3 Classes of 3 hours each, May 13, 20, 27th, 2021
5/13 Living the Power of Emotions
Society’s conditioning against emotionality has condemned women for
their very strength, the ability to feel. Listening to the body, and the
amazing possibility of
expressing feeling through dance can help you grow out of shame and into strength, and reclaim this gift.
5/20 Transforming the Roles We Play to get Love and Safety
Transforming the Roles We Play to get Love and Safety
We have been told from early in life how to be and now not to be. A child, dependent for survival upon those who take care of him, has to compromise the discovery of his own aliveness, and listen to these voices. And even though we grow up, and step into our own life, these voices in the unconscious are connected with the way our energy moves, and the way we live our emotions and ability to feel.
Emotional Intelligence Workshop
–––
Life is a poetry, not a problem.
If you are like most of us, you have learned in life that your feelings
are a problem, something to worry about. Denying emotions causes
anxiety, creates a split inside you which makes you weaker.
When you awaken your emotional aliveness, and reconnect with the natural
flow of emotions and sensitivity, it becomes a poetry again. Then,
feeling ability becomes a strength – rather than something wrong, to be
hidden, avoided or judged.
This week’s Dance First Member Insight is from Sedona-based Maneesha McClure, founder of Dance Alchemy.
Dear Dancers,
In the mid-’60s, Gabrielle Roth arrived at Esalen and began teaching in Fritz Perls’ gestalt workshops. Her teachings focused on getting a society of ‘up in the head’ people to open their bodies and resolve their repressed pain and emotions through dance. At the same time, I was a teenager on the other side of the U.S., marching in Civil rights and peace marches and singing songs of love and freedom.
Do you remember Middle School? Or maybe it was called Junior High, like it was for me. Those years in your educational career that roughly spanned the ages between about eleven and fourteen.
Looking back it might be just a distant memory, and if you were one of the lucky ones, a time you fondly recall. That tightrope between childhood and adolescence, also known as puberty, spans a gulf of emotional awakening that is as treacherous as the Grand Canyon for most.
Without a doubt, the ‘coming-of-age’ years, especially in the modern West, are among the most dramatic and tumultuous eras of life. Modern youth in the West are largely adrift, as rituals or community ceremonies that were common in archaic times are for the most part absent.
A tropical retreat led by Zuza & Scott: a week of wonder at the meeting point of jungle and sea, at Blue Spirit Costa Rica (in one of only five Blue Zones on the planet).
Are you longing to relax – with self, with others, and into the great Mystery that we also are?
Let’s take a winter break together where sweet air & warm ocean water kiss the skin, offering playful rest for body, heart and soul.
With movement sessions offered daily on a spacious schedule – to dance wildly and luxuriate in micro-movements, to listen inside and express what moves us – we will create together a safe space for relaxation, connection, and ease.
We will move and be moved, speak from the heart, laugh from the belly, and – last not least – take frequent naps.
9:00am-1:00pm (pst) each day
12:00pm new york | central european time 18:00 | london 17:00
soul motion: the way of the moving mystic with michael is an intermediate-level program open to all who have movement experience. this is an online immersion.
mysticism is neither a faith nor a belief, nor is it a principle or a dogma. a mystic is born; being a mystic means having a certain temperament, a certain outlook on life. it is for this reason that many are confused by the word mystic because mysticism cannot be explained in plain words.
as somatic practitioners, we continue to unfold and learn within the tradition of conscious dance as a metaphor for understanding the alchemy of our everyday lives.
For International Dance Day on April 29, experience a *FREE TranscenDance™ Class with Jennifer Joy Jiménez! Enter the coupon code “danceday21” and then click “Apply Code” to get the class at no cost.
TranscenDance™ Live Virtual with Jennifer Jiménez takes the mindfulness of yoga off the mat and infuses it with free-form joyful conscious dance. This mind-body-spirit movement modality is appropriate for all ages, and movement abilities. Classes are held on Zoom, and help you to shake off stress, release tension, rejuvenate your body, center your mind and connect with your spirit. There are ten stages of TranscenDance™ that walk you through guided breathing, relaxation and stretching, fun, free-form conscious dance, energy healing, embodiment coaching and life empowerment, and more. To register for the next live virtual class and bonus recording, click on the web link and apply the coupon code “danceday21.” You will receive Zoom information by email after registering.
