This year has felt like a year of refinement. At the end of 2023, we all knew that we needed some time to slow down, reassess our values and needs before taking off - and that was the intention we had set as an organization for 2024. It’s so crazy how when you set the intention to slow it feels like all the opportunities come out of the woodwork! I am proud of CONTRA-TIEMPO for sticking with the plan and leaning into our values, no matter how difficult the choice. We were able to build new relationships, and deepen current ones. We were able to grow closer as an organization and expand our knowledge of each other as well as the context in which our work exists.
One thing that really stick out to me is our commitment to learning, growing, and professional development. We each committed to our own physical development journey with the support of CONTRA-TIEMPO, through consistent training in Afro-Cuban, rumba, salsa, West African, contemporary, Afrobeat, etc. I was especially grateful for this financial support, as I navigate a full-time doctoral program. The opportunity to not just make it to rehearsals and meetings but also have the financial support to continue developing my movement practice was a necessary interruption from my studies. Not only was I a able to develop physically, but also mentally. The weekly teaching artivist meetings were helpful in developing my own teaching curriculum and establishing a weekly practice for my teaching skills. As the year went on we teaching artivists started a almost bookclub as we worked through “My Grandmother’s Hands” (in my case for the 3rd time) in order to apply the knowledge and concepts to our teaching practice. This physical and mental development over the course of this year, has fed my soul and brought me so much joy to learn and grow alongside this beautiful group of people.
Embarking on this new graduate school journey while dancing with CONTRA-TIEMPO has been a difficult, yet rewarding journey. I learn so much from the other CT bodies and am able to actualize my coursework in a way that I anticipate many others in my cohort are not. With CONTRA-TIEMPO I am given a laboratory to perform skills, develop training programs, and establish recovery techniques in real time and with quick results. I was grateful to experiment with my “poor man’s cryotherapy” in Jacob’s Pillow Feb 2024, where after a day of rehearsals, i stood out in the snow in shorts and sports bra in order to reduce inflammation and soreness in my muscles. I was grateful to trial a 6 week tour-prep training program in Sept-Nov 2024 in preparation for our Nov tour intensive. I am eternally grateful for all my peers who let me record assignments for class backstage or during our lunch breaks. I am eternally grateful for Holly who answered questions about somatic bodywork, and who continues to support and encourage me as I learn and grow in this field.
screenshots of just SOME of the videos that I have recorded with CONTRA-TIEMPO dancers :) Thank you all so much!
I am excited for the new year of CONTRA-TIEMPO. We have set new individual goals, discussing new organizational goals, and I pray that the next year with CONTRA-TIEMPO will be full of joy, laughter, and grace.
Let’s keep growing,
Stanley