Studio Blog

In Motion

In the Studio

Dancing comes naturally to many CE artists. Around 1:30pm every Friday, to celebrate a week spent furiously creating, the artists put down the brushes and pencils, and express themselves through movement. The lucky members of the browsing public who happen to wander in around this time often get swept into the moving, joyful vortex and leave even happier than they were when they came in. And no matter how many times you’ve witnessed it as a staff member, it always stretches a smile across your weekend.

Teaching Artist Mara Poliak counts dance as one of the forms in her multi-disciplinary art practice and has sought to harness the natural physical creativity of our artists into a weekly dance class. Using ideas and methods from her earlier training, Poliak starts each class with the Brain Dance: a series of movements designed to link the body with the mind and promote a sense of spatial awareness. Next comes a dance version of the classic “Call & Response” technique, where one member demonstrates a move to the group who, in turn, perform their version of it around the circle. Poliak has noticed a distinct improvement among her dancers; many have come to trust their movement, no matter its limitations, and perform with honesty and sincerity. After the teaching portion of the class, the music is turned up and everyone dances with abandon before the final meditative circle is made with held hands and closed eyes.

# Posted by CE on November 4, 2009