| Maker | Briana Ashley Stuart |
| Duration | 60 min |
The rituals of clapping your hands or shouting in pain
Moving Meditations is a multidisciplinary creation around healing, an autonomous and collective alchemical process generated through experiences. Through disciplines such as contemporary dance, stepping and singing, the choreographer Briana Ashley Stuart explores the importance of movement and sound as essential elements of human expression.
Whether it is clapping hands in a surge of enthusiasm or shouting out in pain: sound and movement have always played an important role in the way we connect, relate to each other, express ourselves and understand each other. Over time, these individual forms of expression evolved into codes, which spawned collective forms and rituals within groups, which in turn became personal introspective experiences that put things into perspective. Moving Meditations reminds us of the infinity of things which connect ourselves and the value of our voices and bodies to channel, feel and release them.
Briana Ashley Stuart is an international dance artist, pedagogue, choreographer and entrepreneur from Detroit (Michigan/USA) who currently lives and works in Brussels. After earning two bachelor's degrees in dance and sociology from the University of Michigan, she performed and taught as a professional dancer with the contemporary dance company SJEwing & Dancers ent StepAfrika!, the only dance company in the world dedicated to the art form of stepping. Briana started stepping at the University of Michigan when she joined the student union Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. She then deepened her passion and training at Step Africa! She has seen the incredible impact of this art form on new audiences, children and adults, performing and teaching in the United States, Guadeloupe and at the Guantanamo Naval Base. With StepAfrika!, she began to find her own voice within this art form by focusing on movement and creating choreographies in collaboration with choreographers and fellow artists. Since 2017, Briana has lived in Brussels and broadened her experience as a performer by working with ZIKIT, 4Hoog KinderTheater, Les Brigittes, Dominique Models, BOZAR and as an artist in residence with Citylab Pianofabriek. Currently, Briana is the only artist to practice and transmit this art and this form of dance in Belgium.
The Stepping is an Afro-American form of body percussion in which the body is used as an instrument to create rhythms and sounds with the hands, feet and voice. This form belongs to a wider artistic genre called Body Music, but the accent put on the movement and the dancing aspect of stepping distinguish itself from other art form styles. The Stepping has been created at the beginning of 1900 by students from ancient black universities within organizations called ‘fraternities’ and ‘sororities’. At that time, racism was institutionalized and Afro-Americans were not authorized to go around with the same schools as white students. Therefore, they created their own schools, universities, cultures and traditions. The Stepping was one of many traditions developed to promote strength and solidarity between Afro-American people. This dance tradition of the African diaspora finds its origin in gumboot dance from South Africa. Throughout time, the cultural expression of stepping evolved by integrating hiphop elements, cheerleading and from the army. Since then, the stepping has transcended the faculty campus and can be seen in films, on television, on concert stages (especially on one of Beyoncé's performances at Coachella) and beyond.
Korzo Zaal