What Makes You Dance?

Justin F Kennedy – The Hyperactivist

“Aside from being my passion and career, dance has played many roles throughout my life. Most importantly, it’s an active meditative practice. I’m too hyperactive for sitting mediation and it’s only through movement that I can achieve a sense of tranquillity. Furthermore, dancing and performing allow me to tap into multiple dimensions of expression, ultimately enriching the way I experience life. It also helps me sort out my own multiple personalities and schizophrenic tendencies.

Through dance, I am able to access a variety of states of being, including wonder, ecstatic pleasure and joy without drugs. Dance has also allowed me to connect with myself and others in extremely thoughtful and intimate ways. I’m also naturally drawn to extremes, and dancing and creating dance give me a platform to explore the boundaries of physical, mental and spiritual engagement. The type of movement research I’m currently exploring through my own choreographic practice and studies at UDK/ Ernst Busch/HZT Berlin, involves a balanced platter of somatic practice and theory while I continue to craft and define my own methods of choreography. As I approach making more of my own work, I crave to create full sensory experiences. Pardon me for sounding like David Lynch, but honestly, dance is the closest I have come to feelings of transcendence.”

Veronika Schlicht – The Aesthete

“I’ve been dancing for 18 years and I never had the intention to become a professional dancer. I love dancing because I like the combination of physical activity and arts. Dance is athletic and elegant. It is a high physical action, and at the same time, for me, there’s no possibility to do it only to train my body without the artistic and aesthetic aspect of it.

I think of how it looks like and how an audience would see it even if I’m only training and look into the mirror. I also like the sensual side of dance, the emotional and musical aspect. I try to get the special rhythm, feeling and idea of the music that I interpret through physical movements. By doing so, every dancer has his own view of it and can feel it different. My motivation to dance and my general intention is to bring across something that comes out of me listening to a particular piece of music.”

Eva Liedtke – The Temptress

“For me dancing, especially in combination with dressing up, is a means of self-expression. I put on make-up, slip into sexy, fun and glittery costumes and perform a ‘character’ to basically become my true self. Using my body to move, pose, shake and shimmy to rhythm and beats makes me feel alive and gives me a stage for expressing myself in the most natural way.

Burlesque and striptease in particular is an (art)form which allows me best to express my personality, sensuality and creativity. It is the ideal and most empowering way of celebrating being a woman and having a healthy lust for life. To me there is no separation between my mind, my senses and my body, and dancing – again, burlesque or striptease in particular – is the ultimate fusion. Cleverly, teasingly performing on stage, while ‘taking off your clothes’ in a creative and entertaining way is the perfect tool to share the confidence and joy of sexuality and femininity. Physically and visually sharing a philosophy with an audience in an unpolitical but fun and entertaining way.”

Davey Dee Clarke – The Synchroniser

“Dancing allows me to synchronise with the present tense. Nothing else matters when I’m able to let go and permit a good groove or vibe to dictate my every move. In such moments I become a passenger in my own body marveling at the moves I feel while they are being executed. Every thought is banished as I give my own personal visual interpretation of sound.

People nowadays don’t realize how important dancing is for calibration. It’s a nice tool to find your own personal way as a dancer or even as a DJ. I don’t care about Charts or the Top 10. I only care about what moves me in order to radiate love and joy. Isn’t that what it’s all about in the end?”

Adrienne Hart – The Digitalist

“My mum took me to dance classes at the age of three, as I was painfully shy as a kid and I’ve never really stopped. I grew up in a town called Swindon in the UK, which doesn’t have the best reputation in the world, yet thanks to a woman called Marie McCluskey, Swindon houses one of the best dance organizations (Swindon Dance). By aged 11 I knew I wanted to be a contemporary dancer, I loved how expressive the dance style can be and that contemporary dance has the power to make bold political and social statements about the world we live in. As soon as I could I went off to London (aged 17) to train at London Contemporary Dance School.

I was lucky enough to win a scholarship to train at the conservatoire for three years and left with a BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance degree in 2002. After any kind of intense training your passion for a subject starts to dwindle slightly. I kept it alive by discovering dance and digital technology and began collaborating with filmmakers and musicians. My dance company Neon Production came from a desire to create work for the stage and screen. I established the company to realize my ambition of creating diverse and exciting contem- porary dance that incorporates original music, digital technology and film. Dancing as your day job isn’t the easiest career choice yet I’ve tried out a few ‘office jobs’ and every time the lure of the dance studio has lead me astray.”

Published February 09, 2011.