Ground Grooves
Pasadena Dance Theatre is thrilled to announce that Ground Grooves is now part of our Conservatory Curriculum! Founded by university professors Laura Berg and Gracie Whyte, Ground Grooves aims to set dancers up with a floorwork practice that is fun, easily accessible, thoughtfully designed, and prioritizes longevity and injury-prevention. ​
GROUND GROOVES is a methodical and safe floorwork approach that emphasizes continuous and fluid floorwork for movers of all levels. The Ground Grooves approach is longevity-oriented, focused on building mindful, safe patterns to absorb impact with ease.
The name "Ground Grooves" was coined in 2016 for a weekly floorwork class that Laura Berg and Gracie Whyte led, alternating weeks with Mollie Wolf until the pandemic. In 2020, Mollie went to grad school, and Laura & Gracie continued the class, expanded the name and brand, created an online studio, and expanded our in-person offerings.
While the name was born in 2016, we started teaching together in 2014 and our class slowly transitioned into a release/floorwork class, until eventually becoming acutely focused on floorwork. The style of floorwork we teach via Ground Grooves has evolved significantly as well. Some of the exercises we teach today were used in the very first iteration of the class, but the quality is different (more lush and articulate) and the style of teaching is also different (more focused on transitions, textural quality, safety, and specificity). The Ground Grooves vocabulary has expanded a lot since its beginning days, inspired by experimentation, the people who come to class, and the needs of our personal bodies as we worked through major injuries.
There are many martial arts and dance forms we were not personally trained in that we see as being part of the same floorwork family. A great example is breaking. Although we aren’t bgirls, we are influenced by all the amazing bboy/girl/humans who are in our community and see the direct influence that form has had on what we teach.
For more information about Ground Grooves, check out their website here.