About Open Floor
What is Open Floor?
Revive . restore .
recalibrate . resource .
calm . connect
Open Floor is a resource-based practice. As Open Floor teachers, we are passionate about helping our students resource themselves in movement and fully explore the potential of their unique and precious life. We have found that what really inspires us to transform, heal and enjoy the present moment, is to be embodied — to be present in our body — as we walk, talk, dance, connect, explore and pause.
In Open Floor we aim for wellness: reducing stress, burn out and anxiety, encouraging preventative care and creating stronger connections with oneself and others.
Being embodied allows us to build resilience. Dancing and exploring in movement do not reduce stress, but enable us to metabolise stress differently. We learn to be in the body and track what happens. Disembodiment is a modern condition. Anxiety and stress are now called diseases of embodiment. These are no longer seen as only biochemical imbalances. We lose our sense of our deepest creativity, our connection with our self, our path with heart feels vague and far away when we are faced with anxiety and stress... We hear ourselves saying: “I have no time for myself”, “I need a break”, “life is too much” or “I want more peace” (you will have your own unique phrase to add).
We focus on ten core movement resources. These are principles of movement inherent in our dance that offer support on and off the dance floor.
Core Movement Resources explored in Open Floor
What to Expect in Class
In my Open Floor classes I offer a dance and movement cycle to a wide and varied soundscape. Sometimes this will include a basic movement meditation practice involving sit—walk—dance cycles. All classes offer the opportunity to move towards a healthier way of being, with self regulation central. Each class draws on the core movement resources (above).
In the safe and supportive environment of the Open Floor, you will find a welcome and a space where:
We open our attention to ourselves
We enter through the body
We explore and dance.
We connect with ourselves and others - letting the body do the talking
We settle and integrate
In Open Floor we enter into the practice physically. We discover, and uncover the energy of what is with us in the present moment. Sometimes going into the wilderness of the body can feel uncomfortable, out of control or scary. Other times it might be a place of joy, discovery and connection. We have an opportunity to touch on what is on the edge of our awareness, what we didn't know existed or what we know well but don't often have access to. It can be natural to want to move away from such experiences. This is where dance can support us to find a resource, a new idea and connect to our deepest creativity and joy.
The dance deepens as we become familiar with the rhythms, patterns and moods in our bodies. It allows for the possibility of freedom and a dance untamed by our beliefs, and perceptions or what we think is 'right'. This is what an embodied practice is, this is why we dance.
We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness,
we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams,
we are the dancers, we create the dreams.”
— ALBERT EINSTEIN
So, today…just simply dance—and for all of those reasons above.
YOU are the dancer and the creator of all of your dreams.
Open Floor Videos:
Andrea Juhan (one of the Founders of Open Floor International) shares some of the back story behind Open Floor
What others are saying:
“There is something about Di’s group which makes me want to come back week after week. She creates a safe, personal, intimate time where hearts can be shared and heard. It is the only group like this that I really look forward to and try not to miss. She is gentle in her teaching and encouragement and her enthusiasm for dance is infectious. I love her choice of music and find that even when I think I am too tired to participate, there is something about her music choices that gets me on my feet and moving as I need to.”
— JUDY
“In Di’s classes I have felt acknowledged, affirmed, and liberated by her clear and inclusive teaching; by her encouragement; and by her compassionate holding of what we each bring to the dance, moment by moment.
I honour her sensitivity around our individual needs and abilities, whether physical (I have hearing loss, which she supports), or emotional. Her choice of music is inspired, and has often lifted me up from dark places to a wider place of connection, belonging and true sharing.”
— KATHY