When Dance and Storytelling Become Ceremony: The Origins of Story JAM
I didn't even know what I was creating until it was over.
A Little Background
In 2021, a few years after moving to Minneapolis, I felt a nagging desire to share the challenging stories of my past with my new friends.
You see, the person I am today - the way I behave, the things I value, the choices I make - is a complete 180 from who I once was.
For the first time in my life, I had found real, authentic friendships, and I wanted to be seen in my totality. When it came up in conversation that I used to be a Professional People Pleaser, or that I was terrified of conflict, my friends would say “it’s SO hard to imagine you like that!”
If you’ve ever been in a room with me you know I’ll name the elephant in the room, even if my face turns red when I say it. My friends admire my courage and describe me as a “badass” - which makes me feel so totally loved and seen.
And… I needed them to understand the storms I had weathered to become this person. I knew some of the stuff I had to share would be shocking to them.
Story JAM Was Born (on Instagram)
So I turned to the thing I always turn to when I don’t know what else to do: I danced. Have you ever seen those videos where someone holds up a series of poster boards with words on them, pulling each one away as you read along? I did a version of that!
The pages told my vulnerable stories - about my childhood, that thing that happened to me when I was 12, that other thing when I was 21, the violently abusive relationship I was in for 5 years, and how I’ve moved through it all. I pulled back the pages as I danced around in my living room to my favorite songs, and shared a new story live on social media every day for 7 days.
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My Discovery
I cannot explain to you the lightness and liberation I felt afterwards. I stood a little taller, I took more risks.
It felt like the bag of secrets I carried around with me everyday evaporated into a cloud of butterflies and set me free.
Two years later, in 2023, I had made even more close friends, and I felt the urge to take it further, bigger and bolder. I wanted to do it live on stage, to share space with people in real time and tell my stories on a larger scale.
So, with the support of my friends, I put on a one-woman show, and kept the name Story JAM.
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Story JAM Reborn
Story JAM was a mixed-media live production including dance, silent improv, live storytelling, video, and audience participation.
I asked friends to dress their best, and to bring a book, and literal jars of jam, to put out on the table to swap before and after the show.
The bulk of the performance was me, (sometimes joined by my friends!) performing something lighthearted and joyful live onstage, while the screen behind us shared the violent and unfair stories from my past.
I was inviting the audience to ask themselves:
Where do I place my attention? On her trauma? Or her joy? Or can I somehow hold both? Can I believe in a world where, despite what we go through, we can come out shining on the other side?
Integration
Once again, the experience was profoundly empowering.
This time, I wanted to understand what was actually happening to me. Why was this so powerful?
As I began to research, I realized these moments weren’t just about dancing and storytelling, they were an act of ceremony. Ceremony! How cool is that?
I’ve spent these past couple years immersing myself in the study and practice of ceremony to learn all I can.
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Present day, I infuse ceremony into the spaces I create. I share what I’ve learned and weave it into dance in my workshop series, the Dance Liberation Circle.
One day, maybe I’ll do another Story JAM!
But my biggest dream is to help other people put on their own show. And maybe it looks nothing like mine. Maybe it’s outside around a fire. Maybe it’s in your living room.
TBD. Whether your stories are anything like mine or not, they deserve to be heard. And you deserve to be celebrated for the storms you’ve weathered.
-Christina <3