Core Class - Thursday, February 13th, 10 am to 11:30 am

Thursday, February 13th, 10 am to 11:30 am
Class Instructor: Natalie Gotter

Class Description: This sample class is led by Natalie Gotter, Director of Training Programs. Equal parts celebration, community-building, and strong technical practice, this class invites you into the BDF experience where we will fly, groove, laugh, and dance hard and learn more about the 2025 Festival including internships, scholarships, and any questions you have. The class will be rooted in post-modern movement with space for social dancing, offering a small sample of what you will experience at Bates this summer!

Situated in Central Maine, the Festival hosts an international roster of artists in a collaborative and joyful community. Bates Dance Festival rigorously trains established and emerging dance artists through workshops, community-oriented programs, and advances the field by supporting new work. From local youth to global professionals, the Festival convenes to create, perform, and witness vibrant and vital dance works.


Instructor Bio: Natalie Gotter (she/her) is a dance performer, choreographer, filmmaker, educator, and researcher and is the Director of Training Programs at Bates Dance Festival. She received her MFA in Modern Dance with certification in Screendance and Gender Studies from the University of Utah and BA in Communication, Music, and Dance from Tulane University. Dance offers her a way of engaging with socialization of the physically gendered body and questioning human limits, whether inherent or self-imposed, with dance offering physical and somatic insight of possibilities. Her practice centers dance as a liberatory practice of community building and reclaiming of social identity. Natalie has taught at the University of Utah, Westminster College, Utah Valley University, Salt Lake Community College, Weber State University, and most recently was an Assistant Professor and co-Director of Dance at Muhlenberg College, where she designed and co-taught dance and science workshops for Youth-in-Probation, received her certification in the Inside-Out prison abolition teaching program and was awarded the 2023 Muhlenberg Center for Teaching and Learning Teaching Award for Community Engaged Coursework. She is also a teacher for the national Dance Church organization centering movement as a community-building experience for all bodies.

As a performing artist, she has been a featured and ensemble dancer in works by Florian Alberge, John Allen, Michaela Cannon, Juan Carlos Claudio, Ashley Creek, Michael Crotty, Katherine Desimine, Jeffrey Gunshol, Earl Mosley, Fiona Nelson, Dat Nguyen, Gabrielle Revlock, and Beverly Trask. She was also a featured dancer in the Alwin Nikolais Centennial Celebration in 2011. Her choreographic works have been presented in New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis, including multiple evening-length self-produced and collaborative research based concerts: Magazine St. #22 for the Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival; LMN Mov’t No. 1, and Last Call: self-produced evening length concerts; and collaborative commissions for Megan Flynn Dance Company, Flatlands Dance Theatre, Cat+Fish Dances, Tipping Point Dance Company, Tanner Dance Company and Performing Dance Center. Her screendance works have been featured at the Going Dutch Arts Festival (Chicago), PA Dance Educators Conference (Philadelphia), Red Rocks Dance Festival (St. George), Screendance in the Landscape (Oban, Scotland), and she received the Audience Favorite Award at the Utah Dance Film Festival (Salt Lake City) in 2018.

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Core Dance opens its doors to the public every weekday. Spanning multiple disciplines, morning class is led by a variety of teachers and provides a space for growth, conditioning, and exploration. Take a class with Core Dance and learn from Atlanta's best.

Directions: Our back entrance is accessible from North McDonough Street, at the intersection of Trinity Avenue and the Decatur Square. Look for the entrance between Waffle House and DeWoskin Law Firm.

Parking: The Core Dance parking lot is a paid lot. Proceeds benefit Core Dance and help to keep class fees low. If the lot is full, please find on-street parking or take MARTA when attending class. (Free on-street parking is available on Electric Ave.) MARTA’s Decatur Station will plop you down right next to us in the Decatur Square. Visit itsmarta.com for details on Decatur Station and for train and bus schedules.

NOTICE: Advance registration is required. All attendees must follow the instructions of the class leader with regards to masking. Hand sanitizer is available in the studio and each studio is equipped with a high-powered air cleaner. wear a mask in the building at all times, check temperature upon arrival, and utilize hand sanitizer. The HVAC system has also been upgraded to clean and sanitize the air.