“As a student who had attended Donna Costello’s workshop before, I was ecstatic when I heard the news that she would be running a second class. Her wonderful, calm and cheerful personality was definitely something that I had recalled with warmth from last time, as well as the many inspiring activities and dances that she conducted for us. This workshop in particular felt to me to be on the subject of beginning to understand the mastery of movement: coming to the realisation that our physical bodies can do so much more than we expect, yet to understand the boundaries and limits that only we can set for ourselves. As a person who studies ballet, I am accustomed to the strictness and unnatural rules that the foundation of dance sets for us. When it comes to Donna Costello’s class, the first thing that I learned was that in order to dance in this style, you have to listen to your body, and to let it lead you. You are not allowed to control it here because in order to achieve that flow of movement and rhythm, your mind has to sit back and let the mortal vessels that we carry do the rest. One of the moments in this workshop that seemed like a sudden eureka moment for me was near the end, where we had to display our sequence that Miss Donna taught us. As the music was playing, this feeling of complete empowerment had settled over the room as we began to dance, focusing on nothing but how we moved. There was no stress over “wait, what’s next after this one?” or “oh, that person is doing it perfectly” or “oh no, I messed up!” So I would like to sincerely thank Miss Donna for helping me to further aim for not perfection, but the utmost joy in dance.” - Geo Mckay, Sd
“I had an amazing experience learning with Donna. She has an amazing personality which made the class really fun. I have learned to dance in a style that I've never learned before. Overall I think everyone who is interested in dance should try it.” - Mai, 11d