Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

These first months of business at Acro Enso have been such an amazing adventure. Up to this point, figuring out how to create a warm and welcoming space for all you movement enthusiasts, has been a huge focus for us, and has required us to make difficult decisions about how to grow this space. Based off recent inquiries we’ve received, we’d like to share a little context on a particular decision we’ve made on whether we should fill our studio with mirrors.

To decide yes or no, we first reached out to a group who would have a very strong opinion on this matter: the dance community. After all, dance is one of our main disciplines, and most dance studios you find are usually filled with mirrors. Surprisingly, we heard a wide range of opinions from dancers, both advocating and opposing mirrors. After going back and forth, we finally reached out to our good friend, Maggie Stack, who is also a highly educated and experienced dance teacher.

Maggie's philosophy on mirrors really struck home with us. She told us that mirrors are a great tool for understanding the body. However, after years of training with and without mirrors, Maggie found that her practice benefited more when she couldn’t see her reflection. Maggie believes, that as a dancer, the key to molding your body into various positions and shapes is a deep, physical understanding that requires you to feel every morsel of yourself from the inside. “There’s so much to investigate,” she remarks - “your bones, muscles, blood, flesh - and it’s easy to forget parts of the body when you’re seeing a one-dimensional version of yourself.” Maggie encourages all of her dancers to tune into the full 360-degree study of the body by directing focus on the self and away from the reference of a mirror.

We understand there are mixed opinions on this topic, however, we agree with Maggie on this concept of connecting with the self. We believe this kind of connection truly inspires authentic movement which is what we're all about here at Acro Enso. So, in the end we decided to not fill our walls with mirrors. We encourage you to come and experience our space for yourself though and share with us what you think. Stay tuned to learn more about Maggie Stack and the classes she teaches at Acro Enso in our next blog. Thanks for reading!!

~ Namastizzle

Acro Enso.

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