LINES Dance Center welcomes Rhythm & Motion this Summer
Our newest class offering combines personal growth, creative artistry and energetic delight – we are thrilled to announce Rhythm & Motion at LINES Dance Center this summer!
Rhythm & Motion is not your typical cardio fitness class, it’s a dance-based workout firmly rooted in the technical fundamentals of a myriad of dance styles. Master instructor Dudley Flores creates high-energy classes inspired by popular music from around the world — pop, African, Latin, hip-hop, R&B, alternative, and more.
“Rhythm & Motion taught me how to move with energy and soul, and what I learned early on influenced my desire to pursue my professional dance career,” says Rhythm & Motion’s Artistic Director, Dudley Flores, who took his first class in 1999. “I was inexperienced and an introvert. To me, the dance world was intimidating, and in many ways, it still is.”
I want people who walk into any Rhythm & Motion dance class to feel the way I felt when I stepped into my first class – welcomed, challenged, inspired, thoroughly exhausted, and most of all happy.”
So, what is Rhythm & Motion?
Dudley answered some questions about the dance workout program in preparation for its arrival at LINES.
What is Rhythm & Motion?
Rhythm & Motion (R&M for short) was founded in 1979 by dancer/choreographer Consuelo Faust. Our mission is to provide the joy, intensity and skill of dance, in its many forms, to the public in a positive atmosphere.
“Dance” means something different to different people. From the performing arts on stages and traditional cultural dances held in intimate settings all over the globe, to friends going out dancing at the club, everyone can relate to some idea of “dance.” Rhythm & Motion Dance Workout classes honor and expose many of those ideas through our music, choreography and teaching.
The class starts with a full-bodied warm-up, followed by a series of faster, energetic, dance routines. There are turns, leaps, jumps, undulations, shimmies, booty-bumps – you name it, we probably do it. The last 15 minutes is focused on choreography that stretch and strengthen the upper body, core and legs.
Every song used in R&M has set choreography. No matter what class you go to, when you hear a specific song, the steps will always be the same. There’s very little breakdown, but enough repetition that students will get many of the moves and spatial patterns over time.
It’s exhausting, yet energizing, and a sweaty good time.
How is it different from other dance fitness classes?
Our classes focus more on dance than fitness. The choreography is not dance-inspired, but true dance, in its many different forms, made accessible for everyone.
Our instructors aren’t fitness trainers. They are experienced dancers and choreographers who come from varied dance backgrounds and carry a wealth of knowledge through their training and experience. The teachers aren’t just good at what they do, but they love what they do. You can feel it in every one of their classes.
There’s variety in movement and music. The instructors all choreograph for the Program and contribute to a library of choreography shared amongst the instructors. Our ever-growing library is as diverse as the instructors’ training, and in any one class, we’ll touch on movements based in contemporary dance, jazz, Haitian, Brazilian, hip hop and so much more.
Really, the only way to understand the difference is to check out a class.
Who can benefit from a Rhythm & Motion class?
Everyone – from the absolute beginner to the professional dancer! Yes, it’s a great full-body (and brain) workout, but I’ve also heard people say that R&M introduced them to their passion for dance. Others have said that it was their way back to dance after they stopped for one reason or another. I also know many professional dancers who take R&M as a way to build strength and stamina and supplement their training in a way that technique classes cannot always provide.
For me, it’s my reminder that dance comes from a soulful and joyful place. As working dancers, with our intense training, long rehearsal days, and body aches and pains, it’s easy to lose sight of why we started to dance in the first place. In many ways, it’s like going home. It’s really therapeutic.
What do LINES and Rhythm & Motion have in common? Why are they a good fit?
As with other dance centers we partner with (Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz, the Richmond Ballet in Virginia, and our home base at ODC Dance Commons in SF) we have shared values in building and nurturing vibrant communities of dancers and dance enthusiasts. At Rhythm & Motion, we truly believe “anyone can dance” and have been saying that for 37 years. Our offering is an outlet for self-expression and joy and means to connect people to, and manifest, both the art, and ritual, of dance.
LINES is a major center for dance on the West Coast and I’ve seen the Center’s programming reach out to the broader community more and more over the years. In a time where people are feeling guarded and closing some doors, LINES is opening their doors wider and wider.
Working together will help amplify and enhance our companies‘ visions and hopefully open more doors and opportunities for people to engage with dance and their community.
MUSIC + MOVEMENT + SPIRIT + SWEAT
It all starts July 7.
Rhythm & Motion
Thursdays, 6:15-7:30pm
Saturdays, 11:15am-12:30pm
Instructor: Dudley Flores, Rhythm & Motion Artistic Director
Dudley Flores (Rhythm & Motion Artistic Director) is a San Francisco native and has been a Rhythm & Motion instructor since 2000. He has performed and toured nationally and internationally with some of the Bay Area’s most prominent contemporary dance companies and choreographers, including: Janice Garrett and Charles Moulton, Robert Moses KIN, ODC/Dance, Stacey Printz, KT Nelson and Nol Simonse.
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