To Move is a 10-day youth experiential learning programme that brought together young queer people from Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Spain, and Italy in a safer and braver space to explore dance, movement, and embodiment as tools for self-expression, healing, and community-building. Rooted in Active Rainbow’s approaches to embodied learning and inspired by personal journeys of dance and connection, the project aimed to nurture empowerment through movement rather than technique.
The programme welcomed participants with diverse backgrounds and experiences in dance, focusing not on performance or skill-building, but on self-exploration, presence, and authentic connection with ourselves and others. Each day was filled with movement-based activities, reflection, and shared experiences — always guided by care, consent, and respect for personal boundaries.
Living together as a community was an essential part of the journey. Participants supported one another through daily tasks, collective care, and smaller group processes, creating a space where self-organization, compassion, and mutual responsibility could flourish alongside structured learning moments.
At its core, To Move sought to foster a supportive queer community grounded in acceptance and authenticity, strengthen self-awareness and confidence, and inspire collective action — including local initiatives in Riga and in each partner country. Through interactive and experiential learning, participants learned by doing, by sharing, and by moving together.
Enjoy the reflections and insights from this powerful journey of embodiment, connection, and collective growth!
This project was an incredible opportunity to connect, co-create, and truly move within a group of vibrant, inspiring individuals. Throughout the project, I re-acquainted myself with how movement feels in my body and practiced being aware of my body’s signals, cues, and needs — and how movement can be a powerful tool for working through them.
I learned how to connect with others through dance, performance, and movement, why this connection matters so much, what power it can hold, and how to approach it effectively and openly. Moreover, I discovered what kind of movement and dance feels most natural to me and my body, how I can express my feelings and ideas through it, and why it is essential that I do so.
There is so much opportunity to heal, process, and grow through movement — opportunities that aren’t accessible through other forms of creative expression, such as drawing, that I wasn’t previously aware of.
This experience felt like a healing getaway, allowing me to reconnect with both myself and my community. I gained invaluable assets from it – meaningful human connections, deeper self-knowledge, a stronger sense of community, and a feeling of inspiration rooted in a place of shared joy, vulnerability, safety, and creativity
One of the body movement exercises that released my creativity and emotionality and really stayed with me after the project was embodying an element found in the surrounding nature (in my case, a strawberry magically grown in autumn) and developing a dance-based dialogue from it.
Me and my dance partner experienced it with a lot of presence and authenticity, which fostered a deep connection between us and thus started a beautiful friendship.
The feelings in this project were like on mountains (latvian expression). It was as if I was walking on snow and there was black ice underneath, but whenever my foot slipped, there was someone next to me who would catch me. And not only catch me, but also wipe the snow off my knees and make me a chamomile tea.
Before the project, I thought that I would move my body in ways that it had never moved before, but of course, my emotions were the ones that did the dancing. After dancing, they just talked and talked, and I had to decipher this new language and learn to listen to myself again.
Thank you to the project for that and for the golden people around me.
Since returning from “To Move,” I have noticed the subtle ways the project has not left me. From waking up and setting an intention for the day, fueling myself with both positive energy and good food and people, to finding grounding in my body and movement through the day.
The project has left a breath of inspiration in me, a flame that is calm but everburning. Throughout my experience on the project, I was surrounded by the most incredible souls, and the bond we developed and nurtured became a truly pivotal point in my experience. My support care group became like a safety net and a family to come back to. While unexpected and undefined, there was an invisible golden thread that connected all of us and inspired us to find release and be fully who we are.
I find myself throughout the day bringing the spirit, love, openness, humor, and embodied presence of every single person from this project with me, for another project like this does not exist.