Dancing with Reggie brought back buried memories of my very first ballet classes. I was once again struggling with my own body as I was desperately trying to imitate a movement. Since the age of 10 I have been learning to control every possible muscle in my body, forcing it to realize unnatural shapes. This feeling of confusion had passed long ago as I attended regular ballet lessons. Learning Reggie’s choreography brought back memories of blankness. The movements I was learning were new to me and the awkwardness came back as my body parts felt uncoordinated and completely lost. It felt like a new beginning.

I found it challenging memorizing Reggie’s choreography. The parts he showed us were not defined phrases, and counts were inexistent. I only had time to get an idea of the movement and soon realized that I had to think through movements on my own. I had to stay open to ideas, listen to my body, and analyze its reaction towards Reggie’s combinations.

Ballet lessons introduced me to musicality, which I have always believed to be an essential quality of a dancer. In Reggie’s work, I discovered how music does not seem to play an essential role. As we learnt his choreography, he would either leave us in silence, or choose a random music. At first I found this frustrating, as dancing in a group meant being together and we had nothing to rely upon. However, very soon I realized the awareness he wanted us to have of our bodies.

            With those few classes, I discovered a totally new language of dance, one that articulates itself not through music but rather through culture, ideas and intelligence.