Meet Alycesun Clare of MOV.MENT LLC in Chandler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alycesun Clare.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Alycesun. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a young girl, I seemed to always be self-conscious about my self-image and body type. I found myself using tactics of humor and deflection to work around said insecurities. It worked wonders but hid parts of myself that I deeply wanted to try but didn’t have the confidence. The dance was one of those. Finally, in college, I took a social dance course. I fell in love with. I loved the music. I loved escaping into a story. I loved the power of healing and connection that came through such a simple concept. Through sheer luck, I was asked to be apart of the Ballroom Team on Campus, due to a few team members quitting the last minute. This pushed me into the far more intense world of dance. As I progressed I was given the opportunity to step into Professional Dancing for a year and found yet again the reality of my insecurities. They hadn’t gone far. The funny thing about insecurities, unless faced and understood, they seem to creep back into every part of your story. This time, I faced them. Head on.

With my newfound head on approach, ha, I realized that dance was a gift I wanted to give others. So I added Dance Education to my Special Education Bachelors and plugged on to finish school. For years after I worked in Private, Public and Charter school sectors of education in the Special Education Field. I loved it.

One day, the opportunity came to move to Queen Creek, Arizona to help a struggling charter school that had just opened up. The school was housed in a small strip mall with 75+ kids, Total. I started in 2010 and realized very quickly that we needed something to keep the school going and to get on the map in Arizona. I pulled from my dance resources and created a Social Dance Course. I grabbed 15 poor souls in the school and placed them in the class. Due to space, we rocked the class out in the parking lot in front of our strip mall. Serrano’s customers across the street seemed to love that time of day, grabbing their burritos to go to sit in or on their car to watch the spectacle of students dance their hearts out in the parking lot. It was epic. Ok or just plain Hokey but it was our story and we owned it.

Over the next 8 years the program grew into over 1500 students enrolled per year in the dance program, a 2nd full-time dance instructor secured and a national ranking Ballroom Team placing 1st four years in a row. By year five, I wanted to give my dancers experiences that could continue to develop their view of themselves and their stories. I took my top Ballroom Team to London, England and Swaziland, South Africa to give them Cultural Connection, Building a Community Center for a Male-Mentoring Program Kwakha Indvosa and a Community Dance and Celebration exchange with over five villages and schools.

In 2018, I knew my time had come to transition out of my program and working as the Director of Leadership and step into a new stage of my story. I started my small business, MOV.MENT. It became a passion project of sorts that I couldn’t shake from my mind. I had desperately for years wanted to mix my childhood story of needing resources to love my body and see its potential, my deep love for the Special Education culture and my passion for Dance in every form. I have loved the path it has started to take and cannot wait for years to come in its growth and simplicity.

Has it been a smooth road?
Ha Smooth Road? My goodness, no. I firmly believe anything worth chasing and creating will come with some major struggles. I would have to say my #1 Struggle was myself. The amount of self-doubt and self-deprecating thoughts that seem to hit are almost overwhelming. And it is never a one time deal. It seems every step of the way, the thoughts of feeling foolish, silly or out of my league was massive. But then I would seek out my mentors, friends and family and would get the same response over and over again. “Aly, that is so normal” “I remember a time when…” And my heart rate would calm down and I would step back into the ring.

I think due to our culture at this time, We assume all things must be a one hit wonder. A you-tube sensation. And then real life hits us and it is has nothing to do with quick and easy and everything to do with passion and heart. I most definitely had to change my view of success. My entire definition has had to take a plunge in the toilet and that takes time. I felt my ego fight the process over and over again. It still rears its ugly head to this day, but I am a bit more quick to acknowledge it and push it back into its place.

We’d love to hear more about your work.
MOV.MENT is a program build around DANCE, LEADERSHIP and SERVICE. I build this program with the desire to enhance what teenagers and students have already happened in their lives and enhance and empower them to keep going, keep pushing and keep connecting. The way this is accomplished is through four areas of opportunities.

1-Mov.ment Workshops. Throughout the year, there are Mov.ment Workshops offered throughout the valley for ages 10-25. These are grouped into ages and genres and dancers of ALL LEVELS can come to connect to a choreographer, genre of dance and content that helps them tell a story. These Workshops are 2-4 hours long and will throughout the course have sit-down opportunities to process the story being shared in that dance and its purpose in their individual lives. Workshops are about making dancers feel apart of a community and give hope to the parts of their lives they can control and become better human beings. Registration and details are at www.choosemovment.com

2-Mov.ment Special Needs Day Camps. This is a part of Mov.ment that is essential to its core. Throughout the year, Special Needs Day Camps are HOSTED by Mov.ment Dancers for their Special Needs Buddies. These last two Hours and have dancers with their buddies rotating from Movement and connection, Hip Hop, Karaoke and a Craft. In the end, Dancers are given a chance to showcase their content learned and receive a Mov.ment Certificate of Completion for accomplishing a Mov.ment Camp. This is a powerful day and volunteers are welcome to join Mov.ment Helpers or Mov.ment Participants. It is for ALL AGES. You can register at www.choosemovment.com

3-Mov.ment Retreat June 8th-13th, 2020. The Mov.ment Retreat is a week long program, built as a holistic approach to a Dance Day Camp. Participants come from 9am-6pm to be apart of the Mov.ment Experience. This includes Classes taught by 8-10 Choreographers from around the valley and prevalent in the Dance Culture. Genres include Ballet, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Lyrical, Contemporary, Musical Theater and much more. Yoga is taught every morning and enhances the day through preparation and meditation. Throughout the week, participants are given a journal to jot down thoughts, feelings and lessons learned. Choreographers are encouraged to share their stories and how they were able to find their path. Life Coaches, Therapists and Motivational Speakers are also introduced into the week teaching concepts of Resilience, Problem Solving and overall Tools to help participants in their day to day lives. The weekends with a half-day Special Needs Day Camp hosted by the participants for Special Needs Buddies. It is a week to remember! Registration is up on www.choosemovment.com

4-Mov.ment Video Series. The Mov.ment Video Series is a series created to start hard conversations about prevalent topics in our culture today. Diversity, Kindness, Fear and Loss. Mov.ment partnered for this 1st series with Leave it to Leavitt Productions and the process was incredible. These are up on our website or YouTube.

While there are hundreds of Programs and Studios in Arizona based in Dance, I love that Mov.ment is out of the box. It dabbles in the unknown category. I have had so many wonders how Dance, Leadership and Service could truly work together. My response back has always been, I cannot see how they would work without each other. Dance has a challenging culture. While its core is healing and powerful, the attack on self-image and esteem is real. Leadership is one of the vaguest yet important topics of this day and age for students ages 10-25.

Where are they to learn the qualities and beliefs of true and authentic leadership? How can they learn to take a leadership role in their lives if they are not taught? and lastly, Service is the glue to this program.
It is the glue in my life. If we are not living lives, knowing that our stories affect others whether positive or negative, we are not living a real life. Service ties experiences in a nice little bow. Mov.ment is simple. Mov,ment is about just that…finding the gaps in your life story and making a change to Move into that direction.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I love the Phx-Chandler area. I love the accessibility to so many areas of the valley and so many connections to dance, leadership and service. I love the diversity and many paths that can be taken in this culture.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.choosemovment.com
• Email: alycesunny@gmail.com
• Instagram: choosemovment
• Facebook: Choose Movment

Image Credit:
Maria Cervantes
Leave it to Leavitt
Jonathan Clare

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