BODY LOVE: Strength, Range of Motion, & Inversions
Whether you’re warming up for a Fringe Festival performance or working through hamstring stiffness after a weekend at Cannonball’s Garden Bar, this class is designed to get you sweaty and moving. Each session will feature a flexibility and strength building warm-up followed by tailored movement and acrobatics skill-building exercises. Nicole Burgio & Ben Grinberg offer a wide range of physical explorations and challenges, adapting to the needs and level of the participants. Come ready to work individually or in partners; to go upside-down and give your body some love.
About Nicole Burgio and Ben Grinberg
With extensive experience in gymnastics, circus, and physical theater, Nicole Burgio is a performer, creator, and trainer. Nicole teaches Acrobatics at the Pig Iron MFA program in devised performance. As an acrobatic consultant and ensemble member of Almanac Dance Circus Theater, she toured America, Europe, Asia, and Mexico, performing original and ensemble work and leading educational intensives. Her solo evening-length production xoxo moongirl (produced by Almanac) received critical acclaim at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival, winning a Barrymore award in Philadelphia in 2019. As founder of The Ready Room, Nicole joyfully strives to foster an inclusive and empowering space for teaching movement and balance to people from all walks of life.
Ben Grinberg is a Philadelphia-based performing artist, director, educator, and festival producer. Working at the intersection of contemporary circus and ensemble dance theater, he co-founded and directs Almanac Dance Circus Theatre, an award-winning, internationally touring physical performance ensemble (2020 Rocky Award, 2020 FringeForward Award, a 2017 Suraya Award, 2017 CircusNow ICE Award, and a 2019 Barrymore Award). He co-founded and Program Manages Cannonball Festival, a hub for new performance in Philadelphia, and teaches Acrobatics at the Pig Iron MFA program in devised performance. He was a 2024 and 2022 invited choreographer at the Breaking Walls Festival in Cairo, Egypt, a 2024 Festival Academy graduate, a 2022 subcircle resident artist. Grinberg’s work has been presented by Jacob's Pillow, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Queer Zagreb, Touchstone Theatre, FringeArts, NYLA, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co, the Mexico City International Festival of Contemporary Dance, Assembly Festival, and more.
Schedule
Monday September 9
Monday September 16
Monday September 23
Monday September 30
- 10-11:15am
- Pig Iron Studios (1417 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia PA 19122)
Session Cost
- $25 per class (or $80 if you register in advance for all 4)
Registration Details
Classes are capped at 20 students. Walk-in students will be accepted day-of if space is available.
We encourage you to register in advance to guarantee entry into the class. Registration will be processed on a rolling basis, and the completion of the registration form does not guarantee entry.
FALL FORWARD: A WORKSHOP SERIES FOR ARTISTS IN MOTION
BODY LOVE: STRENGTH, RANGE OF MOTION, & INVERSIONS is part of a series of workshops Pig Iron will offer this fall to continue training the next generation of daring theater artists while our graduate program is paused. From August to December, beloved faculty and exceptional guest artists will lead masterclasses, training intensives, and skill-building workshops in the Pig Iron Studios for participants with a wide range of performance interests, from clown to cabaret.