Move & Groove Stretch: Stretching and Dancing for Body Awareness and Freestyle

Class Description: 

This 4-week course, “Indigenous Movements”, will explore stretching and dance through the lens of traditional diasporic dance, focusing on hip mobility and polyrhythmic patterns. The classes aim to enhance body awareness, flexibility, and the ability to freestyle dance by integrating cultural dance techniques with modern wellness practices.

Class Format: Each class begins with a cultural context introduction or story. Followed by stretching, dance technique learning, polyrhythmic exercises, and concluding with a freestyle session.

This course is designed not only to enhance physical abilities in dance and stretching but also to foster a deeper respect and understanding of diasporic dance forms, encouraging participants to appreciate and perhaps further explore these rich cultural practices.

MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR:

Born Samantha Lewis in 1983. She began training as a professional dancer at the age of 30 after years of being a visual artist. She began her dance career as a bgirl for three years (Baile Fuzion), progressed to house dance for four years (Baile Fuzion), and found a home in West African movement (Ubuntu) which inexorably led her to Afro beats (TACA) and Afro Cuban (Mamboroom).

She is a self taught artist. She have inherited artistic skill from both of my parents as did my other siblings. Samantha has degree in the arts and have taught paint parties as well as sold art for the last 7 yrs. She has studied art in some form or another for the last 32 yrs.