Meet Lauren Beale | Movement artist, improviser, contemplative embodiment teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lauren Beale and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lauren, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
Disclaimer…I am answering this more as a wandering reflection on creativity as a life/human practice… Because I can’t remember a time in which I have not felt intrinsically called to attune to creative aliveness and the way in which creative aliveness attunes me, guides my attention, wakes me up, moves me, orients my choice-making and connects me to the world.

For me, I know creativity as the generative pulse of inquiry, emergence and living artistry that activates and animates every moment and every thing. It’s not just a hobby or a career, though it can take that shape! It’s not that some of us are blessed with a creative spark and some of us are not, though some people are more aware of this aliveness and it’s possibilities. It’s the fundamental force of how life comes into form. It’s the alchemy of thoughts, intentions, habits of mind, patterns of stories, relationships of elements and energy of circumstances. Creativity is the pulse of inherent potential and possibility inside every waking moment, from ordinary to extraordinary. The way in which a coffee mug is picked up, a street is crossed, an outfit chosen, a conversation flows, a hug is received, a word is expressed, a painting unfolds, a dance is made. I witness creativity as all encompassingly potent and multi-dimensionally powerful in it’s capacity to respond to, shape and re-shape our world. I am just so in awe of it all…

This love affair with creativity began when I was very little and I was lucky enough to discover that dancing was one of the most impactful forms that my creative path could take. Inside of dancing (both in and out of the studio, on and off the stage, on my own and with others) has been the space where all of the seemingly disparate parts of myself can co-mingle and commune together. When it feels difficult to understand what I am experiencing in my life, moving my body allows me to feel deeply and make sense of the world within and around me with greater curiosity and exploration. I am allowed to investigate myself, identity, intentions, questions, challenges, relationships with more dynamic range of what can be true, good and beautiful. My body can hold difference with less judgement and multiplicity with less conflict. Dancing wakes me up to the way that the juxtaposition of these elements can cooperate and collaborate to reveal a radiant dynamism that can catalyzes connection, growth and transformation.

I think because the practice of attuning to creative aliveness has been so impactful in my own life, it has felt seemless to feel the desire to share it with others. Creative practice, whatever form it takes, feels like good work in the world. A practice of attuning to and caring for what is possible in each moment slows us down, ripens our imaginations and opens us to responses that are often more enlivening, interconnecting and compassionate. I feel drawn to participate with facilitate creative practice as a human practice to awaken and cultivate each of our living artistries in the world, with all of the unique forms possible. And whether it is teaching contemporary movement technique, slow flow yoga, CULTIVATE Creative Practice or working one on one with people, I am super grateful for all the forms creativity has taken in my life.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
As a movement artist, improviser, and contemplative embodiment teacher, I hold creative practice, teaching, and art-making as radical acts of inquiry and play. Through them, I aim to ignite, awaken, and transmute our unique aliveness into ever-deepening presence, interconnectedness, and generative community.

I create artistic work (movement, painting and drawing), offer contemporary movement classes/workshops, one on one embodiment sessions and engage creative practice containers designed to cultivate agency, authentic expression, and embodied intelligence in support of our multi-dimensional, collective humanity. My intention is to teach, guide and create in ways that play powerfully inside of paradox and living koans, cultivating immersive experiences of deep listening, full feeling, and rigorous expression of our mysterious and vivid reality.

As an artist, I love researching and creating duet dance/theatre work that fertilize the intersections between fluid identities, paradoxical investigations, and the heart-breaking contemplation of life and death. I am propelled by how the rigorous investigation of the body and via the body can be a vehicle to question, investigate, reveal, and traverse the nature of our human condition. I absolutely love the art of performance. There is nothing like the powerful alchemy of a moment of creative emergence being witnessed. The charged relationship of performer and audience, co-mingling in the savored manifestation of shared desire, intention and expression. Oh the feeling of a space lit up with possibility, enlivened by the craft of cultivated offering and spontaneous presence. Where the expansiveness of our imaginations meets flesh and bone and gravity. Where aliveness abounds and beckons us all to let go and be transformed into fuller dimensions of who we are.
And I think one of the things I know for sure over time, is that creating with the people I love, powerfully supports the intimacy of friendship and partnership and deep belonging. When you don’t have enough money for consistent therapy, make something with your people!

