,

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

,

Three days ago, in Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia we hiked out to the salt, and did this....

Rainbow face and couture mylar samurai moo-moo by Flow Movement ; )

Photo by Pole Ninja Photography.

Featured
#SessionsEverywhere
#SessionsEverywhere

I’ve learned a lot of things during my years on the road—and many of them stem from adaptability. Often, I need to have a little self-talk about accepting and embracing my circumstances. I know that if I’m caught up on my lack of "comforts," I’ll miss out on the details of the life around me.  This practice of acceptance also leads to creativity.

Romania
Romania

POLE NINJA PHOTOGRAPHY put together an incredible multimedia recap of our adventures in Romania.

Israel/Jordan
Israel/Jordan

My most recent tour included a few spots I’ve dreamed of for a long time. One of the most memorable was the Dead Sea. It truly exceeded my expectations.  I'd heard things like, “It doesn’t look like much," so I was expecting a big muddy lake/sea that you float really well in.

But WHOA. The colors of the place were divine. The air was perfect. Not only did I float, I felt like a baby seal --I ’ve never been so slimy, in a good way. For days after, my skin felt like I was 4 years old.

Plus, there was no one else there. We first went in Israel and said, “We have to go back.” So we did, in Jordan. And this time, I was prepared for a shoot.

The Catacombs in Paris
The Catacombs in Paris

I’ve been to the Catacombs of Paris museum twice. When it comes to cities, my favorite type of tourism is dark tourism. I like to see where the dreadful went down. And visiting a place that housed 7 million diseased bodies is pretty surreal. On the tour you learn that in fact these tunnels run all throughout Paris. Where there are buildings, there are underground reinforcements to prevent collapses. They don’t tell you about the illegal underground parties, war bunkers, breweries, movie rooms and communities. But they exist…

INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA
INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA

If I could gather everyone I know, and share one place with them, it would be the City Museum, St Louis, MO. I would take you there because it's a model for how art, play, learning, and challenge can convene in a single place. This place shows how the comforts and conveniences of our structures and systems have ruined our fitness and creativity. There are interactive exhibits of 50s nostalgia, a big ol' bug collection, a massive cave network, a tree climbing/crawling network, huge multi-story slides, urban archeology zones, epic contemporary sculptures, rooms that are self-playing instruments, human hamster tunnels and so much more. There is a circus school INSIDE where the kids get the chance to perform several times a day. At City Museum, the artists have run wild with what seems like little concern for 'safety' (I'm not talking about legitimate dangers, but the type of fear that conditions parents, leaders, and law enforcement to tell us not to climb, explore, and challenge convention). In no other museum have I laughed, sweated, cried, and used every possible primal pattern just to get around.

I want airports with open spaces and monkey bars, floor seating options in all restaurants and places like the city museum all over the world.

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

A few days ago we drove from Austria to Slovenia. We passed a beautiful lake and decided to take a photo. I didn't have the right outfit so I settled for a piece of red silk. I carefully walked into icy the water and waited to get the shot set-up. This is when I learned that silk floats and is water repellant (at least this silk is...). The result looks like I'm sitting on glass.

City Museum, St. Louis, MO
City Museum, St. Louis, MO

The best museum in the world hosts countless physical challenges. From climbing to crawling, and sliding to balance challenges, the City Museum, St Louis, MO is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Really. It is an interactive art exhibit/fantasy world with 50's memorabilia and insect collections. It's housed in a giant repurposed old building that forces you to explore numerous primal movement patterns just to get around. IT IS THE BEST.

Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado

For only a few days a year the trees in mountainous Colorado turn yellow. For a few minutes, I too turned yellow.

Milos and Santorini, Greece
Milos and Santorini, Greece

Thank you, Pole Ninja Photography and Cherry Li Photography for these photos.  :  )

If you're interested in booking a photo shoot with Pole Ninja Photography or for commercial shoot inquiries, you can contact him via MRBRPR.

Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!
Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!

It's Day 1 of the FIRST ever Floor Flow Teacher Training and I'm like....

AHHHH!!!!! weeeee!!!! wwoooohoooo!!!!

