Art in Motion: Reclaiming Your Creativity on the Dance Floor
Have you ever felt "stuck" in a feeling, a thought, or even a physical sensation? In our busy, often digitized lives, it’s easy to become disconnected from our bodies and our innate creativity. We might find ourselves moving through the world on autopilot, our nervous systems humming with the low-grade buzz of stress or the heavy weight of exhaustion.
At Coriander Living Collective, we often talk about resourcing—finding the tools that help us return to ourselves, regulate our nervous systems, and navigate the "waves" of life with more ease. One of the most powerful tools in my toolkit for this is Open Floor International’s teachings.
What is Art in Motion?
Art in Motion (AIM) is a specialized program within the Open Floor movement curriculum. While "Open Floor" is a conscious dance practice that uses movement to explore what it means to be human, AIM is a continuation of that exploration with art. It blends our movement resources with writing, theatre, and visual arts.
Open Floor practice is not about being a "good" artist or a "graceful" dancer. In fact, AIM is for anyone who can move. It is a practice of creative intelligence. Just as we build emotional intelligence by naming our feelings, we build creative intelligence by learning to "move through" our experiences using different expressive languages.
How It Works: The "Remix" of Expression
In an AIM session, we don’t just stay on the dance floor. We use a "multi-modal" approach. This might look like:
Moving: Starting with a guided dance to "thaw" out the body and find our ground.
Writing: Dropping into a "spontaneous writing" prompt to see what thoughts are surfacing from the movement.
Creating: Using simple visual art—like marks on paper or working with clay—to give a shape to a feeling that doesn't have words yet.
By shifting between these mediums, we learn to tolerate the "messy" parts of life. We practice navigating between our inner Creator (the part of us that is wild and free) and our inner Critic (the part that wants to keep us safe and "correct").
Why Does This Matter for Your Wellbeing?
You might wonder, “Cori, how does dancing and drawing help my anxiety or my sleep?” The answer lies in our nervous system. When we are stressed, we often get "fixed" in a certain state—fight, flight, or freeze. AIM teaches us the resource of flexibility. When we move from a rigid dance to a fluid writing exercise, we are literally training our brain and body to shift states. We are practicing how to move from "stagnant" to "flowing."
The benefits include:
Increased Resilience: Learning to stay present even when things feel chaotic or ugly on the page or the floor.
Deeper Insight: Sometimes our bodies know things our minds haven't quite figured out yet. AIM gives those insights a way to "speak."
Connection: Practicing in a group reminds us that we aren't alone in our humanity. We share the same hungers for belonging and expression.
Open Floor Art in Motion, Ground Floor Lab California 2026 with Majero Bouman
Join the MOVEMEANT
At Coriander Living Collective, I believe that everyone deserves a life well-lived—one that is intentional, aware, and full of expressive creativity.
Whether you’ve joined me for an Open Floor Workshop before or are brand new to the idea of conscious dance, I invite you to join me, you don't need to be an artist or dancer; you just need to be you.
Curious to try it out? Keep an eye on our Workshops & Retreats for upcoming sessions like Inner World, Outer Wordor MOVEMeant Summer Series 2026. Let’s get messy, find those "nuggets of gold" in the debris of daily life, and move toward a more vibrant, resourced version of ourselves.
