Work and Dance Community Weekend to Beautify Earthdance!

 

April 20 - April 23

Join us in beautifying, fixing, community building and dancing at Earthdance! We’ll work together during the day to help maintain and rebuild Earthdance, while dancing together in the evenings. If you have any carpentry, electrical, permaculture, or any skills that you think Earthdance would benefit from, please don’t be shy, we’d love your help!

Earthdance will provide us with healthy and delicious meals so that we have plenty of energy to give. You’re invited to join us for the whole weekend, or just drop in for a day. We’ll create lists of specific tasks for people to sign-up to beforehand according to skills and interests.

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Butoh and Noguchi Taiso Training with Julie Becton Gillum

May 11 - May 14

Gillum’s intention is to introduce Noguchi Taiso as a warm up and perfect companion to butoh; afterwards she will guide lessons selected from “13 Aspects of Butoh”. Dancers, actors, martial artists, yoga practitioners and anyone interested in exploring their own personal capacity for movement expression is welcome to join Butoh and Noguchi Taiso Training. This training is appropriate for all levels.

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Circling and Community Collaborative COCO Jam

 

June 1 - June 4

What is a CoCo Jam?

Community Collaborative Jams are a new and unfolding program concept at Earthdance which launched in early 2022.  This new programming thread was driven by the desire for more opportunities to dance CI and to connect with the community in smaller containers. Similar to Seasonal Jams, the CoCo jam has one or more hosts that, rather than always being professional artists with strong facilitation skills, can be dedicated Earthdance community members and upcoming dancers building their leadership skills. Support staff is also more limited compared to our seasonal jams and participants are invited into a higher degree of autonomy and self care. Similarly, the workshop offerings and schedule are also more influenced by the community members themselves and created on a more adhoc basis.

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Dance First Spotlight on the 2023 Conscious Dance Festival in GREECE!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features the Conscious Dance Festival in GREECE!

Born in Berlin, the CONSCIOUS DANCE FESTIVAL® expands out from the city/weekend format to a five-day retreat in nature so that we have more space to dive deeper into exploring the uplifting world of different conscious dance approaches. And when you’re not dancing, there will be plenty of time to unwind Greek style – sunbathe on the beach, swim in the sparkling ocean and soak up the meditative and vibrant atmosphere of OSHO Afroz.

This retreat is an opportunity to learn about and experience various movement practices that help us get into our bodies and from there, to open up to a more present life. By dancing freely and totally, we allow ourselves to release physical and emotional tensions in a playful and simple way. This creates space for creativity, silence, joy and deep connection to oneself and to life.

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Monday Love to your Grateful Goals

 

“ It’s the job that’s never started that takes longest to finish..”

 ~ J. R. R. Tolkien

Are you close to the finish line? Does it seem like the closer you get the further away it is? Will you know for sure when you’ve crossed it?

Goals can resemble a receding horizon. Without concrete benchmarks they can be like a mirage in the desert, an oasis in the distance that stays just out of reach.

If ever there was a proper parable providing good advice, the story of the tortoise and the hare is certainly apt. We’ve all heard the phrase, “slow and steady wins the race”.

The keyword there is steady. Whatever it is that you hope to do, just keep chipping away at it. The best thing you can do is to make a habit out of making progress.

If you can get the hang of making regular progress, it gives you a chance to really examine your process. And when you examine your process, it gives you the chance to ask the question “Do I really love this? Is this something I’d be happy doing for the rest of my life, finish line or not?”

As for me, I like to write. After all, I’ve managed to put out this newsletter once a week for going on 10 years now!

But meanwhile, I have a long simmering book project that is coming to fruition. Some of you may know I’ve been writing about analog media and why it seems to be nicer to our nervous system.

It’s no secret that I am a raving record guy, and my book asks lots of questions about why analog sound contributes to our well-being.

So this is where I can ask for your help getting me over the finish line! I’m building a special email list to help with my launch, because as we all know when it comes to Amazon, ample reviews out of the gate is what it takes to make a splash.

So if you’d like to be part of my team, and get updates and exerpts throughout the publishing process, then please follow this link to include yourself.

There is a before and after to every finish line, and I’ve been on the before side of this one for way too long! Help me out by clicking here, and I’ll see you on the other side!

Much love and many thanks till next week!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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Tending the fire – with Camilla Steen Larsen & Michael Molin-Skelton

 

June 22 @ 5:00 pm - June 25 @ 5:00 pm

“Nothing compares to the sensation of being alive in the company of others. It is God breathing on the embers of our soul”.
– Mark Nepo

The fire that blazes in the center of the heart is fed with the risk and commitment of living our truth, shaking and waking us from our deepest slumber. To answer life’s calling is the truest act of beauty; the presence that sparks us to be the self that burns with our brightest expression. Let’s gather around the hearth of the mid-summer glow to witness the vulnerability of our naked souls and grow our capacity to widely root in the world.

Using Soul Motion as the ground for our explorations, we will play and pray with movement, silence, written word, and ritual to create an environment where we can expand the passion of our humanness and expose the creativity being birthed through our dance, stories and prayers.

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CONSCIOUS DANCE FESTIVAL® – Retreat Edition in Greece

 

June 26 @ 8:30 am - June 30 @ 11:00 pm

Born in Berlin, the CONSCIOUS DANCE FESTIVAL® expands out from the city/weekend format to a five-day retreat – Juen 26 to 30 – on the Greek island Lesvos allowing more space to dive deeper into exploring the uplifting world of different conscious dance approaches. And when you’re not dancing, there will be plenty of time to unwind Greek style – sunbathe on the beach, swim in the sparkling ocean and soak up the meditative and vibrant community of OSHO Afroz.

