Dance: The Hidden Language of the Soul
Written by Olivia Throssell
“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche
Students Jenna Acia, Ellie Bell, Austin McGuire, Leah Wilson, and Tina Koudalakian.
Photo courtesy of Annie Bunker.
Annie Bunker has been dancing for 50 years, however, she started doing environmental dance in the 1980's, and has been teaching dance for 25; she presently serves as a dance instructor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo (UH Hilo) for Modern Dace I and II and Hawaii Community College for Aerial Dance. UH Hilo offered the dance enthusiast her current position after she concluded her ownership of a Tucson, Arizona dance company. She made the move.
Bunker teaches many courses at UH Hilo, several of which are Modern Dance I, Modern Dance II, Aerial Dance I, and Aerial Dance II. This semester, she added the course Environmental Dance to her repertoire. The dances within the course draw on the settings surrounding an individual. Environments the dance instructor has used include a banyan tree and water moving between tree roots along Puna’s cliff edges. Every location has revealed something new in every one of her students.
Bunker began dancing with an environmental mindset in the 1980s, a time wherein many of her performances centered around art gallery pieces. Today, she feels that introducing students to this type of dance is beneficial in terms of both themselves as dancers and as individual beings. “On the first day of class,” the instructor states, “I had the students close their eyes and identify one sound they hear. We then individually went around the circle and each student shared their sound. As each student shared, I saw that the other students were becoming more intune with the sounds as they were said. I then asked all the students to stand up, close their eyes and walk towards the sound. As they listen they had to react to the sound using different parts of their body.”
Students Tristan Lee and Jenna Acia. Photo courtesy of Annie Bunker.
Environmental Dance emphasizes the relationship dance shares with other artistic products and senses, as well as ties this creative expression to the human relationship with the environment. Bunker hopes her new class will provide, among other superb things, environmental awareness for her students.
After her students finished their activity at the aforesaid banyan tree, the dance enthusiast took them to Puna cliff edges, so they could submerge themselves in a forest environment and learn to move through roots. Later, she took them to Hilo’s King's Landing, so they could interact with the ocean and its surroundings.
Students Victoria Conthan, Jenna Acia, and Ellie Bell. Photo courtesy of Annie Bunker.
At each class session, Bunker inquires of her students: “How do you feel?” “How did the sounds you heard impact your choice to move that body part?” She explains, “This type of dance and insight allows the student dancers to have a sensory experience of sound in it’s purest form. The students find strength within themselves when they take this class and it can be very emotionally beneficial. Without it being dance therapy, it essentially is dance therapy. This class strengthens a person's sense of self and self worth and allows them to absorbs the class without feeling uncomfortable in doing something foreign to them.”
Please note, this class is currently on trial. for more information about the Environmental Dance course and Dance major, contact the UH Hilo Performing Arts Department.
