Dance and Movement Therapy

By: Emily Sexton

Lindsey Shields is the co-owner of Flex Studios in Eugene, Oregon. The Studio opened its doors in 2013 with the goal of giving everyone an opportunity to dance. The students of Flex Studios come from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. They also have varying mental and physical capabilities.

Can you tell us a little bit about Flex Studios?

We started Flex Studios with the intention of bringing a very diverse and well-rounded program to Eugene. We have had over 200 families and students within the first year.

 Can you recall an instance in your own life, physical or mental, where you could really see the healing potential of dance?

Absolutely, dance is so incredible because it’s not only physical it’s so mental, it’s an art form and you’re an athlete.  Dance is so important.  I think most of my experience is on a mental level.  One thing I always had to rely on was dance and if I didn’t have that who knows where I would be.

Do you see the same thing happening in your student’s lives?

There are so many students of ours… that use dance as an outlet.  We have a lot of students who come from broken homes or are foster kiddos.  It’s so important to their lives because whatever they are going through at home they look forward to this hour that they have a week.

What is DANCapable?

We have this fabulous program, DANCapable, where we focus on autistic and Down syndrome kiddos and young adults.  To watch them be so successful and flourish in that one hour a week is just incredible.  It’s about what you can do, not what you can’t do.

When did you start that program?

Miss Angela [co-owner] actually started that program at another studio… and I took it over there.  We’ve always known that we wanted to offer something like that. The title that people choose for a class like that within their studio we sometimes didn’t agree with or find appropriate.  We sat down and had a long conversation about it, thinking about names, what would be appropriate, but also what would be right for our studio and our space.  DANCapable really stood out to us because they are so capable. You can ask them to do anything, and they’ll do it, and they’ll try, and that’s what’s so wonderful about them.