 

Read More Here

Dance First Spotlight on the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers!

The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers
starring
Alasdair Fraser

May 19 (Berkeley) – May 20 (Palo Alto) – May 21 (Carmel)
sffiddles.org

Three Northern California shows led by acclaimed Scots fiddler Alasdair Fraser fill the stage with over 100 Bay Area fiddlers performing tunes, song, and dance rooted in the Celtic tradition.

Scottish fiddle great Alasdair Fraser leads the San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers in a celebration of traditional music from Scotland and beyond in a series of three high-energy, exciting concerts in the Bay Area and Carmel. One hundred-plus players on stage give full orchestral life to the irresistibly melodic and rhythmic dance tunes, marches, and slow airs of the Highlands. The repertoire features age-old works and newly written ones, all rooted in the traditions not only of Scotland but also Cape Breton, France, Spain, and Scandinavia. It’s a fun and mighty musical experience that has audiences dancing in their seats (and possibly in the aisles).

The players

Alasdair Fraser is one of the greatest exemplars of the Scottish fiddle music tradition, whose warmly expressive playing, mastery of his instrument, and deep understanding of the genre has inspired generations of musicians on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born in Clackmannan in 1955, Alasdair began taking classical violin lessons at the age of eight, enduring much teasing from schoolmates at a time when carrying a fiddle case around was considered far from cool. Driven by the love of the instrument and the tunes he heard at home, he persevered, and the musical journey was underway.

In his teens, Alasdair played with dance bands and began gathering the compositions of great fiddling forebears including Niel and Nathaniel Gow, William Marshall, and James Scott Skinner. He went on to win – twice – the Scottish National Fiddle Championship and continued playing even as his studies led to work as a petrophysicist with British Petroleum, which took him to California in 1981.

A few years later, Alasdair realized that he was in the wrong job and went on to follow his passion for music. The journey led him to teaching as well as performing. He is the founder and director of the Valley of the Moon fiddle camp, fiddle courses on the Isle of Skye and in Spain, and Sierra Fiddle Camp, near his home in California.

Alasdair’s musical partnerships include duos with pianist Paul Machlis and guitarist Tony McManus, and his acclaimed band Skyedance. He has also guested with The Chieftains, The Waterboys, Itzhak Perlman, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and appeared on innumerable television broadcasts. He and his fiddle have also been featured in numerous movie and television productions, from Ken Burns documentaries to Titanic, The Last of the Mohicans, and Treasure Planet.

Since 2003 Alasdair has partnered with cellist Natalie Haas, restoring to contemporary prominence “the wee fiddle and big fiddle” partnership that flourished in 18th-century Scotland. Their debut album, Fire and Grace, was voted Album of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards 2004.

The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers formed in 1986 around a nucleus of musicians passionate to learn the joyous and moving traditional music of Scotland and now has a membership numbering more than 200. It is a decisively inclusive group with members who play not only fiddle but cello, bass, guitar, percussion, and piano–and the occasional flute, harmonica, and, in one case, the musical saw.

A core group of members has remained from the beginning, while new players, often in their teens or younger, join every year. The “fiddle club,” as longtime members call it, offers instrumentalists of all levels and every age to play with and learn from each other. A significant number of young players have gone on to study at Juilliard, Berklee, and other renowned music conservatories, and have established themselves in professional careers. But they always consider the Fiddlers to be their musical family.

The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers meet monthly to play their favorite tunes and learn new ones. Their repertoire over the years has expanded to include the music of Brittany, Galicia, Scandinavia, and America while remaining firmly anchored in the Scottish fiddle forms of dance, pipe tunes, and song.

The highlight of the Fiddlers’ year comes each spring when, under Alasdair Fraser’s direction, the group rehearses for and presents a three-concert series in the greater Bay Area.

Find out more and get tickets here!

Want to be featured in our newsletter? Email

mark@consciousdancer.com!

 

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Monday Love to your Mindful Mishaps plus Spotlight on The San Francisco Scottish Fiddlers

 

“ Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow.”

 ~ Mary Tyler Moore

How often do you goof up? It happens, right?  What’s your reaction to it?

We all make mistakes. Some of us make them more often than others. But there’s a difference between being disaster-prone or error-ridden and simply stretching yourself.

Some people might think that the goal is to never make mistakes. But what if the opposite is actually true?

It’s easy to have the wrong impression about other people and think that folks who are really good at something were just born with talent or have some special twist to their DNA that makes them masters.

But the fact is, anyone who is halfway decent at almost anything you can name tried, tried, and tried again before getting it right. Making mistakes until you gain some semblance of mastery is the name of the game.

So, if you really think about it, the only way to be certain to never make a mistake is to never attempt anything new. To stay stuck. To be happy going nowhere. Does that sound like a fun way to live? Not really.

Lifelong learners know the secret. There is always another hill to climb. There’s always another technique to master. There will always be more things to wrap your head around. The road to mastery is paved with mishaps.

Personally, I’m up to my ears in mistakes these days. My rate of mistakes-per-minute has probably never been higher. Why? Well, I’m finally doing my best to tackle the French language!

