Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Staibdance workshops

Just a week after my return from Europe, I am throwing myself back in the ATL dance scene. There seems to be this subtle yet continual growth in the dance scene here and when I'm not paying attention dancers multiply, interest grows, new talent emerges and yet everyone stays just as supportive and non competitive as always. Monday night I took an amazing contemporary ballet class with Sarah Hillmer - this was by far one of the best ballet class I have taken in Atlanta so far. Sarah had a way of really getting me to use my whole body, and getting me out of the mind games I usually play in a ballet class. Her musical selections totally made the class too, I love doing ballet to non traditional music. She stopped right before our last center combination and gave us a wonderful little talk about fully embracing who we are right now, not who we used to be, or who we thought we would be now, or even who we think we are going to be tomorrow. Just being fully present in our bodies and minds at this moment. This is why I love dance. There is no way for me to fully describe the energy of the room at that moment, the buzz you could almost taste from the dancers bodies next to you revving up from a little motivation and support from each other watching and applauding as each group completed the combination. Absolutely what I needed to get back to dance after a couple weeks off.
The next class was Staibdance rep/modern taught by the one and only George Staib himself. I alway love George's class, his Gaga inspired warm up allows me to fully get prepared to connect to my body and learn his rep. And his rep is just so full bodied and dynamic and fun, seeing everyone's different interpretations of the movement based on their different backgrounds was so wonderful too. Cannot wait for the rest of the week with these wonderful movers. So grateful to be in such an amazing city doing what I love!