During our upcoming Teachers’ Training taking place at Earthdance, we will be offering 2 free classes for parents and kids guided by the founder of the method, Itay Yatuv.
ContaKids is a unique and fun activity for parents and their children (age 2 to 5). Through playfulness, movement and touch parents and children develop a new physical form of communication, which is enjoyable for both; children enhance and improve their motor skills and self-confidence and parents develop a sense of trust in their child and themselves.
SHARE OUR FACEBOOK INVITE!
When:
1st class on Sunday, February 2nd, 2025 at 5:30pm 2nd class on Saturday, February 8th, 2025 at 10:30am
You are welcome to attend both!
About the Offering:
The classic setting that we recommend is one parent and one child working together but we are open to any other combinations as long as there’s at least one child and one adult working together. There can be two parents and one child or one parent with two children.
The adults can also be someone who is not the parent, like a grandmother or an aunt or a good friend who knows the child very well.
Age Range:
Regarding the ages of the children (2-5yrs) there is also some flexibility there. If you’d like to come with your 6 or 7 year old it’s okay, but it might be too simple or slow for them. We do not accept toddlers under 20 months old.
Class Expectations:
Length: 45 min Before the class: The space will be available for them half an hour to 15 min before the class for welcoming. After the class: We’d ask the parents to stay with us for a talk and exchange about their experience in the class (short: 20 min +-).
To register, please fill out and submit this form:
This class is designed to give participants a sampling of material that will be offered at the full workshop on April 10-23, 2025. It will delve into the therapeutic potential of Contact Improvisation (CI), Authentic Movement (AM), and Restorative Contact (RC), as well as other somatic practices, demonstrating how their principles can enhance somatic intelligence, attunement, and co-regulation.
After class we will transition into a potluck, then practice what we’ve learned during our sweet jam after. Later, we can relax together in the sauna while we rest our bones.
Registration not required.
Schedule
Class: 5:00 – 6:00PM
Potluck: 6:30 – 7:30pm
Jam: 7:30 – 10:00PM
Pricing
Class & Jam: $25 – $125
Class: $15 – $125
Jam: $15 – $125
Sauna: $10 with use of 2 Earthdance towels.
Potluck Dinner: We HIGHLY encourage you to please bring your favorite dish! (OR donate $10-15)
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS:We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other Summer Jam participants.
What is the medicine of grieving in ritual containers? Unprocessed grief compounds and becomes a toxic emotional energy, which can create violence and perpetuate intergenerational trauma and violence.
Singing and sounding together helps vibrate our grief loose from these stuck places in our individual and collective bodies and make more space within us. This gives us a sacred opportunity to choose aligned action and to show up in the ways we truly want to show up in the world.
Many cultures have shared traditions around grieving, which could sometimes last for days at a time. We as Western ritualists aim to co-create spaces that honor the wisdom of our lineages as well as the many generous teachers who have brought their practices to the West.
For this ritual our intention is to invite gentle movement of our bodies and the emotions held there. We will utilize the medicine of communal song and live music to call forward what is ready to be released at this time. We recognize that forgiveness and compassion are essential ingredients of our grieving process. We are holding these as the foundation for this ritual.
Following our ritual, we will share a potluck meal together at Earthdance.
You are human and wish to grieve in a held container in community.
You understand that grief is both a personal and collective experience and you’re willing to hold your grief as a way to heal both self and community.
You understand that this space will be one piece of healing and are willing to seek ongoing support such as co-counseling, bodywork, nature connection, medicine ceremony, therapy, dance jams, etc.
You are willing to be with your pain or discomfort and be witness to others’ without needing to fix it.
Please Bring:
Journal
Water bottle
Snacks
Comfortable clothes
Potluck dinner item to share
Share our Facebook Event!
PRICING
Ritual : $45 – $150 sliding scale
Sauna and 2 towels: $10
Potluck Dinner: Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15
Overnight stay: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40, camping is $35. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15)
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
Chaya Leia Aronson, RN BSN is a mother, partner, lover and ecosensensual earth worshipping clown goddess. Chaya maintains a private practice offering Maya Abdominal Massage, Holistic Pelvic Care and Health, Movement and Sexuality coaching for over a decade. Chaya has also facilitated a number of transformational and alchemical rituals related to grief, wombs and eros. She has great passion and skill in supporting people and relationships to have clear conversations about desires and boundaries and to unpack our wounds and traumas gently to find more capacity for love and pleasure. She has a private practice, Your Sacred Pelvis, where she sees clients in person and virtually based in the Northampton, MA area.