It’s going to be quite a while before I can sit around a sidewalk café in Toulouse and discuss culture and philosophy with the locals. In the meantime, I’ll do my best to stumble less and at the very least try to hold up my end of the conversation.

So, if you haven’t made any mistakes lately, ask yourself when was the last time you tried to learn anything new. It’s a good way to recognize whether or not you’re truly alive!

Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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SOUL REVIVAL: A Live Wire Experiment Unearthed

 

April 28 @ 6:30 pm - April 30 @ 2:30 pm

Rooted in the Waves Map with live, interactive and in the moment explorations in a grounded container, and concentrated in 5Rhythms Ritual Theater perspectives Lorca and Peter, in renaissance, will invoke this dynamic practice’s principal: If you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor. Setting your compass for the unpredictable come and be prepared for individual and collective fascination, radical unity and edgy grace. ~~~All are welcome to join. No prior dance or 5Rhythms experience is necessary. This workshop will count towards as one weekend (3 days) of Electives towards the 5Rhythms teacher training path.

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Rough Magic | 5Rhythms® Ritual Theatre + Dance Lab with Lorca Simons

 

May 20 @ 8:00 am - May 21 @ 5:00 pm

An eruption of soul straight from the heart,

Fueling your spirit & ripping edges wide

The magic of theatre begins here.” — Lorca Simons

In response to Gabrielle Roth’s investigation into what it means to be an authentic human being, Lorca is dedicated to the creation of physical theatre that is both interactive and transformative. Offering labs rooted in a visionary and rigorous technique for people to become true “athletes of the heart.”  Live Wire ritual theatre expands the imagination through curiosity, breath, physical gesture and space. Performance art in the raw, rooted in the real.

 

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SOUL REVIVAL: A Live Wire Experiment Unearthed

 

June 23 @ 6:30 pm - June 25 @ 4:00 pm

Let’s gather to whisper and circle from the ground our rites of restoration.

Let’s stand and shout to rally the forces that revitalize our spirited dreams into creative realities.

Let’s surrender our bones to the beat that can hold it all and regenerate our faith in the mystery.

Let’s deliver our stories from the heart of the feet to resurrect the light and shadows that seep, shine and soar through us.

Let’s invite spirit to be our barometer and witness in this exploration and celebration of what it means to be soulfully revived.

Rooted in the Waves Map with live, interactive and in the moment explorations in a grounded container, and concentrated in 5Rhythms Ritual Theater perspectives Lorca and Joanne, in renaissance, will invoke this dynamic practice’s principal: If you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor. Setting your compass for the unpredictable come and be prepared for individual and collective fascination, radical unity and edgy grace.

Read More Here

SOUL REVIVAL: A Live Wire Experiment Unearthed

 

Let’s gather to whisper and circle from the ground our rites of restoration.
Let’s stand and shout to rally the forces that revitalize our spirited dreams into creative realities.
Let’s surrender our bones to the beat that can hold it all and regenerate our faith in the mystery.
Let’s deliver our stories from the heart of the feet to resurrect the light and shadows that seep, shine and soars through us.
Let’s invite spirit to be our barometer and witness in this exploration and celebration of what it means to be soulfully revived.

Rooted in the Waves Map with live, interactive and in the moment explorations in a grounded container, and concentrated in 5Rhythms Ritual Theater perspectives Lorca and Thierry, in renaissance, will invoke this dynamic practice’s principal: If you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor. Setting your compass for the unpredictable come and be prepared for individual and collective fascination, radical unity and edgy grace.

Lorca Simons is dedicated to the creation of physical theatre that is both interactive and transformative. She followed her instincts to the unique directing vibration known as Gabrielle Roth and a 19 year creative collaboration bloomed. She studied and trained with Gabrielle from the mid-90’s and was a co-founder/co-director of 5RT, the experimental theatre wing of the 5Rhythms world.

In response to Gabrielle Roth’s investigation into what it means to be an authentic human being Lorca created Live Wire 5Rhythms Theatre, which is dedicated to the creation of physical theatre that is both interactive and transformative. Live Wire is rooted in a visionary and rigorous technique for people to become true “athletes of the heart” exploring and investigating the depths of the human spirit. Lorca is committed to scattering the seeds of this transformative process.

www.lorcasimons.com

Thierry Francois has been dancing from a very early age, beginning with ballet lessons when he was a kid, pursuing theater in his 20s in order to express himself and share his inspiration with others, all the while perfecting himself through numerous practices such as dancing, mime and clown work. He is also a certified and experienced Gestalt therapist. In the early 2000s, he came across 5Rhythms and it enabled him to finally integrate body work into his practice. In 2010, he completed the 5Rhythms Teacher Training with Gabrielle Roth, Waves level, and is currently training for the Heartbeat level with Jonathan Horan. He is also committed to working with men’s groups, through ManKind Project. His unique way of teaching is the result of all these different aspects which he brings to his work with great enthusiasm, communicating his passion in a creative and humorous way. His strength lies in his openness to challenges and his absolute love of music.

This workshop counts as 2,5 days of Electives towards the Teacher Training.

Workshop is led in English with translation into Croatian when needed.

All are welcome to join. No prior dance or 5Rhythms experience is necessary.

Dates and Times:

Friday 03.11. 19-21:30h

Saturday 04.11. 11-18h

Sunday 05.11.  11-17h

Location: Češki Dom, Šubićeva 20, Zagreb

Prices:

Early booking price until 05.09. is 160 Euro. Full price is 190 Euro. Working team price is 100 Euro.

