Dance

“Dance is, in its essence, the natural impulse to express the soul's feelings; it is the body's language par excellence, and like verbal language, it has served humanity throughout the millennia, helping to compose sacred hymns, tales, and epic poems. Dance was also the foundation of magical ceremonies, rites, celebrations, and so on. Thus, the history of dance coincides with the history of humanity and civilizations.Dance, however, did not have merely a performative, artistic value; its fundamental role, originally, was to accompany the various stages of life of an entire community and its individual members.”

- Maria Piscopo

Rite of Passage Dance

…is devoted to creating personal and collective movement experiences to ritualize and mark time, honor the seasons of nature and the seasons of our lives. My deepest Rite of Passage practice is mask making as personal artifact and as a tool for reaching states of liminality in dance, bringing us to a place of personal and collective healing. Drawing on my background in dance, I use movement as a way of knowing and a way to connect to a deeper understanding of both personal and collective stories. My work is a reflection of the belief that dance is not only a form of expression, but also a powerful tool for being in relationship with one's innermost self.