Stand up out of your chair. Move your feet. Shake your rear. I dare you to leave the room without opening a single door. “To dance is to be out of yourself,” declared the late renowned dancer and choreographer Agnes de Mille. “Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.”
Vaughn Newman of Vaughn Newman Dance knows this because he’s dedicated his life to it. “We’re not the typical dance studio you see in the Upstate. What we’re doing, there has been nothing like it in Greenville for a very long time—and the momentum is picking up,” Newman enthuses inside his cozy, colorful studio one quiet afternoon.
While VND does offer youth classes, they primarily cater to adults by presenting professional-level, contemporary dance workshops and performances that are fueled by and illuminate the Black experience. “Our mission is to ‘bring dance back to the people,’ as the late great Alvin Ailey once said. We’re using art to bridge a cultural divide, and in just five years, the engagement and interest we’ve gotten has been amazing.”
When Newman introduced contemporary and traditional West African dance and drumming classes, the local response was phenomenal—and ZAKI African Drum and Dance Ensemble was born. “The arts are an opportunity to learn yourself and to escape from the world, and I think dance, in particular, facilitates that. It’s a conduit.
We’re all trying to heal from the trauma of our past, and it’s amazing to see people come to these sessions feeling heavy, and leave feeling lighter,” Newman reflects. Once you experience that spark, that moment of release, Vaughn believes that you “discover the magic behind the arts, the power they have to transport you. There’s a chemical change we go through: spiritual, physical, mental. Dance can bring us out of ourselves. That realization has always been at the heart of the VND experience.”
The pandemic made it clear that as human beings, we’re wired to seek companionship and common ground in our shared experiences. Newman saw the chance to provide a safe space for more of those moments. “We have different types of workshops and seminars that allow you to move and feel and be vulnerable—to either retreat into yourself, or go outside of yourself and connect with others in a deeper way, to tap into that collective spirit.”
Look for new youth classes, collaborative performances with local nonprofits, and a festival with African drumming workshops this fall. If you’d like to support the mission of VND, you can also contribute via sponsorships and direct donations. “Grants, ticket sales, and donations are our lifeblood,” says Newman. “It takes more than a vision and dedicated individuals. We couldn’t do what we do without the support of our community.”
Vaughn Newman Dance
3906 Augusta Rd, Greenville
(864) 221-6416, vaughnnewmandance.org
Photography provided by Vaughn Newman Dance