Atacama Desert, Chile - Part II

We were on our way back to the car because the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping --then we saw this incredible scene. We stopped in our tracks and I quickly dropped my pants (It's a talent -- I see something awesome and my clothes are changed in seconds.). The sun was still giving the rainbow mountain a slight glow, which meant we had about three minutes to make something happen.

Layers of minerals give the mountain its distinct colors. Shot in the Valle del Arco Iris.

Photos by Pole Ninja Photography.

Featured
#SessionsEverywhere
#SessionsEverywhere

I’ve learned a lot of things during my years on the road—and many of them stem from adaptability. Often, I need to have a little self-talk about accepting and embracing my circumstances. I know that if I’m caught up on my lack of "comforts," I’ll miss out on the details of the life around me.  This practice of acceptance also leads to creativity.

Romania
Romania

POLE NINJA PHOTOGRAPHY put together an incredible multimedia recap of our adventures in Romania.

Israel/Jordan
Israel/Jordan

My most recent tour included a few spots I’ve dreamed of for a long time. One of the most memorable was the Dead Sea. It truly exceeded my expectations.  I'd heard things like, “It doesn’t look like much," so I was expecting a big muddy lake/sea that you float really well in.

But WHOA. The colors of the place were divine. The air was perfect. Not only did I float, I felt like a baby seal --I ’ve never been so slimy, in a good way. For days after, my skin felt like I was 4 years old.

Plus, there was no one else there. We first went in Israel and said, “We have to go back.” So we did, in Jordan. And this time, I was prepared for a shoot.

The Catacombs in Paris
The Catacombs in Paris

I’ve been to the Catacombs of Paris museum twice. When it comes to cities, my favorite type of tourism is dark tourism. I like to see where the dreadful went down. And visiting a place that housed 7 million diseased bodies is pretty surreal. On the tour you learn that in fact these tunnels run all throughout Paris. Where there are buildings, there are underground reinforcements to prevent collapses. They don’t tell you about the illegal underground parties, war bunkers, breweries, movie rooms and communities. But they exist…

INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA
INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA

If I could gather everyone I know, and share one place with them, it would be the City Museum, St Louis, MO. I would take you there because it's a model for how art, play, learning, and challenge can convene in a single place. This place shows how the comforts and conveniences of our structures and systems have ruined our fitness and creativity. There are interactive exhibits of 50s nostalgia, a big ol' bug collection, a massive cave network, a tree climbing/crawling network, huge multi-story slides, urban archeology zones, epic contemporary sculptures, rooms that are self-playing instruments, human hamster tunnels and so much more. There is a circus school INSIDE where the kids get the chance to perform several times a day. At City Museum, the artists have run wild with what seems like little concern for 'safety' (I'm not talking about legitimate dangers, but the type of fear that conditions parents, leaders, and law enforcement to tell us not to climb, explore, and challenge convention). In no other museum have I laughed, sweated, cried, and used every possible primal pattern just to get around.

I want airports with open spaces and monkey bars, floor seating options in all restaurants and places like the city museum all over the world.

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

A few days ago we drove from Austria to Slovenia. We passed a beautiful lake and decided to take a photo. I didn't have the right outfit so I settled for a piece of red silk. I carefully walked into icy the water and waited to get the shot set-up. This is when I learned that silk floats and is water repellant (at least this silk is...). The result looks like I'm sitting on glass.

City Museum, St. Louis, MO
City Museum, St. Louis, MO

The best museum in the world hosts countless physical challenges. From climbing to crawling, and sliding to balance challenges, the City Museum, St Louis, MO is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Really. It is an interactive art exhibit/fantasy world with 50's memorabilia and insect collections. It's housed in a giant repurposed old building that forces you to explore numerous primal movement patterns just to get around. IT IS THE BEST.

Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado

For only a few days a year the trees in mountainous Colorado turn yellow. For a few minutes, I too turned yellow.

Milos and Santorini, Greece
Milos and Santorini, Greece

Thank you, Pole Ninja Photography and Cherry Li Photography for these photos.  :  )

If you're interested in booking a photo shoot with Pole Ninja Photography or for commercial shoot inquiries, you can contact him via MRBRPR.

Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!
Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!

It's Day 1 of the FIRST ever Floor Flow Teacher Training and I'm like....

AHHHH!!!!! weeeee!!!! wwoooohoooo!!!!

