For the rest of the world, Russia still remains an enigma. Since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, a lot of things happened there. However, almost nothing real has been reported by western mass media, because they still intend to abuse the image of Russia as a secret nation beyond the Iron Curtain. To get to know the reality there, you have to personally go there and communicate with those who were born after around 1985. There young generations are new-born Russians who are not sympathetic with the legacy of the Soviet Union and well understand how to behave vis-a-vis foreigners. They tend not to hide realities in Russia, while their elder friends and parents love to do so based on experiences and customs during the Soviet era.

Additionally, one thing is quite ramarkable from my viewpoint, when I’ve been given several opportunities to visit the country and build up friendship with the local younger generations. Almost all of them are quite frustrated with the political reality in Russia and quite proud of the grwoing civil society they’ve been working on. And the point is this civil society somehow seems to be closely connected rather with not Soviet but genuine Russian traditions which were generated from the blood of the Russian.

One of them is dancing. Russia is, for example, the nation of ballet. In both St. Petersburg and Moscow, you can enjoy traditional and world-class ballet in some theaters. There is indeed a solid tradition of choreography  which can never seen even in the western countries. Historically viewing, Russia originally “improted” ballet in the 17th century from western countries such as France. But the trend was turned over, since Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovski, a legend of Russian classic music, succeeded to the first perfomance of “Swan Lake” in St. Petersburg in 1890. Since then, Russia successfully remains the nation of ballet even during the Soviet era.

Now, you may wonder how about the relationship between the above-mentioned younger generation in Russia and dancing in general. Of course, they never practive “ballet” except for those who are professionally educated to do so. But the “Russian blood” seems to lead them to create a torally brand new type of dancing, which can potentially become a universal lannguage in dancing beyond any borders of ethnics, cultures, ages and gender.

The ultra modern dance I pick up here is called “Dance Body Soft”, which is created by Max Adams and Diana Stark in Moscow. They established one of the first dance schools in Moscow 5 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Well, let’s check out the short video shown above, which is extremely interesting even for those who have never practiced “dancing” beforehand. And read through the short description which Diana kindly wrote to us as a tentative introduction to “Dance Body Soft”:

We are developers and innovators, keen on the advanced technologies and optimization. In the last 20 years we created an innovative methodology of teaching improvisation in modern dance. During this time thousands of students have been trained in over 50 branches, assisting as in our programm improving. This program is not just about dance, but about motor mechanics. It allows anyone to get skills of improvisation to any kind of music in a very short time. This program has no analogues in the world. Our task was to cover as widely as possible the range of all possible movements in a safe mode for the body.
The main problem that we encountered is a truly bad physical condition not only for adults but also for young people. Instead of teaching them to dance, we had to first solve the problem of physical form of students and restoring movability of atrophied muscles. Thus, all these years we have been improving ourselves in the field of enhancement of moving skills, that helped us to work out an effective methodology of teaching.
The program itself is a system, a structure that uses all ranges of moves in safe mode, which is built from simple to complex, from the main to the secondary. It includes all the simplest elements that a person is able to perform physically. It is based on the principles the human body structure. These movements are not relevant to fashion, they are universal, taking roots math, geometry, music structure and basic priciples of physiology. It is the basis for dance of all styles. It’s like a lego: you have building blocks that are compatible and interchangeable. When you know how to combine them, you get as the simplest, so the most complex structures out of them.
For the beginners we offer simple and effective trainings based on cyclical movements, where different body parts move in parallel (at the same time), but not consequentially (one element after another) as usual in other styles. All modern music is based on this same principle of cyclicity. People in one way or another always tend to move in cyclic movements. And we offer all possible loops how it can be done, how to build improvisation on cycles, as well as how to move without binding to cycles, according to algorithms, etc. As each of us learned how to walk, speak, write, in the same way we can lean how to dance. We don’t need talent or gift to improvise to music. And the more pleasant thing that you learn the principles, the techniques, that your muscles won’t forget as biking or swimming.
We claim that developed the optimal tool for enhancing movability, as well as endurance, which corresponds to the formula: maximum dynamics with the minimal energy expenditure. It provides the most balanced dynamic capacity for all the body. It is completely safe and suitable for people of any age. While the training you get the maximum number of neurotransmitters responsible for pleasure due to the optimal aerobic load, and the absence of stress hormones released during strength training.
For further development, we need the support of the scientific community. We want them to make a scientific research, prooving our theory about the optimal tool for developing mobility, which solves the problem of balanced development of the whole body in a safe mode (we do not know if anyone else has set such a task). Thanks to the scientific basis, we will create a new discipline for educational institutions, rehabilitation centers and boarding houses, which can significantly affect the formation and development of society. This will make contribution to professional sports, rehabilitation after trauma, prevention of diseases of the elderly, maintenance of the physical form of adults, the correct formation of the musculoskeletal system in adolescents, not to mention the impact to the dance culture itself, which does not exist today.

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How does our program differ from martial arts, which are not inferior to us in the development of movability?

There are three types of load: power, stretching and mobility. Combat sports include three types in complex, our program only studies the 3rd one – movability in aerobic mode and excludes any trauma-dangerous elements, which makes it safe for all ages. This load is necessary for the body, helps maintain its health and vitality. It is universal and will help everyone: children, adults, the elderly. In addition, exercises tied to rhythm, a clear metranome, are more effective from the point of view of the development of mobility. And we shouldn’t underestimate the beneficial effect of music on the psyche of people, it is music that makes grueling workouts a source of pleasure.

How to use:
– educational discipline for schools, universities, dispensaries
– game in augmented reality (AR)
– dance station of a new generation
– concept for dance improvisation for robots

This time, I persionally met Diana and thoroughly asked how it works with “Dance Body Soft”. As far as I’ve understood, “Dance Body Soft” has huge potential to become the universal language of human bodies in the age of digitalized world. Why? From my viewpoint, there are several remarkable points which could push it up to the global culture.

First, it seems to be extremely easy to learn how to dance according to the methodology of “Dance Body Soft”. Because it is completely structured in line with quite natural movement of human bodies, the learners never feel confused and dificulties to dance by themselves.

Secondly, once you succeeded to master “Dance Body Soft”, you can dance whenever and wherever you want to dance. According to Diana’s explanation, it never prioritized sequences of specific body movements which are normally preferred by conventional dancing such as ballet. By adapting yourself to each one of changes in the surroundings, you can easily dance based on “Dance Body Soft”. You can do so, because it’s construted by natural movements of human bodies.

Last but not the least, this kind of multiadaptability of “Dance Body Soft” enables you to dance freely even with AR and VR equippments. Many experts still argue AI is about to override the human beings’ brain and body. However, with this “Dance Body Soft”, that will never happen, since you can dance in any virtual realities but by keeping on dancing with quite natural, biollogically based movements of human bodies. In short, you can remain “human” forever, as long as you’ll shake up your bodies in line with “Dance Body Soft”.

In Moscow, Diana told me their projct’s next step: With a new “easy to set-up” mixer for DJs which they created, they are about to begin marketing offensive from Berlin, where the “university of techno” is established. A new legend in dancing will soon show up from Russia. Why don’t you shake it up together, with the new trend from icy but hot Moscow?