February 15, 2024
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Bounce of Nature is a creative movement of like-minded people. Primarily our project is about dance, but also music and other interrelated art that we are interested in.
We teach regular dance classes in person and online and also create a wide range of events like dance festivals, parties, lectures, movie screenings, movement intensives and many more.
Bounce of Nature is a creative movement of like-minded people. Primarily our project is about dance, but also music and other interrelated art that we are interested in.
We teach regular dance classes in person and online and also create a wide range of events like dance festivals, parties, lectures and movie screenings about dance and music culture, movement intensives and many more.
For already 5 years now we have been teaching based on the principles that we developed during our own practice. And the closest definition to what we are exploring is the name “freestyle”. By freestyle we understand dance in such a conception, where a person has universal skills that will let them move to different styles of music and expressing themselves in it equally freely. It also means that one does not rely on the techniques of a certain style, but dances the style of “oneself”, changing only in consonance with music.
We came to this vision of dance through our own experience. Initially each of us practiced predominantly one of the four urban styles (Hip-Hop, House, Electro, Popping), but in the process of interaction our preferences began to evolve. There was an interest in new genres of music and, accordingly, new forms of dance. All this resulted in creation of a new direction that can be described as freestyle to diverse music and even to those styles that are conventionally “not danceable”, such as IDM, Downtempo, Ambient, Drum & Bass and others.
We primarily target an adult audience (usually from 18 to 40 years old), due to the fact that our method requires a self-motivated and conscious approach. Our dance classes are open for both people with experience and those who have never danced before. And from the very beginning one of our goals was to introduce dance to those who had no prior experience and to show that it can be an interesting and useful tool for creative self-expression and personal development in many areas. And at the same time we wanted to embody the idea that there is an alternative way to learn how to dance, not by copying the exact forms, but concentrating on the essence, doing the basic concepts that help to reveal one’s individual potential.
Dance is multifaceted, just like human beings and their countless manifestations.
There are different aspects that you can find in dance, that however do not oppose each other, but complement, making it a whole self-sufficient unit. Here is a meeting of the physical and spiritual, a symbiosis of a social orientation and at the same time something very internal and intimate, the interdependence of the flight of creativity and thoughtful, thorough self-work.
Dance is much more profound in its meaning than it seems at first glance. At least that is how we see it and how we want to show it through our lens of perception. With the right approach dance can become an effective tool for self-expression and personal development, as well as a way to explore yourself from numerous angles. So let's dig a little deeper and study what lies beneath the surface layer.
Our vision of dance includes the concept that it is built on four elements that can be considered both separately and as sequential stages. These are physicality, musicality, originality and manifestation. While unfolding each one of them we will highlight the importance, usefulness and overall value of dance.
The unique feature of dance as an art and a way of creative self-expression is that the main and only instrument in it is you, more precisely your body. Not some extraneous object, like clay or paint, and not just a part of your body, like when you play the guitar. Your whole body is actively involved in dance and it becomes a medium of creativity.
Referring to the imperishable truth “movement is life” this statement obtains even more meaning in dance. When a movement has a creative element in it, and not just a mechanical repetition, it becomes something more, saturated with sense. For example, try to make such a familiar and already automated action as a walk kind of dance-natured, observing in the process how smoothly you flow from heel to toe, and at the same time maybe complementing it with hand movements and a slight sway of your body to the rhythm.
Dance is exactly the case when you can have a beneficial effect on the body, and at the same time you involve yourself in an entertaining game. And when all this happens to the music that resonates with you... This is where the magic is born!
Also in the process of dance practice you get to know your body, sequentially scanning it and identifying which parts of it, for example, are in a sleep mode. While practicing, you may suddenly discover that your left shoulder does not listen to you at all and from now on you need to focus on developing its mobility. And later you will find out that you can somehow dance even with your elbow, but maybe you were not really aware of this part of your body and especially imagining that it is capable of doing something like that, meaning not just being a link in a chain in your everyday movements (reaching the keyboard, lifting a cup), but becoming an instrument of your creativity. And as you go through level after level, this game only becomes more exciting.
Dance can become a starting point for a wholesome habit to pay enough attention to the body. While practicing you simultaneously improve basic skills like coordination, balance, mobility, flexibility, strength and many others. And over time it will not only help you to reflect music more precisely and subtly, but also will positively influence your well-being even beyond dance.
Dance is a game. And every game has its rules. And music plays this role in dance. Sound sets the coordinates of movement: mood, character, speed, intensity and others.
