This past semester, Gaspard Louis, founder and artistic director of the Durham based Gaspard&Dancers, visited dance teacher Sherri Newhouse’s classes.

“He taught us some interesting techniques. A lot of them were about weight sharing. Say if someone were to have a base that was maybe twice your size or more, you can carry them with their weight and hardly even feel it,” junior Destiny Bennett said.

By having Louis come in, students faced new challenges and ideas.

“Mr. Louis reenforced the idea of ‘original’ movement, through the use of contact shapes. He also demonstrated that choreography is a process, which involves phrasing and sequencing,” Newhouse said. “Choreography is not just a matter of picking a nice musical selection and piecing together familiar or preferential movements. He also stressed the importance of how movements should feel, not just look.”

Louis’s presence also added a mixture of motivation and inspiration among the class.

“I originally wanted to be a professional dancer, so he made me realize what it is like,” sophomore Savannah Harris said.

Louis’s inspiration not only lies in his profession, but also his background since he was born in Haiti.

“He comes from a different background, and everyone else comes from a different background, so I feel like he is showing us that no matter where you are starting from, you can always be what you want to be,” Bennett said.

Though he got his start in Haiti, Louis didn’t begin dancing until college, and after has been teaching and performing professionally for 15 years.

“I enjoy dance because it gives me the freedom to be myself and to be creative. It makes me happy,” Louis said.

Though Louis has made many achievements in his 15 years of professional dance, the thing that he is most proud of is getting letters and praise from parents or teachers about a student he has helped.

Louis’s dance company is known for its high-degree of physicality, and that style transferred to what he taught Newhouse’s dancers.

“It was different because we had a lot more contact with other people than we usually have, and we got to interact with each other a lot more and had a lot to do with trust, like trusting the other person.”

Louis hopes that he can help student dancers become more creative and comfortable in their movements.

“The hardest barriers for student dancers is not trusting their instinct. Afraid to take risks, afraid to make mistakes. What they don’t realize, sometimes the best things come from making a mistake,” Louis said. “I tell my students never stop being a kid. As children, we don’t over analyze things, but as we get older we spend too much time about being perfect rather than enjoying the moment.”

By having Louis come in, students faced different challenges and ideas than they would usually encounter during their usual dance classes.

“Mr. Louis reinforced the idea of ‘original’ movement, through the use of contact shapes. He also demonstrated that choreography is a process which involves phrasing and sequencing,” Newhouse said. “Choreography is not just a matter of picking a nice musical selection and piecing together familiar or preferential movements. He also stressed the importance of how movements should feel, not just look.”

Louis’s presence also added a different perspective as he dances professionally.

“I originally wanted to be a professional dancers so he made me realize what it is like,” sophomore Savannah Harris said.

Louis’ inspiration not only lies in his profession, but also his background.

Louis was born and raised in Haiti and over the past few years has been creating works about the 2010 earthquakes that happened there.

“He comes from a different background and everyone else comes from a different background, so I feel like he is showing us that no matter where you are starting from you can always be what you want to be,” Bennett said.

Though he got his start in Haiti, Louis didn’t begin dancing until college, and after has been teaching and performing professionally for 15 years.

“I enjoy dance because it gives me the freedom to be myself and to be creative. It makes me happy,” Louis said.

Though Louis have made many achievements in his 15 years of professional dance, the thing that he is proudest of are getting letters and praise from parents or teachers about a student he has helped.

Louis hopes that he can help student dancers become more creative and comfortable in their movements.

“The hardest barriers for student dancers is not trusting their instinct. Afraid to take risks, afraid to make mistakes. What they don’t realize sometimes the best thing come from making a mistake,” Louis said. “I tell my students never stop being a kid. As children, we don’t over analyze things, but as we get older we spend too much time about being perfect rather than enjoying the moment. As a result you are not stopping yourself from being creative.”

Louis hopes that those who haven’t tried dance or stopped dancing will try it out.

“Somewhere along the line as get older we’re told to stop dancing. But if you notice, when we spend time dancing, it means we’re happy, and when we’re happy the world is a better place,” Louis said. “Imagine if everyone around the globe stop for one day to dance. That’s one day of spreading love.”