As I found myself entering the class this morning, what made an impact on me during the first dance workshop was the dance experimentation exercise where each of us, the students, had the chance to improvise dance movements on a music piece with our eyes closed so as to fully tap into the music and our own selves where true inspiration lies. This dance experimenting, as I call it, helped me a lot to let my body relax while surrounded by other bodies in the space, to relate to the music played through improvisation of dance movements. In addition to that, I was also struck by the partners exercise mainly because it gave me the amazing chance to let myself go of how and why my body responds to certain movements when interacting with the body of another person who either leads or follows our lead. I find it lovely to be able to trust somebody and ‘give in’ to their judgement and decision where and how to lead your body throughout the space with your eyes closed.

Throughout the dance workshop with Trajal Harrell, I really loved the ‘task’ he gave us to come up with sequence of six body movements that follow each other and make a dance piece when put together as one. It was very engaging and helpful experience for me as a former dancer in terms of enabling me to connect to, trust and work confidently with my body and the creativity that lies in me as a ‘choreographer’ of my own dance piece. That certainly was an opportunity I rarely get and that is why it felt so refreshing and empowering.

Over the last part of today’s class, two words stuck in my mind – intersubjective and transcoding. These new terms for me left me curious and still not completely understanding their meaning and what differentiates them from other similar to them words. Even though, I can’t yet explain them with my own words, find intersubjective and transcoding to be useful and enriching terms in the field of dance theory as they provide the reader, and me in particular, with more knowledge and understanding of how broad and complex the subject is.