Abby Webster, Special to The Denisonian—

Fallon Brackley is a senior from New York City, and after winning the Osborne scholarship, she traveled to Europe this summer to take classes in Brussels, Belgium, at the Tictac Art Centre and go to the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival in Vienna, Austria. 

Those two things were at very different points in the summer, which meant she had the freedom to find where else she could go. 

“I bought my round-trip ticket, and I didn’t know where I was gonna go. The only thing I knew was that I was starting at Tictac Art Centre. And I knew about impulse dance. All I knew was that I was starting in Brussels,” Brackley said.  

Brackley flew to Brussels on May 26. And while at Tictac, she took classes studying different kinds of play and improvisation. As well as a kind of dance technique called Vagare. She also performed an improvised piece at a performance called Crude Saturday. At which she got paid 15 euros.

 After spending two weeks in Brussels, dancing and having fun, this part of the journey came to an end. However, an ending always leads to a new beginning, and this new beginning was in Portugal. Where she backpacked all across open fields and mountains. Now, she had brought a big suitcase of things with her, but because she went backpacking, she had to leave the suitcase in Brussels. She went on the rest of her trip carrying only her big backpack with her. 

“Half the stuff I don’t really need. I only need a couple pants. But I had a huge backpack filled with everything, and I left my suitcase and half of my stuff there,” Brackley said. 

She was in Portugal backpacking for two weeks. It was two weeks of using the ocean as a shower and sleeping in open fields while trying to avoid boars. 

While in Portugal, Brackley also met up with some friends, and they traveled to Spain and to France. Her dance journey continued in Greece, where she went to the Kalamata Dance Festival. And here is where Brackley competed in her first dance battle. She made it all the way to the semifinals until she lost. Along with this, she studied how to control the body’s momentum in improvisation. It was also 108 degrees most of week she was there. Luckily, the ocean was right next to where she was taking classes. She and her classmates would go swimming after. 

The last part of Brackley’s journey took place in Vienna. Here, she took part in the ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, where the classes were more traditional. She took a ballet class, contemporary, hip-hop, and flamenco. She also enjoyed reading and writing when she wasn’t dancing. 

And after two weeks in Vienna, Brackley returned to New York on Aug. 9. It was awful coming back to New York, but all things must come to an end. 

“Biggest thing I realized is art is everywhere and it doesn’t need to be perfect to be shown. People are making art everywhere and it’s not judgemental. People are making music, it’s the worst songs you’ve ever heard but people are still making music,” Brackley said. 

Photo: Fallon Brackley ’25 dances at the Tictac Arts Centre in Brussels, Belgium.