NORTON

FROM PAGE 12 ster’s Dictionary de nes “lament” as, to express sorrow, mourning, or regret often demonstratively, or, to regret strongly, or, to cry out in grief. ose are some very strong words that should emote some very deep feelings.

When given the choice, most of us would probably prefer to reminisce about the good old days, right? We can laugh with one another, embrace one another, and choose to only remember the best times of our lives. ere is nothing wrong with that and as a matter of fact I highly recommend it. ere is no greater cure for the blues than spending time with a family member or friend stirring up our greatest and most memorable escapades of our past. Yet there is also something to be said of lamenting our past, our sorrows, our griefs, and the challenges we have faced in all our years here on earth. e struggles have been real, the hurts have been devastating, the challenges have brought us to tears, and the disappointments many and plentiful. Why would I say that there is something to be said about lamenting our past? Because sometimes even the pain brings back memories of something once cherished. Because sometimes it’s is a gathering of re and rescue services that provides activities, education and entertainment to the community.

“Kids get to use real re hoses and they get to talk to remen,” Hook and Ladder member Mark Gorman said. “We cut some cars apart. e kids get to pick up the tools that the remen use, and they ask questions and their imagination gets to run wild.” ere will also be a live automobile extrication demonstration, during which re ghters from South Metro Fire Rescue will use a piece of machinery called “Jaws of Life” to pry apart a crushed car to remove a volunteer “accident victim,” showing just one example of an emergency that re ghters respond to. ere will also be a demonstration that shows the importance of sprinklers in extinguishing res.

Some highlights of the muster this year will include opportunities to ride a re truck, shoot a re hose, try on bunker gear and learn safety tips from e South Metro Safety Foundation, the Children’s Hospital Colorado Burn Camps Program, the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, the National Weather Service and more.

“We also have a sprinkler trailer demonstration from the National Fire Sprinkler Association where healthy to lament, and feel the pain so that we can maybe nally let it go. And sometimes, it’s OK to never let go of something or someone we cherished so deeply, that is now lost, because it keeps us connected forever. e daughter who lost her mom before her wedding day laments that she couldn’t experience that special occasion with her mom. e same daughter reminisces each holiday about how special her mom made each and every holiday, bringing both tears of sorrow and tears of joy to her face. Do you see how they can both exist in the same moment? they’re gonna have this trailer where they set a re to it and then sprinklers extinguish the re,” Webb said. “It shows the bene t of sprinklers, whether it’s in a commercial setting or a home setting.”

How about you? Do you love and appreciate the moments where you get to reminisce about the best, happiest, and craziest times of life with your family and friends? Do you also lament those moments in life where you wish things could’ve been di erent? I would love to hear your story at gotonorton@gmail.com, and when we can remember all of the sweet, bitter and bittersweet moments of life that shape who we are, it really will be a better than good life.

Michael Norton is an author, a personal and professional coach, consultant, trainer, encourager and motivator of individuals and businesses, working with organizations and associations across multiple industries.

Attendees will get to watch the Children’s Hospital Colorado Children’s One Flight Team land their neonatal/pediatric emergency helicopter.

Kids will also have the chance to do “maggot art” with the Arapahoe County Coroner, dipping live maggots into paint and letting them crawl around paper as they learn about entomology and forensic investigations.

South Metro Fire Rescue communications manager Eric Hurst said he appreciates the community connection that comes from the event each year.

“As a (South Metro Fire Rescue) employee who remembers going into the re muster when I was in elementary school, it’s just really cool for me to be able to be there and answer questions and inspire the next generation of our personnel to maybe want to apply one day,” he said.

Swedish Medical Center, the largest sponsor of this year’s event, will also be present at the event to talk about their level 1 trauma center, said Hook and Ladder member Paula Weins.

Hook and Ladder members recommend that families attending with kids bring a change of clothes for their children, as there are many opportunities for them to get soaked at the event.

Be Studio is an all-inclusive space for people young and old to feel the music and express themselves. For dancers who want to break out of the traditional dance studio format, the international company based in Denver could be a dream come

Striving to bring the magic of global movement to people in Colorado, Caitlin BroznaSmith founded the dance studio that brings a piece of global culture along with self-expression and con dence with each class.

