Dancing in a group improvisation setting can evoke a wonderful feeling of connection and belonging, especially as we build familiarity with our fellow dancers. It's that exhilarating sensation that replaces the initial nerves, allowing us to let go, feel supported, and embrace the flow of movement.

Humility is a quality that holds the key to fostering stronger, more positive connections within our communities. It just happens tobe the next code in our Community Code series.

In FCBD®Style, we can more clearly experience this in the arm movements of our slow vocabulary.  Often I see rushed arm sweeps/circles or “posing” in slow turns rather than moving fluidly through them.

What if we took the clock concept and added it to our dance movements?

Don't take things personally. There are too many unique individuals in this group to avoidminor misunderstandings. Let things slide off your ego - don't let them stick.

As the teacher, YOU are responsible for influencing the energy of the room. You must control it, feed it and guide it in the direction you want based on the experience you want your students to have.

Aligning our goals in life with our energy will help ensure you live a life that supports the person you want to be and the things you wish to achieve.

Researchers call this the Fresh Start Effect: people are better at tackling their goals when they start on so-called temporal landmarks.

This includes the start of a new week, a new month, a new year, etc.

When I simplify, I’m able create space to let thoughts and ideas come in, to let the universe steer me in the right direction by following my intuition rather than forcing myself to do or add things for the sake of accomplishment.

I thought it would be fun to look at various solo elements that will help us move past the fear and create a fabulous solo that will make you proud and leave your audience in awe.

In August, tired from our long teaching trip in Europe, I decided I’d give myself just a couple more weeks to recover and by then, surely, I’d be flooded with inspiration and could get back to my “old self”.

And yet…the motivation and inspiration never came. I starting to get a little worried and depressed.

For most of my life when I heard the word tension, I automatically thought of mental or emotional strain. I associated tension with something bad, something I didn’t want and actively sought to get rid of. Heck there’s a billion dollar industry on helping people get rid of tension and stress.

Back in my corporate world, we did a lot of team building activities. Some of them were super cheesy and some of them were surprisingly effective, like the time we broke into teams and built bikes for children at Christmas.

While there are certainly plenty of “team building” exercises for troupes, how do we break the ice or connect dancers together in a level one or two class? Especially at a time when many of us are just getting used to being social in groups of people.

Research shows there are four categories for team building:

How do you manage and plan classes for students that haven’t danced together in two years?

Of course, there are several approaches to this, but my immediate thought is to first focus on retraining your nervous system to relax around others and then do some fun exercises to reconnect with your dance mates.

Last week I discussed The Language of Connection and how movement technique in FCBD® Style is like a language that allows us to more confidently communicate with each other.

This reminded me of a question I was asked a few months back about personal stylization within FCBD® Style.

"How do you feel about personal stylization?"

This week you may have noticed that we changed our Facebook cover photo to include the phrase “Uniting the World Through Dance”. While there are many ways we can interpret this (dancing together, costumes, music, etc.) today I wanted to explore it through one of my favorite topics…technique.

How does technique unite us globally?

We are seriously missing the mark on the length of commitment it takes to achieve most things in life...

My wish for all of us is the feeling of peace that comes when we can finally breath out...

Don't let other people tell you who you are.

I am here to keep becoming truer, more beautiful versions of myself again and again forever...