When we were paired together, we made a conscious choice create this work from an artistic mindset, not just technical; We wanted it to have meaning & purpose as we knew it would be our last time dancing in a technique assessment together. & now, it will forever hold such a strong place in my heart. I adored creating it, i adored dancing it, i adored performing it. I would do this dance over & over again if i could. I have never felt so proud of myself when watching a dance back. I am normally very self critical & can find flaws to correct or work on, but this piece is so much more than that to me, it’s about the feeling it gives me, the feeling i had dancing it, the strength it fuels me with, pride for all the work that went into making me the dancer i am, it’s an encapsulation of our time studying dance together; the way we held eachother through all hardships & equally celebrated all of the achievements along the way. I am beyond proud of what we created. Couldn’t have done it (any of it) without Rai. ❤️‍🩹

This was one of my favourite creative processes thus far; filled with so much joy & nostalgia & lots of digging for meaning. It really cemented for me that purpose is power. I loved every part of making this work and i love this routine so much because we didn’t just stick to the assignment of creating a technique phrase out of our past phrases; we made it about us, we made it about our time here, we made it about our friendship, about our growth, about what makes us strong, about what we have faced. It’s beautiful how movement from past phrases became so poetic in this process. we created a routine that was carved by movement that reminds us why we love it. Dancing with Rai will always mean so much to me; Rai has been my rock, my therapist, my duet partner, my everything, she got me through university, and i have been irrevocably changed by meeting her & i’m so grateful for that. I can’t believe i found someone so similar to me; our creative brains just mesh so well. This whole process was so easy because its like we already know what eachother is thinking before we say it; we were able to stitch together all of our favourite routines so effortlessly that it gave us so much time to refine & pull out the details of connection, create a storyline; and by the time we performed it both on stage, and in assessment, i could fully relax into the moment & ENJOY the movement. I remember after performing it during the our assessed class i received feedback from multiple tutors that it was so nice to see me smile so much whilst dancing - i think this phrase reminded me to let myself really let go and enjoy what i’m doing, because i focused on how much i adored this phrase, i was able to alleviate all the pressure i normally put on myself to perform to a perfectionist standard; yes, i was being assessed on my technique but i wanted to let that go and soak in the fact that i’m dancing with someone who has changed my life, in a studio that has changed my life, to choreography from my tutors who have changed my life meshed together from across the three years of my degree that has changed my life. It was a moment to celebrate myself and my accomplishments rather than scrutinize my abilities and worry about the outcome of the assessment. i reconnected with finding love and joy in my practice throughout this process and i think i’m a better dancer for it.

We chose the song ribs as we danced together to it in one of our first improv jam’s here at AUB & that memory holds a special place for both of us; so dancing to it again, this time choreographed, after three years of blood sweat & tears, pulling eachother through, was really really special. There were a few bumps & bruises along the way, from chucking ourselves into things (or at eachother) too hard; but it was all so worth it. I’m so proud of the outcome & im so proud of how it embodies our journey together accross the past three years as a whole.