Dance Without Borders

travel & dance meet

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It’s called the blue pool hike for a reason! The Tamolitch Falls Blue Pools are made up of water that flows off of Mount Hood. This water never gets above 45 degrees, but that doesn’t stop many visitors from diving in. 

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Mount Hood National Forest is HUGE and big destination for Portlanders. We can always see the beautiful Mt. Hood itself, but going to the forest is an entirely different story. We camped in a pine forest that looked very different from typical forests in the PNW. 

Unfortunately, it was drizzling or misting for the entirety of our trip and we just weren’t feeling it. To take a break, we got coffee at a small inn in the woods and it had this carved bear in the bathroom that literally made me laugh out loud. It definitely cheered me up, but we decided to go home early rather than endure some more mist and our loud campsite. 

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Dance on the Go

There are so many wonderful places to travel to and not all of them have dance studios nearby! To stay in shape or just let your creativity flow, I have a few tips on how to continue dancing while you travel. 

Improvisation

I camp very often and I find that it provides me with such inspiration to create. The easiest way to harness that newfound creativity is to improvise for 10-15 minutes. Since dance is an intense workout, more like a sprint rather than a jog, you don’t need to improvise for very long to get your body working. For improvisation sessions that are longer than 15 minutes, I would recommend allowing yourself moments of stillness in your work. 

Improvisation allows you to absorb your surroundings and filter them through your dance. It is a space for movement exploration and creation, which is great if you are in the choreography process! 

Your improvisation session does not have to be structured, but it can help dancers to have a subject to use as inspiration. If you are improvising somewhere that isn’t a dance studio, new subjects are all around you! Pick one aspect of your surrounding area and off you go. Here are some subject examples: sound of waves on the beach, patch of rocks, a fallen tree, or the people that are passing you by. Anyone can do it, so set your timer to 10 minutes and get to improvising!

Stretch Training

All dancers need to stretch or at least they should be! It’s an important part of getting your body ready to dance and avoiding injury. Stretching on the go is an easy way to stay connected to dance while you travel. Most stretches require just enough space to lay down a yoga mat. An even better option is stretching in a nearby park; you get to see the city and dance at the same time!

To stretch effectively, take 30 minutes and start small! You can start with your feet and ankles and work your way up to your larger muscles. Stretch safely by slowly warming up your muscles are you are stretching. After your stretching session is done, make sure you cool down and take a moment to yourself. You deserve it! 

Dance Writing

A large part of dance is coming up with new ideas for dance pieces. What’s better for inspiration than seeing things you’ve never seen before and doing things you’ve never done before? Write those things down. What has inspired you to move in each place that you travel to? I always keep a list of choreography inspiration on my phone, so I have a ton of ideas to draw on once I am back in the studio creating. It’s just one of the many perks of travelling!

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Leaving the Country

After feeling uninspired in the various jobs that I have held and in the city I am living in, I have decided I need a major change. Two weeks ago I decided to travel the world for at least a year. I’m planning to work in exchange for room and board and save up as much as I can to cover travel costs and adventures. 

Right now, I am in the planning stage! It was exciting at first, but now, it’s daunting. It’s hard to know where to start, but I’m finding my way. Great sites like WWOOF and Workaway make this seem totally plausible, which is what I need right now. 

The next step/ life change I am considering is working remotely! I am still in that entry level phase of my professional career where I don’t know what I want to do. I’d love to work for a theater or a dance company, but I also know that I need to travel and understand my world a little better. Pretty much the only career that allows the extent of travel I want in my life is a remote one. 

In the meantime, I am trying to find jobs that bring me joy in the city I live in. I am still saving up money, which requires a job. I don’t want to concern myself as much with building a career. Instead, I have decided to have fun with it. There has got to be ways to make money while having fun!

I’m doing this because I want to live my life while I’m alive instead of waiting for my retirement. I want to look back on my life and know that I had so much more than a career. 

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The day before I took this picture I was deeply uninspired with where I was at in my life. Instead, I was feeling propelled into travelling; it felt like the only solution to my insufferable boredom. This day trip made me feel alive again and showed me that I don’t have to feel this way anymore. I can change my daily life and that’s what I plan to do.