Music defines whether the dance will be dynamic or more hasteless, expressive or introverted, sharp or soft, amplitude or minimalistic.
Due to the variety of music, dance can be an effective tool of regulating states. If you have a sufficient understanding of musical styles, you can help yourself cheer up, or, on the contrary, slow down, release what is burdening you or recharge your batteries. And moreover, to do it not just in your head, while listening to a certain track, but to involve yourself physically, thereby strengthening and accelerating the desired effect. Especially when at times it is difficult to express something with words.
By virtue of this kind of transformative power, music seems as something akin to magic. It reconfigures, inspires, recovers and sometimes even transports you to alternative dimensions. And when the physical aspect is added, you jump over from 2D to 3D.
The development of musicality not only directly affects the quality of the dance, being its most important component, but also cultivates such related skills as attentiveness and concentration, because in order to stay in rhythm, it is necessary to constantly focus on the music and its changes. It also teaches to adapt and react quickly, and generally help to build the connection between the head and body. All of these abilities are crucial for daily life, and will also be useful in any other areas of your activity outside of dance.
The next aspect of our dance conception is the revelation of originality.
We come to dance with the “baggage” of movements, especially when one starts at an older age. How a person walks, sits, performs day-to-day activities, how their profession or craft makes them move. All this creates certain patterns and affects the form and nature of movement, as well as its other qualities.
And beneath there is a layer that includes the constitution of the body, the characteristics of the bone structure and muscles, the existing innate specificities. And even deeper lies what a person is about, the inner world, the personal story, which will be reflected in dance anyway.
And one of our goals is to provide tools that will help discover one's own dance identity, strengthen it and let it blossom. And in order to reveal individuality, one needs to put it on a strong foundation of physicality and musicality. And all the concepts that are used in the process of practice become only temporary restrictions, which ultimately lead to freedom in dance.
When dance is perceived as an instrument of self-expression it can even turn into some kind of demo version of life, where there is a meeting with various kinds of obstacles, identifying one’s limitations and working on them. However, all of this takes place as in a game where you can always start the level over again. And thus, step by step, you consistently improve yourself, and along the way you acquire many bonuses that will be useful both in dance and in “ordinary” life: a developed and docile body thanks to regular practice, attention developed through musicality and the ability to learn.
Dance is a safe platform for your experiments and explorations, a space where you can be yourself. That is why so many people have found and continue to find their salvation in this form of art.
Dance is diverse in its forms of manifestation. And there are many options how this can be brought to life.
You can do this alone, simply for yourself. Just turn on music on speakers or headphones and dance, even in your room. Or go somewhere where good music is playing and do it all again just for yourself, but in a different setting.
Or you can attend classes and see the value in regularly nourishing yourself with inspiration and knowledge, as well as communicating with like-minded people, which later can be followed by interest in additional dance classes, lectures, events and festivals.
Or you can gather with your friends, for example, at someone’s house or even outdoors in a park, and either take turns in dancing one by one or together in interaction.
Or all this can transform into more complex forms like shows or performances, where you can dance alone in front of other people, telling them your story, or do it with a group of people, transmitting a collective message.
Dance is beautiful in all these modes: both at “just for yourself” level, when it brings joy in its most basic things, and also in the form of large-scale goals that may appear as dance progresses. And you can choose one of them or several, or combine in proportion that suits you the best.
There is also a possibility to integrate your other interests into the dance world and to search for new ways of intersecting different arts and types of creativity: writing music, playing instruments, drawing, making videos or photos, writing stories, creating illustrations, introducing a theatrical and performative element and many other beautiful things. All this will help enrich and expand the boundaries of creativity, and will also provide the foundation for forming a creative community based on dance.
Thus, dance can become a place for self-realization, as well as a way to find like-minded people to do something beautiful together.
And in conclusion, we want to suggest you go right away from theory to practice and try three simple moves that are part of our teaching method.
We call them keys, because it is the most simple and effective way to connect with music even with no prior experience in dance. You will have the track for each key. Turn on the music, watch how the move is performed and try to repeat it intuitively.
If you got caught up by the first try and don't want to stop, feel free to continue your dance exploration hand-in-hand with the podcast from our music library on Soundcloud. On this channel you can find even more audio journeys for various states of mind, body and soul.
The material was created within the media-educational project "Support in Arts" which is a series of interviews, publications, essays, educational courses and events from representatives of the Belarusian art community and art educators who work in various fields of art (illustration, design, modern dance, visual art, fashion, modern poetry and prose, photography, music, cinema) and interpret the modern context in their practices.
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