On August 12, a former paper mill on the Connecticut River will fill with dancers testing motion-capture suits, rehearsing inside a 360-degree projection space, and learning to build augmented reality layers into live performance. This is not a description of a tech startup or a film set. It is the 2024 White River Junction Contemporary Dance Intensive, a two-week program that treats Vermont as a testing ground for where contemporary choreography could go next.
What It Is—And When
The intensive runs August 12–24 at the Center for Cartoon Studies building in White River Junction, Vermont, with additional studio space at nearby Briggs Opera House. Now in its seventh year, the program has shifted from a traditional summer workshop model to something closer to an artist residency: dancers spend mornings in technique class, afternoons in choreographic labs, and evenings in open rehearsals or feedback sessions with faculty and guest artists.
Applications are open through March 15. Tuition is $2,400, with need-based scholarships covering up to 75 percent of costs. The program accepts 24 participants, ages 18 to 35, by audition or video submission. No prior experience with technology is required.
What Makes This Year Different
The 2024 intensive is built around a single partnership: a collaboration with [Fictitious Tech Partner Name], a Montreal-based studio that develops motion-capture and AR tools for live performance. Over the two weeks, dancers will work with three specific systems:
- Motion-capture suits that translate a dancer's real-time movement into projected visuals, allowing performers to "compose" lighting and scenery with their bodies.
- A 360-degree projection space where choreographers can prototype work for immersive environments rather than traditional proscenium stages.
- An AR platform that lets audience members wearing tablets or AR glasses see alternate choreography layered over what is happening live—useful for exploring multiple narrative paths within a single piece.
The faculty reflects this cross-disciplinary focus. This year's lineup includes Marina Kostyk, former rehearsal director at Batsheva Dance Company, who will lead a weeklong Gaga-intensive; Devin Trott, whose AR-driven piece Double Vision premiered at the Fusebox Festival in 2023; and Sonal Jain, a choreographer working at the intersection of South Asian classical forms and interactive design.
"The question we're asking isn't 'How do we use cool tools?'" says Jain. "It's 'What can we make that only works because the technology is there?'"
Who Should Apply—And What They Get
The program is designed for two overlapping groups: early-career professionals looking to expand their technical and choreographic range, and pre-professional dancers in college or conservatory programs who want exposure to contemporary methods beyond what their home institutions offer.
For the first group, the intensive provides practical skills: learning to use motion-capture software, collaborating with a visual designer, and developing a short work for the 360-degree space. For the second, it offers concentrated training with working choreographers and a structured introduction to interdisciplinary creation.
Both groups will leave with video documentation of any work created during the program, plus a facilitated introduction to [Fictitious Tech Partner Name]'s open-source tools, which remain available to alumni for one year.
Why White River Junction?
The location is not incidental. White River Junction sits at the intersection of I-89 and I-91, roughly two hours from both Boston and Montreal, and has become a small but active arts hub in the Upper Valley. The intensive's founders—choreographers Elena Vostrikov and James Okonkwo—relocated here from Brooklyn in 2017, drawn by affordable studio space and a tight-knit creative community.
"There's a quality of attention here that you don't get in a major city," Okonkwo says. "Dancers are living in the same building, eating meals together, walking along the river between sessions. That density of contact changes what gets made."
What's Next
The intensive will conclude with two free public showings on August 23 and 24, featuring works developed during the program. Ahead of that, Dance Magazine will publish interviews with Kostyk, Trott, and Jain, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the motion-capture lab in early August.
Applications for the 2024 White River Junction Contemporary Dance Intensive are due March 15. For audition requirements, scholarship information, and housing details, visit [website URL].