Atacama Desert

The Atacama desert is one of the most stunning places on earth. In two days we saw pastel ombre mineral mountains, glittering rock face, dancing flamingos, salt-flats with neon blue water, active volcanoes, llamas with neon pink fertility adornments, velvety chocolate covered hills, golden fields of desert grass, roaming peacocks, donkeys and more. Here I am, in a crevasse in the Valle de Arcoiris. Thank you to our guide, Hegel for helping out, and big shout out to nature for making such epic places.
Photo magic by Kenneth Kao. How do you do it?

Featured
Romania
Romania

POLE NINJA PHOTOGRAPHY put together an incredible multimedia recap of our adventures in Romania.

Israel/Jordan
Israel/Jordan

My most recent tour included a few spots I’ve dreamed of for a long time. One of the most memorable was the Dead Sea. It truly exceeded my expectations.  I'd heard things like, “It doesn’t look like much," so I was expecting a big muddy lake/sea that you float really well in.

But WHOA. The colors of the place were divine. The air was perfect. Not only did I float, I felt like a baby seal --I ’ve never been so slimy, in a good way. For days after, my skin felt like I was 4 years old.

Plus, there was no one else there. We first went in Israel and said, “We have to go back.” So we did, in Jordan. And this time, I was prepared for a shoot.

I'm Retired...Kind Of
I'm Retired...Kind Of

Tour Retirement

I haven’t told many people this….but, I’m on my last pole tour right now. Since 2011, I’ve spent between 5-10 months a year traveling the world teaching and judging, and it’s coming to an end.

I’ve taught now in 42 countries (and visited plenty more). This still blows my mind. Because videos of me dancing have been seen around the world, I was asked to go to these places. I am absolutely humbled. People all over the world welcomed and took care of me. For the rest of my life, I will retain that following the thought “I should get a pole” was one of the best little decisions I ever made.

The Catacombs in Paris
The Catacombs in Paris

I’ve been to the Catacombs of Paris museum twice. When it comes to cities, my favorite type of tourism is dark tourism. I like to see where the dreadful went down. And visiting a place that housed 7 million diseased bodies is pretty surreal. On the tour you learn that in fact these tunnels run all throughout Paris. Where there are buildings, there are underground reinforcements to prevent collapses. They don’t tell you about the illegal underground parties, war bunkers, breweries, movie rooms and communities. But they exist…

INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA
INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA

If I could gather everyone I know, and share one place with them, it would be the City Museum, St Louis, MO. I would take you there because it's a model for how art, play, learning, and challenge can convene in a single place. This place shows how the comforts and conveniences of our structures and systems have ruined our fitness and creativity. There are interactive exhibits of 50s nostalgia, a big ol' bug collection, a massive cave network, a tree climbing/crawling network, huge multi-story slides, urban archeology zones, epic contemporary sculptures, rooms that are self-playing instruments, human hamster tunnels and so much more. There is a circus school INSIDE where the kids get the chance to perform several times a day. At City Museum, the artists have run wild with what seems like little concern for 'safety' (I'm not talking about legitimate dangers, but the type of fear that conditions parents, leaders, and law enforcement to tell us not to climb, explore, and challenge convention). In no other museum have I laughed, sweated, cried, and used every possible primal pattern just to get around.

I want airports with open spaces and monkey bars, floor seating options in all restaurants and places like the city museum all over the world.

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

A few days ago we drove from Austria to Slovenia. We passed a beautiful lake and decided to take a photo. I didn't have the right outfit so I settled for a piece of red silk. I carefully walked into icy the water and waited to get the shot set-up. This is when I learned that silk floats and is water repellant (at least this silk is...). The result looks like I'm sitting on glass.

City Museum, St. Louis, MO
City Museum, St. Louis, MO

The best museum in the world hosts countless physical challenges. From climbing to crawling, and sliding to balance challenges, the City Museum, St Louis, MO is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Really. It is an interactive art exhibit/fantasy world with 50's memorabilia and insect collections. It's housed in a giant repurposed old building that forces you to explore numerous primal movement patterns just to get around. IT IS THE BEST.

Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado

For only a few days a year the trees in mountainous Colorado turn yellow. For a few minutes, I too turned yellow.

