Educational Background/Training
Somatic Movement Educator, Body Mind Movement (Pitsburg, USA)
Master´s Degree in Dance Research by the National Center for Research, Documentation, and Information of Dance José Limón (CENIDID Danza). Mexico City, Mexico.
Professional Dancer. CENDA University Foundation. Bogota, Colombia.
Mindfulness practitioner and facilitator certified by Rainbow Kids Yoga in Yoga for Kids, Mindful Schools, and “Respira en Colombia” in mindfulness in education.
About the Artist/Ensemble
Zaira has worked with children, youth, elderly and underserved communities for more than 20 years, designing and executing projects in which she combines her knowledge and experience about the body, movement and the soma, to foster spaces of personal self-inquiry combining dance, movement, and somatic approaches as a singularity and vindication space of diversity, equity, and justice.
She approaches dance and movement as an empowerment tool to express the inner world, hold communitarian processes, and co-create educational experiences. In her work the dance is simultaneously subject and process, the goal and the tool, the exploration, and the explorer. Her practice focuses on the inner body and movement experience to create teaching-learning processes and experiences. As a researcher, she has been focused on childhood, human development, and empowerment through dance and arts. Her last research “Inhabited by the Moon:
Discovering the Unknown Dance of Children under the Label of Attention Deficit Disorder” received a
Mention of Honor award from Cenidi Danza Jose Limón (México).
Educational Program Description
The workshops and residencies offered are based on conscious movement, dance, and somatic experiences, which allow participants to approach different themes from the point of view of bodily inquiry, creativity, and play. All workshops and residencies will be designed and planned based on the expectations and needs of the organization and we can deliver it in English or Spanish.
While the workshops are a unique experience that can consist of a 1 to 4-hour session, the residencies have a longer duration and can be designed in 4 or 8 sessions of 1 hour or 2 hours each.
The following are some of the workshops and residencies that we have been offered:
- Taking care of yourself:
A body experience that seeks to familiarize us with our physical, mental and emotional body and build strategies from movement and dance that bring us well-being.
- Dancing together (Community Dance):
A space designed to build relationships based on the creation of community, using the body, dance and movement as a bridge of expression and encounter. At the end of the process the result can be part of a live art show or be shared in community spaces.
- My Body´s Voice
Incorporating elements of dance such as space, tempo, and shape, participants experience pathways to self-expression and self-regulation through movement. In this way, we seek to foster a deeper bodily and emotional awareness that allows participants to express themselves through the body in creative and liberating ways.
- Dancing Around the World
We will travel through different parts of the world, using movement and imagination, to delve into sounds and dances from different cultures. (Specially designed for children or children and caregivers).
- Growing Together- Creative Movement
Caregivers and children are welcome to enjoy an experience in which we enter into the enjoyment of imagination, play, and fun. In this space we all connect with our inner child and relate horizontally, building new relationships with the children and finding tools that will allow us to share with them in our day-to-day life in different ways.
- Mindfulness through Dance
By getting in touch with the body and movement we allow ourselves the gift of being in the present moment and touch with the now. We will use different body techniques to navigate through our inner world.
Fees
Fees will be discussed and determined depending on the nature and length of the residency or workshop.
A possible range could be workshops from $120 (1 hour) and residencies from $650 (4 sessions).
Audiences
- All Ages