Mantras for Our Dance Practice

We recently invited a friend/photographer to one of our rehearsals in hopes that we could get a few more photos to use on the website, on social media, or maybe even for merch (stickers, anyone?). We got the images back last week (thank you, Alec!) and the overall impression from everyone seemed to be, "wow, we look like we are having such a good time!" And it's true; most of the photos show us mid-laugh, or gazing at each other with expressions of gratitude. Seeing these photos made me realize that the way that I feel in rehearsal with Maria, Madi, Gabrielle, and Claire ⎯ grounded, focused, curious, joyful ⎯ is much more obvious than I had previously thought. Not only that, but we all seem to feel the same way. What a gift it has been to be given visual evidence of the joy we share together.

Anyway, back to the photos. I've been trying to figure out what to do with them. Put them on the website? Post them on Instagram at random? Save them for some unknown future purpose? I'm very much a "burn the good candles" type of person, so I started fiddling around in Canva. Within a couple of hours I had made these little card designs, half photo and half text, and I sent them in our group text. The consensus was that they were cool, even if we weren't sure what to do with them. I took a couple more passes at it, and here is the result. We definitely plan to do more (keep an eye out for stickers and other merch in the future!), but it's a start.

And the best part? These little cards can also function as reminders, words of advice, or guiding mantras that keep us connected to our dance philosophy. We apply them in rehearsal regularly, but the possibilities are endless. Maybe they will even inspire you to try something new?

Keep dancing!

Photos by Alec Jokubaitis

Space: The Movement Project