As a facilitator, my bestie and co-collaborator, Brooke McNamara and I have created, CULTIVATE Creative Practice: a global/online and local/in-person embodied, interdisciplinary exploration and training in which we harness, catalyze, and source the creative aliveness of our churning world. CULTIVATE is series of local and online sessions where we train the skills of attuning to, cohering with, and yoking the generative principle of creativity that inherently pulses through each of us in every moment. In community, we practice not only to refine skillful awareness of this creative vitality, but to grow a multidimensional capacity to realize and mobilize the imaginative power and potential at the center of our deepest humanity. As old structures within and around us collide, collapse, and transform, CULTIVATE ignites our skillful capacities to sense, sniff, woo, court, magnetize, and catalyze our deepest awareness, sense-making and tools for manifestation. Through intimate and playful conversation, improvisational movement, guided visualization, exploratory free writing, imaginative prompts, visual art and more, CULTIVATE primes, tenderizes, forges, steadies, and awakens ourselves as vessels for living potential, possibility and fresh ideas to come into form.

Through time, I have always desired a way of training my body/mind that would support both my path as a dancer/artist and also as a human being. A way of being/moving/dancing in space together that takes into consideration the heartbreak of our humanity, the challenge of the day to day pressures and demands, the deep desire to offer something of substance and meaning to the world and the felt responsibility to take good care of this precious life. Truthfully, there have been days where it has all just seemed too much. Where I have not felt sure of my capacity to meet the moment (as a partner, parent, citizen, friend) with any form of worthwhile response. I’ve felt edgy, exhausted and overwhelmed. Sometimes my body just falls to the earth and lays there crumpled (physically and metaphorically). One thing I have always had ridiculously stubborn faith in during these times, is the coming together of good people to move/dance and in doing so, share the weight, move the feeling, free the mind, and know our deepest belonging and interconnectedness. And so I created FLUX contemporary movement practice, on-going weekly classes and corresponding one on one movement embodiment sessions that play within the forces of gravity, inertia, momentum and energy, in and out of the floor and through space. FLUX explores where we come into contact with the floor as a launch pad for moving power, information, conversation, and expression fluidly through the body, mind, heart and spirit. Engaging awareness practice, improvisation, structured movement, somatic exploration, partner work and choreographic investigations, FLUX aims to challenge and expand the diversity of our embodied expression/intelligence, multi-dimensionally within each person, from self to each other, from relationship to community. Each week…such good work, such potent play, such care and consideration, such imagination and connection.

And the work keeps adapting and shape-shifting and transforming…There is a rich practice of yoga and holding space for a wise group of curious practitioners. There is abstract painting that grew out of the pandemic and the desire to co-lead some type of visual art creative practice container. There is all the work I love to do with kids including radically awesome improvisation training and jams and a series of week long Earth & Sky Nature and Creativity camps where we explore making art amidst all the elements. I’m always sniffing out fresh ways to creatively enjoy this beautiful life.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
How fun…

For my introverted self, homebody self, this would be the best week ever…

I would welcome my bestie into my home in West Longmont and we would catch up over tea or a home cooked meal with any kind of drink mixed with tequila. We would let the kiddos and kitty bounce around and watch out the window as they played at the park in our sweet neighborhood that I love.

Then brunch at someplace old school in Boulder, like Foolish Craigs or Dots Diner followed by a walk, veering off Pearl Street into the neighborhood streets and alleyways. We would imagine all the life that is happening around us while telling stories and contemplating our own mysterious life conundrums.

And then, spontaneity would take over…roaming the shops on Pearl Street Mall looking for inspiration in funky paintings and cool sunglasses. Then to Boulder Bookstore just to wander and read and feel into the multiplicity of storytelling, perspective shifting and life/death investigations of a good book. Quotes would be read and passages noted for possible art-making and creative practice inquiries.

More food! Maybe Japango for Sushi or Pasta Jays to reminisce when it sat further west wrapped around a beautiful tree on the patio. And we couldn’t leave Pearl Street without getting a good coffee at Trident Booksellers & Cafe. More book reading of course…

Oh…but Nick & Willy’s pizza…maybe so. And then up to a Mt. Sanitas or Chatauqua for a sunset hike.

If I asked my family this question, the rest of the week would be filled with fun outings like bowling at Centennial Lanes in Longmont, Gateway Fun Park for batting cages and putt putt golf in Boulder, arcade time at Tilt Pinball in Louisville or Quarters Bar & Arcade in Longmont. We would also venture to some of our favorites parks for majestic views, nature play and laughs…Dry Creek Community Park in Longmont, Foothills Community Park or Chatauqua Park in Boulder or the nearby Sawhill Ponds. And we couldn’t pass up hours of thrift store shopping and people watching at The Arc in Louisville. And quite possibly to Denver to watch our favorite Nuggets play at Ball Arena!

