Participants in the classes were almost always women ranging from twenty to fifty years old with body sizes as varied as our ages. To move alongside adult women as they gloried in themselves normalized my experience. Eagerness permeated the air and blessed my fifteen-year-old explorations of sensual body pleasures without making me into an object for someone else’s disdain or enjoyment.
I carried these weekly experiences into my first high school dance. In the middle of Lowell High School’s courtyard, I could lean on a Rhythm and Motion twirl while my body discovered how to translate the beat of a song into an expression of movement. Giving my hips the freedom to sway transcended teenage self-consciousness. By the time I went to college, the dance floor had become a safe place to inhabit myself fully.
As I grew up, moved, married, and had two children, I didn’t have access to Rhythm and Motion but I continued to dance. I danced naked fully pregnant in my living room the night before my daughter was born. I co-created Sacred Dance, an evening of intuitive freestyle body movement, to explore dance as a spiritual practice. On Saturday mornings, my family and I cranked up the music and boogied over scrambled eggs and pancakes in the kitchen. When we returned to San Francisco, I re-connected with Rhythm and Motion.
Under the continued direction of Consuelo Faust, Rhythm and Motion now occupied an entire building. The class I took as a teenager had transformed into Fusion Rhythms and there were a variety of new options to sample such as Modern Rhythms, Essential Rhythms, children’s classes, and yoga. African dance from different regions were also now offered along with intensive workshops for in-depth study. Despite the changes, the spirit of Rhythm and Motion remained true and quickly rekindled my passion.
In the fall of 2005, Rhythm and Motion joined forces with Oberlin Dance Company (ODC) and moved its base of operation into ODC’s renovated space in the Mission. At first I was resistant to the potential parking challenges, but the new beautiful digs were so user friendly, my ruffled feathers settled with ease.
After twenty-three years, I have come full circle and am once again dancing several times a week. Amara is back from NY and teaching (blissful sigh) and there are other inspiring instructors available every day. When I look around, I see faithful Rhythm and Motion participants blending with ODC dancers to create a new community. Recently, I found myself enjoying an Amara class alongside two clearly professional dancers and a Rhythm and Motion teacher. As we stretched together, I almost felt a pang of nervousness, but then our eyes met, “It’s Raining Men” began to play, and we kicked up our legs with a smile.
By Staci Boden, a San Francisco-based writer, healing practitioner, and business consultant.
Photo of dancer Amara Tabor Smith, courtesy of Steve Burns
