Today Sienna, Jacobi, Willa and I got together to share ideas, improv and learn a bit in the studio. It was a semi-reunion of Lean on Me because Hannah and Madeline couldn't make it. Tapestry Dance and Grace Holmes have been so good to us - Tapestry donated studio space for our Doctors Without Borders benefit and gave us space to work in today. It's a great environment over there, and I know Willa, Sienna, Madeline and Hannah love being in the youth company, Visions in Rhythm.
Willa had the idea to do ballet barre in the dark. It was a very different experience, especially since we were dancing to mostly Beatles songs. It wasn't completely dark, and our eyes adjusted pretty quickly so that the lighting didn't seem that unusual, but it did add a certain soft inward focus to the movements. I did notice that balances are a lot easier with the usual piano accompaniment - really anything that takes you away from that focus on strength and lengthening of the muscles can so easily throw you off, especially in a plain passe.
Then we did some group improvisations, working with contact and movement within the space. That's always a great place for discovery, and it's always a surprise what you can learn working in a specific group of people.
We also got a chance to talk some about this coming summer. Great things to look forward to!
Lean On Me dancers last year...
Jacobi Alvarez, Willa Brown, Madeline Jafari, myself, Sienna Blaw, Hannah Yeo
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