Sara || Trust in the Movement
I first met Sara at a friend's house in Chicago over dinner. We had these dinners every week and before long we realized we both had a love for movement. She suggested I take a Creative Wellness level 1 contact course, and I eagerly signed up. In that course I met one of her closest friends and performance collaboartors. Throughout our friendship I had the great joy of watching her perform comedy at Chicago's Second City, and grooving with her in kitchens. She called me all the way from Massachusetts to talk about her movement journey.
Anyways, we started way back when Sara was a little girl + began taking dance classes.
“I took ballet when I was little, it was challenging from the beginning. I think with movement its so life giving— but you have to find your voice. Like for my first recital, I was in a tutu and it was itchy and I just stood there crying. In a way that’s been a theme
Taking different classes —- what is it that I really want to do in this?
Anyways, at five years I took a break. (laughs)
”
So, from an early age Sara knew that movement meant something to her, but as her journey continued it became vital that she define that for herself. There was something to the struture of it all, that did not vibe well with Sara.
“From a young age, I felt theatrical and wanted to sing and dance, when I put myself out there I recoiled a little bit.”
An opportunity for more growth came in the form of the Boys and Girls camp she attended in the summer while her mother was at work. It was in the inner city, and she was able to explore movement and singing with people from different cultures.
“I began to be affirmed that this is inside me too.
I was beginning to know that movement could connext people”
She began taking hip hop at the Martin Luther King Center, it became home for her and she fell in love with the genre. She quickly learned however, that to be technical in hip hop, it was necessary to take the foundations of dance: ballet, jazz, and modern. It wasn't a comfortable process: the Center did classes by ability, not age and Sara often felt wierd being a bit older than the others. But she was determined to develop her dance skills.
Upon moving to Chicago, Sara discovered Contact Improv. She was already in a place where dance was for her and a place to heal + release. Contact served to deepen that role.
“When I was in an hour of dance I forgot about everything else, I was in my body concentrating on choreography... not my problems and it was so grounding. Like in this class right now, how do I want to move?
And contact is healing to the max.
I first started while going through a breakup when I’d go and Shannon would start the warm ups I was like “ok ok fine, I feel safe and affirmed.
I felt so peaceful and happy””
Here, Sara learned about trust. Contact Improv, for those who are not familar-- is a process of moving with another (or others) in a connected way. There are levels to this, it can be hand in hand, elbow to elbow, or it can be an intense dance of filling negative space around another + complicated (but sage) lifts. One of the truly incredible parts of contact improv is the idea that it is physics over strength. Lifting someone does not depend on size. But to the new practicer this can be a hard mountain of trust to overcome.
For more on contact improvisation, check out "Improvisation: An Introduction to a Vitalizing Dance" By Cheryl Pallant.
She goes through the history of the work and how race, gender, and identity come into play. She writes, "Dancer Steve Paxton in the 1970s considered this distance a territory for investigation. His study of intentional contact resulted in a public performance in 1972 in a Soho gallery, and the name “contact improvisation” was coined for the form of unrehearsed dance he introduced. Rather than copyrighting it, Paxton allowed it to evolve and spread."
And for Sara this taught her about her own strength....
“Lifts helped me realize how strong I was and how I could trust people and be trustworthy. Renewed my sense of self. ”
Through this, Sara came to understand dance as a deep healer, and a way to connect to + collaborate with others.
Sara is especially interested in the variety of energies that enter a space through movement. She enjoys creating character and trying on different energy.
She says that at the heart of it, she likes playing with other peoples' energy.
“I’m nowhere else in dance, not thinking of a goal in my mind, I’m more can I meet this physical goal right now. Like bend a little further and put energy in my chest.
”
“Anytime I have experience in a class where I feel like I am listening to others well and trusting them, I try to hold onto those feelings...take them out with me into the world.
”
So trust is multifaceted: trusting herself + learning to say yes to other peoples' ideas.
After Chicago, Sara moved to New York City and took some classes at the Broadway Dance Center. She also connected to members of the same cohort that Chicago's Creative Wellness stems from. She felt the personalities of the two cities in these two different spaces: Chicago being a slow build up to jam (a contact improv session) and New York being bold from the get go.
We talked about the importance of feeling safe and comfortable with the risks while doing improv. She said the NYC group helped her a lot in that way because the core of the practice was the same as in Chicago where she learned.
Next she moved to a coastal town in Mass where she takes free improv movement class at a dance center Sunday’s across the street. It is run by a theatre director and every class is different and an interesting new experience.
Over the past year she has also been involed with contact improv for people with special needs through the ARC and L'Arche Boston North. Her favorite part of working with this community is that she found their hearts to be very open to exploring through movement. She does neat practices with her students such as "Moving Statues" pictured below.
This entire journey across the country and through movement has been one of self-discovery and growth. Trusting her body + the bodies of others + in sharing that understanding with others.
Sara, it is always a joy to hear your laughter, thank you for sharing your story with me <3
Check out Sara's blog if you like
