Salsa instructor Maria Lorenzi dances with her partner. Photo courtesy of Más Movement

Art and activism are often interrelated. Más Movement, a Vancouver dance school, promotes personal growth and social change locally and internationally through Latin dance, one step at a time.

Through affordable classes, events and their dance troupe, Más Movement Manifestación, the instructors of Más Movement, Michael Gabriel Rosen and Maria Lorenzi, have created an open dancing space where they promote inclusiveness and connection among Vancouverites, while advocating for a more just and sustainable world.

Word of this new project spread quickly. Más Movement welcomes students from many cultures, age groups and socioeconomic statuses. And they all gather around one common goal: change.

Inclusiveness and connection through diversity

Diversity is ubiquitous in Más Movement. Rosen, the founder, describes himself as a “Polish, Turkish, Spanish, Austrian, American, Kiwi, white Jew born and raised in Vancouver,” who fell in love with salsa while traveling through Cuba in 2000.

“I’m a white non-Cuban guy who has made most of his living teaching Cuban style salsa for the last five years. This is a form of cultural appropriation… and I try to do it as ethically as I can, acknowledging it and by talking about the history of the dance and the culture it comes from,” Rosen explains.

For him, partner dances like the Rueda de Casino, a type of Salsa danced in a circle with constant partner switching, are a great way to bring Vancouverites together.

“That connection part is the easiest… We learn to speak and listen to each other,” he says.

Rosen also sees Más Movement as an inclusive space in a society built on exclusion. “Our goal is to try to actively include marginalized people. We offer classes on a sliding scale or with subsidies available and don’t turn people away for lack of funds,” he explains.

“People come here and interact with other people they may not have met otherwise… You see friendships and connections being made. It’s a whole community,” says Lorenzi, a biostatistician by day and an experienced salsa instructor by night.

“Anybody can join really,” Mary Jane, one of Lorenzi’s students, adds, “Regardless of [their] age, [their] level, [their] background.”

The motto of Más Movement sums it up well: everyBODY welcome.

SalsActivism on the streets of Vancouver. Photo courtesy of Más Movement.

SalsActivism for change

The school doesn’t just advocates inclusiveness, it is a vector for change.

While in university, Rosen realized the power of art to trigger social change. “As I was writing my thesis, I got more disillusioned with academia and more into arts-based facilitation,” he says. He started teaching dance in schools and community centres to promote youth empowerment before creating Más Movement.

The dance troupe Más Movement Manifestación has participated in numerous rallies fighting for environmental and social issues through what they call ‘SalsActivism’.

In 2009, they joined a marching crowd of 5,000 on the Cambie bridge and had a giant rueda (group circle) to demand carbon reduction before the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

“Ultimately, I want it to be a source of inspiration and transformation for people and for society,” Rosen explains. “I want it to actively contribute to a more just and sustainable world where people are more connected to each other,” he adds.

But change can happen through small steps too, in the classroom itself, where Rosen and Lorenzi are open about their views on social issues such as racism and sexism.

Partner dances are a great tool to redefine gender roles, according to Lorenzi.

“Typically, in any partner dance, the man leads and the woman follows. But we like to make it more open: anyone can take on whatever role they want, and we use language like ‘leads’ and ‘follows’ instead of ‘men’ and ‘women’,” Lorenzi explains.

Más Movement also strives to remove cultural barriers, a big responsibility in a multicultural hub like Vancouver. Rosen sees himself as a “cultural translator” who introduces his students to a new world where people become interested in language and culture and want to travel and learn.

“Dance can help build bridges… Through dance, we can ‘fast-track’ through cultural barriers,” he adds.

Students at Más Movement practice their moves. Photo courtesy of Más Movement

The dance school has established itself as a tool for personal and social transformation in Vancouver and continues to expand. When asked about the success of his initiative, Rosen remains humble.

“Más Movement has definitely exceeded my initial expectations, but not my hopes. I’m a big dreamer,” he says.

“I want us to be bigger and have more impact,” Rosen adds.

Whether you are a salsa aficionado or an advocate for social change, you can join the Más Movement and contribute to the project one step at a time.

***

Más Movement
Classes offered Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays
Events on Fridays and Saturdays
http://www.masmovement.ca/
604-729-1935