About Express & Release
Express & Release Therapeutic Dance is a safe space for the community of the Triangle to accept their emotions, express their emotions through gentle movement, and then release them from within.
This type of movement has a special focus on exploring the emotions living in our bodies to ease stress, reduce anxiety and bridge the gap between our mind, our body, and our emotions in an embodied way.
In our culture today there is a common misconception that avoiding negative experiences and compartmentalizing ourselves to separate from what we dislike is easier. This is often why we see a rise in addiction, self-medication, avoidance of true feelings and lack of emotional connection with self and others. The opposite of this type of dissociative living is embodiment.
Embodiment is about feeling your own aliveness in your skin through sensations as you move through the world. Embodied practices help us stay present internally while experiencing life. This type of movement helps you stay connected to what is true in your mind and heart; allowing you to fully feel.
Through our workshops, retreats, and private sessions we guide you through dance and movement styles that you can use to move away from “stressing about things” and instead practice movements that help relieve stress and encourage your well-being.
Why Create this Space?
The idea of this company began when I helped my 4-year-old toddler move from a moment of full rage to communicating his feelings. He was overwhelmed and was only able to express anger and rage.
Toys and pillows were being tossed across the room, screaming was enveloping the space, and he became a danger to himself and his environment. In that moment, I asked myself the question, “how can I show him that his emotions are not bad but need to be expressed in a safer way?”.
With uncertainty, I began calling out different ways to release his emotions, I stated “shake the anger from your head”, and with hesitancy, he began to shake. I continued, “throw off the anger from your shoulders”, with awkwardness he threw. We continued together, releasing his overwhelming emotion of anger from within his body into our safe space.
After going through our guided dance practice, he began to communicate the feelings that were too overwhelming to communicate, and he was able to receive the help he needed.
Since that moment, I began using this type of therapeutic dance release practice in my home. From using it to release my daily stressors, I have felt empowered to lean into the overwhelming emotions, knowing that I have the tools to navigate them, while also wanting to provide these empowerment tools to others.
This led me to create Express & Release Therapeutic Dance to provide a space where people can express and release overwhelming emotions that they may be unable to communicate. Through this space we can cultivate healthier societies that foster relationships with self and the community. We hope for dance to be normalized in being used for stress relief and coping with life’s daily transitions. We long for the people of our community to freely express themselves and not be afraid to feel the overwhelming emotions.