Signature Methods
At Where We Land, our teaching is guided by intention rather than a single formula. Some offerings are exploratory and responsive, while others are grounded in defined frameworks that support depth, continuity, and shared understanding. The methods below are core teaching frameworks that shape much of our work. They aren’t styles or one-off programs, but ways of approaching training, learning, and growth that can be returned to over time and expressed in different formats.
Not every offering follows a specific method — and that’s intentional; but when a class or program does, these frameworks offer structure, shared language, and a sense of grounding for both teachers and participants.
Sovereign Apprentice
A community-rooted training method shaped by integrity, intention, and skill-based growth.
Sovereign Apprentice grew out of the original Sovereign Crew — a collective of artists committed to moving with clarity, care, and a refusal to follow anyone else’s path. That foundation continues to inform the method today: self-governed, values-driven, and grounded in community responsibility.
This method centers how we train as much as what we train. It prioritizes continuity over urgency, relationship over performance, and learning that unfolds through being witnessed over time. Growth is understood as both technical and personal, supported by shared language, accountability, and care within a group.
At its core, Sovereign Apprentice is a skill-based learning environment. Training consistently focuses on:
grooving and rhythmic embodiment
dynamics, texture, and qualitative movement choices
musicality and listening practices
choreography retention, execution, and clarity
freestyle exploration as a tool for integration and self-trust
These areas are returned to again and again, allowing skills to deepen rather than accumulate quickly.
This method is for dancers seeking depth, agency, and growth within a consistent, care-centered community.
Back to Basics
A technical training method centered on awareness, mechanics, and care.
Back to Basics is built around a consistent training arc: cultivating awareness, preparing the body through intentional mobility and strengthening, working through core technical foundations, and reintegrating those skills back into functional movement. The focus is on how movement is organized, supported, and sustained — particularly in heels.
This method prioritizes joint integrity, neuromuscular awareness, and nervous system safety. Training is approached with respect for bodies that move differently, recognizing that stability and control require specificity, especially for dancers navigating hypermobility, injury history, or long-term sustainability.
Rather than assuming that general dance or fitness training automatically transfers into heels, Back to Basics treats heels as a distinct context that requires its own preparation, mechanics, and attention. The method blends classic heels technique with structured conditioning and rehabilitative movement principles to support clarity, confidence, and reliability in movement.
At the core of the Back to Basics method are the following foundations:
Body awareness & internal feedback
Cultivating sensation, proprioception, and the ability to listen to the body in motion.
Functional strength & conditioning
Building usable strength that supports movement demands rather than aesthetic strain.
Three-dimensional movement & oppositional force
Understanding how energy moves through and beyond the body, creating depth, contrast, and efficiency.
Weight transfer & grounding
Developing clarity in how weight shifts, lands, and travels to support balance and intention.
Balance, stability & control
Supporting joints and systems so movement feels reliable, responsive, and safe.
Momentum, rotation & directional change
Working with force, suspension, and redirection rather than resisting them.
This method is for dancers seeking precise, body-aware training that supports safety, adaptability, and long-term confidence in heels.
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