Registrations with non-refundable deposit of 50 Euro.

Information and bookings:

Petra, admin@plesritmova.net

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Dance First Spotlight on the Dancing Mindfulness Expressive Arts Retreat!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features Dr. Jamie Marich & the 10th Annual Expressive Arts Retreat!

Join Us For Our 10th Annual Expressive Arts Retreat!

We are thrilled to be back in our retreat home at Villa Maria Education & Spirituality Retreat Center in Western Pennsylvania for the Dancing Mindfulness Facilitators and Friends Annual Retreat.

This year, we will once again offer a HYBRID retreat, with an option to attend in-person under COVID-19 protocols established by the state of Pennsylvania. An ONLINE option is also available just as we offered last year. Join us for this retreat, which also counts as Expressive Arts Module D, for our Certificate of Expressive Arts program.

We are happy to be joining up virtually with Irene Rodriguez and our Dancing Mindfulness community friends in Puerto Rico who will be holding their retreat activities near San Juan. Scheduled Special Guests include Spiral Rhythms Ensemble, Dr. Orixa Bowers, Erica Hornthal, Dr. Kellie Kirksey, John Michael Thornton, Garrett La Valley and Julianne Roshan Dow.

About the Certificate of Expressive Arts:

The Certificate of Expressive Arts Therapy Program requires that participants meet 75 hours of educational requirements and 25 hours of supervision requirements. Read more about supervision requirements and learn about our REAT supervisors on the Supervision in Expressive Arts page. This program is ideally suited for students also wanting to pursue EMDR Therapy Training with The Institute for Creative Mindfulness.

The Institute for Creative Mindfulness offers many online and in-person courses that meet the 75-hour supplementary educational requirement in Expressive Arts Therapy set by the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). Successful completion of your 75 hours covers the competency areas of group expressive arts therapy process, individual expressive arts therapy process, and approaches to, or styles of, Expressive Arts Therapy in practice and study, i.e., various approaches used by the applicant in integrating multi-arts in therapy.

ICM requires that the 75-hour supplementary educational requirement includes participation in at least one Intensive Training Program and the distance-based Process Not Perfection Book Course. ICM must disclose that the certificate program as a whole is not being offered for NBCC credit, only the qualifying CE program components that are specifically advertised for NBCC credit.

About Dr. Jamie Marich:

Dr. Jamie Marich (she/they) describes herself as a facilitator of transformative experiences. A clinical trauma specialist, expressive artist, writer, yogini, performer, short filmmaker, Reiki master, TEDx speaker, and recovery advocate, she unites all of these elements in her mission to inspire healing in others. She began her career as a humanitarian aid worker in Bosnia-Hercegovina from 2000-2003, primarily teaching English and music while freelancing with other projects.

Jamie travels internationally teaching on topics related to trauma, EMDR therapy, expressive arts, mindfulness, and yoga, while maintaining a private practice and online education operations in her home base of Northeast Ohio. Jamie is the author of numerous books on trauma recovery and healing, with many more projects in the works. Marich is the founder of The Institute for Creative Mindfulness.

Want to be featured in our newsletter? Email

mark@consciousdancer.com!

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Monday Love to yours Silver Lining’s

 

“ In the presence of eternity,the mountains are as transient as the clouds.”

 ~ Robert Green Ingersoll

Where do you find your silver linings? Every cloud has one, or so the saying goes.

It’s almost like a law of nature. Events and actions and circumstances beyond our control might present themselves as either disastrous or miraculous, but hidden within is often a shadow or mirror image that tells a different story.

Sometimes the downsides to good fortune or the upsides of disaster are readily apparent. On other occasions, the counterintuitive result may take months, decades, years, or even lifetimes to become apparent.

When you’re zoomed all the way into the details of an unforeseen problem or an unexpected bonanza it can be hard to focus on anything other than the problem or the prize at hand.

Whereas when you telescope your vision all the way out to the biggest picture possible, things often take on an entirely different perspective.

Case in point: our current weather in California. For months, the news has been awash in tales of tragedy. We’ve seen rivers flooding, dams bursting, levees breaking, and snow so deep they can barely measure it.

There is no denying it, we’re having a heck of a year and the folks hit the hardest need help. But the fact remains that the news has a short memory and it’s been quite a while since we’ve had a winter like this out here on the West Coast.

Let’s look at this through the eyes of our fellow critters. After years of species-crushing drought, this wettest of winters is a welcome sigh of relief.

Every vernal pool in the Bay Area hills by my house is overflowing. Wild flowers and the native grasses are poised for a banner year. Our amphibian friends, the frogs and newts and salamanders have rarely had it this good!

All of this bodes well for the food chain above. The hawks and owls and coyotes will find an abundance of mice, gophers, and squirrels. The wildcats that my nearby canyon is named after will have plenty of good hunting to supply big families this year.

All in all, nature is dancing to the tune of falling rain, so let’s remember to look for the silver lining when the clouds are above!

Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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Online workshop: Tamalpa Experience ~ with Dr. Rosario Sammartino

 

April 30 @ 10:00 am - 1:00 pm

| $50

Sunday, April 30 | 10am-1pm Pacific Time | $50

How can we live our lives with more creativity? How can we make art with more meaning?

