Kora Radella is an assistant professor of dance at Kenyon College. She has taught at Kenyon College since the fall of 2004. From 2000-2004, she taught dance techniques (modern, ballet, jazz), improvisation, composition, laboratory theatre training, pedagogy and dance history at Georgia College and State University. She has also taught at the University of Georgia and numerous studios.
Radella’s main body of research is as a professional choreographer and she applies this active research consistently within her teaching, both in content and methodology. She has an extensive repertory of choreographic work that has been performed nationally and internationally. Radella is the choreographer and co-artistic director of Double-Edge Dance, a company she co-founded in 1993 with Kenyon College assistant professor of music, Ross Feller, and BOOMERANG, a company she co-founded in 2012 with Kenyon College alumni Matty Davis and Adrian Galvin. Her work with Double-Edge Dance has been performed nationally…
Kora Radella is an assistant professor of dance at Kenyon College. She has taught at Kenyon College since the fall of 2004. From 2000-2004, she taught dance techniques (modern, ballet, jazz), improvisation, composition, laboratory theatre training, pedagogy and dance history at Georgia College and State University. She has also taught at the University of Georgia and numerous studios.
Radella’s main body of research is as a professional choreographer and she applies this active research consistently within her teaching, both in content and methodology. She has an extensive repertory of choreographic work that has been performed nationally and internationally. Radella is the choreographer and co-artistic director of Double-Edge Dance, a company she co-founded in 1993 with Kenyon College assistant professor of music, Ross Feller, and BOOMERANG, a company she co-founded in 2012 with Kenyon College alumni Matty Davis and Adrian Galvin. Her work with Double-Edge Dance has been performed nationally in NYC, (Movement Research, Roulette, 100 Grand), and Ohio (including Cleveland Public Theatre and Playhouse Square), and internationally in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Basel, Berlin, Brussels, and Liege. Her work with BOOMERANG has been performed in NYC at many venues including 92Y, Judson Church, Dixon Place, Center for Performance Research (CPR), Danspace Project, and the United Nations, as well as internationally in Berlin and Paris, through the invitation of acclaimed theater director Robert Wilson who saw their work at the end of their 2016 artistic residency at his Watermill Center in the Hamptons. Radella’s work with Kenyon College students, including BOOMERANG's Davis and Galvin, was performed at Kennedy Center in the National College Dance Festival May 2012 and she has brought many students to perform in Cleveland at Cleveland Public Theatre in the past as well.
Radella is a 2016 recipient of a Yaddo artist residency, a 2015 artist residency at Lake Studios Berlin, and a 2014 Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Her honors include the Ineke Sluiter Prize for choreography in Amsterdam and a fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation to pursue post-M.F.A. research in choreography in Brussels to research the choreographic work of Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker and Wim Vandekeybus. Radella also has an advanced diploma from SNDO, known as the School for New Dance Development, in Amsterdam.
Her primary teaching interests include contemporary dance technique classes Riding Resilience and Roller-Coaster Motion, contact improvisation, movement improvisation with scores, choreography, and movement for actors. Radella is a certified yoga teacher (500RYT). Radella has a BFA and MFA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Find out more about her work with BOOMERANG at www.boomerangdance.com.
Photograph credit: Marcella Hackbardt
Contemporary modern dance, choreography, improvisation, Yoga, movement for actors.
1994 — Master of Fine Arts from University of Illinois- Urbana
1987 — Bachelor of Fine Arts from University of Illinois- Urbana
This is a Hatha yoga course that will help the participants improve alignment, balance, strength and flexibility through the mindful practice of yoga postures. Integration through motion, breath and healthy attentiveness will be emphasized. The required reading for the course, Yoga, Mind, Body and Spirit, by Donna Farhi, will provide a deeper understanding of what yoga has to offer. No prerequisite. Generally offered every other year.\n
This course introduces movement concepts for the beginning-level student in one particular form of dance. The style being offered will vary each semester and may include forms such as contact improvisation, jazz dance, world dance or tap dance. The specific classes will be determined at the beginning of each academic year. The course involves intensive movement participation; however, there is no stress placed on public performance. No prior experience is necessary. No prerequisite. This course is offered every year.
