a three-day movement workshop designed specifically for
adventure seeking creatives
January 8th-10th
Enter a world where the smallest details carry enormous force. What happens when we magnify the nearly invisible, and discover the extraordinary power already contained within.
Explore with us through classes ranging from technique, composition, contact improvisation, and conscientious abandon.Daily Schedule
FRIDAY, JANUARY 8
6:15-9:15PM
6:15-7:45pm* - Contemporary Modern Technique with Kristin O’Neal *($20 Drop-In)
8:00-9:15pm* - staibdance REP with Faith Fidgeon & Cailan Orn *($20 Drop-In)
*($35 Drop-In Combo - both Friday classes from 6:15-9:15pm)
SATURDAY, JANUARY 9
10:00AM-5:00PM
10:00-11:30am* - Contemporary Ballet with Sarah Hillmer *( $20 Drop-In)
11:45am-1:15pm - The 90 Minute Moment with Anna Bracewell
1:15-2:30pm - Lunch BREAK
2:30-5:00pm - Uncensored Composition: Risks and Rewards with George Staib & Anna Bracewell
4:00-5:00pm - Active Recovery Training Session with Emma Faulkner
SUNDAY, JANUARY 10
10:00AM-4:30PM
10:00am-12:00pm* - Contemporary & staibdance REP with George Staib & Sarah Hillmer *($20 Drop-In)
12:15-1:45pm* - Microscoping & Telescoping Contact Improvisation with Kristin O’Neal *($20 Drop-In)
1:45-3:00pm - Lunch BREAK
3:00-4:30pm - Relentless Digging with George Staib & Sarah Hillmer
4:30-5:00pm - Shared Wisdom (for the road home) with George Staib
*($35 Drop-In Combo - first two Sunday classes from 10:00am-1:30pm)
LOCATION: Schwartz Center for Performing Arts, Dance Studio
ADDRESS: 1700 N Decatur Rd, Atlanta GA 30322
Click for Parking Options
Meet the Teaching Faculty
staibdance Artistic Director
Born in Tehran, Iran, George Staib is of Armenian descent and has been living in the United States since the age of ten. He began his dance training at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, then went on to earn an MFA in dance and choreography from Temple University. Company credits include: Ann Vachon/Dance Conduit, Coriolis Dance Company, Gathering Wild Dance Company, and Paula Kellinger and Dancers. In addition, the fall of 2006 provided Staib the opportunity to perform with the José Limón Dance Company as a guest artist in their re-creation of Missa Brevis.
In 2001 Staib joined the dance faculty at Emory University where he teaches contemporary and ballet techniques, choreography, and a seminar created to examine the impetus and practice of consuming and making art. He serves as an adjudicator for and was an 18 year member of the executive committee for the American College Dance Association, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for Dance/USA. Since relocating to Atlanta, GA, Staib's work and teaching have been commissioned across the United States resulting in his recognition by Dance Teacher Magazine in 2014 as one of the top five dance educators in the country. As added service to the field, Staib is a contributing writer and critic for ArtsATL.
Staib is a two-time recipient of Emory’s prestigious Winship Award, taking him to Tel Aviv in 2011 to study Gaga, release technique with Iris Enez, and Jerusalem to conduct choreographic workshops. In 2016, Staib and the company were invited to Stockholm to perform and teach at Södra Latins and BalletAkadamien, and subsequently created new work for Saraceno Dance.
Since the founding of staibdance, he and the company have been awarded funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Emory University Research Committee, The Latham Foundation, The Imlay Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The New England Foundation for the Arts, South Arts and The Vail Family Foundation.
In addition, staibdance curated and produced the first-ever Atlanta Multicultural Dance Festival, created a summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy, now in its 13th year and hosted a 10-part podcast series titled Secret Architecture: the process of process, that features culturally based artists from across the country.
Staib’s most recent accomplishments include promotion to the rank of Professor of Practice at Emory University, engagement as an educator with ImmerseATL, recognition by the Atlanta Regional Commission as an Arts Leader of Metro Atlanta, and in the summer of 2022, Staib served as a faculty member and choreographer for the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC.
Photo by Daylilies Photography
Anna Bracewell is an Atlanta based dance artist. She was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia and began her dance training at an early age at Decatur School of Ballet. While continuing her classical training at DSOB, she trained, and went on to graduate from DeKalb School of the Arts where she studied under the legendary Pamala Jones-Malave. Anna later received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. Since 2012, she has had the deep pleasure of being a member of staibdance, under the direction of George Staib, where she is a dancer, collaborator and teacher. Anna was also a member of Core Dance from 2012-2020. As a Dance Artist with Core Dance she performed in theaters, museums, public spaces, and festivals across the United States, France, Spain and Israel. In her time with Core Dance, Anna had the opportunity to move and create original works with notable artists such as Niv Shienfeld & Oren Laor (Tel Aviv), Germana Civera (France/Spain), Frank van de Ven (Amsterdam), Amanda K. Miller (Germany/U.S.), Isabelle Saulle & Adolfo Vargas (France), Leslie Scates (U.S.), D. Patton White, Lori Teague and Sue Schroder (U.S.).
