By Jennifer Boeder
If you were to look up “dynamic duo” in a dictionary of Chicago artists, the definition might very well read “see Nadine Lollino and Bob Garrett.” Lollino is a dancer, massage therapist and yoga teacher, while Garrett is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer and most recently percussionist for the Chicago production of Sting’s musical The Last Ship. The pair co-founded PosterchildArt, a multimedia art group that allows them to combine their love of choreography, performance and live music.
But PosterchildArt doesn’t simply make art— they’re striving to create change, break down barriers and bring movement to the masses by offering a workshop they call “Moving Meditation.”
I sat down with Lollino and Garrett at their Temple Gallery space in Pilsen to find out more about Moving Meditation, why most of us are so afraid to dance, why movement is so good for us and what they hope students experience at their workshops.
What was the genesis of Moving Meditation? How did you two come up with this idea?
Lollino: I studied dance and movement therapy in college, so I’ve been aware for a long time of how movement can help people to heal themselves. When I first moved to the city, I saw a flyer up for a “trance dance” event that described how people could come and move, bring journals, write about their experiences— and I thought, wait, that’s dance therapy! Not in a clinical form, but still, it was my first realization that you could do movement therapy with people even if you didn’t have a master’s degree in the subject.
Garrett: Early on in our artistic partnership, we were talking about ways we could work together as dancer and musician. We began by doing performances at Links Hall that incorporated live music and performance, which led to the birth of PosterchildArt.
Lollino: Bob toured nationally for four years with “The Lion King,” and I did massage and taught yoga to the cast and crew. That tour was when we first started doing what we called at the time “trance dance” or “ecstatic dance.”
Why don’t you call it trance dance anymore?
Lollino: I didn’t want to call it dance, because I didn’t want people to immediately think it was something they couldn’t do. I really want people to think of it as movement. Trance also has some connotations of leaving your body or of being taken over, and I wanted people to think of this experience as more coming into your body. When I’m dancing in this free-form improvisational way, I’m moving without my mind telling my body what to do, and paying attention to what that feels like. So it’s a mindful practice where you’re watching thoughts and emotions arise, and being aware of what comes up as you move. I wanted meditation in the title for that reason.
Why are people so terrified of dancing in public?
Garrett: My theory is that when language was first developing, there was a single word that meant music and dance. To me, they go hand in hand and are so often the same thing. We’ve separated the two in Western culture, which is I think part of why people have such trepidation about dance these days. People become scared and self-conscious about dancing, because we’ve been taught that it’s something you go see, something you can be a spectator of, not something you can actually do.
Lollino: Something I hear over and over from moving meditation students is that this experience brings them back to their childhoods, to a time where they felt uninhibited in their movements. When we were first performing as PosterchildArt, people would come up afterwards and say “That made me want to get up and dance!” That was super exciting—and I wanted them to have a way to do that. This is why I studied dance therapy: I wanted people to be able to find the same freedom and healing through movement that I did. So the question became, how can we create an environment where other people are able to join in the movement?
If someone already has a yoga or meditation practice, why should they try moving meditation? How are they different?
Lollino: One participant told me she felt moving meditation allowed her to move more three-dimensionally. Yoga has these specific forms with the asanas, and sometimes we can get stuck just moving on one plane, trying to move the way we are told. Dance allows for so much movement in all directions. I think it can help yoga students develop more whole body awareness. Moving meditation can help you learn about your body in a very loose, free-form way, which you can then take into yoga and apply specific techniques and alignment to.
Garrett: It’s more about intuitive movement than a traditional asana practice is. I’m not playing prerecorded music; it’s all happening live, so I kind of end up steering the ship for a lot of the journey. We’re encouraging students to connect to the music and the rhythm. What would you say to someone who said “I could never do this workshop, I’m a terrible dancer. I have no rhythm. I’d be way too embarrassed”?
Lollino: Truly, if people feel embarrassed or inhibited about moving, that’s actually a great reason to do the workshop. We want to encourage people to perhaps do the thing they are afraid to do. And know it’s OK to be afraid; you can work with your fears in a mindful way. In practical terms, I reassure people that we keep the lights very low; everyone is in their own space, paying attention to their own experience, and you don’t have to interact with anyone. We do our best to create a calm atmosphere. If you feel some fear, you will definitely not be the only one! So many people have said to me, I was so afraid to do this and that’s actually why I came.
Garrett: It’s similar to when people say they can’t do yoga because they aren’t flexible enough. You don’t have to wait to feel fearless before doing this meditation—the same way you don’t have to wait to become flexible before starting yoga.
Lollino: Working with and through that fear is a huge part of why we’re doing this.
What is your hope for these workshops? What would you like practitioners to leave the room with?
Garrett: We hope people feel that their ears have been opened up a little bit. We’re trying to offer a way for them to tap into that childhood effervescence, that completely un-self-conscious movement.
Lollino: We want moving meditation to help create a space with no judgments and no labels, to give participants a place to shake out the cobwebs of hours of inactivity and stresses, to let loose the rigidity of hitting their marks throughout the day and to find joy in taking the time to be with themselves.
As PosterchildArt, Nadine Lollino and Bob Garrett team up to create a uniquely transformative experience— helping people connect to the power of their bodies through dance and the rhythm of live music. Lollino and Garrett facilitate the Moving Meditations workshop at various spaces in Chicago and plan to offer it in other cities. Upcoming workshops will be at yogaview Chicago, 2211 North Elston Ave. Learn more at posterchildart.com.
Jennifer Boeder is a writer and editor who has been teaching yoga in Chicago for 15 years. See more of her work at jboeditorial.com.
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