Lauren E. Harrison

i finally took my first dance class in nyc yesterday.  it was a spiritual experience.over the last four months, i’ve enjoyed being a “normal person”.  i’ve been trying to figure out what else i can do in this life as a creative individual.  i’ve been doing a lot of painting and projects around the house and i’m also getting into interior design more than i ever have before.  BUT in fifteen years of being a dancer and eight years of being a dance educator/ choreographer, i’ve never taken a break from my art for this long…. and although my body and brain needed it, i’m so hungry to get back in to the swing of things…here is what i discovered:

1. my instrument is really rusty and needs a lot of tuning up
2. i may be old and out of shape, but i still kicked butt BECAUSE
3. i still have the passion AND
4. i understand how to use my instrument more now than ever before
5. i’m a dancer, yes, but first and foremost, i’m a creator and a teacher…this is just a hiatus for me- not a permanent change

so you’re probably wondering what class i took…? max stone’s int/adv contemporary jazz at Dance New Amsterdam…… http://www.dnadance.org … his movement was very organic and much like mine.  we didn’t do pirouettes, battements or leaps, and there was definitely no “stretching of the splits”.  the class was structured like many of the modern classes that i took in college.  we did an hour long warm-up and then learned and danced a combination for about an hour.  his movement, which was large and lyrically inspired, consisted of inversions, floor work, contractions, isolations, upper body spirals, huge port-de-bras and a few small jumps.although i did like a lot of things about the class, i didn’t feel very inspired when i left- which is what i was hoping for.  it was just a typical technique class and for most of the two hours, we did the same body rolls, contractions and arm movements over and over again.  the class was very much focused on alignment, technique and flow of movement- which is some of the important stuff- but there was a lack of focus on musicality, dynamics, expressiveness and artistry of movement…this was somewhat disappointing to me.  i really just wanted to take a “feel good” dance class…i think i just choose the wrong teacher.  either way, it was a good start in getting myself back into the swing of things as a dance artist.  today my body is quite sore, as i figured it would be.  the amount of soreness in my lower body and in the back of my limbs is much more severe than the soreness in my upper body and the front of my vessel.  i don’t like the imbalance.  all of the movement seemed to be initiated from our “wings” if you will (back/scapula) and our hamstrings.  we danced in our frontal space too much and didn’t use any of our backspace.  i wish my pecs were sore instead of just my scapula.  i wish my abs were sore instead of just the back of my ribcage…etc.  my quads and iliopsoas are are little sore, but not as sore as my gluts and hams.from here on out, i plan to take at least one dance class a week (as that’s all my schedule really permits time for) THAT DARN FULL-TIME JOB!   i also hope to start working on a choreographic project.  i’m putting my thoughts into writing so that people can check in with me and kick my butt if i’m not making things happen.so with all of that being said, i’m going to leave on this note:  ”The artist goes through states of fullness and emptiness, and that is all there is to the mystery of art.” -Pablo Picasso