August, 2021

Yesterday was our fifth NOURISH session on the centuries old farmland at LexFarm! I was thrilled to have new visitors and returning participants come build community through movement, talk, and writing together. We refined our weeding skills by playing with uprooting plants by imagining pulling from our grounded feet. In lieu of hugs and handshakes, we developed new personal salutations, and played with mirroring them as a social dance practice. We pranced, and twirled along the farm trails in a dynamic follow the leader game. Participants then played with mirroring what they observed among the growing fields in their solo sensory dances. I saw folks waving with the grasses, and shining like flowers. Lastly, everyone drew and wrote about their experience so thoughtfully.

I learned so much yesterday - that non-dancers want permission to do big dancey movement. As a trained dancer, I had imagined that people would prefer to do more pedestrian activity. I had been affirming that people can find dance in the actions they already do, by simply shifting attention and intention. But in Follow-the-Leader in the wide open, green sunny space, people chose to move with such energy, flow, and freedom! It was a thrilling surprise to simply follow along, copying other people’s movement that reflected their joy. I observed the younger participants, when given time and encouragement, share their movement with the same generous vulnerablity as the adults. Parents found new ways to interact with their children as equals. In NOURISH, everyone enjoyed making new connections with each other; several stayed to talk well after the session ended.

Earlier this month, I had the deep honor to go to Bates Dance Festival as one of 12 New England choreographers, through New England Foundation for the Arts’ Regional Dance Development Initiative. We spent one jam packed week together with amazing faculty and NEFA staff, working on our professional growth as artists to build our vision for what dance in the region can be. We showed our work and received juicy written responses and feedback to help reframe our ideas. We wrote a lot about the purpose of our dance work, detailing exactly what we do, why, and how it’s important. We practiced being interviewed as artists, using conversation to embody our creative intentions. We brought our influences, teachers, and families into the space with us to feel the support of the legacy that formed us. Our cohort danced together daily, teaching each other a dozen different approaches to movement. Each of us offered such different techniques, and every single class brought us closer together towards deeper trust and understanding. We learned the hustle, the time step, we improvised being surprised by our next single big step, to dancing near, and walking together with our ancestors, imagining the past and the future together. After a year and a half of isolation, (thanks to rigorous COVID testing and formed consent), we found deep solidarity in sharing close space together. It was exactly what I needed.

Photo Credit: Jonathan Hsu, JHsumedia