She received her early training from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has been a movement artist and professional performer her entire life. For 30 years Annie was the artistic director and founder of the performing arts center, RoCo dance, Marin County Ca. which she sold in 2024. She has served as an adjunct professor of dance at UC Berkeley and guest choreographer and teacher to many universities and conservatories throughout the country. Annie has been honored a MILLEY award in Lifetime Achievement in the Arts in her community and has been the recipient of National Dance Week’s Bay Area Dancers Choice Award. In 2022 Annie built El Campo, BCS in Pescadero, Mexico. This artist retreat center serves all types of movement enthusiasts and artists to host their own events as well as a home to Annie’s own workshops and experiences.

Annie’s movement practices, The FIELD is courses Annie developed over a lifetime to bridge post modern dance with yoga asanas, authentic movement, body/mind centering techniques and the art of choreography. Annie splits her time between Baja and New York where teaches master classes in person and online.

FIELD COURSES:

MDRNYGA is a dynamic mat-less class bridging vinyasa flow yoga, mind-body fitness modalities and floor based modern dance principles. Paced to a playlist ranging from classical to alternative, the sequences are artful movement patterns to stretch, tone and ground the body. All of the sequences are choreographed and clearly guided similar to a yoga class but with the personality of a dance class. Dancer or not, yogi or not, this is not a traditional dance or yoga class. It is for the athletic and artful minded individual that is looking to creatively expand their practice. This class will open up ones approach to transitions, musicality and flow. Ultimately, MDRNYGA enables a strong, and efficient body, stimulating grace and fun through motion to connect to your mind to your body.

SHIFT is a musically inspired, non-choreography movement lab. Annie offers prompts and suggestions to explore sensation, receptivity, transitions and texture. The class is to unlock stale movement habits to arrive into fresh pathways. The hour is driven by music, energy and tone. No class is the same because Annie guides intuitively. There is no learned choreography. Each song inspires a different place in the body. These places include the many dualities of physicality: quiet movement meditations, small articulate dances, big expressive range, locomotion/stillness, effort and release, grace and abandon, angles and curves. Find your motion potential. Flow, de-tox, tune-in and play.

CONTACT and PARTNERING Annie’s background in postmodern dance informs the format of her contact/partnering exercises and teachings. Students learn the principles of giving/receiving weight, leading/following, listening with your body and spacial awareness. Learning to connect with other bodies in motion deepens ones ability to connect more deeply to their own body. The class setting is playful and with reverence to safety.

CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE/PERFORMANCE Annie’s teaches all levels of contemporary technique from the beginner to the professional. Although class is rooted in “release technique” her aesthetic is unique to her many years of studying numerous styles of American dance. Her classes encourage and teach multi-dimensional movement that emphasizes efficiency of movement, the use of explosive power, sensitivity, texture, phrasing and clarity. The material presented is a progression of physical challenges that inform and builds onto it. The phrases are musically inspired and paced to safely warm up the body and maximize strength and placement. Her approach to teaching is accessible to a broad audience and she holds 30 decades choreography that has been brought to the stage for youth and adults - beginners to professionals.SHIFT Class, investigates authentic ways to connect the mind to the body though motion, active mindfulness, music and play. Annie’s signature Vinyasa based mat-less class, MDRNYGA, engages in creative sequencing on and off the ground and therapeutic flow. Annie teaches all levels of contemporary technique rooted in a post-modern aesthetic and Release Technique. She also teaches partnering and contact skills and choreography for performance.

Testimonials:

Spending time at El Campo with Annie Parr was nothing short of transformative. The space itself is a sanctuary—intentionally designed, rooted in nature, and humming with creative energy. But it’s Annie’s presence that truly sets it apart. Her mastery of movement and deep intuitive wisdom created a container for both expansion and restoration. I arrived seeking space to breathe; I left with a sense of alignment I didn’t know I was missing. El Campo isn’t just a retreat space—it’s a return to self. 

-Nicole Oge

Waking up to the beauty of El Campo and starting the day with one of Annie’s classes was pure magic. As someone who doesn’t consider themselves a dancer, I felt totally at ease—and even in love—with the mix of movement, meditation, dance, and whatever other Annie alchemy is happening. Her classes create a real shift in body, mind, and spirit. And the music? Truly next level. It’s an experience that stays with you long after it ends. 

- Robyn Shapiro

Annie is an incredible host and one of the best movement practitioners I've ever worked with. Her classes truly light people up and shift their energy immediately. 

-Roanne Adams

instagram: @annierparr @mdrnyga
email: annie@elecampobcs.com