In the Tamalpa Life/Art Process, movement and life are intertwined. Our bodies communicate our life experiences through movement, and this movement has the potential to connect us with the creative forces within. It can also open us up to new ways of expressing what lives inside of us.In this workshop, we will begin with a dive into the internal landscape of the sensorial body. The dances that arise from these movements will be further explored using drawing and creative writing, enlivening the conversation between body and imagination. This process will create the opportunity for you to make meaning from movement, and to uncover connections between your dances and your life experiences.

Join Dr. Rosario Sammartino for a journey of creative exploration and self-discovery. No previous art experience is necessary.

Rosario Sammartino, Tamalpa Institute Faculty

Rosario Sammartino, Ph.D., RSME, RSMT, is a leading therapist and educator in the intersecting fields of expressive arts, somatics and depth psychology. With over twenty years of experience, her work explores the relationship between body, emotion and imagination. Rosario is a core faculty member of Tamalpa Institute, the internationally recognized training center for movement-based expressive arts therapy, where she trains an international student body. She is an adjunct professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS); as well as the founder of Anthropos Institute, an art and self-development Center located in Buenos Aires, where she is originally from. Rosario maintains a private practice and leads numerous lectures & workshops nationally and internationally. She has taken her work to healing and educational centers, bringing innovative models for health and embodied creativity to diverse populations. www.rosariosammartino.com

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Online Series: Movement Ritual and Dance Explorations: Awakening Support and Vitality for Spring ~ with Joy Cosculluela

 

April 3 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am

| $70

Mondays, April 3, 10, 17, 24 | 10 am – 11:30 am Pacific Time | Cost: $70/series

“Imagine how exciting and alive you would be if your kinesthetic sense were to be heightened and cultivated beyond its present consciousness.” – Anna Halprin

As we enter into spring, we’ll explore movement pathways structured around the pelvis to enliven and encourage a sense of support and vitality.

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Online Series: Body Mapping ~ with Natan Daskal

 

April 21 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am

| $85

5 Fridays: April 21, 28, May 5, 12, & 19 | 10-11:30AM PT | $85/series

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 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.

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Online Series: Creative Collaborations ~ with Joy Cosculluela

 

May 1 @ 10:00 am - 11:30 am

| $70

Mondays, May 1, 8, 15, 22 | 10 am – 11:30 am Pacific Time | Cost: $70/series

In this workshop we explore dancing between self and others, listening and responding to each other, and opening to what emerges in the moment.

Tapping into ours body’s capacity for creativity and awareness, we’ll use improvisational forms and open our sense of play. Movement practices from the Life/Art Process and Anna Halprin’s work invite us to let go into the flow of movement and connect to ourselves and to each other. Tending to the space with care and curiosity, we’ll explore emerging collaborations in small/ large group settings. In the process we allow ourselves to be moved by another person’s dance and expand ourselves. We discover connections, new ways of seeing and being seen in the virtual space.

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Online Workshop: Connecting with Self: Expressive Arts Life Portraits ~ with Natan Daskal

 

May 26 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

| $45

Friday, May 26 | 9am-12pm Pacific Time | Cost: $45

Who are you in this moment of your life? How connected do you feel to yourself, and to the deeper realms of soul? What beneath the surface is calling for your attention, asking to be seen and acknowledged? We will spend this workshop moving, drawing, and writing as we ask these questions, using the expressive arts to hold a metaphorical mirror up to ourselves and our lives.

Through the self-portrait process, we will identify our current state and then explore ways to connect with deeper layers, inviting a creative encounter with Self and Soul.

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. Also, have art supplies ready at hand for the drawing activity and paper and pen for journaling and creative writing exercises.

Please note: Tamalpa does not record nor permit the recording of any classes or workshops due to the sensitive and sometimes vulnerable nature of the work, and to protect student privacy.

Natan Daskal’s background in theater, dance, design and fine arts combine with his love of nature, dedication to social justice, and commitment to personal development under Tamalpa Institute’s approach to learning and living artfully. He has taught movement and the expressive arts to children, youth, and adults in diverse settings. Natan is a member of Tamalpa’s core faculty, and has extensive teaching experience working directly with Anna Halprin as her teaching assistant in public workshops and classes. Natan studied ballet at the Joffrey School in New York City, received his BFA in Communication Design at Parsons the New School for Design, and received his MA in Education at Goddard College where he studied the intersection of somatics, creativity, and community education. natandaskal.com

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In-Person Public Workshop at Mt. Madonna: The Tamalpa Experience with DARIA HALPRIN

 

Experience with DARIA HALPRIN

June 4 - June 8

| $625

June 4-8, 2023 at Mt. Madonna Center

Workshop Fee: $625 (Additional housing costs apply – see below)

PLEASE NOTE: This IN-PERSON workshop will be held as a residential retreat at the Mt. Madonna Center in Santa Cruz county, California. The $625 workshop fee does NOT include housing fees for the Mt. Madonna Center. After paying your workshop registration fee, you will be emailed a link to select and pay for your housing fees at Mt. Madonna. Your housing fees include your lodging, meals and use of all facilities during the retreat.

Description for the Tamalpa Experience Retreat at the Mt. Madonna Center:

Grounded on the Halprin work, the Tamalpa Experience introduces an approach that enlivens dialogue between body and imagination, life experiences and art making, creativity and healing. While on this retreat, you will be introduced to the foundational methods and models of the Tamalpa Life/Art Process.

