We recently connected with Cassidy Wagner and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cassidy, thanks for joining us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?

As a dancer and movement educator, I’ve often found that my approach to dance is misunderstood, particularly in the United States. Here, dance is frequently viewed primarily as entertainment, with an emphasis on performing for an audience. However, my personal creative practice and teaching philosophy diverge significantly from this perspective.

In my work, especially with the Gaga Movement Language, I prioritize process over product. Gaga classes focus on the internal experience of movement rather than its external appearance. We explore how dancing feels from within, emphasizing bodily sensations over specific forms or positions. This approach encourages participants to sense the body before telling it what to do.

This focus on internal experience and embodiment stands in contrast to much of my early dance training. When a family member recently told me they had enrolled their young daughter in dance classes, I felt conflicted. My own childhood dance education often prioritized mirroring others’ movements at the expense of the connection to my own body and its sensations.

This realization has profoundly shaped my current practice. Now, both in my creative work and Gaga teaching, I consistently emphasize and insist upon a deep, personal connection to one’s own embodiment. This approach, while sometimes misunderstood in a culture that often prioritizes performance and appearance in dance, feels essential to me for fostering a more holistic, expressive, and personally meaningful relationship with movement.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Cassidy: Dancer, Gaga Movement Educator, and Movement as Medicine Advocate

My journey in dance began as soon as I could walk, and I trained + performed heavily in concert dance in Colorado, Miami, and NYC. At NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts I was exposed to the Gaga Movement Language, a practice that would shape my career and philosophy.

“Gaga” developed by choreographer Ohad Naharin, is an innovative approach to movement where one senses the body prior to telling it what to do. This practice resonated deeply with me, rekindling the joy and freedom I felt in dance before formal training.

As a certified Gaga teacher, I share this methodology regularly in Denver and Boulder. My classes are open to the public, recurring, welcoming ages 16+, injuries &/or limitations, and adults with little to no movement background or no prior dance experience.

I’m incredibly proud to be a Gaga teacher, sharing a practice that has profoundly changed my life. My classes emphasize the healing power of movement and the endless possibilities of the body. I believe in the transformative power of connecting mind and body through movement, and I’m committed to making this accessible to a wide range of people.

My work is more than just dance instruction; it’s an invitation to explore your body’s potential, find healing through movement, and rediscover the joy of uninhibited expression.

Whether you’re a seasoned dancer or completely new to movement, Gaga offers a unique path to physical and emotional well-being.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist lies in the profound journey of self-expression and human connection.

It begins with the intimate process of reaching deep within myself, unearthing, and bringing something to light through my art.

This act of authentic and vulnerable sharing is terrifying and incredibly rewarding, but the true magic happens in what follows.

It’s the moment when someone experiences this raw, exposed part of me, and it resonates with something equally deep and vulnerable within them. This is the part of the creative process that I find myself in awe of.

It’s in these instances that we transcend our individual identities. We find ourselves sharing a wordless, often tearful moment, as if our shared experience gently nudges at the very core of human connection.

This profound intersection of personal expression and universal emotion is what makes being an artist so incredibly rewarding. It reminds us of our shared humanity and the power of art to bridge the gaps between our individual experiences, creating moments of genuine connection.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My creative journey is driven by a deep-seated mission to reconnect people with their bodies and, through this reconnection, with their authentic selves and each other.

Several key beliefs include movement as a path to self-discovery, healing through movement, bridging disconnection, accessibility and inclusivity, fostering human connection, and redefining dance.

My mission is to spread the message that movement is not just for performers or the physically gifted, but a powerful tool for personal growth, healing, and human connection available to us all.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/cassidymoves
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cassidymoves
• Other: https://5fsqdmx0vrp.typeform.com/to/zkzgVotD

Image Credits

Photos by Tessa Machmer at Machmer Media – Fort Collins CO