Rays of sunshine flittered into a darkened room. The movements of the dancers were accompanied by the sounds of their quiet breathing. Some danced with their whole body, while others only moved their head and fingers. No matter how big or small the motions, the dancing was rooted in sensation.
For some, dance is just a passion, but in the Body Shift community of diverse dancers, it’s an opportunity to change one’s perspective. It’s an inclusive community that accommodates people with disabilities and strives to make everyone feel welcome.
The dance class takes place every second and fourth Saturday of the month at the Town Lake YMCA. Errin Delperdang, a certified instructor, leads the bimonthly class.
“The premise is that anybody can dance,” Delperdang said. “We have a few members that make up our core population that are people with cerebral palsy and a number of people that are visually or hearing impaired.”
Delperdang said a lot of people attend with some sort of illness they’ve had or they’re trying to overcome, and they use dance as an outlet.
Amy Litzinger has been part of the program for six years. She executes her movements from her power chair.
“The exercises can really adapt to anyone,” Litzinger said. “You don’t have to point out that you’re changing something in order to accommodate somebody, [the guidelines] are already written so they can be accessed by anyone in the room.”
There is no choreography in the dance class. Rather, it is a “structured improvisation” where participants have a set of parameters and are allowed freedom of expression through their own movements.
“The idea behind it is that there is always going to be a common denominator in the room and everyone in the room can participate and move according to that commonality,” Delperdang said.
Body Shift incorporates DanceAbility, a methodology pioneered by Alito Alessi.
“If you are alive, you can dance. Dancing with such a diversity of people is a joy and a privilege,” Alessi said.
The exercises are based on four core elements; they are sensation, relationship, time, and design.
“You start with sensation in your own body and however that comes out in your movement,” Delperdang said. “With relationship, we go through so much of our lives not having contact or connection with people, so it’s great to have that relationship with someone immediately.”
Delperdang said the element of time is associated with the duration of one’s movement and the relationship with people around you. Design is the big picture of the compositional aspect.
The dancers are given a set of parameters, the four core elements, and within those parameters they create their own movement.
“If there are parts of your body that you can’t move or have no sensation, imagine moving them or use another body part to assist you,” Delperdang said while the dancers explored their movement.
The nature of the class works to ensure that no dancer is isolated. It allows people to move and dance with others who have many different experiences with movement.
“There’s not a whole lot of places where I don’t have to plan to tell somebody I’m coming to be accommodated,” Litzinger said. “It’s so easy to show up here and not have to worry about that.”
Aundre Wesley, a student at the University of Texas at Austin, took his first Body Shift class that day. He does not have a disability.
“When I came to class, I expected to experiment with movements as instructed,” Wesley said. “I learned to explore more within the styles of dance I currently practice.”
The dancers divided up into pairs of two to develop the relationship element. Litzinger and Wesley were paired together.
For Wesley, the experience of dancing with Litzinger opened his eyes.
“First, I tried to see the limits of her physical motions and exploit that as a motif. After dance patterns were developed, I shifted into turns at different speeds which mimicked the turning of her chair,” Wesley said. “I wanted to incorporate hand gestures into the interaction.”
Wesley said Litzinger mimicked his motions by her hand placement and the way she turned her chair.
Delperdang said that the class is open to anyone who is interested in movement or improvisation as a conversation. It offers the freedom to move in ways that feel good to your body no matter what your abilities are.
“Everybody craves the ability to express yourself the way that dance allows you to do,” Delperdang said. “There are no right or wrong answers.”
