INVESTIGATE REVEAL CONNECT
The body knows who you are and where you have been.
When we investigate ourselves by moving our bodies
dancing
listening
exploring
especially together
we open up to an awareness of all that lives within:
Our stories, our conditioning, our fears, our strengths, our passions, our light, our joy.
We reveal ourselves.
Our Body in motion provides an expanse
where we can move with, express & release these revelations.
There we can
remember our true nature
identify patterns holding us back from being ourself
release what is not ours to hold
connect
dance with our demons
feel fully alive
meet our edges
live in the inhale & exhale of life: love.
Join me in the dance of discovery, of deeply knowing, embodying and offering who you are to yourself and to the world around you.
When we investigate ourselves by moving our bodies
dancing
listening
exploring
especially together
we open up to an awareness of all that lives within:
Our stories, our conditioning, our fears, our strengths, our passions, our light, our joy.
We reveal ourselves.
Our Body in motion provides an expanse
where we can move with, express & release these revelations.
There we can
remember our true nature
identify patterns holding us back from being ourself
release what is not ours to hold
connect
dance with our demons
feel fully alive
meet our edges
live in the inhale & exhale of life: love.
Join me in the dance of discovery, of deeply knowing, embodying and offering who you are to yourself and to the world around you.
photo: Sydney Woodward
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For the better part of my life I have been inviting people to move their bodies, and what I now know and deeply understand is that human beings are wired to connect. We have used connection in the past as a means of survival, and in our modern day world connection is still what we need.
Free movement and conscious dance are an unique opportunity for connection. Through receiving and responding to the music with our physical being, so much about ourselves can be revealed, we have an opportunity to get to know ourselves in a way that cannot be put into words. Once this connection to self is felt, we are more able to connect with another, and eventually to know our place and importance in the group field. Music and dance holds us as we explore ourselves and each other in all of our joys & sorrows, awkwardnesses & strengths, in all of our humanness. After a life time of dancing in my bedroom, the forest, nightclubs, festivals and the discos of the Dominican Republic, I discovered the 5Rhythms® movement practice and have been practicing and studying ever since. During my first class I made the declaration: "Everybody deserves the right to dance and experience themselves through movement,
I am going to make this my mission!" |
In 2019 I officially made that declaration a reality, after years of working in outreach settings, I founded Dance Your Ability Therapeutic Movement Foundation, a not-for-profit organization. Programs & Trainings that bring movement & dance to those that would not normally attend public classes: children, elderly, at-risk youth, mixed abilities, trauma survivors, incarcerated and those in recovery.
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CERTIFICATIONS & TRAININGS:
•Room 217: Care Through Music Level I (2020)
•Kim Barthel: Trauma Informed Practice (2019) •Yoga Outreach CoreTraining™ (2014) •5Rhythms® Certified Teacher (2010/11) •Zumba Instructor (2008) •Level I & II Ski Instructor CSIA •BA in Latin American Studies/Spanish (1996) -with a Direct Studies on the Merengue Dance •and over 20 years as a Parent. |
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Gratitude...
I live and work on the unceded Hul’qumi’num Coast Salish Traditional Territory.
I would not be here without the guiding hand of so many teachers:
First I would like to thank my Mom, who dances with me each week, and my step father for brewing me in a very powerful cup of music. Their album collection and selection of music has impacted me in a way that, I believe, allows me to be with and play music for a large variety of human beings. Through out my childhood I had many solid friendships, these unions taught me trust. The mountains of my youth taught me that I am a part of the bigger picture, rather than the star of the show, they continue to teach me humility. I will forever be grateful to the thousands of dance partners that asked me to dance durning my years living in the Dominican Republic, those dances gave me the permission to embrace & surrender to my deep desire to dance. My three children have been my greatest teachers, offering the many ongoing lessons of unconditional love. The conscious dance world offers me countless teachers each time I step onto the dance floor. All of those souls that witnessed and moved with me, I am so grateful that you are a part of my biography, often without even knowing each other's names. At this time in my life I am blessed to have a loving partner & two stepsons; I am offered love in a manner I had no idea existed. And lastly, to all of the beautiful and brave humans that dance with me each and every week, thank you, you give meaning & joy to my work.
My work has been shaped by so many teachers, namely: Banafsheh Sayyad, Gabrielle Roth, Kathy Altman, Lori Saltzman, Jonathan Horan, Bettina Rothe and Joanne Winstanley.
I am constantly inspired by the offerings of Clarissa Pinkola Estés, John O'Donohue, Joy Harjo, Julia Alvarez, Alice Walker, Rumi, V formerly Eve Ensler, Toni Morrison, Jaiya John and Kae Tempest.
Above all I am both held and inspired by the Moon, the Sea, the Trees, the Sky and Mama Earth.
I live and work on the unceded Hul’qumi’num Coast Salish Traditional Territory.
I would not be here without the guiding hand of so many teachers:
First I would like to thank my Mom, who dances with me each week, and my step father for brewing me in a very powerful cup of music. Their album collection and selection of music has impacted me in a way that, I believe, allows me to be with and play music for a large variety of human beings. Through out my childhood I had many solid friendships, these unions taught me trust. The mountains of my youth taught me that I am a part of the bigger picture, rather than the star of the show, they continue to teach me humility. I will forever be grateful to the thousands of dance partners that asked me to dance durning my years living in the Dominican Republic, those dances gave me the permission to embrace & surrender to my deep desire to dance. My three children have been my greatest teachers, offering the many ongoing lessons of unconditional love. The conscious dance world offers me countless teachers each time I step onto the dance floor. All of those souls that witnessed and moved with me, I am so grateful that you are a part of my biography, often without even knowing each other's names. At this time in my life I am blessed to have a loving partner & two stepsons; I am offered love in a manner I had no idea existed. And lastly, to all of the beautiful and brave humans that dance with me each and every week, thank you, you give meaning & joy to my work.
My work has been shaped by so many teachers, namely: Banafsheh Sayyad, Gabrielle Roth, Kathy Altman, Lori Saltzman, Jonathan Horan, Bettina Rothe and Joanne Winstanley.
I am constantly inspired by the offerings of Clarissa Pinkola Estés, John O'Donohue, Joy Harjo, Julia Alvarez, Alice Walker, Rumi, V formerly Eve Ensler, Toni Morrison, Jaiya John and Kae Tempest.
Above all I am both held and inspired by the Moon, the Sea, the Trees, the Sky and Mama Earth.
Dancing with and playing music for people, is my total joy: children, teens, mixed abilities, elder care residents, violence survivors, the marginalized and everyone in between. I hope to meet you one day and dance together, thank you for visiting my website.
~Shauna
~Shauna