Body Prayer is a facilitated event devoted to inquiry into embodied consciousness through movement. As an awareness practice, conscious movement is a vehicle for self-discovery, inner development, and a deeper communion with others and the world. Body Prayer offers a place to be safely uncomfortable as we experiment with ourselves and with each other in our awkward and magnificent dance at the edge of possibility. For more information and to book, click here.
Give yourself a day of elemental movement, connection, creative expression, and fun. . . in excellent company! Let’s move together in our natural habitat, supported by the presence of the ocean and the hills, the song of the grass, movement of the wind and the reliable benevolence of the earth and the sky.
Spring Series offering Soul Motion® Movement Inquiries
with Vincent Martínez-Grieco ONLINE
COVID-19’s got us not only physically isolated but also soulfully and psychically isolated, and we’re hoping that this offering can help to align us and join us within the conscious dance community.
These classes will place the dancer at the margins of behind/before, activity/stillness, internal/outward. From these borders the dance is a traveling vessel moving through time and space. Experience how centered you are, immersed in the edges.
Soul Motion®: Moving stories series
with Camilla Steen Larsen
6 Thursdays – online
April 8, 15, 22, 29
May 6, 13 2o21
9am – noon pacific time / noon – 3pm eastern / 18 – 21h central european time / 5pm – 8pm UK
“Nothing compares to the sensation of being alive in the company of others. it is god breathing on the embers of our soul”.
Each of us has a story to tell. The tales of our travels filled with heroes and heroines, victims and villains, silence and sound. our lives become stunted when we allow ourselves to get stuck within the story. Moving stories is an opportunity to unlock what has become fixed by adding movement moments to the narratives which have bound us to the past.
The format is the same each week:
A new soundscape each week.
We sit · We move · We write · We end in silence and step into our day.
Body Prayer is a facilitated event devoted to inquiry into embodied consciousness through movement. As an awareness practice, conscious movement is a vehicle for self-discovery, inner development, and a deeper communion with others and the world. Body Prayer offers a place to be safely uncomfortable as we experiment with ourselves and with each other in our awkward and magnificent dance at the edge of possibility. For more information and to book, click here.
Welcome Spring with in person connection at Movement Insights . JourneyDance is a conscious dance practice where we allow our bodies to release old energy making way to for growth and abundance. Celebrate Spring as we Dance together!
This week’s Dance First Member Insight is from Dr. Jamie Marich, founder of Dancing Mindfulness
“Dancing Through Troubled Times”
When I sought out my own recovery from trauma-related disorders and addiction in my early twenties, one of the reasons that I was open to accessing the emotions needed for healing is that the arts (and especially dancing) were with me. As I grew up in a dysfunctional home and was frequently bullied at school, the arts were there for me – not just as a refuge, but also as a vehicle through which I could express my emotions. In the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts, we teach that dancing or any other expressive arts practice is not about pushing away what is coming up for you. Instead, we use the practices to embrace and then either contain or process what we are experiencing. And to intone the translated words of Rumi, we welcome and entertain them all.
So last night we were having a party. Nothing special, just a few friends over to the house like we occasionally do. A few folks in the kitchen hanging out snacking on hors d’oeuvres, some friends in the living room gathered around the turntables looking through my records.
10:00am-11:30am (pacific time)
1:00pm new york | central european time 19:00 | london 18:00
(until further notice)
a 90 minute online soul motion® conscious movement class with michael.
pay by donation. suggested donation is $10-$20/class. no one is turned away for lack of funds.
in solidarity and hope, we will be dancing together: moving with our truths and allowing us all to shine.
Body Prayer is a facilitated event devoted to inquiry into embodied consciousness through movement. As an awareness practice, conscious movement is a vehicle for self-discovery, inner development, and a deeper communion with others and the world. Body Prayer offers a place to be safely uncomfortable as we experiment with ourselves and with each other in our awkward and magnificent dance at the edge of possibility. For more information and to book, click here.
