Peony Somatic Dance: Breath Based Movement Play
to Cultivate Strength, Delicacy, and Joy

Dance is Not What You Think It Is

So let’s call it something else just to get around that word that, for many, has too much baggage, and for most, evokes wrong things, like perfection and certain kinds of bodies and all that cultural crap.

Let’s call it movement PLAY and let’s just deal with the basic FACT that you are built to move in playful, creative, expressive ways. Period. No lies. Even if you’ve been told or believe you “can’t dance,” screw that. You’re a mover just by virtue of having a body and breathing.

It’s in your genes… for real.

Cultural anthropology strongly suggests that dance first emerged as a way for groups of humans to move together so that they looked larger to threats… scary animals, other humans, whatever was out there in the dark.

But think about that… humans moving together so they looked larger to whatever was threatening them.

Think about the power of that and you’ll realize, right?… dance is NOT meant just for “pretty.”

Movement is power.

(And before we go on, let me remind you that I have taught people over the age of 80, post stroke, in wheelchairs, with “limited” movement who have created some of the most meaningful dance I’ve ever witnessed.)

Every. Single. Body. is meant to move in this creative and expressive way.

Every. Single. One.

See that parenthetical about me teaching people over 80…

When we limit dance to certain bodies, certain forms, certain ages, certain spaces, we are not just doing ourselves a disservice, but we’re missing out on one of the most powerful and simple ways to become more fully ourselves, to deal with and process the difficult and challenging aspects of life, and to create deeper, more profound connections to other humans.

This practice is for all of that (and more).

So what the heck is Peony Somatic Dance?

(Note: this practice is named Peony after my sweet cat who saved my life many nights when I would otherwise have succumbed to despair. She died too young, and so to always remember her, I have come to the final name of this practice that I’ve created.)

First, it’s ever evolving because *I* and *we* are ever evolving. I’m always learning, always playing and experimenting, and always adding in more flavors.

But on a basic level…

Peony Somatic Dance is a breath and imagery based practice unlike any of the ecstatic or "conscious" dance stuff that's out there. It will take you deeply into your uniquely creative way of moving and deeply into your life, but it will also allow you to explore and expand your internal landscape, making space for all that has happened to you and all that is to come. One of our primary goals is emotional flexibility, the ability to deal with whatever is happening and to still maintain a connection to your essential joy.

I've been dancing pretty much since I could walk, and dance, being my main joy in life, was the first thing my serious depression ate up in my late-20s. Only close to my 40th birthday did I return, quite spontaneously and unintentionally, to dance. (That's a whole story in and of itself.)

Soon after, I went to my first training and then another and then another and then another... Until I'd gone to about nine really serious trainings in just a few years. I focused on the use of movement and expressive arts in relation to deeply embedded trauma and grief.

Because I love to study and because I love to build bridges between subjects, Peony Somatic Dance is a synthesis of everything I've ever looked at and experimented with in terms of movement or body based psychotherapies. It all gets put into the compost heap of my mind-body and eventually it blooms into new forms.

(In particular, I need to note, Peony Somatic Dance is influenced by the underlying philosophy of Japanese Butoh and its emphasis on body honesty.)

What does a class look like?! The Short Answer

Class always starts on the floor, exploring circular and spiral movements, especially in the spine. This is the most that the class is led in any traditional sense of that word.

And because we always start the same, it becomes a familiar ritual that drops you immediately into your body and into the now. You’ll find yourself very quickly being comforted by this.

For most people, the class is done either with closed eyes or downcast eyes so that they can focus on themselves and not be distracted. This is not a dance class with mirrors where people are staring at you and you’re being judged and corrected. (If I haven’t already made that clear.)

From that beginning, we make our way through explorations of joints, muscles, and segments of the body. No matter how long you take these classes, we’re always looking to learn something new about ourselves and these bodies. We try to approach our movement art practice each week as if we've never done it before.

Finally we start playing with the poetry of the body… FEELING our way into moving, followed by either some partner or group work to reground in community.

And as I have said a thousand times: In this class you get gold stars for FALLING or LOOKING RIDICULOUS or MAKING YOURSELF LAUGH OUT LOUD. Because that’s where the beauty and the meaning is to be found — in something new that startles you or pushes you past an edge.

What does a class look like?! A Longer Answer if You’re, like, a Detail Person

We first work to thoroughly warm up and explore the body, bit by bit. This is when we focus on the anatomy of being in this human form. We focus on taking care and yet expanding mobility and ability. We do this, in particular, through an entire range of circular and spiral movements.

From there, we do a section I call “Fascination.” I ask you to be fascinated by certain sections of the body and to allow those sections to be your main focus in movement. We might add a breath pattern in here.

Then we work with an abstract concept. This is the part of the class that can feel like poetry or just silliness depending on the day. But I use language and prompts intentionally to try to get your damn brain out of the way. If you know anything about Zen Koans, that’s my influence here. This is when we really learn new things about ourselves.

Toward the end of class, we focus on community, working as a unit or in pairs or both. We grow community roots and learn to see and witness and support one another.

All along, we're building physical strength and a capacity for dealing with whatever is thrown at us, which, of course, translates to emotional and mental strength and resiliency in our daily lives.

We also practice breath based prompts to work on deep listening. The stories in our bodies have, for most of us, been ignored for far too long, and body has a ton to say that we need to hear in order to be our best selves.

You can think all you want and try to process all you want, but your healing will come when you can drop into your physical self and feel all the feelings, not just those that make us feel "good." We can no longer afford to compartmentalize our intellect separate from our heart nor either from our body. And we can no longer compartmentalize ourselves from our communities.

We heal through relationship, and through movement play, we explore intimate relationship in a safe way that builds connection to self and other.