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APtitude

 

APtitude

March 19 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

FREE to members of APtitude: A Support Group for Adoptive Parents Facing Adoption’s Challenges ONLY.

Find out more about it at: UnravelingAdoption.com/APtitude

 

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Fierce You

 

Fierce You

March 18 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

FREE Live Webinar on Zoom & FaceBook to express yourself with confidence and power!

If you hide your wildness, fear your inner power, or in any way are not sharing your most vibrant, strange, unique self in this world, I can help you to be strong, be true, and be ferociously you!

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Visionary, Warrior, Healer, Sage: Archetypes to Navigate an Unravelling World​

 

May 8 - June 5

Christine Valters Paintner, Aisling Richmond, Jamie Marich, Melinda Thomas, Polly Paton-Brown, and Simon de Voilwith Melissa Layer facilitating the forum
Live Sessions:
Mondays May 8, 15, 22, 29, and June 5
4-5pm Ireland/UK
11am-12pm Eastern
8am-9am Pacific
An optional 20 minutes for breakout groups following for those who desire. All sessions are recorded except for the breakout groups.

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10th Annual Dancing Mindfulness Facilitators and Friends Retreat

 

April 28 - April 30

We are thrilled to be back in our retreat home at Villa Maria Education & Spirituality Retreat Center in Western Pennsylvania for the Dancing Mindfulness Facilitators and Friends Annual Retreat. This year, we will once again offer a HYBRID retreat, with an option to attend in-person under COVID-19 protocols established by the state of Pennsylvania. An ONLINE option is also available just as we offered last year. Join us for this retreat, which also counts as Expressive Arts Module D, for our Certificate of Expressive Arts program. This year, we are happy to be joining up virtually with Irene Rodriguez and our Dancing Mindfulness community friends in Puerto Rico who will be holding their retreat activities near San Juan.

Scheduled Special Guests include Spiral Rhythms Ensemble, Dr. Orixa Bowers, Erica Hornthal, Dr. Kellie Kirksey, John Michael Thornton, Garrett La Valley and Julianne Roshan Dow.

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Origins Soul Motion® Movement Inquiries with Vincent Martínez-Grieco ONLINE

 

March 17 @ 9:00 am - 10:15 am

This is a newer kind of class dedicated to the origins of dancing, creating Vincent’s own unique dance practice. As a modern dancer, as a yoga teacher, and as a Feldenkrais student, he’s excited to bring together all these technologies that have been so much a part of how he moves in the body.

These sessions are the first steps of the Next Steps, contemplative dance practice. We will introduce the base techniques followed by dancing time and ending with quiet reflection.

Join other dancers from all over the world and let’s connect together as one on Zoom during these live 60-minute classes.

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God Sex and the Body

 

God Sex and the Body

April 20 - April 23

“God Sex and the Body is and always will be a profound and integral part of the 5Rhythms® curriculum. It has personally informed my way of being, my teaching style, and, most deeply, my acceptance of who I am and who I am not.”
— Gabrielle

Jonathan Horan writes about this workshop:
In the series of maps that comprise the dancing path of the 5Rhythms®, God, Sex and the Body is an initiation into being an embodied soul. It is a deeply personal journey, a celebration like no other, a ritual for the hot and holy you.

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Buddha in the Beat

 

August 11 - August 14

Buddha in the Beat
Jonathan Horan in Brugge, Belgium

The Rhythms Flowing, Staccato and Chaos are the gateways to our center, the wellspring of our sense of trust. Being centered and trusting is what allows us to fully experience the moment for what it is. When we are not centered, our body takes on the shapes of our fears and defenses, and we only re-create old stories, empowering the part of us that is attached and not ready to change. Our center is our root. When we are grounded in it, we move instinctively and intuitively. Being centered allows us to be fluid, focused and free to act from the deepest and wisest part of ourselves, our Buddha Self. Buddha in the Beat is an invitation to dance, to join me in my continuing investigation into how we can be present and aware in all circumstances, hold our center in the chaos of all things and transform our pain and suffering into simple wisdom and loving compassion.

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Dance First Spotlight on Amara Pagano (Founder of Azul Conscious Movement) & The FREE 5 Day Movement Challenge!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features Amara Pagano (the founder of Azul Conscious Movement) and the FREE 5-day Movement Challenge!

Dear Friends,

In our current world we often suffer from being disconnected from the wisdom of our body. Mostly driven by our thinking mind, we have lost touch with the resource we have within; to receive guidance, make good decisions, engage our souls learning and heal physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Do you know that conscious movement can support you to reconnect to the pleasure and wisdom of your body? It is a movement practice of bringing attention to our body and discovering ourselves as the dancers we all are.

Embodiment is much more than just being in your body. When we recognize and practice awareness of our movement, we can awaken vitality and harness our body’s intelligence and potential.

Arriving into our bodies is not something we can think of, it is something that needs to be experienced and practiced.

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Monday Love to your Invigorating In-betweens

 

“ Never waste a yawn.”

 ~ Wyatt Pringle, Jr.

OK, here’s your word for the day: “Pandiculate” That’s a big one, sure to earn you a lot of points if you’re a Scrabble player. Keep it in your back pocket, it might come in handy.

I’m not sure why that word comes to mind today, but it pops into my head every so often whenever I pause to do it. Which is actually pretty often.