Moving the stories our bodies yearn to tell. We gather across space and time to be ourselves in movement and stillness, and to encourage each other to be the same. Bracing music mixed on the fly. Jump on in. All welcome.
Moon Dance Gathering:
Let us honour the Creator of the Creation by creating danced prayer within the FULL MOON! If you believe in the power of prayer, and that dance can be utilized for sacred purposes, then please unite with women from around the world as faith and movement co-mingle to manifest miracles in the here and NOW!
I first experienced JourneyDance with Toni at the Wild Women’s Retreat in 2016. I loved how JourneyDance blended the witness/mover modality with transformation and fun, ecstatic dance. Toni’s teachings resonated with me in a deep and soulful manner, and I knew that I had found a movement discipline that would work within my own path. After treating myself to module 1 of the embodiment teacher training to get a deeper insight into my own practice, it was clear that there was no turning back! I was sold! I went on to take module 2 and module 3, becoming a certified JourneyDance teacher ready to bring the power of JourneyDance to others!
Southern California in the early sixties was at the forefront of education and entertainment in America. Public schools were reputed to be some of the best in the nation and broadcast television boasted nearly a dozen channels. I imagined myself being the host of The Mark Metz Show holding forth in front of Ed Sullivan on the screen with a pretend microphone in my hand. After kindergarten and first grade at Bayview Elementary in Orange County where, with the help of my brother and a chalkboard and my parent’s subscription to Time Magazine I had already learned to read, I found myself at a one-room schoolhouse at the far end of Glade Park, Colorado. Glade Park, population 95 at the time, consisted of a general store/Post Office/gas station at the main crossroads, and hundreds of square miles of ranch land sprawling from the aspen-covered alpine mesas down to the red sandstone cliffs on the banks of the Colorado River.
The City Waves Saturday (11:00am SF | 2pm NY | 7pm London | 8pm Rome) is broadcasted LIVE weekly
CLICK HERE to register and join the class
Broadcast opens 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch.
All classes available in on-demand library for 30 days after broadcast. $15 day pass, $22 weekly, $80 monthly subscription
***For optimal sound, connect a bluetooth or stereo speaker to your computer.***
5Rhythms LiveStream online class with LIVE MUSIC.
guided by Alex Mackay | Live Music by Joe Caswell
***8:00pm Berlin / 7:00pm London / 2:00pm New York / 11:00am San Francisco / 8:00am Honolulu / 5:00am Melbourne (Saturday)***
DAY pass $15
1 Week pass $22
Monthly subscription $80
Class broadcast begins 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch. Classes are available for On-Demand streaming for one month after the class streams.
WorldWide Raven | Livestream + On Demand
available Live every Thursday + On-demand for 30 days after class airs.
***8:00pm CET / 7:00pm GMT / 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT / 5:00am AEDT***
Class broadcast begins 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch. Classes are available for On-Demand streaming for one month after the class streams. For newcomers and students that want to go back to basics, shorter instructional and practice videos will also be available soon in this library.
The City Waves Wednesday (5:00pm SF | 8pm NY | Thursday 9am Singapore | 12pm Melbourne) is broadcasted LIVE weekly
CLICK HERE to register and join the class
Broadcast opens 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch.
All classes available in on-demand library for 30 days after broadcast. $15 day pass, $22 weekly, $80 monthly subscription
Livestream + On-Demand | Available WORLDWIDE!
NYC CLASSES BEGIN TUESDAY MARCH 24
Tuesday High Vibration Waves (7:30pm EST) is broadcasted here LIVE weekly.
Broadcast opens 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch. Classes are available for On-Demand streaming for one month after the class streams. This subscription also includes access to the WorldWide Raven Channel.
For 2 decades Meredith Davies and David Juriansz have been a dynamic duo for 5Rhythms® in Australia. Beginning with a portable CD player and HiFi speakers, their pioneering spirit paved the way for the growth of conscious dance down-under.
Unexpected Waves is their offering to the 5Rhythms Livestream Platform.