“It was so important to include people from where these cultures are sourced,” said Brozna-Smith. “I found people from Polynesia to teach Polynesian dance… teachers from Iran. We really have this beautiful, electric group of dancers from all over the

Among a multitude of dance styles, students can learn the soft style of Hula ‘Auana, Tahitian dance, Bollywood, Belly Dancing, adult ballet and Ginga Vibe, which draws on styles from the African Diaspora including Funk, Afro-Caribe, Dance Hall, Soca, Lambada and Samba. e studio also o ers Taiji Fit, a halfhour mind and low-impact body workout that combines traditional T’ai Chi with mindfulness and modern Western tness. Inspired by the Bollywood style of dance, BollyX Fitness is a 50-minute cardio workout and GROOV3 Hip Hop Dance Fitness.

Within the Bella Diva studio, both the

Students learn worldwide dance styles at Bella Diva World Dance Studio

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

teaching sta and students are multinational. e dance teachers come from ve di erent countries and teach a range of students from 29 di erent countries.

To bring as much authentic culture into Denver, many teachers have gone abroad to study di erent styles of dance.

“ e people (teachers) who are not native from the cultures that we’re teaching travel and learn from the source because it’s really important that we do cultural appreciation and cultural exchange,” Brozna-Smith said.

Samba teach countries. styles (teachers) the from source appreciation exchange,” Brozna-Smith abso-

Samba, the high energy and fast footwork style is not just a dance form, it is a lifestyle. ose who teach Samba at Bella Diva make sure they are staying true to the culture and teach the students the history of where the dance originated.

“I am very careful when I am teaching my students because I am not Brazilian, it is not my culture, but it is something that I am absolutely fascinated with and love,” said instructor Chelsi Vecchiavelli. “I spend a lot of time outside of class researching, asking experts, listening to podcasts, consulting my mentors who are Brazilian and who are my teachers.”

Born out of the slave trade when it was down in Brazil, Samba was a means of hope and joy and is a dance of resistance and raises up against oppression.

Samba schools have often been located in a favela, which is the poor neighborhoods within Rio De Janeiro. Vecchiavelli said there is a big connection between the people and the culture, which is something she wanted to bring back to her classes in the U.S. e class starts with a warm-up, which can di er each week, but tends to be drill focused. Students start to move their bodies by working on hip movements, endurance and strengthening the ankles. e students gather in a circle and with an energetic song playing, they dance with each other. e end of class time is not about technique or who has the best footwork, it’s about connecting with one another as that is what the culture is about. Western dancers are often trained to perform, but this style of dance is about looking each other in the eyes, singing and embracing the joy that comes along with Samba.

Since spending time in Brazil earlier this year, Vecchiavelli has implemented a sense of community within her classes.

After warming up, the class begins to stretch out every part of their body to help prevent injuries. e class then moves to work on technique, whether it is adding the ourishes of the arms during Samba no pé or gaining speed and endurance for the style.

In Brozna-Smith’s Samba class, her students warm up to the upbeat rhythm of the drums.

Just as Brozna-Smith has her students perform for one another during the class, Vecchiavelli has integrated improvisation at the end of her class.

“We need to recognize that we’re dancing it from a place of privilege,” said Vecchiavelli. “We’re not able to connect to it in the same way that people in Brazil can, and so I try to make sure that we at least know the context of it.”

Bella Bro World Dance

For an hour each week, men take part in a high-intensity, choreographybased workout. Led by Kyle Kastner, the group’s heart rate increases and sweat pours down as Kastner focuses on moving fast.

Having been the only consistent man who danced at Bella Diva for eight years, Kastner felt the need to bring more men into the fold, as male representation in dance in America is not as strong as in other cultures.

Kastner believes the American culture is dismissive and even undermining of male dancers.

“I actually think that it is incredibly masculine to dance, and when you look at other cultures around the world, dance is ingrained,” Kastner said. “It’s not gendered. ere may be gender norms within it, but gender is not important.”

With the goal of creating a space for men to feel free to use their bodies in a creative way, Kastner created Bella Bro World Dance. ere are about eight individuals who are regulars to the class. Kasnter gains inspiration for his class from Bollywood and Brazilian Samba no pé. It is not just the energy that those styles of dance bring but embracing the masculinity of the Indian culture and bridging the gap between di erent stylings that is being shown in Samba no pé.

