Arts + Literature Laboratory and the LAB^4 community curation team welcome dancer and scholar Reenah Dixon for Body as a Home: Belly Dancing and Embodiment Discoveries, a series of three events where the mind, body, and soul are not seen as separate entities, on Wednesday, July 16; Wednesday, July 23, and Wednesday, August 13, 2025, 7:00pm to 9:00pm each session. Free registration at Saywer (see links on individual event pages).
Reenah’s trilogy of events offers an invitation into embodied connection, where the mind, body, and soul are not seen as separate entities, but as interwoven expressions of the self. Rooted in her personal and professional journey—from academic rigor to artistic expression—Reenah brings a rare blend of psychological insight and performative practice. Each event is designed to explore different access points to integration: scientific understanding, cultural tradition, and social vulnerability. Together, they form a progression from inner awareness to wordless connection to radical presence in community. Through these offerings, Reenah invites participants to tune in, reach out, and make themselves at home—within their bodies and with one another.
In the first event, Models, Mindfulness and Movement (July 16), participants explore how thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations operate within a unified human experience. Reenah introduces a framework that reflects her psychological training: the brain’s biological architecture gives rise to the apparent separation between mind, body, and emotion. Yet through mindful attention and intentional movement, participants experience a re-integration—both from the top down (through thought and awareness) and the bottom up (through sensation and movement). This seminar offers a grounding in theory and practice, bridging ancient wisdom and modern science to help participants better understand their own lived experience.
The second event, Wordless Discovery through Dance (July 23) shifts the focus from theory to shared experience. Drawing from the global traditions of bellydance, this workshop is conducted entirely without spoken language. Participants of all levels are invited to explore nonverbal connection through music, movement, and subtle cues from one another. Without words, communication becomes intuitive and embodied. This silent space honors bellydance’s intercultural legacy, while highlighting how dance can be a deeply human way of knowing and being with others—one that transcends borders, identities, and even words themselves.
The third event, Radical Hospitality (August 13) brings the body into the social realm. Reenah reimagines performance not as a spectacle but as a shared ritual of welcomed vulnerability. Participants become both dancers and witnesses in a space designed to dissolve the usual boundaries between artist and audience. Feelings of pride, fear, and generosity are welcomed as part of the offering. In this final gathering, Reenah distills the essence of her practice: connection arises not from perfection, but from presence. When we accept ourselves as we are, we make room for others to do the same—and that is where true home begins.