Lately, I’ve been noticing those in-between moments, typically, when I’m shifting from one activity to another, when I pause, take a deep breath, and lift my head and stretch my spine as far as I can.

I’m always surprised at how much length I seem to gain as well as how far I’ve succumbed to the forces of gravity when I indulge in a good stretch. It’s as if there’s a string attached to the top of my head, lifting me up and away from the pull of the planet.

It’s something to think about. When one of those somatic moments of awareness hits you, the most fun you can have is to go with the flow. Soma flows both ways. We say that someone who is feeling good about themselves is “walking with their head held high”.

It works the same in reverse. The act of pausing, stretching, breathing and lifting your head as high as the sky elevates your state of mind right along with it.

But back to our word of the day. Pandiculation is defined as “the act of stretching oneself, especially upon waking.” If you need a coach, mentor, or facilitator to help you along, just look for your nearest cat.

That sleepy in-between moment, when you awaken and yawn and stretch your limbs is one of the most scrumptious times of the day. Of all the moments where you can simply pause and relish the feeling of your own body, that’s got to be one of the best.

So let this be a reminder to make the most of that special space in between your mind and body. And in case you didn’t know the word for it yet, well, there you are!

Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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Dance Your Medicine – Costa Rica, March 2023

 

March 24 @ 5:00 pm - March 31 @ 5:00 pm

| $1997 – $5994

DANCE YOUR MEDICINE is a multi-day, eco luxury retreat about evolving our consciousness, nourishing and healing ourselves through somatics, movement and community. Together, for 7 days and 7 nights, we will imbibe pristine nature and food, dance to luscious music, deepen into embodied connection, and learn how to harness it for creating good in the world.

Is Dance Your Medicine the right fit for you in this time of great change?

Schedule a discovery call with Cocréa founder, Wren LaFeet, and see how Cocréa can support you in remembering the wisdom of the body and reconnecting with others in the spirit of change: https://bookwrenlafeet.as.me/complimentarysession

Or schedule a discovery call with co-lead facilitator and trauma-informed somatic educator, Odessa Avianna Perez: https://odysseyhealing.com/about/contact-odessa/

—

There is so much to tend to.
The world is uncertain, chaotic, and mysterious, especially these days. In a capitalistic culture, joy, rest, and rejuvenation are radical acts. They build our resilience to face the road ahead.

We unplug in order to recharge.
We commune with nature in order to remember who we are.
We come to listen to our bodies’ wisdom.
We come to effect change from the inside out.
We gather to learn a better way in community.
We gather to heal our hyperindividualism and codependence, and learn interdependence.
We come to Celebrate.
to Feel.
to Be Danced.

LISTEN
EMBODY
CONNECT
COCREATE

EMBODIMENT is the practice we invite you to cultivate; an ongoing mindful dialogue between mind and body, a deepening wisdom of yourself, a reckoning in present time of how your body moves through the world. We cultivate embodiment so that we may be in deeper connection with ourselves, each other, and all that is.

SHIFT YOUR PARADIGM into a full embrace of what enlivens and sustains you. Discover how living in acceptance and curiosity of your body, your boundaries, needs and desires – and how honoring that in others – gives way to a radiant, thriving life.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT of conscious dance infusing the world with mindful connection and the joy of being alive. Adventure with Cocréa’s brilliant team of facilitators as they masterfully weave the themes of consent, embodied wisdom, emotional intelligence, collective liberation and right relationship through the mediums of movement, somatics, music, breath and touch.

The Retreat Space – POSADA NATURA
Release and let go into the full embrace of Posada Natura. Posada Natura is a gathering center located on the southern pacific coast of Costa Rica. They host retreats, conferences and programs with focus on wellness, education, social change and environmental conservation
The space provides a container to connect people to the powerful rejuvenating energy of an ancient rainforest, and wholesome wellness experiences. Their team is comprised of leaders in the fields of holistic health, spiritual practice, and environmental conservation.
Seated above one of the cleanest rivers left on earth, Rio Naranjo, and surrounded by over 7,500 acres of rainforest that their partner 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, Eco Era, has protected since 1991, Posada Natura is a pristine container to explore what being in right relationship with the planet can feel like.

Come as you are.

Leave as you want to be.

MEALS
We believe that food is healing. We source all of our produce from local, organic farms to create fresh, plant-based meals for every retreat. We believe in nourishing the human body with nutrient dense, fresh ingredients cooked by our incredible chef
As part of Dance Your Medicine you’ll enjoy:

3 organic , nutrition-focused meals daily
Tea, coffee and snacks available throughout the daY

RETREAT FEATURES
Fusion Partner Dance Technique Classes
Contact Improvisation
Restorative and Goddess Flow Yoga
Ecstatic Access Movement Classes
Trauma-Informed Somatic Education
Dance Parties with Stellar DJs
Meditation
Epic Jungle Waterfall Trip
Outdoor Pool
Riverside Retreat Space
All Organic, Vegetarian Meals
Love • And MORE!

ARE YOU:

Longing for more connection and expression with your body?
Ready to come back into your aliveness perhaps forgotten in the midst of the uncertainty and fear of COVID?
Choosing to value closeness and intimacy with others and desire more skills to create that in your life?
Desiring to celebrate community, nature and new experiences in new places that bring you enrichment and vitality?
Passionate about eating well, feeling good, walking barefoot and sharing what brings you into your full, vibrant health with others?

