shaleigh comerford, dancer and teacher.

i studied dance with shaleigh at ninth street dance in durham. she taught me how to dance with honesty and integrity, not to simply perform the movements. our bodies are made to communicate and be pushed to their limits.

as a clumsy person with two bad knees, this idea was hard for me. could i be a dancer? could i share my thoughts and feelings through movement? shaleigh showed me that i could. shaleigh ends each class with a mantra: thank your body for all that it has done for you today. we all should celebrate our bodies for what they are and for their immense potential.

shaleigh is leaving to further her studies of the Gaga Teaching Technique in tel aviv with ohad naharin, director of the batsheva dance company.

gaga, not to be confused with lady gaga, is a movement technique that “originated from the belief in the healing, dynamic, ever-changing power of movement.” shaleigh is one of the first eight people to travel to israel to study with naharin, and she’s going to bring it back to share it with hundreds of dancers in the states.

she has a kickstarter campaign to fund her travels and needs our help! please donate if you can. 

here are some images i made of shaleigh teaching a ballet class at ninth street dance. my sister’s in the lavender leotard. she saw how much i enjoyed modern and took ballet!

[click on the top photo to donate to shaleigh’s kickstarter campaign today.]