The class will have an unexpected flavour. Sometimes one long Wave. Sometimes 2 or 3 shorter Waves. Sometimes Live music. Sometimes recorded. Sometimes David. Sometimes Meredith. Sometimes Both. But ALWAYS – a dance which is rooted in the 5Rhythms practice. Turn up and dance with what shows up.
Get your boost by dancing the 5Rhythms and start the week with new energy. Monday Boost is alternately led by Ron Hagendoorn (NL) and Susanna Dobos (CH). Dance with one of us live on Monday evenings or on demand afterwards at a moment that suits you.
Livestream + On-Demand | Available WORLDWIDE!
NYC CLASSES BEGIN TUESDAY MARCH 24
Sunday Sweat Your Prayers (11am EST) is broadcasted here LIVE weekly.
Broadcast opens 15 minutes before start time to settle in and stretch. Classes are available for On-Demand streaming for one month after the class streams. This subscription also includes access to the WorldWide Raven Channel.
We are working to get more NYC teachers up and running soon. Watch this space!
***For optimal sound, connect a bluetooth or stereo speaker to your computer.***
Let us honour the Creator of the Creation by creating danced prayer within the NEW MOON! If you believe in the power of prayer, and that dance can be utilized for sacred purposes, then please unite with women from around the world as faith and movement co-mingle to manifest miracles in the here and NOW!
Each time we step into our movement practice we meet the crossroads of indifference and curiosity. Of disregard and discovery. Of apathy and inspiration. When dancing solo, we can welcome what is present to partner with around us or yearn in boredom for non-existent possibilities.
Ground Floor Lab is a five-day, in-depth tour of Open Floor movement practice. Open Floor International’s most seasoned teachers team up to immerse students in our dance curriculum. You’ll come away with an understanding of the core teachings and the skills to use them in your life, both on and off the dance floor.
This program attracts a diverse, international community of like-minded dancers who are interested in bringing embodied movement into their work and incorporating it into their lives. Attending a Ground Floor Lab is a prerequisite for anyone interested in training with Open Floor.
This week’s Dance First Member Spotlight is from Adam Barley, UK-based founder of ZeroOne.
Dear dancers,
One of the things I’ve loved about this last year has been the increased amount of time I’ve spent on morning practices of one sort or another. That’s been true for many of us, hasn’t it? I’ve loved the deepened value of home experience and have made that a big part of what I’ve been offering through ZeroOne, with courses specifically aimed at developing the skills needed to make home practice enjoyable and effective.
Paradoxically for a movement practitioner, a much-loved ingredient of that for me has been the wonder of being still.
Let’s see, I’m guessing that you might be in some sort of a position to sign people up for one of your programs or persuade people to use your service.
You might be a dance leader or a coach or a consultant or a workshop organizer or a teacher trainer or who knows what. If you’re putting yourself out there with any kind of a service or offer, you’ve probably given some thought to just how in the heck do you get people to sign up.
In this woo-woo world of conscious dance or holistic health or
mind-body fitness, the word ‘sales’ has a somewhat tarnished reputation.
‘Marketing’ is another term that is often misused or misunderstood.
One of these terms is about getting people curious enough to knock on
your door and ask questions, the other is about persuading them to sign
on the dotted line.
2-part Live Online Workshop with Banafsheh
Saturdays, April 17 & 24 @10:30-12pm PT | 5:30-7pm UTC | Available in Replay
Learn to embody Saqi, the cupbearer in Persian poetry and painting who serves the wine of divine grace and the water of life, and in so doing, becomes ecstatic herself. Receive her revelations through a weaving of the ethereal, sensual beauty of classical Persian dance, and Banafsheh’s contemporary fiery, fluid and grounded style.
4 Mondays, May 3-24, 10AM-12PM PDT
Through the lens of Indigenous wisdom, we humbly re-learn and remember our interconnectedness with people and land. We tap into nature’s bodies to reconnect with who we are — our creation stories or cultural origins that live within our bones. Where do we come from? What is my ocean? What is my mountain? Who are my people?
