Dance camp, July 2020.
From 19 to 25 July 2020, forty-eight dancers arrived at the Borek Active Leisure Centre, ready to share a week-long dance camp. They trusted me once again, although some were joining us for the first time. I have been creating my own camps since 2010, and each remains a unique experience as I wonder what will happen this time. Another generation of dancers is now taking part. Those who started with me have already ended their competitive careers, started families, become coaches or opened businesses. I stay in touch with most of them and remain present in their lives, whatever path they have chosen. We have shared many unforgettable moments, some of them at these very camps.
A theme that emerged spontaneously
This summer’s camp was called “Awareness Connection”. Each camp I organise has a theme around which our thoughts revolve throughout the week. It comes to me spontaneously, usually about two weeks before the camp when I begin making the plan. I sit down, listen to my heart and wait for what comes. I love that moment and the anticipation of what I will eventually put on paper. This year, I thought I had no creative inspiration as I wrote “Awareness Connection”. How wrong I was!
I realised it only after the camp, when I saw how deeply the theme had touched the dancers’ hearts, minds and bodies. I think the COVID-19 pandemic played a major role. The world stopped, and so did we. Time and space opened up to notice what was happening within us and around us. I decided to organise the July camp in mid-May, once we knew summer camps could take place. The encouragement came from my dancers: after two months at home, they missed other dancers, training in the studio and interaction with other couples.
What awareness means
The word “awareness” drew me in and turned out to be an inexhaustible subject. Preparing the classes, I decided not to complicate the concept and to see what would emerge. It had a powerful effect on the group. I think this was partly because the timing of the next dance competition remained uncertain. Without the pressure of competing, the dancers gave themselves time and space to look at themselves and the world.
Becoming aware can be difficult. The process at camp was different for everyone, just as awareness is an intimate, individual experience of reality.
The Latin equivalent, conscientia, combines con (“together”) and scire (“to know”).
We might see awareness as knowledge that each person shares with themselves. Science has yet to establish a single definition of consciousness and describes it from many perspectives, while the experience remains subjective. Broadly speaking, awareness is a state in which a person recognises what is happening within and around them. Characteristics include distinguishing “self” from “others”, feeling, analysing and making choices. Yet the word can encompass many meanings, concepts and ideas.
In dance, the body and its movement are the means of expression. Awareness gives movement its value and meaning, allowing it to become purposeful and expressive.
Practising attentiveness
At the start of camp, my dancers received a notebook and a pen. Throughout the week, they were to record everything they observed and experienced within themselves and around them. In Buddhist traditions, consciousness is sometimes described as the space in which experiences arise; this was my inspiration. The dancers wrote not only information from classes, but also their thoughts, feelings and reactions. At the end of camp, they drew on their notebooks to share their reflections on awareness. Some gave speeches, others created theatrical sketches or dance shows.
The body and movement
Each teacher approached the theme in their own way. My aim was to encourage a conscious connection with the body, understood as a meeting of physical and spiritual dimensions. The physical body is the soul’s garment. I wanted dancers to connect more deeply with what they felt and experienced within, both physically and spiritually. I directed their attention to spinal movement and to areas of the body important for continuity of movement. Through different exercises, we sought to consciously engage the spine from the tailbone to the skull. This work can support suppleness and a freer flow of movement through the body. I used “an open spine” to describe a sense of greater space within the body. Freer spinal movement also helps fill a musical beat more fully. For me, dance is above all movement that fills the beats, movement between one position and the next. Becoming aware of how that movement travels through the body, from the feet to the crown of the head, with particular attention to the pelvis and chest, was the essence of my work at this camp.
Questions, intuition and nature
In artistic expression classes, dancers explored the mental dimension. They sought answers to “Who am I?”, alongside “Who am I speaking to?” and “Why?”.
In improvisation, they followed intuition and movement arising from the heart rather than the intellect. They discovered their unique ways of moving and of feeling their bodies in space and among others.
I believe that to understand the world, we must first be able to locate ourselves within it. To deepen the dancers’ sensitivity and connection, not only with themselves but with their surroundings, morning classes took place outdoors. The centre is far from the bustle of civilisation and close to nature. Classes focused mainly on breath work, helping us return to the present moment, and on walking barefoot. The dancers became familiar with what was beneath their feet and within sight, paying attention to the smells, textures and shapes around them.
I understand awareness as recognising that we exist and experiencing ourselves and life. It is shaped by all our experiences. It is intimate knowledge, available above all to the person experiencing it.
What stayed with us?
What did the camp ultimately give us?
Every participant has their own answer. Even the person who said at the end that they were not aware showed a slowly awakening awareness.
For my part, I became even more aware of how the world affects me, with a strong emphasis on how I affect the world around me.
Although becoming aware can be painful, I encourage us to keep expanding our awareness, deepening sensitivity and awakening empathy. Developing awareness helps us recognise the soul’s desires and support them wisely.
I wonder what the next camp’s theme will be…