This course focuses on modern dance technique for the beginning-level student. Artistic self-expression of movement will be explored through exercises emphasizing the basic concepts of breath, mobilizing weight, and improvisation. The course involves intensive movement participation; however, there is no stress placed on public performance. No prior experience is necessary. No prerequisite. Generally offered every year.
The Fall and Spring Dance Concerts give dancers, choreographers and designers an opportunity to present their work in concert. Advised and directed by dance faculty members and guest artists, these concerts are the culmination of one or two semesters of preparation, rehearsals and regularly scheduled showings of work-in-progress. In order for students to choreograph for the Fall Dance Concert, students must be enrolled in or have successfully completed DANC 227 or 228. (Please note: DANC 110 audit will be awarded to those dancers, choreographers, and production personnel whose work exhibited high standards.) Choreography proposals must be submitted to the dance faculty by the date announced early each semester. Final selection is determined by the dance faculty, with priority given to dance majors and minors. The same selection process is followed for both Fall and Spring Dance Concerts. Students who have choreographed for the Fall Dance Concert will be given priority. Auditions to dance in either concert are held at the beginning of each semester. All dancers who perform in either concert are required to participate in a dance technique course (DANC 104, 107, 108, 109, 208, 209 or 308). Designers are recommended by the design faculty of the Department of Dance, Drama and Film.
This course furthers the work of the beginning-level course with increased application of movement principles established by creative artists and teachers from the American and European contemporary dance tradition. Movement fundamentals from other broad-based techniques and somatic principles also are included. Permission of instructor required. No prerequisite. This course is offered every semester.
This course investigates the development of dance as a performing art in the 20th and 21st centuries. It examines major trends that influence dancemaking including technology, globalization and collaboration by observing the work of principal artists. This course investigates aesthetic points of view, beliefs and assumptions inherent in dance practice, dance criticism and history writing. Prerequisite: DANC 105. Generally offered every other year.
Special topics in dance composition are the focus of this course. Students will be presented with advanced choreographic theories and challenges. The choreographic assignments vary each semester and may include studies that emphasize partnering, the use of technology, collaboration or site-specific work. Course requirements include readings, discussions and the development and presentation of movement studies. Significant preparation time outside of class is expected. Prerequisite: DANC 227 or permission of instructor. Concurrent enrollment in a dance technique class is required. DANC 227 and 228 are offered on alternate years.
Advanced technique work in contemporary dance builds upon principles of movement established at the beginning and intermediate levels. In-depth exploration of floor work, improvisation, somatic practices and a variety of postmodern styles promotes artistry, efficiency of movement and integrated strength. Prerequisite: DANC 208 or permission of instructor. This course is offered every semester.
This course studies the science of movement as it relates to dance. Basic anatomy and physiology, the physics of dance and the mind-body connection responsible for producing and controlling movement are explored to provide students with a deeper understanding of the structure and function of the human body. Lectures, discussions and movement labs focus on practical analysis and application of material in order to increase movement efficiency, with the ultimate goal of enhancing performance and preventing injury. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or permission of instructor. Generally offered every other year.
Individual study in dance and drama is reserved for students exploring a topic not regularly offered in the department's curriculum. Typically, the course will carry .5 unit of credit. To enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the department willing to direct the project and, in consultation with him or her, write a proposal. The department chair must approve the proposal. The one- to two-page proposal should include a preliminary bibliography and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks for the course; outline a schedule of reading and/or writing assignments or creative undertakings; and describe the methods of assessment (e.g., a journal to be submitted for evaluation weekly; a one-act play due at semester's end, with drafts due at given intervals, and so on.). The student also should briefly describe prior coursework which qualifies him or her for this independent project. At a minimum, the department expects the student to meet regularly with the instructor one hour per week and to submit an amount of work equivalent to that required in 300-level dance and drama courses. Students are urged to begin discussion of their proposed individual study the semester before they hope to enroll, so that they can devise a proposal and seek departmental approval before the deadline.