Milos and Santorini, Greece
Milos and Santorini, Greece

Thank you, Pole Ninja Photography and Cherry Li Photography for these photos.  :  )

If you're interested in booking a photo shoot with Pole Ninja Photography or for commercial shoot inquiries, you can contact him via MRBRPR.

Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!
Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!

It's Day 1 of the FIRST ever Floor Flow Teacher Training and I'm like....

AHHHH!!!!! weeeee!!!! wwoooohoooo!!!!

, , ,

Wake Up Your Back in Under Three Minutes

, , ,

In this excerpt from a rooftop movement session, Marlo leads a quick sequence to wake up your back musculature. Try these moves to enliven your posture and prepare for deeper stretching.  If you have more that three minutes, great! Extend this sequence by performing more repetitions of each exercise -- try each movement for 30 seconds to one minute for even more Flowbility benefits.

In this excerpt from a rooftop movement session, Marlo leads a quick sequence to wake up your back musculature. Try these moves to enliven your posture and prepare for deeper stretching. If you have more that three minutes, great!

Featured
Catch This!
Catch This!

“I don’t do balls,” I used to say.

Like many other dancers I knew growing up, I formed an identity around being a dancer with no interest in activities involving balls, pucks, paddles, etc. (unless I was dancing with it).

In high school, I almost failed P.E. class because I flat-out refused to participate in any sports activity. As a result, in later years, whenever someone would throw me a ball I’d duck away rather than catch it, or if I did attempt a catch, it would be in a stiff and panicky state. It was embarrassing.

Ki’ilani (seen in the video) changed my relationship with catching. She loves balls more than anyone I’ve ever met. Every trip to a large store includes a visit to the sports aisle to feel balls. She even keeps a ball in her pocket for comfort tossing. One of our quarantine activities has been ‘dance catch.’

Learning Online
Learning Online

Have you ever bought any digital tutorials or courses? Or saved videos on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube?
Chances are you grabbed them because wanted to remember and LEARN the material.

But, did work through them?

How has it been integrating what you learned into your dancing/living/teaching?

Or, are the videos collecting digital dust...waiting for you to give them a chance?

If you have gathered materials, especially if you PAID for those materials, but haven’t given them the attention you intended, how about getting out your calendar RIGHT NOW and booking yourself some self-learning time?

Cross Knee Swivel & Supine Sticky Foot Twists
Cross Knee Swivel & Supine Sticky Foot Twists
The Return of the FM YouTube Channel!
The Return of the FM YouTube Channel!
Free Spinal Wave Upgrade!
Free Spinal Wave Upgrade!
Why Attention to Contact is for Everyone
Why Attention to Contact is for Everyone

If you look at any beginner movement class, you'll see widely-varying degrees of bodily awareness. However, regardless of how someone moves, with a little bit of cueing, anyone can feel if they are in contact with the floor or not.

You don’t need skill or imagination to sense your contact with the floor. You may not be paying attention to it most of the time, but it doesn't require anatomical awareness to grasp what 'weight-bearing' is or to notice which of your parts have the most pressure.

Weight bearing is a constant thing (unless you are temporarily airborne, space traveling, or swimming, you are bearing weight, somehow).

Yet, the details of rolling contacts are rarely zeroed in on outside of higher-level movement environments. But...they could be.

Three Books That are Currently Inspiring My Teaching
Three Books That are Currently Inspiring My Teaching

The first is called ‘Bodyfulness’ by Boulder author Christine Caldwell. It’s swelling with information for or anyone who’s ready to look at the how and why of how they move. The author founded the Somatic Counseling program at Naropa University and has been in practice for more than thirty years.

She says:

“The body isn’t a thing we have but an experience we are. Bodyfulness is about working toward our potential as a whole human animal that breathes as well as thinks, moves as well as sits still, takes action as well as considers, and exists not because it thinks but because it dances, stretches, bounces, gazes, focuses, and attunes to others.“

Less Choreography, More Dance
Less Choreography, More Dance

Have you been to a dance class that was supposed to be beginner-appropriate or all-levels, but the class progressed in a way that made you want to disappear?

Maybe you had fun the first few minutes when the sequence was short, but then the instructor moved on, and on, and on. With rapidly dwindling confidence, you were left stumbling in the wake of an ever-growing sequence. Perhaps physically you could have done it all, but you needed more time to really 'get it'. It was just too much to remember.

