By MARK SCOLFORO

By MARK SCOLFORO

Rappahannock Newa Staff Writer

Different choreographers approach the creative aspect of their profession in different ways, but Sally Nash is establishing a place that they can adapt to varying needs. ' Workspace for Choreographers, in addition to being Ms. Nash’s mountaintop home in Sperryville, is also the name of a non-profit foundation she is setting up that allows choreographers to spend a few days or weeks ' with her, taking advantage of her modem dance facility as well as the secluded, natural setting.

“It has to do with being able to listen internally, and you just can’t do that amidst a bunch of distractions,” said Ms. Nash, a dancer, choreographer and founder of theJ Rappahannock-based Last Minute Wood Company.

There are other foundations for choreographers, she said, but hers is unusual in that it avoids putting any demands on the artists. They don’t need to come out of the time they spend at Workspace with a new piece — the idea is to allow each individual to determine what his or her needs are and spend time nurturing them in a retreat setting.

“People who really love solitude need to be able to spend two Weeks or three-weeks and really listen to themselves. You can’t find that in the city,” she said.

Inside Ms. Nash’s modem home is a 50by-35 foot dance studio with state-of-the-art theater lighting, mirrors and barres. Last month she received final approval from the county to construct a separate house for visiting choreographers to stay in (as well as a small number of their dancers), and she expects to break ground this spring.

A dancer since the age of four, she describes herself as “one of the first dancers in the ’60s to dig into non-dance realms (improvisational theater, corrective techniques such as Feldenkrais, and the spiritually oriented disciplines of the East), to enlarge her vision of teaching.”

While living a Spartan lifestyle near Old Rag in the mid-’70s, Ms. Nash formed the Last Minute Wood Company. The name was chosen because she and the other dancers were spending so much time with dance that their more temporal needs took a back seat. The dance company consists of area residents, many of whom did not have previous experience with dance. Its members today are Cathy Dancing Reed, Kim Doyle, Nan Reddick, Shari Avenis and Nina Stamer.

Ms. Nash describes her approach as based on the individual, not on some pre-ordained conventions. “In almost all of my choreography, I try to bring out the person’s way of expressing themselves, rather than have them do my movement.”

Workspace, she said, will provide two things that choreographers need and often find difficult to obtain: “Dance takes a whole lot of space and a whole lot of time, and no one can afford it.”