Bella Bro World Dance recently worked on a piece inspired by a lm based on a true story. e character they are portraying was a great warrior and fought in battles. Although it appears that the dancers are not doing much, their moves are incredibly complex and take a lot of strength to complete. roughout the class, the students started to learn how to move their bodies in new and challenging ways and discover things about themselves, Kastner said. e class also helps rede ne what masculinity is and shift the focus from a toxic idea of masculinity to a much more embracing, accepting idea of what it could be.

In his class, he helps the students learn how to use their inherent male privilege as a superpower for good.

“ at’s something I’ve de nitely been working with the men on is understanding that just because we are men, we have privilege that others don’t,” said Kasnter. “And then especially if we are white men with privilege that others don’t (have), to use that in a bene cial positive way for society and community as a whole.” instructor of the Iranian Persian style of dance in Colorado, Delsie KhademGhaeini is honored to represent her community and to be a vessel for cultural outreach by sharing Iranian culture through dance.

In Iranian culture, there are a couple of di erent stylizations of dance as there are di erent minority groups and languages, all of the groups have their own folk dancing and style of dancing. e style Khadem-Ghaeini teaches is not a regional style of dance in Iran, it is shared across all of those cultures.

Iranian culture is deeply rooted in poetry, therefore, a lot of the music has poetry in it.

Khadem-Ghaeini said the style she teaches is more of a staged kind of style of dancing, a style that is closely related to what is seen in current pop styles of dance. She focuses on the quality of the movements. e movements are more structured and re ned compared to some of the more theatrical styles of dancing.

“Depending on what region they’re from, there might be dance movements that are associated to the kind of farming that they might have done or in the southern region, along the Persian Gulf, there may be dance movements that are related to shing,” Khadem-Ghaeini said.

Her classes focus on connecting with the music by using the uidity of the arms, hands and wrists, which can be very emotive. One form of movement that di erentiates the Iranian style of dance from other styles that also use arms and hands is the use and curving of the spine. e combination of the arm, hand and spinal curves is subtle to the eye.

According to Khadem-Ghaeini, the aesthetics of Iranian culture has a lot of curves and a lot of geometry. Many of the shapes in the body that dancers create are very curved, even mirroring the way Persian calligraphy curves and moves are showing up in dance.

Another important piece of Iranian Persian dancing is learning the history of Iranian culture and sending messages and making statements. With the current revolutions taking place in Iran, Khadem-Ghaeini and her students performed at the University of Denver, choosing songs that relate to the woman-led revolutions.

“When I’m dancing, it’s a much deeper connection to music,” said Khadem-Ghaeini. “It’s not just about trying to hit my body a certain way that that music hits… but the poetry and the music that has like thousands of years of history, that is part of Iranian culture, to me, every time I do a performance is deeply involved for me.”

Being a student at Bella Diva World Dance

Having studied dance since she was a little girl, Elizabeth Buckius has trained in di erent kinds of studios with strict teachers in traditional ballet. She said that Bella Diva is the most welcoming, supportive and caring studio.

Students at the Denver-based studio are of all ages, all orientations and all shapes and sizes. e people bring an electric energy into the studio and by embracing the cultural aspect of the di erent styles of dance, everyone — from sta to students to the costume designer — has created a strong community within the walls of the studio, according to Buckius and sta at the studio.

“What makes us unique is also what makes us stronger,” said Brozna-Smith. “We’re able to really learn empathy by putting ourselves in somebody else’s shoes or position and life.”

Along with the positive and supportive energy in each classroom, there is a lot of curiosity as well. e studio focuses on learning about different cultures and becoming a global citizen. Buckius said it’s a great way to learn about other parts of the world.

Bella Diva also focuses on being body positive and being a healthy place for dancers. And with such multicultural sta and students at the studio, the studio has become a strong and vibrant community in Denver and internationally.

“We really want to be rooted in the actual traditions that we’re studying,” said Buckius. “So even though we’re here in Colorado, we want to make sure we’re connecting with the actual traditions at the world dance studio.”

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