About Us

Creating multidisciplinary artists from the beginner to the professional.

We believe every individual has been gifted with a unique talent to share with the world. All aspects of the individual including the mind, body, and spirit are valued. With an emphasis on technique, performance, and health, Powell Performing Arts promotes thoughtful and inspiring art to cultivate a holistic way of creating, inspiring, and healing.

We train rigorously for collegiate education and the professional world of performing arts, movement and music therapy, the medical field, other career paths, and skills that last a lifetime. The limited spots in each class provide opportunities to fully explore and implement concepts, technique, and choreography. Students are taught correct alignment and healthy habits- trained with the ability to identify and integrate the patterns of total body connectivity, anatomy, kinesiology, proprioception, vestibular sensing, somatics, and equilibrium. 

Attaining this ongoing balance of the mind, body, and spirit is a process that continues throughout life. At Powell Performing Arts we believe that movement is life and stagnation leads to death - wether that be physically or spiritually. We strive to establish an environment that brings people closer to their mission they feel called to serve in this lifetime.

Owner/Director.

 

Husband and wife, Ari and Paula Powell, are the owners and directors of Powell Performing Arts. Read more about them by clicking here.

Core Values.

 

Authenticity: You are unique, share your light.

Mindfulness: Stay present and become aware of your thoughts and actions.

Integrity: Choose to be the best you can be, especially when no one is watching.

Honesty: Reflect sincerity and uphold truthfulness.

Joy: Life is filled with ups and downs, find joy in the journey.

Facility.

 

Our facility features a custom built sprung floor crafted for healthy movement, offering a supportive surface to prevent injuries.

Methods of training.

 

  • Somatics

    Somatics describes any practice that uses the mind-body connection to help you survey your internal self and listen to signals your body sends about areas of pain, discomfort, or imbalance.

    These practices allow you to access more information about the ways you hold on to your experiences in your body. https://www.healthline.com/health/somatics

  • Laban Movement Analysis

    Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) is a method and language for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting all varieties of human movement. The method uses a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating contributions from anatomy, kinesiology, psychology, Labanotation and many other fields. It is one type of Laban Movement Study, originating from the work of Rudolf Laban, developed and extended by Lisa Ullmann, Irmgard Bartenieff, Warren Lamb and many others. In addition, many derived practices have developed with great emphasis on LMA methods. It is used as a tool by dancers, actors, musicians, athletes, physical and occupational therapists, psychotherapy, peace studies, anthropology, business consulting, leadership development, health & wellness, and is one of the most widely used systems of human movement analysis today.

    Learn more at

    https://labaninstitute.org/about/laban-movement-analysis/

  • Bartenieff Fundamentals

    Patterns of Total Body Connectivity

    Breath, Core Distal, Head Tail, Upper Lower, Body Half, Cross Lateral

    Learn more at

    https://labaninstitute.org/about/bartenieff-fundamentals/

    And

    https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1018&context=theses_dmt#:~:text=With%20knowledge%20of%20Laban's%20concepts,explored%20and%20applied%20to%20psychology.

  • Dance Movement Therapy

    Dance/movement therapy, usually referred to simply as dance therapy or DMT, is a type of therapy that uses movement to help individuals achieve emotional, cognitive, physical, and social integration. Beneficial for both physical and mental health, dance therapy can be used for stress reduction, disease prevention, and mood management. In addition, DMT's physical component offers increased muscular strength, coordination, mobility, and decreased muscular tension. Dance/movement therapy can be used with all populations and with individuals, couples, families, or groups. In general, dance therapy promotes self-awareness, self-esteem, and a safe space for the expression of feelings.

    https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/dance-movement-therapy

  • Speech Level Singing

    Speech Level Singing believes that when you speak, there is no tension or manipulation in your voice because your motive is to communicate with others. The same should be true when you are singing.

    Learn more at

    https://ramseyvoice.com/sls-estill-cvt/#:~:text=Speech%20Level%20Singing%20is%20designed,yell%20or%20disconnect%20to%20falsetto.

Artists are truth tellers. Movement holds within it a freedom of expression that is vital. There are many tools which increase the ability of the mover to express through flexibility, acrobatics, strength, fluidity, kinesiology, and center of gravity, to name a few. Execution of movement is dependent on mastery of these and other tools at the dancer’s disposal. There is a distinct difference between executing perfection of movement and finding true expression in dance.

Finding the truth that stands behind movement is where expression finds voice both to the dancer and to the audience. I remember as a youth watching a BYU contemporary dance company concert. Pat Debenham and Jace Chan performed a piece called Blue Horses. Their dance physiques were phenomenal, which allowed them to perform this difficult piece with grace and beauty, however there was something more that they offered than their perfect form. As they leapt in a circle shoulder to shoulder landing and taking off in perfect timing with each other with wispy costumes bathed in blue light, I have come to realize that that extra something that made the piece magnificent was the truth that each dancer brought to the stage that day. They brought commitment, strength of character, courage, fortitude, and compassion. These are not brought to the stage without a dancer mastering these first in their own lives. As these become part of the dancer’s truth, they are able to tell these to others on the stage through movement, stories, expressions, and feelings.

“Art has little purpose unless it inspires us to change.” This was a quote that I learned from my drama teacher which has become a source of inspiration for me. I believe that on the stage we act as a mirror to the audience. Each member of the audience brings their own successes, failings, ignorance, and knowledge with them to the theater. The audience in viewing the performance, effectually is looking into a mirror. They begin to see themselves more clearly which is the most important and most powerful part of the experience. This is the part of art that inspires introspection, realizing and celebrating successes, accomplishments and personal genius as well as bringing into focus the reality of failings or weaknesses. As the dancer comes prepared to interact with the audience both with an amazing set of tools and a character filled with truth and the audience comes open to interact in the experience dance in its true art form allows personal growth much deeper than the entertainment value that may have initially been sought. This is the magic of art and the joy that I have found in dance.

-Ari Powell

 

“Art has little meaning unless it inspires us to change.”

— Bob Bauer