I've been there. In classes and in auditions, I've been there.

You can only stumble around, a count behind everyone else, for so long before you want to shrivel into the corner and become unseen.

When you’re new to a style or form (or even just with a new teacher), learning a lengthy complex piece of choreography (maybe alongside people much younger or more skilled than you) is daunting and often
disheartening. Based on what I've observed, the amount of choreography delivered in many dance classes leaves a LOT of people behind.

In my opinion, if you are still trying to remember the choreo during the last minutes of class, you're missing out on the joy of dancing, the part where the movement starts to carry you and you can transcend who you were when you arrived.

My message is this:

Pumpkin Flow Giveaway
Pumpkin Flow Giveaway

Pumpkin Flow Giveaway:

If you flow with a gourd of your choice between now and Nov 5, I’ll send you a code for $5 off any event or video. 

How:

  1. Get busy with you pumpkin and catch it on video.

  2. Post at least 15 seconds on FB or IG and tag #pumpkinflow and @flowmovement 

  3. Send us a message on either platform with the link to your video and we will send you your discount code. 

The Group Fitness Class Experience
The Group Fitness Class Experience

Yesterday, I witnessed a group movement experience that I was SO glad I was not a part of.

After a month away and a week of living the truck driver life, I got a month-long pass to a nearby gym. It’s primarily a rock-climbing gym, but they have a weight room upstairs.

This particular gym runs some group conditioning classes inside of the weight room. While I was gleefully doing irreverent things on the back extension bench, a voice came over the loudspeaker letting everyone know that “Body Blast with Mr. Blasty Blast” [ok, not his real name] was starting soon. I thought, “Oh nice, I’ll get to see if I would ever want to join the class.” Consensus:

OH NO, I WILL NOT FUCKING EVER. (Unless you pay me. I’d consider it if money were involved.)

,

March Playlist

,
Featured
December Playlists
December Playlists
Flowvember Playlists
Flowvember Playlists
October Playlists
October Playlists
August Playlists
August Playlists
July Playlists
July Playlists
May Playlists (includes bonus Matcha May Playlist!)
May Playlists (includes bonus Matcha May Playlist!)
April Playlists
April Playlists
March Playlists
March Playlists
February Playlists
February Playlists
January Playlists
January Playlists

Cabo Photo Experiments

This photo is insane and I love it. The other night in Cabo we did some experimenting...during a 15 second exposure inside the beautiful, party-lit Dollskingdom Pole studio, Millie Robson ran through holding LEDs, I ran in and jumped while Kenneth Kao ran in and flashed me (with his lights of course). Voila! Colorful, intergalactic, psychedelic overkill!

#TBT to a Tiny Island

Handstand on the tip of a sandbar off a tiny island off the tiny island of Panglao, Philippines.

Featured
#SessionsEverywhere
#SessionsEverywhere

I’ve learned a lot of things during my years on the road—and many of them stem from adaptability. Often, I need to have a little self-talk about accepting and embracing my circumstances. I know that if I’m caught up on my lack of "comforts," I’ll miss out on the details of the life around me.  This practice of acceptance also leads to creativity.

Romania
Romania

POLE NINJA PHOTOGRAPHY put together an incredible multimedia recap of our adventures in Romania.

Israel/Jordan
Israel/Jordan

My most recent tour included a few spots I’ve dreamed of for a long time. One of the most memorable was the Dead Sea. It truly exceeded my expectations.  I'd heard things like, “It doesn’t look like much," so I was expecting a big muddy lake/sea that you float really well in.

But WHOA. The colors of the place were divine. The air was perfect. Not only did I float, I felt like a baby seal --I ’ve never been so slimy, in a good way. For days after, my skin felt like I was 4 years old.

Plus, there was no one else there. We first went in Israel and said, “We have to go back.” So we did, in Jordan. And this time, I was prepared for a shoot.

