In Twyla’s “Torelli,” there are nine phrases, each of which is quite distinct from the other. My favorite phrase is collapse. Before Shawn, our teacher, showed us the video of collapse for the first time, I thought the phrase would be difficult for me; I anticipated it would take me a long time to learn it.

While I was watching the video, I tried to memorize each movement in my brain. After that, my brain was completely off, and I could only remember the first movement. When I watched this set of movements again without any pressure to memorize it, though, I fell in love with this phrase! Even though it is a long one, its actions are really intriguing and unique from the others. I began to wonder where these movements came from. Why are these particular movements linked together? When I began practicing the phrase, I realized that there is a connection between each of the movements. It’s still complicated, of course: as I walk on the streets, I go over the movements in my head, thinking about how I would perform them with my body. I cannot stop thinking about this phrase.