Practice as a path:
Throughout my journey with contemporary dance, I have always found it very difficult to belong to a milieu that, due to personal triggers, placed me in an extremely serious and cruel position with myself.
I gave up.
I tried other things, I taught, I sang, I studied anthropology... but my relationship with the body and movement has always been very strong, and no matter how much I tried to escape it, I always needed to return.
RABA Power — the first call for the pelvis
In 2018, while living in Lisbon, I felt the need to make peace with dance, but for me it was important to bring dance from a place that made sense — and what always made sense to me was the possibility of playing, of failing, of inventing and of having fun dancing.
And the place where I felt I could access all of that in my body was in my pelvis.
I understood that the pelvis represented, for me, that place where joy, spontaneity, and power returned to movement, and it became my gateway back to dance.
I created RABA Power , my first classes dedicated to the pelvis, bringing a political discourse about autonomy and empowerment, which also had the collaboration of Luiza Cason.
It was transformative — but also challenging.
Mobilizing the pelvis wasn't just about finding power. For many people, it revealed pain, sadness, shame, deep stories. I understood then that working with this region required responsibility, listening, and tools for support. With the pandemic, motherhood, and the shift from urban to rural life, I delved deeper. I began to investigate our support structures—physical, emotional, and relational—and the guiding question of my research changed:
What supports you?
This process gave rise, in 2020, to my practice ANCORAR .
ANCORAR — The Roots Phase ( 2020–2025 )
For several years, ANCORAR was the perfect metaphor for my work.
I played with images of navigation — the anchor that finds the ground, the compass-pelvis that orients the body in space, and movement as a sea to be navigated.
In 2022, during my second pregnancy, I opened a new branch of research focused on motherhood, using the same principles, now applied to pregnancy.
Another layer of understanding led me to realize that when the supporting structures were well-organized, movement emerged on its own. Labor was a catalyst for this embodied knowledge: when the body found support, the pelvis moved, the baby found space, and expansion happened effortlessly.
I began to focus deeply on the study of the body's supporting structures, and the pelvis ceased to be the center, becoming a passageway—a catalyst.
My focus shifted to building supports—physical, somatic, and emotional—that would allow people to express themselves authentically and safely.
Transformation ( 2023–2024 )
In 2023, my body asked for a break. Burnout after years of pandemic, two consecutive postpartum periods, and isolation in the countryside without a support network.
In 2024, we moved to Budapest, where I could breathe again: internet, city, colleagues, in-person classes, and time to work when my youngest son started daycare.
Here, communicating in English became more frequent — and, suddenly, the name ANCHOR no longer fit.
The practice was greater than the symbol.
Me too.
Looking back on my journey, I realized that the only constant throughout it all was me.
RABA Power and ANCHOR are living phases of an ongoing research project — but now it was time to assert the work using my own name:
Flora Mariah.
Current practice ( 2025 →)
In this new phase, after so many years immersed in the depths of everything that supports me, I reach the surface and catch my breath to recover a very important part of the work that had been dormant: playfulness.
After establishing my solid foundations, I gain surface area and the ability to move between that which supports and that which moves and expands.
Currently, this is the main pillar of my work: the study of the relationship between movement and support, where we explore:
1. The pelvis as a gateway to power, joy, and playfulness.
The place where we can access our vitality in motion to play, laugh at ourselves, make mistakes, improvise, take risks, and express ourselves—without asking permission.
2. The ground as a place of support and courage.
To experience this joy, we need support.
The physical, emotional, and relational grounding supports authenticity and spontaneous action.
Today, I see my practice as an ecology — a living organism in constant dialogue with the body, the earth, gravity, memory, and imagination.
Through deep listening and reclaiming support, we found the courage to experiment with play as a political and creative force.
Testimonials
"I feel that your guidance has unlocked so much energy in me and benefited me so much. It has brought so much mobility, so much reconnection with the pelvis, so much liberation. I count the minutes for each class. They are all unique, special and beautiful. I always leave them feeling wow and much more like myself."
Liliana Sofia
“Thank you so much for guiding us through this vulnerable and powerful process. It’s been super empowering and liberating for me. I truly appreciate the work you do and the safe space you’ve created for us.”
EB
“I always had pain during my period and after taking your classes, for the first time I didn’t feel it anymore.”
Veronica
"Dancing with what is there... oh, and now when I dance like this in a social way, I often feel that it is my pelvis that dances me. This is due to Anchoring without a doubt, these practices are very powerful."
Sara Machado Morais
"I am touched and intrigued by the way you are able to communicate your deep knowledge about our bodies and mediate that experience for others. That is your beautiful gift."
Nikola
"Your work is beautiful and opens a portal of internal perceptions that reverberates in many aspects of our lives. Today I feel much more aware of my place, my space, my movement.
I wish this work to grow and prosper.
May it reach more women because it really is very powerful."
Patricia Rozinholli
“I practiced today and could feel a sense of warmth, aliveness and openness in my hips, sitting bones and surrounding tissues.”
Niko
“I have been doing a number of things to support my uterus, but I am very convinced that working with you is a big part of moving the stagnant energy around my uterus and getting my pelvis more aligned.
So wonderful, thank you.”
Marysia P.
“After I started taking your classes, I feel a better relationship with my supports, I even walk with more confidence”
Livia