To tend to that mind/body/spirit thing, we would find a local yoga class, searching for where Jeanie Manchester or Allison Litchfield are teaching or heading down to Denver for a soul nourishing class at Courageous Yoga. Then to an enlivening community meditation event held by Dragon Lake Zen. And for some rockin’ dance I’d invite them to a class at Mi Chantli, or anything offered by New Breed Dance, Nancy Cranbourne, 3rd Law Dance, Rogue Co. or Joanna Rotkin. Maybe my FLUX contemporary movement class too 🙂

We’d also have to venture up into the mountains just to be in the awe-inspiring nature of this area. Our favorite hidden gem is Buckingham Picnic Area up Lefthand Canyon, but Glenwood Hotsprings is always our goto adventure zone. You can’t pass up the delicious tacos and spicy margaritas of Slope & Hatch. And we would probably soak again in the caves of Indian Springs Hot Springs.

And hopefully there would be something enticing art opening, dance/theatre/performance, music happening or anything comedy! We would look to The Dairy Arts Center, BMOCA, CU-Boulder Theatre and Dance, The Atlas Institute, Redline Contemporary Arts Center and/or Rainbow Dome!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Oh I could write love letters to so many people.

First, my family of artists! My dad, who is an amazing wood sculptor and visual artist. He instilled in me a deep sense of devotion and rigor to artistic craft. I have always been in awe of his attention to detail, vision and his commitment to excellence. The way he can carve the most magical human forms out of an old log stump reveals to me the inherent potential inside of everything. He lives simply and is nourished by his practice of creativity, which steadies and inspires my own path. My Aunt Lynn whose beautiful artistry weaves together the study of psychology, art making and cutting hair. Who knew that getting your haircut could be a portal of artistic inspiration and human development. She inspires the art of asking a good question and following my intuition and inquisitiveness. My brother, deep feeler, lover of the intersection between art making and spiritual practice. He brings all of humanity to life inside of his drawings and inspires me to keep the faith. My grandparents on my mom’s side were ever-present supporters of my creative pursuits. I mean, over the top, extremely and embarrisingly vocal advocates and cheer leaders. I can still hear my grandmother’s loud, flat palmed clapping in the audience which brings me much needed solace and validation that this is a worthy path. And my mom, a beacon of ever-present, unconditional love and support. She loves the work I make that is funny more than the work that I make that is weird and dramatic, but she is involved in all ways including helping take care of my kiddos during rehearsals, meetings, teaching gigs and performances. I honestly couldn’t make it through without her.

Toby Hankin, David Capps, Nada Diachenko and all of the CU dance faculty in my early years as a student, saw something in me and validated my sense of purpose and capacity as a dancer. Onye Ozuzu, Michelle Ellsworth and Erika Randall ushered me in to the precarious land of being a mother and an artist. They model and invoke the ways motherhood importantly impacts artistry, while never allowing motherhood to be too precious nor an excuse for not following the spark of creative aliveness.

I have had the honor of creating and collaborating with so many amazing artists that have catalyzed and shaped my way of being in the world. Again, Michelle Ellsworth, Onye Ozuzu and Gesel Mason. And my creative partners in crime, Brooke McNamara, Amanda Leise, Ondine Geary, Kate Speer and Jess Hendricks. Collaborative performance/process has brought my life to LIFE. There is nothing like being inside the intimate process of art-making, where all of who you think you are is laid bare and something more raw, real and impossibly mysterious is revealed.

My creative practice exploration and facilitation would be nothing without my co-creator bestie, Brooke McNamara. Our friendship has manifested a thriving community creative practice container giving space to foster community artistry through movement, writing, conversation, contemplation and art making. She meets my fierce desire for this work do good in the world, She inspires rigor, integrity, grace and a badass sense of humor.

Special shoutout to all of my fellow teachers, my amazing students and parents near and far, and the spaces where all of this moving and shaking happens The path of an artist is not easy and it takes a village of support, inspiration and opportunity to keep going. I feel so lucky to cross paths with so many amazing organizations, institutions, festivals, studios and humans that light me up, fuel my curiosity and keep me and my family fed.

I also have to bow to my Zen community. The skillful and compassionate guidance of our teacher, Diane Musho Hamilton Roshi and my friends on the path deeply orient my life to a path of waking up. The practice and ritual of Zen have been incredibly illuminating and refining, nudging me to befriend my body and establish the posture that connects me both to the earth and the space around me. Sitting meditation opens me to the non-fixed nature of life, simultaneously anchoring me into the quiet stillness and vivid dynamism of each moment.

And to my most sacred inner circle. Thanks and praise to my partner Amanda Leise and kiddos Lila, Finlay and Remi, and all my dearest friends. I am beyond grateful for their love and communion on this wild ride of life, and for the sweet, cozy home/family we get to create. Cheers to living and dreaming together, and all the art making that unfolds in the kitchen, car rides and spontaneous spaces.

Website: www.laurenbeale.com

Instagram: @fallingopen

Image Credits
Heather Gray Photography Shea Kluender Daniel Beahm Martha Wirtha Photography Hannah Larson