Moving in a way that feels improvisational allows people to find creativity in the body but necessarily having to be clever with it

Im interested in the idea of moving as an act for searching or remembering, letting images arise out of that movement practise

I think I make sense of the world through performance 

 It’s kind of all-consuming, and I like that about it, but that comes at a cost, particularly the people around me. Part of me thinks, do I want to keep doing that? But then there’s this idea of fighting my own nature thing; maybe I cannot not do it? It’s ridiculous the amount you give to it compared to what you are earning.

It can do amazing things, things for your mental health, and fitness, that is important. But I don’t like this Idea that dance is sometimes pitched like its good for you. One of the things I think is important about dance is that 

its this expenditure of energy that isn’t building a wall, is kind of uneccersay, its sweat, energy using up calories, but there is nothing to show for it, its this ephemeral thing thats gone as soon as you stop doing it. There’s something about its resistance to logic and words and products. Its so useless in a way. 

It goes against so many things of productivity and growth, any kind of capitalist stuff, dance is this weird thing. And then also we’ve done it from the very beginning, some part of us need to find rhythm and move, it connects us to something older, I think 

This dropping down into the body away from the cerebral and rational, it drops into a place I find interesting, when it works it can be this emotional expression thing that we read it a different way. 

It encourages us to look around instead of just engaging with what someone saying 

I slightly messes time and people can get in a flow with dance 

There is a preference in our culture for the product over process and having a finished thing that is sellable. 

Transient and only there very temporarily  

It’s hard to capture- a film of dance and a live performance could be both amazing, but they are different things 

The final product of dance is an experience, and the process is also an experience. Whereas for example, in art, the process is often an experience, but the product is more of an object.

There are these infectious beats, things that make you want to move, and when there’s a good track, it drives you on, like the groove

Trying not to shut off from each other. For example, when it’s a ballet class or a contemporary class, you’re doing your own training and technique, but it’s still important to find that connection between each other, a way of expressing a relationship with someone through the body. Those moments when your dance with someone that’s like a really powerful thing--- club thing 

Music when dancing can be a default thing and maybe isn’t always needed. People think, oh, it’s dancing, so there has to be music; maybe when there’s no music, I’m dancing more to an internal rhythm. Without a rhythm or a melody, it might be really hard to know how to move your body because we don’t really do that in general life

When you’re a kid, you’re just more bounceable. When your practising dance every day, there are things you have to do to prepare yourself for that, and I guess it does become more serious because I need my body for work. The fear of hurting myself is something that worries me a lot. Sometimes that joy I was talking about is hard to find because I’m tired, and my muscles hurt. 

For me, it’s about determination, like I can do this instead of being too disciplined and saying, I must do this because that can lead to burnout. You can’t be on a consistent level of strength and flexibility as that wouldn’t allow you to rest and probably hurt you in the long term instead of allowing it to rise and fall a bit.

When there is this mindset of go go go we have to keep pushing it is quite hard to say actually, no I can’t do that. That can be a difficult thing to say. I guess

It’s good for your seriation or something, exercise is could for your mental health that seems to be a  proven thing. It can give you a sense of pride in your body, like, oh, I can move like this and do that, that’s a good feeling. It allows you to express emotions, feel joy and express joy but also however your feeling and use your body to deal with that.  

Connection with other people and dancing with others always feel good, I mean, I feel that. I mean if you’re at a club and you’re dancing with someone you don’t know, you’ve made this connection with someone where you don’t even know their name maybe or who they are  but you’ve shared this moment with them, which I think is really special. I think it’s a really human thing we just need to do. I enjoy tapping into that and learning new ways of how to move.

It’s not permanent its very instantaneous you use it to express how you feel then it’s not there anymore. Talking and writing and drawing are also really great but dance is also just another way to express those things 

There’s something quite nice that you don’t need anything else, just come with you, just come with yourself. Before all these ways of communication, like before we wrote or spoke there was this body communication. When we are in the womb, we are moving, like it’s so human, we are always moving even when we are standing still, we are dancing because the blood is pumping around the body. If you say movement is dance then anything is dance.