Why do we dance?

The past week has made me really think about dance as a practice.  I have been raised in an environment where form is rigorously enforced, and working with Urban Bush Women has challenged the way I think about dance.  When encountering this new area of dance, I find myself forgetting the form and focusing intently on how the movement itself feels in my skin, honoring where my body is in the moment.  It’s incredible.  Many of the exercises we practice are hard for me to emulate because I’m used to having a mirror in front of me to watch myself.  However, this first week of working with Amanda and Courtney has already helped me push myself and grow.  The works challenge me physically and mentally.  Experimenting with different movement, finding my mother tongue, practicing with the ping pong ball in my body.  It is hard work.  Trying to hone in on the raw movement that makes us dancers is something that I haven’t really played with before.  Trying to re emulate the feelings we first had when wanting to dance as young people is a task that demands a lot of us.  I can’t wait to keep learning and to see where this journey through new movement leads.