ATX Fusion presents: Vanessa Yxcea & Samy Vez - Blindfold Games

Join ATX Fusion at Body Collective the 1rst and 3rd Sunday of each month!

WHAT IS FUSION DANCING?

Fusion is an improvisational partner dance where there's a lead and a follow that isn't confined or defined to one style. Fusion dancers tend to be familiar with the basics of more than one partner dance (blues, tango, west coast swing, Brazilian zouk, lindy hop, etc.) 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

JULY 16th SCHEDULE:

8PM - Class | Blindfold Games - Vanessa Yxcea & Samy Vez

- DJ'd Social 9PM-Midnight -

9PM - 10:30PM: Katie
10:30PM - Midnight: Whitney

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

CLASS DESCRIPTION: 

Blindfold Games

When we limit one of our senses, it's easier to focus on the others. We will use blindfolds to limit our sense of vision so we can focus on our sense of hearing (connecting to the music), touch (connecting to our partner), enteroception (body awareness), and proprioception (spatial awareness). We will use a series of blindfold games to explore touch and movement. We will rotate partners and switch roles (lead & follow) throughout the class. No experience with fusion dance is necessary, and this class will be accessible to visually impaired students and co-taught by both a blind instructor and sighted instructor. If physical touch is one of your love languages, you belong in this class! 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

MEET YOUR INSTRUCTORS:

VANESSA YXCEA (she/ they/ it) first fell in love with partner dancing in 2008 in the San Francisco Bay Area. After moving to Dallas, Texas, she started organizing and teaching fusion in 2017, including hosting Dallas’ first fusion weekends: Dallas Fusion Reaction (DFRX) and Texas Fusion Experience (TexFX), which were held annually 2018-2020, hoping to resume in 2024. In Austin, she has MC'd and instructed at Austin Fusion Fest (AFF). She loves to lead, follow, and switch, please ask her to dance anytime!

SAMY VEZ (he/him) Dr. Samuel Vezenegho is the Executive Director and founder of WE CAN DANCE. He earned his PhD in Medical Entomology in 2012 from Witswatersrand University in Johannesburg, South Africa. His passion for dance stems from his native Babanki tradition from Cameroon in West Africa, where important events are memorialized through dancing and community gathering. Even though Samy started dancing to African rhythms at age 5, he was only introduced to Kizomba, Urban Kiz, Salsa and Bachata in 2012 while living in France and French Guiana. The combination of the dance styles, techniques, and pedagogical foundations that he learned from top notch dance instructors, and his teaching experience obtained from academic environments, equipped him to start teaching dance in 2016.

In 2017, Samuel hosted the Dallas Kizomba Festival, and in 2018, he was a finalist in the elite North American Kizomba Olympiads competition, and finished second in the Urban Kiz category. Shortly after competing in the Kizomba Olympiads, he lost his sight and came to learn from his blind peers, of the daily challenges that they face. In 2019, he taught Kizomba at the State Conference for the National Federation for the Blind – Austin, White Cane Day. The participants expressed their joy and inspiration at the idea that their lives could change by continuing to dance Kizomba; which inspired Samuel to create WE CAN DANCE to provide additional opportunities to dance, improve their social skills, and expand their horizons.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

COVER/PRICE: $15 entry. Both card and cash accepted at the door.