KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Back in December, Meteorologist Samantha Jacques announced that she would be competing in the annual Dancing with the Local Stars event, partnering with dance pro Patrick Johnson. She later revealed their backup dancers – 13 ON YOUR SIDE’s Emily Scarlett and Whitney Dawn Pyles, Jay Plyburn's partner.
The event raises money for local food banks, so Pyles is hosting a fundraiser this Saturday ahead of the big event. It’s called Mindful Movement, a unique way to get people dancing.
“Mindful Movement is a movement concept, a movement format that I created three years ago and have been adding to, perfecting and building on over the last few years,” Pyles said. “The goal is really to help people create a deeper relationship with their body and its needs, and not only to focus on selfcare, but to also add this element of community care, where we are authentically connecting with one another through movement, through dance.”
She started offering the classes in 2021, shortly after moving to Michigan. Pyles has taught dance in some form for many years but said she wanted to offer something new and unique.
“When I started creating this, I was really drawing from my experience with yoga and 20 plus years of dance. As I was facilitating, I went through a somatic coaching program, so that's life coaching from a body-oriented perspective. Doing that training and coming out with that certification really gave me this foundation of knowledge that really added to this experience and brought in that element of relationship building with the body,” she said. “There are a lot of different influences like yoga, tai chi, mindfulness traditions, somatic therapy, coaching techniques, dance fitness, freeform dance. All of these things come together to create an experience that's helping people ground into the present moment, to feel into their own bodies, and to really have an experience that feels joyful, playful, liberating and connective.”
It starts off slow, Pyles said, allowing people to get comfortable and become grounded.
“I often introduce a theme or a prompt for people to sit with and reflect on to carry into their movement,” she said. “So we start from this very grounded seated place, and that builds into intuitive somatic stretching. Again, this is where the influences of yoga and tai chi come in. So just bringing in some familiar movement into the body that feels nourishing, that feels comforting, that feels supportive and safe to the individual.”
From there, things get a little faster, and it’s all synched up to a curated playlist.
“I bring in some elements of tapping, patting, and body percussion, connecting with the music, connecting with the body, connecting with the individual sense of their own internal rhythm. And from there, we just start to play.”
At this point, colorful scarves are offered to participants, creating a wild visual as people move through the space.
“Ultimately, the crescendo of this experience is freeform dance, dancing like you are at the club, or you're at a party, or you're in your bedroom getting ready for work, or for the day or for the weekend,” Pyles said. “So we crescendo at this point of freeform dance, but it's a very slow build to get there.”
Then, just as participants start to sweat from the ecstatic dance, the music slows down.
“We settle back into our bodies, and we typically end where we began, with some grounding and mindfulness practices to really integrate all that we've gained through the experience,” Pyles said. “We see a lot right now around self-care. And while self-care is extremely important, community care is also important. So a big part of what I do in the world is yes, helping individuals, but also creating authentic community, and authentic connection, and authentic relating between people so that as human beings, we can really come back to our roots as a singing and dancing species, as a species that's meant to be telling stories together and connecting around the fire.”
The Mindful Movement fundraiser is Saturday, Feb. 10 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Kids' Food Basket in Grand Rapids. The 13 ON YOUR SIDE Morning team will be there to join in the fun. The suggested donation is $10 to $30, and all proceeds benefit Dancing with the Local Stars which takes place Feb. 23 and 24. Click here to pre-register for Mindful Movement.
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