7 Wednesdays, May 5 – June 16, 10-11:45AM PDT
In the northern hemisphere at this time of year, the amount of daylight increases until it reaches its peak on June 20, the Summer Solstice. During this season of late spring, the sun warms the soil and perhaps our body-based imaginations, catalyzing new life around and within us. As we move towards the longest day of the year, we will give thanks for the energizing qualities of the sun and ask
Sunday, May 16, 9AM-12PM PDT
Dance, expressive arts, personal development … men are frequently outnumbered by women in these spaces. Join us for an opportunity to connect as men as we explore our creativity, ourselves, and our lived experience through dance, drawing, and creative writing.
*Gender is complex, gender is fluid. What it means to be a man can be different things to different people and can feel conflicting even within one’s own identity. This space is open to anyone who holds a male identity, including cis men, trans men, masculine-leaning gender queer folks, and others.
4 Tuesdays, June 1 – 22, 4-5:30PM PDT
In this workshop we begin by giving ourselves restorative touch/ contact to relax and release excess tension and allow ourselves to become more receptive to bodily sensations. Inspired by an integrative movement approach from Anna Halprin’s somatic practice, we find support from our bones, breath, and gravity. Weaving imagery and heightened awareness through our senses and skin, we invite flow and pleasure to come forward in our dancing. At the end of each class, we draw/ write and imagine how our dances can ripple into our daily lives.
4 Wednesdays, June 2, 9, 16, 23 4-5:30PM PDT
Who Am I Today? Through guided experiences of movement, drawing, and writing, we look into the mirror through the language of the arts. Using the Tamalpa Life/Art Process, we reveal a new mini self-portrait each week, dance with it, and listen to what it has to tell us.
This series is open to everyone. No art or dance experience needed
To get the most out of this online class, please prepare a comfortable space to move in with access to your online device and reliable internet service. Also, have art supplies ready at hand for the drawing activity and paper and pen for journaling and creative writing exercises
Each part of our bodies is unique: each has developed specific functions, moves in particular ways, and has its own stories to tell and dances to dance. In this 4-part series, we focus on a new area of the body each week. For each body part, we study anatomy and body mechanics, we explore its movement somatically, and we allow its wisdom to express through drawing, creative writing, and dance. By exploring our anatomy experientially and artistically, we connect more deeply with our bodies, creativity, and lived experience.
4 Mondays, June 7 – 28, 10-11:30AM PDT
As we transition to summer in the northern hemisphere, we ignite our senses and invite light and lightness into our bodies and imagination. Supported by somatic awareness, we work with Movement Ritual to explore movements on the ground, to standing and moving through space. We experiment with space, time and force to illuminate different qualities in our dancing. Drawing and writing add layers of discovery as we acknowledge the arrival of the summer solstice and celebrate the creative light within.
PARADISE: Dance of Divine Creation
Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, are honored through sacred dance in our upcoming 8 week online program. Resonate with women around the world through movement rooted in Polynesian dance. NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED! This is an intro level class, and the video replays are accessible throughout the duration of the course.
This week’s Dance First Member Spotlight is from Breema practitioner and Integrative Family Physician Dr. Alexandra Johnson, MD.
Dear dancers,
All life expresses the principle of Mutual Support. From the relationships that create and sustain our bodies to our interactions with the world around us, our lives are a dynamic interplay. When we relate to the world from a balanced state, we are nourished by the foods we eat, the interactions we have, and the activities in which we spend our time. Life becomes a vibrant dance. We have the possibility to give and receive support with our thoughts, relationships, and activities.
I recently saw a client who has many demands on her in both her personal and professional life. She felt she had no energy left for herself. Together, we began to examine what she eats, how she interacts with others, and how she digests—mentally, physically, and emotionally—the things that happen each day. Through Breema bodywork, she discovered a new relationship to her body that brought her insight, inspiration, and direction. Receiving Breema bodywork helped her establish an experiential relationship with Breema’s Nine Principles of Harmony – particularly the principles of No Force and Mutual Support. By experiencing first-hand how those principles apply to physical movement and interactions, she began to see how she could use them to make her interactions with others more supportive, energizing, and satisfying.
