Senior human health and dance double major Dominique Jones received a Sally A. Radell Friends of Dance Scholarship to attend the staibdance Summer Intensive in Italy this past July. Read on for a reflection on her experience.
Upon arriving in Sant’Agata, I could feel that the journey I would go on at the staibdance intensive was one that I had never come close to experiencing in my dance career. The first night there, I was enthralled with the other dancers in the program. In the past, several Atlanta dancers had caught my eye, and I was excited to share class with them and learn from them. My heart was full when I shared a room with my classmate Pia and Emory alumni Hayden and Henry, whom I had missed so much. The people and teachers within the program helped propel my creativity and exploration.
Throughout the two weeks, I was inundated with new movement styles. In the first three days of learning acrobatic dance and countertechnique, I learned how to throw myself headfirst into the space in a way that I have not given myself the grace to before. I sweat more than I ever have, but I felt so fulfilled. I formed a deeper connection with my body and its physicality as I pushed myself to achieve the planks, inversions, and counterbalance against the Italian heat. Bringing intention to my anatomy, musculature, spine, and brain has become a priority for myself and my practice as I continue dancing at Emory and beyond.
The greatest impact on my practice was improvisation. I started improv in modern dance as a child in my ballet studio, and it often occupied the last fifteen minutes of my once-a-week class. Improv never had a deep emotional attachment and never felt fully ingrained in my body; the prompts were nothing like what I experienced this summer. I was introduced to wonderful teachers from the staibdance company who turned what I knew about improvisation on its head. On the first day of the program, we began Anna's class by lying on the floor. Then we began to hum and grow that hum into a scream for seven minutes. As I laid on the ground and screamed, it felt like something connected in my brain and soul. I had never done anything like that in my life. I proceeded to embody exercises where I stared into strangers' eyes, slow danced with my classmates, surrendered myself and my weight to my friends, and became comfortable dancing with and for myself. I also learned to tap into and experience my emotions as I danced. I practiced many improv prompts that were designed for deep explorations of self, helping me feel emotions I had not felt before. One day we attempted to dance from one side of the room to the other; the wall we started on represented birth, and the wall we ended on death. We were in charge of embodying the ages between them. It was a transforming experience to not only watch the lifecycle of my classmates but to dance as myself at each stage of my life, and imagine who I will become past the age of twenty-one. I learned so much about myself in the staibdance improv and movement generation classes.
I will take a lot of lessons back with me for my last year at Emory. Had I never gone to this intensive, I would have never experienced these fantastic practices around movement. In my own practice, I want to start doing private improvisational scores. I feel that there is an untapped exploration in private improv practices that will add value to every part of my life. I will continue to dance no matter what setting I am in. As I continue to pursue a career in medicine, this intensive reminded me to keep dance as a part of my study routine. It connects me with my body and mind and clears my head, and the complexities of the art form intrigue me; therefore its loss from my life would be devastating. I am incredibly grateful for the Friends of Dance Scholarship for making my summer intensive dream a reality and I cannot wait to implement all that I have learned into my life in the coming year.
Thank you for sharing this reflection Dominique! Click here to learn more about The Friends of Dance at Emory.
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