Blaine dance school hosting performance this weekend

Day-to-Day Dance is putting on their annual spring performance, Poetry in Motion, on Saturday, May 18. Day-to-Day Dance has over 60 Blaine students ranging in age from toddlers to adults. The Blaine dance school subscribes to a school of thought called brain-compatible dance education and fosters community and creativity through dance.

Poetry in Motion conjures a sense of community, according to Sabrina Gomez-Vannelli, founder and artistic director of Day-to-Day Dance. The show lends itself to making “Blaine a place where somebody can feel at home,” Gomez-Vannelli said, adding, “That’s what we provide for our dance community and then we hope that we can share that joy to our surrounding communities.”

While the theme of Poetry in Motion was inspired by the death of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver, the show is about how “poetry itself is something that is an expression of our times, of our own personal state of mind. It’s to inspire people to get through whatever they’re going through,” said Gomez-Vannelli.

The students of Day-to-Day Dance have been involved throughout the creative process. Students and instructors discussed each poem and the meaning behind it, which allowed each student to be a part of creating the group dances.

“It’s another form of creativity,” Gomez-Vannelli said. “We foster creativity with our students.”

Day-to-Day Dance was formed by Gomez-Vannelli in 2003, but really became grounded in 2005, and has been serving the community with dance education ever since.

In the dance world, there is a plethora of ways to approach teaching dance. Gomez-Vannelli employs a methodology called brain-compatible dance education. This is a holistic approach which aims to “develop the whole dancer as skilled technician, critical thinker, collaborator and creator,” according to Day-to-Day Dance’s website.

Brain-compatible dance education encourages self-expression and self-discovery in many ways, including encouraging uniqueness and individuality as well as helping students to develop neural pathways that assist in “language acquisition, reading readiness and mathematical ability,” according to creativedance.org. More information about brain-compatible dance education can be found in Anne Green Gilbert’s book, Brain-Compatible Dance Education.

In addition to fostering creativity and utilizing brain-compatible dance education, Gomez`-Vannelli said that other goals of Day-to-Day Dance include “to be inclusive, to provide encouragement and a sense of community and to teach [the students] the love of movement and what that entails throughout your life.”

Of course, this all goes hand-in-hand with teaching proper technique so that students can dance in a way that is healthy for their bodies and will be prepared should they wish to pursue dance further.

The upcoming show, Poetry in Motion, was staged and directed by Gomez-Vannelli and features her choreography in addition to choreography by instructors Ceion White and Cindy Johnson. The show features a wide variety of dance forms including ballet, contemporary, hip hop, dance movement and creative movement.

Poetry in Motion is being performed one time only on Saturday, May 18 at 7 p.m. at the Blaine Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and tickets are $10 at the door. Roses will be sold and a fundraising raffle will be held with the proceeds benefitting the Day-to-Day Dance scholarship program.

Learn more about Day-to-Day Dance at daytodaydance.com.