Charlotte Althaea Collins is a violinist, violist, singer/songwriter, teacher, and healer guiding people into direct, communal, and transformational encounters with music. She is passionate about bringing audiences, clients, and students into aliveness and authenticity through music. Her offerings and projects include holistic classical concerts, sound healing journeys, vocal improvisation workshops & song circles, and compositional sound projects for dance, film, and podcasts. She is currently working on her first full album of original music, titled Welcome Home. Malin currently serves as the Viola Instructor at Amherst College and lives in Northampton, MA.
Biodanza was “discovered” by Rolando Toro Araneda, a Chilean Medical Anthropologist , Psychologist, artist. It was a slow , maturing, discovery from the mid ’50s till 2010 and continues evolving. Rolando was always interested in connecting with the “humanity” of each and every person. He started in life as a teacher and created Art Exhibitions with the children’s work in the late ’50s. He created music bands with the youth and led them into nature to learn about the ocean and forests.
In the ’60s he recorded in his notes of many “trips” of Art students with LSD and realized that these wonderful visions had to be integrated within a reality; instead of “finding paradise ” in a fantasy world rather access this wonderful state in daily life in connection with our close loved ones. After continuous research, he created the Biodanza Theoretical Model which we still today follow in each class of Biodanza.
Biodanza is a form of community dance in the sense that “dance” represents movement as an expression of emotions. The difference with other forms is that the Biodanza Facilitator invites the class to simple, everyday movements such as walking, breathing , resting as a group activity. Everyone is “INVITED ” to participate in their own way, in feedback with others. You are free to accept or not. You may dance with others or alone but there is always a real happy disposition to share.
Of course there is NO CONSUMPTION of ANY substances in Biodanza. Most of the dances respect the natural organic state of the body, for every euphoric , expressive dance there is time to rest and integrate. Biodanza is a beautiful invitation to move to music that speaks beyond words, its effects are immediate, it aims to integrate and promote health and well being within togetherness.
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS:We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other Summer Jam participants.
I have been in Biodanza since my teens and have facilitated Biodanza in South America, where I lived , then I moved to United Kingdom where I took Biodanza and from there spread to Europe, France, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Sweden, then the big jump to Southern Africa, where I lived for 23 years, working with Biodanza beyond language and culture.
I am now passing on all my legacy of Biodanza to talented social professionals in Rhode Island. A total honour for me.
Authentic Movement, is a practice grounded in the relationship between a mover and a witness, was developed by Adler in the early 1980s, evolving from her studies with Mary Whitehouse and John Weir, as well as her early work with children diagnosed with severe autism. Different teachers of this early form of Authentic Movement offer their evolving perspectives in unique and diverse ways.
Being seen, seeing oneself, seeing another, movers and witnesses grow toward a vital experience of wholeness. – excerpts from “A Brief Description of the Discipline of Authentic Movement” by Janet Adler
Workshop
A mover and a witness. The mover closes their eyes and opens to the possibility of learning from the wisdom of the body’s psyche, soul, history, mystery…
The witness, with eyes open, holds the space of consciousness and presence.
The intention for both mover and witness is to be present with what is, without any expectation of what should happen. There is no prescribed way to move, there is no wrong way to move. The invitation is to discover what is available to us when we have no agenda.
Quite simply, it’s about listening to the body. In this short time together, you’ll have an opportunity to experience both roles as mover and witness. One needs to be curious, open, and interested to feel and move with whatever is present in the moment. Included in the process is time to speak, draw, and write from our experiences. So the magical mystery tour begins…
Potluck : Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15
Sauna and towel rental: $10
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS:We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other Summer Jam participants.
HOST BIO
Carolyn Shakti Sadeh
I began this journey with Janet Adler in 1981. This has been my root practice for over 40 years. For these past years, I have been leading labs, workshops, trainings, and working with students individually. My background also includes teaching yoga and Action Theater. In the past 15 years much of my energy has gone into teaching ESL (English as a Second Language) to adult immigrants and refugees. I began teaching A.M. at Earthdance many years ago, and I am delighted to return after a long hiatus.