The Catacombs in Paris
The Catacombs in Paris

I’ve been to the Catacombs of Paris museum twice. When it comes to cities, my favorite type of tourism is dark tourism. I like to see where the dreadful went down. And visiting a place that housed 7 million diseased bodies is pretty surreal. On the tour you learn that in fact these tunnels run all throughout Paris. Where there are buildings, there are underground reinforcements to prevent collapses. They don’t tell you about the illegal underground parties, war bunkers, breweries, movie rooms and communities. But they exist…

INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA
INSIDER Travel Feature on Visit to City Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA

If I could gather everyone I know, and share one place with them, it would be the City Museum, St Louis, MO. I would take you there because it's a model for how art, play, learning, and challenge can convene in a single place. This place shows how the comforts and conveniences of our structures and systems have ruined our fitness and creativity. There are interactive exhibits of 50s nostalgia, a big ol' bug collection, a massive cave network, a tree climbing/crawling network, huge multi-story slides, urban archeology zones, epic contemporary sculptures, rooms that are self-playing instruments, human hamster tunnels and so much more. There is a circus school INSIDE where the kids get the chance to perform several times a day. At City Museum, the artists have run wild with what seems like little concern for 'safety' (I'm not talking about legitimate dangers, but the type of fear that conditions parents, leaders, and law enforcement to tell us not to climb, explore, and challenge convention). In no other museum have I laughed, sweated, cried, and used every possible primal pattern just to get around.

I want airports with open spaces and monkey bars, floor seating options in all restaurants and places like the city museum all over the world.

Lake Bohinj, Slovenia
Lake Bohinj, Slovenia

A few days ago we drove from Austria to Slovenia. We passed a beautiful lake and decided to take a photo. I didn't have the right outfit so I settled for a piece of red silk. I carefully walked into icy the water and waited to get the shot set-up. This is when I learned that silk floats and is water repellant (at least this silk is...). The result looks like I'm sitting on glass.

City Museum, St. Louis, MO
City Museum, St. Louis, MO

The best museum in the world hosts countless physical challenges. From climbing to crawling, and sliding to balance challenges, the City Museum, St Louis, MO is one of my favorite places in the entire world. Really. It is an interactive art exhibit/fantasy world with 50's memorabilia and insect collections. It's housed in a giant repurposed old building that forces you to explore numerous primal movement patterns just to get around. IT IS THE BEST.

Vail, Colorado
Vail, Colorado

For only a few days a year the trees in mountainous Colorado turn yellow. For a few minutes, I too turned yellow.

Milos and Santorini, Greece
Milos and Santorini, Greece

Thank you, Pole Ninja Photography and Cherry Li Photography for these photos.  :  )

If you're interested in booking a photo shoot with Pole Ninja Photography or for commercial shoot inquiries, you can contact him via MRBRPR.

Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!
Floor Flow Teacher Training - It's Go Time!

It's Day 1 of the FIRST ever Floor Flow Teacher Training and I'm like....

AHHHH!!!!! weeeee!!!! wwoooohoooo!!!!

,

February Playlist

,
Featured
December Playlists
December Playlists
Flowvember Playlists
Flowvember Playlists
October Playlists
October Playlists
August Playlists
August Playlists
July Playlists
July Playlists
May Playlists (includes bonus Matcha May Playlist!)
May Playlists (includes bonus Matcha May Playlist!)
April Playlists
April Playlists
March Playlists
March Playlists
February Playlists
February Playlists
January Playlists
January Playlists

Continuous Shoulder Pivots

Overhead view of continuous shoulder pivots. This technique is seen in contemporary dance and martial arts under a few different names. I love this movement because the head, arms, pelvis, legs and breath all play a constantly dynamic role. When one body part lags, the fluidity is lost.

Featured
Catch This!
Catch This!

“I don’t do balls,” I used to say.

Like many other dancers I knew growing up, I formed an identity around being a dancer with no interest in activities involving balls, pucks, paddles, etc. (unless I was dancing with it).

In high school, I almost failed P.E. class because I flat-out refused to participate in any sports activity. As a result, in later years, whenever someone would throw me a ball I’d duck away rather than catch it, or if I did attempt a catch, it would be in a stiff and panicky state. It was embarrassing.

Ki’ilani (seen in the video) changed my relationship with catching. She loves balls more than anyone I’ve ever met. Every trip to a large store includes a visit to the sports aisle to feel balls. She even keeps a ball in her pocket for comfort tossing. One of our quarantine activities has been ‘dance catch.’

Learning Online
Learning Online

Have you ever bought any digital tutorials or courses? Or saved videos on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube?
Chances are you grabbed them because wanted to remember and LEARN the material.

