Laura Ward’s Barre Burn is a mixed mat and floor class that includes breath work, Pilates, yoga, stretching, strengthening, mobility training, ballet, and functional movement. The class consists of both mat and standing exercises, followed by dance choreography. There will be pliés, tendus, degagés, and grand battements, plus more fun movement. This juicy, delicious, and delightful 3D movement class will hydrate joints and fascia, increase strength and coordination, and help balance your nervous system. Join us!

Laura Victoria Ward, BA, CMA, RSME, is a maximalist artist, choreographer, somatic movement educator, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst, teacher, musician, and painter. She is the artistic director of Octavia Cup Dance Theatre, a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational company. She has been creating dance theater and performing in New York City, the Hudson Valley, and internationally for over 30 years.

She regularly creates and performs with Tonus Maximus and the Glam Rock Cabaret, and she is in your grandmother’s punk rock band—a.k.a. Dick Pinchers.

She holds a BA from SUNY Empire State in Dance, Theatre, and Movement Studies and has studied with Irene Dowd, Liz Koch, Mary Abrams, and Gil Hedley. She completed a two-year course in Meisner Acting Technique with Michael Harney. Her teaching experience includes Wagner College, Gina Gibney, Dance New Amsterdam, Equinox, Dutchess Community College, Manhattan School of Music, the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, and Cornell Creative Arts Center, as well as privately. She has received several KCACTF Awards for her choreography at Ramapo College in New Jersey, as have the ensembles she has worked with. Her Ramapo choreography credits include Spring Awakening, Twelfth Night, Urinetown, Ride the Cyclone, and Church. In 2024 she received a Dance Force Choreography Initiative Grant through NYSCA.

An expansive knowledge underpins Laura’s playful approach to embodiment. Diverse practices include hands-on bodywork, anatomy and kinesiology, classical ballet, Laban/Bartenieff, physical theater, and nondual awareness.