A Local Artist on Trauma-Informed Movement and Education

Trigger Warning: Trauma

By Madison Huizinga, DWC Blog Editor

Over time, certain teaching and communication behaviors in the dance world don’t only become normalized, they become expected. This is the case even when these kinds of behaviors result in trauma that causes dancers to become “disembodied” from their practice. That’s why local artist and teacher Megan Margaret Moore created SALTSHAKE, a brand dedicated to sharing Trauma-Informed dance and education with the arts community, specifically aimed at helping those that may identify as a “disembodied dancer.” Read on to learn about Megan’s journey and SALTSHAKE’s INTRODUCING SALTSHAKE event at Nod Theater on March 28, 2022.

Megan was inspired to dance after watching her older sister dancing growing up. She recalls trying to mimic her sister’s dance moves on her own as a little one. Around age three, Megan enrolled in her first class, sharing that she was immediately overwhelmed with passion for dance from an early age. “It was just my whole heart. Everything I thought about had to do with dancing every single day,” Megan says. She continued training under the Cecchetti ballet method until about ninth grade.

Megan says that she is grateful for the support she received as a young artist growing up in Huntington Beach, California, sharing that she participated in the Academy of Performing Arts (APA) magnet program at Huntington Beach High School. She shares that she was granted amazing opportunities through the program, including the ability to choreograph nearly ten pieces before she graduated high school. In addition, Megan traveled to the New Prague Dance Festival with APA to dance as an apprentice under the choreographer Marie Hoffman. It was through these experiences that she realized choreography was the path she wanted to go down.

Megan attended Cornish College of the Arts, which is what brought her up to Seattle. She is grateful for all the mentors and choreographers she got to meet and work with at Cornish. And Megan also shares that her college years were some of the hardest times of her life, as many of the unhealthy, yet normalized, teaching and communication practices in the dance industry began to accumulate and take their toll on her. Always being expected to put a smile on one’s face and dance through the pain can take a lot out of a performer.

After graduating in 2019, Megan had been hired to choreograph for an opera at Whidbey Island Center of the Arts, which unfortunately got shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says that during the widespread lockdown, many of the uncomfortable feelings Megan had been suppressing began to bubble to the surface. Megan moved back in with her family, eventually landing on Whidbey Island where she is today.

Megan developed SALTSHAKE largely for the “disembodied dancer,” an artist who wishes to pursue their passions but feels “they must stifle the sensitivity that attracts them to the arts in order to cope with the intensity of their artistic training.” Megan landed on this label to describe what she was experiencing coming out of the COVID-19 lockdown, a disconnect from her body and identity as a dancer. In the midst of the pandemic, when Megan felt as though she was unable to dance, she found herself going through unique, self-made movements that allowed her to feel a sense of groundedness in a way that was quite healing. This was where the seed for SALTSHAKE was planted.

Through SALTSHAKE, Megan strives to gently provide dancers who may be “walking the path of trauma recovery” with somatic expressions and exercises to aid in their “reconnection to embodiment.” SALTSHAKE describes itself as “trauma-informed,” as it has an eye toward the trauma that is inherent in mainstream dance practices. Megan strives to help dancers who feel disembodied know that they’re not alone, as well as provide tools to help deconstruct the harmful narratives the industry perpetuates, and help dancers re-center and self-regulate and find a love for dance again.

Megan says that growing up she received subliminal messages that being “sensitive” was a bad thing, especially in the dance world. She recalls feeling so much shame about how emotional she felt about things, but today she’s learned that sensitivity is a superpower, as it helps her better understand her students’ experiences and give them the support she would have wanted. Being sensitive is also extremely helpful as a dancer, as it helps performers better understand and tell physical and emotional narratives. “It should be celebrated to be a sensitive being in this art form, in all art forms, [and] in life,” Megan says.

Throughout May 2022, Megan has been offering introductory classes, including trauma-informed yoga on Saturday mornings virtually and in-person in Langely, Washington. Those in the Seattle area simply have to jump on a ferry to Whidbey Island to experience this slow flow embodiment process. SALTSHAKE also offers a contemporary class that is focused on exploring narrative, without a “right” or “wrong” way to perform.

On May 28, 2022, Megan will be holding “INTRODUCING SALTSHAKE” at the Nod Theater in Seattle, WA. At this workshop, Megan will be introducing “saltshake,” a movement form designed to help relieve trauma in the body. The movement form involves choreographed somatic healing techniques and Yoga Asana poses that have specific intentions behind them, such as regulating the nervous system. Megan will be offering weekly saltshake classes in Seattle throughout June. In August, SALTSHAKE will be partnering with Season + Cycle, founded by Nicole Frederiksen, a menstrual health specialist and former professional dancer in the Seattle area. The two organizations will be holding a one-day workshop relating to reconnecting disembodied dancers to their bodies. Keep an eye out for more information in the coming months.

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Megan Margaret Moore on Healing the “Disembodied Dancer” Through SALTSHAKE

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