I have been like a kid in a dance candy store since I moved to NYC, hopping from Chelsea Studios to Mark Morris to Broadway Dance Center to follow around the creme de la creme in West African master dance teachers. Rich Faye, Mouminatou Camara, Babacar M’Baye and Mamady Sano have all humbled me and given me a run for my money and I cannot get enough! It has felt incredible to be pushed and challenged dancing amongst strong, beautiful peers.
Yesterday, I finally made it to the Alvin Ailey Dance School (which is gorgeous) with my roomie to try something entirely new to me, although rooted in modern dance, called the Horton Technique. The movements seem simple, but are quite difficult to do correctly and I got my bootay kicked. I loved every minute. I plan to go back as often as I can, eager to re-sharpen the extremely dull edges of my technique, my strength, my flexibility and my modern dance training of yore. All I’ve done in the past five years is West African sabar or djembe dance, but in NYC, every imaginable art form is at my fingertips. Even forms I never knew existed. But then again, you learn something new every hour here.
I think it’s time to set up a PayPal account for those generous souls who want to submit anonymous donations toward the “Kid in a Dance Candy Store” fund. Otherwise, I have to ration out classes for myself. It would be too easy to spend every dime dancing! The video above is in french at a studio in Paris, but you get a good sense of the kind of class that went down at Ailey yesterday and why I can barely (ok, I can’t at all) touch my toes today.
