Kickstarting 2026
How talking to new, inspiring people can trigger new ideas and possibilities
I started the year in the best possible way: meeting someone new, Luca Olivetto, to whom I have a lot to say and who has a lot to say to me. We’ve never met in person before today, but it doesn’t take us long to hit it off. The common denominator? Dance and its creative, expressive, and therapeutic power.
Luca tells me about his long experience as a dancer, and about moments of crisis and evolution, which led him to understand that dance is a key element in his life. Luca graduated in “DanzaMovimentoTerapia” (dance-movement-therapy), and today he uses dance and conscious movement as a therapeutic tool and a means of inner discovery in the groups of people he works with.
After telling me his story, Luca asks me: “What about you? Have you been dancing for a long time?”
I look at him and realize that I have never told anyone my story as a “dancing soul”. I don’t have a prepared narrative, so I decide to improvise. I dig up my past experiences, the hip-hop classes I took as a teenager, the salsa classes during high school, and the folk dances during university. Then, as the years went by, I developed a desire to dance without having to go to a disco, without alcohol, without makeup, without heels, without being stuck to people, without feeling judged.
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When I arrived in Cambridge in 2019 to develop a research project in ecology, this need was stronger than ever. At the University, the work was intense, there was a lot to do, and the pressure was high. In that competitive and stressful environment, I met a very kind person, Laura, who is still a good friend today, who suggested I try a circus class with her. I accepted, and immersed myself in that world of sunny, creative artists, where I met another girl (now a dear friend), Lisa, who suggested I go with her to a 5Rhythms class. I had no idea what it was, but the premises were intriguing, and I decided to give it a try. I discovered a way of dancing freely, without alcohol, drugs, or inhibitions. A conscious, honest dance. Dance as a tool for discovery, as a moment of listening. I thought that something like this only existed in my head, but it didn’t. I immediately felt at home. I can meditate through my body. I move consciously. I discover who I am and what I feel… by listening to my body. Amazing! It’s better than a session with a psychologist. It’s a process of continuous transformation, with the support of a community that accompanies you and dances with you and around you. Everyone at their own pace, everyone with their own style.
When, a year later, I left Cambridge, the 5Rhythms had already entered my heart, and I was determined to find them again in Spain, where I was about to go to start my PhD in forest ecology.
Unfortunately, I discovered that this practice was not so widespread in Spain. I looked for alternatives, with little success. So, I decided to look for a space myself in the city where I was living, Lleida. I started talking to people, looking at venues. Eventually, I succeeded in my endeavor, finding a venue and people interested in dancing freely, listening to their bodies. Obviously, it was nothing like 5Rhythms, but it was better than nothing. I did it primarily for myself, as I felt it was a personal necessity, and then maybe it could also be a place to meet interesting people. We met once a week for a year. A certified 5Rhythms teacher also came to give a class. Then the workload of my PhD increased, and I reluctantly decided to stop. These were difficult years, both personally and professionally. My relationship with dance was interrupted, and with it, my direct connection with my body and what it needed.
Fortunately, towards the end of my PhD, I managed to reverse this trend and returned to prioritizing dance and myself. For over a year now, one Sunday a month, I have been going to Barcelona to dance the 5Rhythms with about sixty beautiful dancing souls guided by Gina Espinosa. I use every second of those two hours of dancing to observe myself, feel myself, recalibrate myself, express myself, let off steam, let go, and welcome. In addition, almost a year ago, I started practicing capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, which allows me to move my body daily, listen to ancestral rhythms, and interact with inspiring people.
Without realizing it, my story as a “dancing soul” was coming to an end. My interlocutor seemed interested, so I plucked up my courage and concluded my monologue.
Now that I have completed my PhD, I would like to continue exploring this connection between creativity and conscious movement. I would like to understand how to use dance and conscious movement as an exploratory and creative tool in science. My experience in academia has led me to see that research is based on innovation. It is based on ideas, concepts, or realities that no one had ever considered or analyzed in that way before. And that is precisely why there can be no innovation without creativity, because creativity is the gift that allows us to be curious, to explore, to go beyond the known. Creativity allows us to create new things, connect dots, to attempt what has never been attempted before. It therefore seems obvious to me that we cannot explore the limits of human knowledge without giving space to the creative element.
And the creative element finds space in all the arts: painting, sculpture, dance, etc. Yet, in universities, no space is given to the creative element. You are either an artist or a scientist. Out — out. We don’t listen to our bodies or our intuition, we don’t train this skill, this attitude; we only give space to our rational thinking, which, unfortunately, sometimes, rather than solving problems, creates them and makes us lose sight of what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Luca smiles and asks, “Cool! Would you like to organize a workshop on the subject together!?”
