly unrelated to their own, breaking down barriers of intimidation, or separateness, to potentially instigate a shared experience and larger understanding of the creative process. PresentationsExploratorium San Francisco, CA
Guest Speaker May 2016 University of Washington Seattle, WA Guest Speaker October 2015 In collaboration with Biochemist Trisha Davis 50th Celebration of the Dance Department 
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