it’s just a portal
a floorwork, somatics, and improvisation intensive
with gizeh muñiz and hannah kumaski
June 25-28, 2026
Casco Bay Movers
Portland ME
Class Descriptions
florwerk
This is a dynamic floorwork technique class that invites dancers to move from their fluid body. It focuses on the somatic process of learning (or remembering) and embodying movement, which allows us to not only train the body for aesthetic and performative purposes, but for building neural pathways that can help us expand our awareness of space, time, and connection to the land. Through breath, warmth, stillness and movement, this workshop explores a rigorous and buoyant physicality that embraces pleasure and tenderness, through phrases, somatic practices and improvisation.
we are one<>many
Somatics into Ensemble Improvisation. Soloing, touchwork, contact improvisation, and group improvisational practice. Working with the solo body and small groups, we start with exploration of embodiment through layering of somatic awareness to open perceptual fields, narratives in our dancing, and subtle body expression. Inspired by FAKE Company (under direction of Kathleen Hermesdorf), the group mindset opens into a space where intelligence emerges through the collective via horizontal structure and flow. There will be time and space to process, orientation to finding resonance, and emphasis on changing states. Somatic, social, and creative, each class will include a journey- long-form improvisational scores that bring us somewhere. (expect touch in this class, although other options can be given).
Schedule
Thursday, June 25-
5:30-8PM- improvisation
Friday, June 26
10AM-12PM- florwerk
5:30-8PM- improvisation
Saturday, June 27
11AM-1PM- florwerk x contemporary forms
1-4- improvisation
Sunday, June 28
10AM-12PM- florwerk
1-3PM- improvisation
3- informal performance
Pricing
Early Bird Rates (Registered and Paid Before May 1)
$300- Whole Workshop
$250- Weekend Only (Friday Onwards)
After May 1
$325- Whole Workshop
$275- Weekend Only
Forms of payment: Venmo, Paypal, Cash, Check
$150 Non-Refundable Deposit Due Upon Registration to Hold Your Spot. Remainder due before May 1 for early bird rate or June 25 for regular rate.
Drop In
Some drop in spots will be available based upon registration. First come first serve.
Sat AM Contemporary Forms drop-in available.
Email to inquire.
REGISTRATION
The Fine Print
Bios
Our Collaboration
gizeh muñiz and hannah kumaski met studying with Kathleen Hermesdorf (d.2020) and Albert Mathias (ALTERNATIVA) in San Francisco in 2016- dedicated students to Kathleen and Albert, we remain grateful for the deep education of GUT MOTIVES- corporeality, embodiment, power, collectivity, and transformation that ran through the spaces they created together.
We carry unique, individual lineages in our dance work yet significant, undeniable overlap, mostly through a corner of the SF Bay Area dance and performance community. Shared influences include: FAKE Company led by Kathleen Hermesdorf, Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy, study and performance with Sara Shelton Mann, study with Deborah Hay, performance with Daiane Lopes da Silva, collaboration with Amy Wasielewski, commitment to care and healing work, somatic lineages, running FRESH Festival (SF), interest in pedagogy, and dedication to furthering experimentation.
gizeh muñiz
gizeh is a movement, teaching and performing artist currently co-existing in Ohlone territory. They are dedicated to the study of being a breathing body through movement and stillness. Through their work, they create spaces that allow them to play and divest from concepts of linearity in a creative process, with the intention of practicing freedom. gizeh’s choreographic and teaching work has been shared in the United States, Mexico and Europe in festivals such as P.O.R.C.H in Germany, Improspeckje in Croatia, GUSH in San Francisco and 4x4 in Tijuana, to mention some. gizeh has been an artist in residence at Atland Residency, CounterPulse, PUSH, BANDALOOP, and Bridge Live Arts, and was the 2023-25 Radiate fellow of RAWdance. gizeh is the curator and producer of Gatherings - a free movement workshop series in the Bay Area. gizeh carries within their body their work with Kathleen Hermesdorf, Sara Shelton Mann, and a decade of study with Dance, Music and Theater teachers throughout Mexico.
hannah kumaski
Hannah Kumaski (fka Wasielewski) is a dancer, mother, teacher, and healer based in South Portland, Maine. She has been engaged in choreographic practice as a soloist and in collaboration since 2012, working throughout North America and abroad in Europe. Her practice today is centered around contact improvisation, experimental contemporary dance forms, collaboration as evolution, cultivating intuition, and healing through radical performance.
She grew up dancing at Casco Bay Movers and lived on the west coast in her 20s, mostly in San Francisco, where her work with Amy Wasielewski was produced by several dance organizations. She performed with many choreographers, most notably Sara Shelton Mann, FAKE Company/Kathleen Hermesdorf, and Kinetech Arts.
Now living in Maine, she mostly works with Kristen Stake as dance duo “imaginary island”. Her solo works and epics with Kristen have been presented by NEFA’s Regional Dance Initiative at the ICA in Boston, TEMPOarts in collaboration with visual artist Pamela Moulton, Hewnoaks Artist Residency, Meeting House Arts, SPACE Gallery, Subcircle, and SPLICE Festival.
She carries the wisdom of many teachers, most notably- Kate Marchessault, Karen Nelson, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Sara Shelton Mann, K.J. Holmes, Kira Kirsch, and Deborah Hay.
Photo by Kerry Constantino