Summer is with us! What better way to celebrate community and the bounty of sun-season than to gather together for BBQ, games, dance and song!
As our mid-year fundraiser, we invite everyone to join us for a play-day and to just revel in the joy of being alive, and being together. Feel free to bring frisbees, balls, games of all kinds — whatever brings out Summer in you.
Humans of all ages welcome, kids under thirteen are free. For everyone else, we ask for a minimum donation of $25 per person, and invite you to give generously towards the future health and viability of our beloved Earthdance.
Children under 13 are free!
Schedule
Noon Arrival 12:00 – 3:00pm BBQ and Lunch 3:00 – 5:00pm Games! 5:00 – 7:00pm Dinner 7:00 – 9:00pm Jam 9:00 – Late Campfire & Songs
Sauna and towel rental: $10
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS:We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other Summer Jam participants.
Earthdance needs a fresh coat of paint and we need your help! Bring your painting clothes and we will supply all you need to make your home away from home sparkle again!
If gardening is more your vibe, we will have a few projects for you to get your hands dirty with ED’s gardener, Neal.
We will feed you and we will jam in the evening!!!
Schedule:
Community Collaboration: 9am – 1pm
Lunch: 1-2pm
Community Collaboration: 2pm – 6pm
Dinner: 6-7pm
Jam: 7-10pm
Come for one Community Collaboration or join us ALL day into dancing!
STAY OVERNIGHT
If you need a place to stay overnight, our Gratitude Lodge dorm bed is $30 per night. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) Or, camping which is $20. * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide breakfast the following day.
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this work day, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
This workshop is designed to introduce participants to some of the basics of this captivating movement art-sport that is Contact Improvisation.
In this workshop we will ask the question “what makes a satisfying dance?”
We will research some of the underlying principles which lead dancers to move with more nuance and listening so they can enhance the possibilities within their dance.
Whether you’re an experienced dancer or new to movement practices, “Layers of Presence” welcomes participants of all backgrounds and skill levels. Come and refresh your dancing with clear practice and insight into what makes CI a unique form. See you there!
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight in our Gratitude Lodge dorm bed is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) Or, camping which is $30. * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $20 for workshop, $10 for jam processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID.
COVID Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
Olive Frank loves a good contact improv dance. After 9 years of dancing contact improvisation in various countries and communities, she is still researching what makes a good CI dance so satisfying. And, she is eager to research that with you.
Tal Shibi
Tal Shibi is a native Jerusalem choreographer, improvisor, performer, and teacher of dance, CI, and somatic awareness. He is continuously curious in exploring collaborations between different art forms, and widening the perceptions of performance and dance. talshibi.com
A container for those who identify or have identified with womanhood or being female bodied, regardless of gender expression.
In this focused CI container, we will explore how our commonalities connect us and invite us to show up more in-tune. By creating an intentionally fem space we hope to invite regulation, mutual resourcing, and grounding support. This offer is an opportunity to explore the dance without the presence of the male gaze or the dynamics of gender/sex-based inequality. What can we create? What can we express? How can we hold and empower each other?
We hope this to be a nourishing and liberating experience for those who identify or have identified with womanhood or being female bodied . We welcome and encourage non-binary and gender non-conforming people who feel comfortable in spaces centering fem identity to join us.
Affinity Space
This jam is an affinity space for those who experience or have experienced gender or sex based marginalization based on their perceived alignment with womanhood/being fem-bodied. We ask that cis-gendered men refrain from joining this jam.
Please bring a dish to share OR $10 to $15 donation.
SAUNA
$10 with towel rental
STAY OVERNIGHT
If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight in our Gratitude Lodge dorm bed is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) Or, camping which is $30. * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID.
COVID Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
Originally from Chevy Chase, Maryland, Liana has been growing roots in Western MA since moving here for college in 2022. She is pursuing all things community living: how to tend the earth, receive Her gifts, and create a sustainable life of peace and wellbeing. Through Contact Improvisation she has experienced a beautifully rewarding exploration of her Self. She is work-exchanging this winter at Earthdance to continue this journey and practice creative living.
