Guest post by David Cohen
Tried and Tested Dance
What happens when you take a tried and trusted dance class and throw it open to a different type of venue and a different demographic of punters? Well, I'll tell you…
On a Monday evening in September Julia, along with 5 other Flomotion regulars there for welcome support, beamed themselves into to a community church space in Waterloo, south London. They put on a class for The Mental Fight Club, a registered charity that delivers public programme events combine arts and mental health.
The Space
St. John’s church has been transformed into an open and bright community space – lots of white and lots of light! The dance section was described in the programme as ‘An Ecstatic and Open Floor Dance Session led by Flomotion Dance’, and was part of different offerings include a drawing workshop, standing stretching, and a gong bath – quite a mix!
What’s Going’ On?
After a few sound checks sorting out the usual gremlins, along with a re-shuffling of chairs to form a large circle, things got underway. My thoughts at this point were ‘is was this going to the regular Flomotion programme, or is Julia going to tweak some elements?’
After a little bit of standing in a large circle, very much a default with newbies, everyone then quickly settled into ‘doin’ their own thing”. Clearly, dancing with other people was a bit of a stretch for some. But that’s OK, because Julia often tells us there are no right or wrong moves, and there's no value in trying to make too much sense of it all. Actually, this was the same thing I told someone just before the session started! Some were dancing in their seats, others doing various body contortions either standing or on the floor. It was a gift just to observe what was ‘going on’!
Half-way through, I thought ‘surely Julia’s not going to get them to do the group dance’. But she did and they were totally into it. Definitely a case of ‘surrender and trust the process’.
Dancing and Mental Health - Transferable Dance
Exactly what you'd hope for, which is everyone embracing the moment, doing their own thing and joining in with the communal moves. It all worked really well, and shows that Flomotion is transferable across a wide spectrum of audiences and venues.
Flomotion outreach, as it could be called, has a lot more punters waiting in the wings, to see and feel just what movement can bring to them. Remember dancing and mental health go hand-in-hand.
· Find out more about the Mental Fight Club.
Flomotion dance is held regularly in Archway, north London.
Email julia@flomotion.dance for more information.
© David Cohen September 2024
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