In her years of dancing professionally in Atlanta, Anna has also created and collaborated with local artists Blake Beckham (The Lucky Penny), Joshua Rackliffe, Erik Thurmond and Catellier Dance Projects!. Anna was recognized as “Best Dancer” in Atlanta by ArtsATL in 2018 and has been internationally recognized in her collaborative work with: Association Manifeste (Toulouse, France) in which she performed in several public corner spaces across France and the U.S., and in her work with Niv Shienfeld and Oren Laor performed in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Photo by SJR Photography
Cailan Orn is a multidisciplinary artist currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Originally from MN, she continued her education at Point Park University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she earned a BFA in Dance. Upon graduation, she moved to New York to perform as a member of Company XIV from 2011 to 2014 where she dove right into the fullness of dance theater. While with Company XIV, Cailan was able to collaborate with actors, writers and opera singers and had the immense privilege of being the principal dancer at the Chicago Lyric Opera for their premier of La Traviata in 2013.
She was then guided to the south and from 2015 to 2020 she was a moving artist with gloATL. While with gloATL, she enjoyed collaborations with maestro Robert Spano from the Atlanta Symphony, constant community outreach and garden building, and their time in Italy for the Florence Biennale XII where they won the Lorenzo il Magnifico for Performance Art.
She also found Lightwire Theater in New Orleans, LA, and has been a member since 2016 working as a puppet performer. Through Lightwire she has taught and performed for audiences all over the US as well as China, Singapore, and Brazil.
Her most current ventures in the art community in Atlanta include being a member of staibdance, performing artist for “this things is real” by Annalee Traylor, assistant choreographer to Annalee Traylor for Terminus Ballet’s RHAPSODY in GERSHWIN show, and special guest artist in the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company's most recent production of “ Chinatown Memories”.
Photo by Sean Gloria
Sarah Hillmer has 20+ years of experience in the professional dance world as a dancer, rehearsal director, assistant to choreographers, stager, educator, creator and arts administrator.
Her company credits include the Atlanta Ballet, glo - as a founding member, and staibdance. Sarah served as a Rehearsal Director at the Atlanta Ballet from 2013-2019 where artistic relationships with Twyla Tharp and Helen Pickett were forged. Sarah staged work for Twyla Tharp at Royal Winnipeg Ballet & Atlanta Ballet, and her work as a stager and assistant for Helen Pickett have taken her to Alberta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Scottish Ballet, Smuin Ballet, UArts and UNCSA.
Sarah is the Founder & Director of ImmerseATL, a training & mentorship program that serves dancers at pivotal stages in their ever-evolving journey as artists through the Artist Program and the ImmerseATL Collective.
As a choreographer, Sarah has been commissioned to create work for Atlanta Ballet’s Wabi Sabi, Backside of the Tent Productions, Emory Dance Company and Admix Project. Sarah has been a co-collaborator with George Staib on two productions; fence in 2019, which was funded by a grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Dance Project, and Dido & Aeneas in 2023, a collaboration with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.
As an arts administrator, Sarah currently serves as Executive Director for staibdance. During her 6-year tenure she has planned and managed 7 national tours, 2 world premieres, annual workshops, an annual 2-week summer intensive in Sorrento, Italy, (MC)2-Atlanta’s first multi-cultural dance festival, as well as a docuseries based on (MC)2 and a podcast series, Secret Architecture: the process of process.
Additionally, Sarah serves as Business Operations Manager for Windmill Arts, an organization dedicated to the advancement of new work in the arts.
Photo by Daylilies Photography
Kristin O’Neal is a performer, teacher and choreographer residing in Atlanta, GA. She teaches varying levels of contemporary modern technique, movement improvisation and contact improvisation at Emory University and leads classes at Core Dance in Decatur for the professional Atlanta dance community. Kristin’s technique classes include a deep investigation into how one’s body operates within a movement framework that invites curiosity, discovery and always one’s relationship to space and time. She earned her MFA in Dance from Hollins University/ADF where she began her research of solo performance and character creation. These solos have been shared in theaters, studios, and gymnasiums from Florida to Maine, including Ohio. Kristin is the Outreach Coordinator for National Water Dance (since 2011) and has been a proud affiliate of the Bates Dance Festival since 2007.
Photo by Christina J. Massad
Faith Fidgeon is a dance artist currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. Faith graduated from University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2022 with a BFA in Contemporary Dance and a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship. Faith has recently danced in staibdance's premiere of ARARAT, Shen Wei's premiere of Summary at the American Dance Festival, and a collaborative choreographic work with Fly on a Wall. In addition to stage performance, they have danced in circus performances, museum exhibitions, short films, and with Alliance Theater’s Theater for the Very Young. Faith’s current movement practices include countertechnique, release technique, contact improvisation, yoga, and bouldering. Conceptually and aesthetically, they are interested in blurring the lines of theater and dance, repetition, duration, satire, and how performance shows up in our everyday lives.
Photo by SJR Photography
Pricing
Full Workshop: $325
Saturday | Sunday Package: $240
This package includes the FULL schedule on both January 9 & 10, 2027Single Drop-in Class (Friday, Saturday & Sunday): $20
Combo Drop-in Class (Friday, Sunday) $35
* = denotes classes available for drop-in in the schedule.Please note: All Root Theory purchases are final. No refunds will be given.
“I felt so incredibly welcomed as soon as it started, and left feeling like I had a new tool box for experimenting with movements.”