Liana’s identity as a young woman is present with her in dance spaces, and she is navigating towards increased feelings of safety as well as supporting others to find safety.
She looks forward to dancing with and learning from you!
Aviva Yarrow
Yarrow grew up down the road from Earthdance, in Dalton, MA, and has spent her life in deep relation to Earthen communities of different kinds. Whether building a fire or faerie house, tending to a garden, a young child, or an elder, deep listening and the honoring of animacy in all is at heart of her work.
Yarrow draws inspiration from seeing her body reflected in the hills of western mass, her bones in the trees, her tears in the rivers. She is currently excited about exploring the power of proprioception and skeletal alignment through dance, as well as supporting the interruption of apathy and doom through mutual aid and connection recovery practices.
At Hampshire college, Yarrow studies decolonization and reciprocity, as well as restorative justice, circle keeping, and performance art.
Yarrow has studied CI with Gabi Revlock and Chris Aiken, as well as many other gracious dance partners and teachers in the last year and a half.
We offer an invitation to come together in community to grieve, assisted by music and song.
What is the medicine of grieving in ritual containers? Unprocessed grief compounds and becomes a toxic emotional energy, which can create violence and perpetuate intergenerational trauma and violence.
Singing and sounding together helps vibrate our grief loose from these stuck places in our individual and collective bodies and make more space within us. This gives us a sacred opportunity to choose aligned action and to show up in the ways we truly want to show up in the world.
Many cultures have shared traditions around grieving, which could sometimes last for days at a time. We as Western ritualists aim to co-create spaces that honor the wisdom of our lineages as well as the many generous teachers who have brought their practices to the West.
For this ritual our intention is to invite gentle movement of our bodies and the emotions held there. We will utilize the medicine of communal song and live music to call forward what is ready to be released at this time. We recognize that forgiveness and compassion are essential ingredients of our grieving process. We are holding these as the foundation for this ritual.
Following our ritual, we will share a potluck meal together at Earthdance, and then delight in a Dance Jam together.
This ritual is for you if:
You need support processing grief and would like to do this in a held container with others.
You understand that grief is both a personal and collective experience and you’re willing to hold your grief as a way to heal both self and community.
You understand that this space will be one piece of healing and are willing to seek ongoing support such as co-counseling, bodywork, nature connection, medicine ceremony, therapy, dance jams, etc.
You are willing to be with your pain or discomfort and be witness to others’ without needing to fix it.
It’s not the right time for you to join this ritual if:
You are in an active trauma state on the day of the ritual.
You feel unable to moderate your nervous system when activated, for example, by noticing if you are dissociating and grounding, asking for support, or taking a break etc.
You are unwilling to be with your own and others’ pain or discomfort without needing to fix it.
Potluck Dinner: Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15
Overnight stay: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40, camping is $35. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15)
***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 10 days from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID.
COVID Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
Chaya Leia Aronson, RN BSN is a mother, partner, lover and eco-sensensual earth worshipping clown goddess. Chaya maintains a private practice offering Maya Abdominal Massage, Holistic Pelvic Care and Health, Movement and Sexuality coaching for over a decade. Chaya has also facilitated a number of transformational and alchemical rituals related to grief, wombs and eros. She has great passion and skill in supporting people and relationships to have clear conversations about desires and boundaries and to unpack our wounds and traumas gently to find more capacity for love and pleasure. She has a private practice, Your Sacred Pelvis, where she sees clients in person and virtually based in the Northampton, MA area.
Charlotte Malin is a violinist, violist, singer/songwriter, teacher, and healer guiding people into direct, communal, and transformational encounters with music. She is passionate about bringing audiences, clients, and students into aliveness and authenticity through music. Her offerings and projects include holistic classical concerts, sound healing journeys, vocal improvisation workshops & song circles, and compositional sound projects for dance, film, and podcasts. She is currently working on her first full album of original music, titled Welcome Home. Malin currently serves as the Viola Instructor at Amherst College and lives in Northampton, MA.
Stephen Katz
Stephen has performed his compositions at Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall and toured internationally as a soloist and chamber player. He has been featured on American Public Media national broadcasts of Performance Today and is a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient. He has held residences at Yale, Meadowmount, and UMASS Amherst. A Western Mass resident, Stephen is also an award-winning film composer and an improviser and composer in the dance world.