BECOME CONSCIOUS to the Freedom and Intimacy available to you by standing in the Presence and the Majesty you are. Elevating awareness by being wildly authentic in your expression as you also witness the same in another.

FACILITATORS

WREN LAFEET
Lead Facilitator, Music Facilitator and Cocréa co-Founder
A dancer in the Fusion social partner dance movement since it began, Wren’s dancing largely defines fusion as an emergent aesthetic dance form. Fueled by his curiosity in spirituality, the body, global community, the natural world and relationships, and guided by his devotion to love and the idea of the Beloved, partner dance has served as the vehicle for his inquiry and understanding. He has inspired the formation of multiple fusion dance communities on the west coast of North America, and teaches partner dance internationally as a practice for mindful, authentic living, enlivening communities with his signature modality, Cocréa. His facilitation encourages individuals to create themselves as safer spaces for the embodiment of the full range of human expression. Promoting dance as medicine, spirituality and salve for our modern ailments of disconnection and alienation, his practice insists we trust our bodies with the music and our partner to catalyze elevating our whole being into higher vibrational states.

ODESSA AVIANNA PEREZ
Guest Facilitator and Trauma-Informed Somatic Educator
Odessa Avianna Perez is a trauma-informed somatic psychotherapist, embodiment and social justice educator who helps individuals and groups heal from fragmentation and remember agency, magic, and belonging.
Odessa is a cis gender, able-bodied, biracial white-presenting latina currently residing in Tongva territory – aka Los Angeles, CA. She holds an MA in Somatic Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies and triple bachelor degrees in Dance, Theater Arts, and Sociology from Rutgers University. She is a ThetaHealing practitioner and instructor, and has a background in massage and bodywork. She has over 2 decades of movement and dance performance experience, and has been practicing and teaching Contact Improvisation as a form of self inquiry and relationship alchemy for over ten years.
Odessa is deeply curious about the intersection of personal and collective trauma, collective nervous system states and expression, and how we can use somatics and dance to integrate our trauma for better relationship, community and planet. She has facilitated workshops at dozens of retreats and festivals using somatics, movement, and contact improvisation as the platform through which to explore safety, relationship, building capacity for discomfort, interdependence and inclusion.
In her psychotherapeutic private practice, she weaves somatics, movement, interpersonal neurobiology, polyvagal theory, attachment work, and social and racial justice frameworks. She is part of the Healer’s Collective for the Decolonizing Wealth Project, and the Inclusion and Belonging co-lead for SoulPlay festivals.

YOZEF
Guest Facilitator, Music Facilitator and DJ
Yozéf is a student and explorer of movement in all its forms. As a meditator, the basis of his exploration is awareness and inner silence. He has studied Hatha, Raja, Anusara and Ashtanga Yoga and has had a profound approach to Kundalini Yoga which has led him to understand the energetic body in his personal yoga practice spanning 14 years. He has also practiced other movement disciplines such as Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Contact Dance, Contemporary Dance and has received a certified immersion in Dance Therapy.
His path has led him to found Beyond Dance, an offering born from his heart that today has become a true local community that flourishes through the medicine of dance and music. Beyond Dance is an experience that is infused with his charisma and passion for movement and brings together and integrates all of his knowledge through breathing exercises, energy circle activations, meditation and a ceremonial environment essential to create a complete experience of physical, mental and emotional release on the dance floor.
Today he is considered the main Costa Rican precursor and promoter of this movement in the country and has given life to a multitude of ecstatic dances around the country and has participated as a Dj in Ecstatic Dance Paris and as a facilitator of Beyond Dance in Naples, Italy in 2020 and had the opportunity to be a facilitator of Movement and Ecstatic Dance in the Green Residencies of Momentom Collective in Macaw Lodge, Costa Rica in 2021 and 2022.

NAOBA
Guest Facilitator, Music Facilitator and DJ
Tamara Montenegro, aka NAOBA, creates spaces of deep resonance that facilitate the connection to inner world, each other and the Planet through intentionally crafted music journeys and theatrical therapy. Supported by the Spirit of Nature, Eco-centric healing means reconnecting to the body through the rekindling of intimacy to Nature.
Her musical and somatic offering draws knowledge from ancient frequencies and instrumentation, mesoamerican shamanism and earth-rooted spiritual practices.
She innerstands the urgency of a person’s soul initiation into community and the psychospiritual connection to grief, breakthroughs, pain and estrangement, and serves to create spaces of safe exploration of our bodies and minds through somatic dance and a deep research on psychoacoustic and neuroacoustic work.
Her unique background in both academic and extensive life experiences in community building and individual psychosomatic research brings the unique approach to music and sound healing that her sessions are known for.

NATASHA RICHARDS
Meditation, Kambo Healing and Yoga Facilitator
A forever student, Natasha continues to allow her spiritual practice to flow and change shapes as her life does. Her most recent experiences have introduced Kambo and Breathwork into her life in powerful ways. In January 2022 as the world seemingly stood still she followed the call to complete her Kambo Practitioners Training through the Rainforest Healing Center. Natasha’s yoga journey has included Meditation, Hatha, Vinyasa, Yin and Goddess flow certifications spanning 8 years. Through this combination of yoga, intentional breathing, intuitive dance, circular movement and ceremony she aims to tap into and help process moments of realization, newness and emotional breakthroughs. She incorporates traditional and non-traditional ideas and music into her classes while remaining present and flowing and honouring the individuals she leads.

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