But, did work through them?

How has it been integrating what you learned into your dancing/living/teaching?

Or, are the videos collecting digital dust...waiting for you to give them a chance?

If you have gathered materials, especially if you PAID for those materials, but haven’t given them the attention you intended, how about getting out your calendar RIGHT NOW and booking yourself some self-learning time?

Cross Knee Swivel & Supine Sticky Foot Twists
Cross Knee Swivel & Supine Sticky Foot Twists
The Return of the FM YouTube Channel!
The Return of the FM YouTube Channel!
Free Spinal Wave Upgrade!
Free Spinal Wave Upgrade!
Why Attention to Contact is for Everyone
Why Attention to Contact is for Everyone

If you look at any beginner movement class, you'll see widely-varying degrees of bodily awareness. However, regardless of how someone moves, with a little bit of cueing, anyone can feel if they are in contact with the floor or not.

You don’t need skill or imagination to sense your contact with the floor. You may not be paying attention to it most of the time, but it doesn't require anatomical awareness to grasp what 'weight-bearing' is or to notice which of your parts have the most pressure.

Weight bearing is a constant thing (unless you are temporarily airborne, space traveling, or swimming, you are bearing weight, somehow).

Yet, the details of rolling contacts are rarely zeroed in on outside of higher-level movement environments. But...they could be.

Three Books That are Currently Inspiring My Teaching
Three Books That are Currently Inspiring My Teaching

The first is called ‘Bodyfulness’ by Boulder author Christine Caldwell. It’s swelling with information for or anyone who’s ready to look at the how and why of how they move. The author founded the Somatic Counseling program at Naropa University and has been in practice for more than thirty years.

She says:

“The body isn’t a thing we have but an experience we are. Bodyfulness is about working toward our potential as a whole human animal that breathes as well as thinks, moves as well as sits still, takes action as well as considers, and exists not because it thinks but because it dances, stretches, bounces, gazes, focuses, and attunes to others.“

Less Choreography, More Dance
Less Choreography, More Dance

Have you been to a dance class that was supposed to be beginner-appropriate or all-levels, but the class progressed in a way that made you want to disappear?

Maybe you had fun the first few minutes when the sequence was short, but then the instructor moved on, and on, and on. With rapidly dwindling confidence, you were left stumbling in the wake of an ever-growing sequence. Perhaps physically you could have done it all, but you needed more time to really 'get it'. It was just too much to remember.

I've been there. In classes and in auditions, I've been there.

You can only stumble around, a count behind everyone else, for so long before you want to shrivel into the corner and become unseen.

When you’re new to a style or form (or even just with a new teacher), learning a lengthy complex piece of choreography (maybe alongside people much younger or more skilled than you) is daunting and often
disheartening. Based on what I've observed, the amount of choreography delivered in many dance classes leaves a LOT of people behind.

In my opinion, if you are still trying to remember the choreo during the last minutes of class, you're missing out on the joy of dancing, the part where the movement starts to carry you and you can transcend who you were when you arrived.

My message is this:

Pumpkin Flow Giveaway
Pumpkin Flow Giveaway

Pumpkin Flow Giveaway:

If you flow with a gourd of your choice between now and Nov 5, I’ll send you a code for $5 off any event or video. 

How:

  1. Get busy with you pumpkin and catch it on video.

  2. Post at least 15 seconds on FB or IG and tag #pumpkinflow and @flowmovement 

  3. Send us a message on either platform with the link to your video and we will send you your discount code. 

The Group Fitness Class Experience
The Group Fitness Class Experience

Yesterday, I witnessed a group movement experience that I was SO glad I was not a part of.

After a month away and a week of living the truck driver life, I got a month-long pass to a nearby gym. It’s primarily a rock-climbing gym, but they have a weight room upstairs.

This particular gym runs some group conditioning classes inside of the weight room. While I was gleefully doing irreverent things on the back extension bench, a voice came over the loudspeaker letting everyone know that “Body Blast with Mr. Blasty Blast” [ok, not his real name] was starting soon. I thought, “Oh nice, I’ll get to see if I would ever want to join the class.” Consensus:

OH NO, I WILL NOT FUCKING EVER. (Unless you pay me. I’d consider it if money were involved.)