What is Open Floor?
1. Movement heals.
2. Not everything can be healed by dance alone.
The best medicine is often an untamed, sweaty dance. Sometimes it’s a good cry. Other times we need the support of a therapist or body-worker, a courageous conversation or silent contemplation.
Open Floor teachers are artfully trained to get people to move (activate), settle (deactivate), then pause as they witness themselves and others. They support people to embody all the thoughts and feelings that inevitably arise when we dance, and know when to suggest further support.
3. Move and include
When our body moves, everything moves. A gesture brings on a flood of feelings. A surge of emotion creates sensation. Thoughts of loved ones stir us up. Our minds may keep us tight and frozen, or help us make sense of what just happened in the dance. Anything we try to push away can become our limitation.
On the Open Floor we move and include the juicy moments of joyful release, as well as the challenging ones: pain in the body, shyness, self-limiting beliefs, a sense of isolation.
This is how we learn to be true, fluid and whole.
4. Everything is a remix & everyone is unique
Movement is an infinitely creative process, and dancers are among the world’s greatest natural remixers. All creativity requires influence. Invention springs from a meeting of inspiration (teachers, artists, cultural trends, discoveries) and our own unique imagination. Even the most radical artists and philosophers stand on the shoulders of those who have come before them. In turn they become the ground for those who come after.
5. Open Floor is open source
We are devoted to education, training, and making movement as accessible as possible. Therefore, our work is registered on the Creative Commons, which both protects the integrity of the work while making it available for creative remixing. Students are encouraged to integrate what they’ve learned from us, and respectfully add it to their own talents.
6. Everybody matters
Our business model, Dynamic Governance (DG), reflects the same values of inclusion we teach on the dance floor. DG fosters equality, radical honesty, and participation of member teachers.
7. Moving forever.
In our decades of wild times on the dance floor we have seen countless injuries. We’ve watched long-term dancers drift away from their dance practice as injuries mount and bodies age.
On the Open Floor we prepare and protect our bodies, and learn how to prevent injuries and dance with abandon at any age. Any movement of any size can be the seed of something beautiful.
