Embodiment Projects Pre-Professional Dance Company
Auditions for “Wishbone”
Founded by Embodiment Project’s Founding Artistic Director, Nicole Klaymoon, this developmental residency nurtures artists on a contemplative journey—those seeking belonging, growth, and creative transformation within a loving community. Like the bone that helps birds take flight, Wishbone is a springboard for emerging pre-professional dancers, choreographers, and storytellers to soar. Designed as a developmental residency, the program offers space for emerging artists to gain performance experience, mentorship, and portfolio growth. Rather than a paid position, it is an immersive creative process that invites transformation and collaboration, empowering artists to take flight within live performance.
Season Dates: January 20–April 25, 2026
Format: 13 weeks of Tuesday classes & rehearsals (3.5 hours total each week)
The season will culminate in an informal production of new original and collaborative evening-length work directed by Nicole Klaymoon, and Assistant Director Francis Aquino, in collaboration with the company.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Class: “Play, Pulse, & Release” (Intermediate Technique Class - see description below)
Time: Tuesdays, January 20–April 15
11:00–12:30PM
Cost: Free for Wishbone Company Members
Location: Finnish Hall
Address: 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley, CA 94702
Rehearsal will begin right after class, following a 30-minute break.
Rehearsals: 1:00–3:00pm
TIME COMMITMENT
Tuesdays, January 20–April 15 11:00am-3:00pm
The season culminates in a no-tech informal production on Friday April 17 and Sat April 18th at Finnish Hall
Artists will receive training with Nicole Klaymoon, Francis Aquino, and other members of Embodiment Project
CLASS DESCRIPTION:
Play, Pulse, & Release
“Play” embodies a methodology of world-building, curiosity, and creative kinesthetic exploration. Dancers are guided through subtle body awareness, inventive improvisational concepts that cultivate a distinct sense of embodiment.
“Pulse” embodies rhythm, musicality, and the cultivation of internal groove. This class expands dancers’ expressive range through dynamic choreography, developing theatricality and exploring dance as a form of communication. Klaymoon’s 17+ years of tutelage, traing, and teaching in house dance inform the hybrid choreographic language offered at the end of class. The intermediate-level choreography integrates groove, rhythm, articulate footwork, and an invitation toward storytelling.
“Release” embodies the technical foundations of release technique, emphasizing natural movement by initiating from the bones with efficiency and effortlessness, working in harmony with gravity, momentum, and swing.
The class supports endurance and structural resilience through the aging process. Through repetition, it aims to support pre-professional and seasoned dance artists seeking a generative training environment to sharpen their performance quality and expand their creative portal. Set to an eclectic and soulful playlist, the experience is as much conditioning as it is moving meditation. The class seeks to invigorate the creative flame within each participant, inviting unfettered play and fostering liberation through the body within a loving community.
Audition Details
Date: December 13th
Time: 2:00–4:00pm
Location: Home Bass
Address: 2355 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94612
RSVP: admin@embodimentproject.org
Subject line: First & Last Name – “Audition RSVP”
You will receive the door code upon confirmation.
Audition Fee: Sliding scale $10–$30
Photo by: Bethanie Hines
ABOUT WISHBONE
Wishbone is a pre-professional dance company founded by Embodiment Project’s Artistic Director, Nicole Klaymoon. Like the wishbone—the bone that helps birds take flight—this company serves as a springboard for emerging dancers, choreographers, and storytellers to expand into their fullest artistic expression.
Dancers train with Nicole Klaymoon, Francis Aquino and select Embodiment Project artists in house dance, release technique, popping, improvisation, documentary theater, and choreo-poetry. Training also incorporates subtle body awareness and energetic hygiene to support artists in harnessing the alchemical power of live performance and awakening a distinct sense of embodiment.
Traditionally, the wishbone—a Y-shaped relic of flight—symbolizes luck and the granting of wishes. Two people pull it apart, each silently holding a hope; the one left with the larger piece is said to have their wish fulfilled. Yet what appears to be the “smaller piece” often guides us toward unexpected alignment, grace, and transformation. The wishbone becomes not only a symbol of luck, but of trust in the unseen choreography of our paths.
Wishbone provides a container for highly sensitive artists on a contemplative journey—those seeking belonging within an intimate, loving community that nourishes their gifts and supports their evolution. Designed as a developmental residency, the program offers space for emerging artists to gain performance experience, mentorship, and portfolio growth. Rather than a paid position, it is an immersive creative process that invites transformation and collaboration, empowering artists to take flight within live performance.
