Workshops led by Natalie Hardy
Teaching Practice
In 2025, Natalie Hardy taught two workshops at Brunswick Secondary School, Melbourne, representing the third-year cohort of the VCA BFA (Dance) bachelor's degree. The first of these workshops was with four other dancers representing VCA, where they performed repertoire from Phillip Adams ‘Fountain’ and taught the students a simplified version of the choreography.
Natalie led the second workshop alone and designed the class for students with a more advanced dance understanding who are attending VCE Dance (years 8-12). This masterclass workshop involved a warm-up class, contemporary floorwork technique (crossings/across the floor), and a unique choreographed phrase implementing skills learnt in the crossings, with some more advanced options.
In all these workshops, Natalie ensured that adjustments could be made according to what skill level the students had, however Natalie always encouraged every student to attempt the challenging skills and provided individualised feedback.
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According to Leandro Glory Damasco Jr (2020), “floorwork trains and stimulates a full body and mind activation [to ensure dancers are] sensitive in the present moment and highly aware of their movement choices”.
- Natalie aims to explore how all dance is floorwork. “Although we may not be on the floor doing standing work, dancers feel their feet on the floor and connect with the ground with every movement” – Natalie Hardy.
ISI Surakarta, Indonesia Contemporary dance workshop
During the VCA Global Atelier: Traveling Studios program in 2024 to the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Surakarta (ISI Surakarta), Natalie Hardy choreographed and taught a contemporary phrase workshop to Bachelor and Masters of Dance students, alongside company dancers in EkosDance Company. The phrase focuses on anatomical awareness of the spine (in drop swings and roll downs) to unlock full kinaesthetic awareness of the bodies full range of motion. Overall allowing students to move more freely in the floorwork based choreography, as the students understand the basics of standing work, before moving to the floor.
ISI Surakarta Contemporary Floorwork workshop
Due to the success of the first workshop Natalie led at ISI Surakarta, EkosDance Company invited Natalie to teach a more advanced floorwork variation. Natalie choreographed this floorwork phrase focusing on directional changes, rather than focusing on moving in a specific pattern, the movements differ and switch directional planes. By doing this, Natalie aims to enhance the students spatial awareness of others in the space, while maintaining individual/internal kinaesthetic awareness.
Floorwork Technique class
Natalie Hardy ensures that before teaching a choreographed phrase/workshop, students are confident and have an understanding of basic floorwork techniques. Natalie ensures this by instructing students through a series of crossings/ across the floor variations. By doing this, Natalie encourages students to become confident with being on the floor and to use kinaesthetic awareness to other dancers in the space (Natalie ensures the students maintain the line throughout the crossing, where no student is left behind, which encourages teamwork and collaboration).