This beginner/intermediate Contact Improvisation workshop will explore spirals, falls, basing, and flight, while attuning to tone and states of awareness. Moving through different levels, we will start with rolling on the floor and work up to flying. We’ll leave newcomers with enough movement patterns to thrive in Contact Improv jams, and everyone with some more skills and avenues of exploration.
Liana and Jason have been dancing together at jams for about 20 years. We invite you to come play and explore with us for the day at Earthdance. We encourage bringing a beginner’s mind and an openness to the delight of newness and the present moment.
WORKSHOP with Lunch ONLY – Does not include Dinner or Jam
Financially Wealthy – $400
Financially Abundant – $270
Financially Stable – $170
Financially Coping – $100
Financially Strained – $50
JAM ONLY
Financially Wealthy – $240
Financially Abundant – $120
Financially Stable – $60
Financially Coping – $30
Financially Strained – $15
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 $20 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.
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.
Liana Foxvog finds joy and presence in dance, and has studied and practiced Contact Improvisation for more than 20 years. She originally trained in gymnastics and later explored various other movement forms before finding a home in CI. Liana brings curiosity and playful exploration to the dance, whether experimenting with lifts or investigating the edge of balance. She especially appreciates tuning into and cultivating mindfulness through CI. Liana has co-facilitated multi-day jams at Earthdance and participates in a regular Underscore practice. Additionally, through her work as a global justice organizer and advocate, Liana has extensive experience as a facilitator and trainer.
Jason Woofenden
Jason Woofenden has always enjoyed agility and physical play. Throughout his childhood, that was climbing trees, sledding, soccer, exploring streams, etc. In his early twenties, he discovered a passion for dance; first, at a freestyle dance, where the wide variety of dance styles helped him be comfortable exploring his own movement inclinations. Through that community, he discovered Contact Improv, which fills him in so many ways. He’s been dancing, exploring, and growing through this form for 20 years, and teaching it on and off for the last 6 years.
As we transition from 2024 to 2025 we offer the theme of Resistance and Support. These complementary qualities underscore the tension between individual perspectives and collaborative action. Through classes, jams, and conversation, we will engage with the evolving form of Contact Improvisation, and celebrate how it informs and strengthens our ability to push back, pull with, lean it, turn away, resist, and support. We also pay tribute to the recently published book by the same name: Resistance and Support: Contact Improvisation @ 50, edited by Ann Cooper Albright, which contains 20 articles by our peers and mentors that challenge, evolve, and honor this dynamic dance form.
What do you resist or can’t resist? What do you support or need support for?
How does what we practice on the dance floor prime us to resist and support as we move into 2025?
Come to rest, play, and connect. Come to party in the kitchen, gather around the bonfire, sweat it out in the sauna, and to lift and be lifted in the umbrella studio.
Winter Jam Details
The Winter Jam is one of the four main Earthdance seasonal jams. It often has around 100-140 participants, is open to all movement levels and backgrounds.
Ticket Options: We offer full jam, commuter, camping and 2 drop-in day options.
Drop-In Days: We are offering 2 drop-in days (no overnight) on Monday, December 30th and Tuesday, December 31st Drop-Ins (15 ticket limit per day). This option is only available for folks who have been to Earthdance before. We ask that you check-in with ED staff during lunch between 1-2pm.
Nine Mountain retreat center is just across the field and is available once you purchase a Commuter Ticket with Earthdance. You will need to contact robyn@ninemountain.com to reserve a bed at an additional cost per night.***ALL participants staying at Nine Mountain MUST check-in at the Earthdance Farmhouse during registration times BEFORE settling into Nine Mountain. Thank you for understanding.***
Children: We are encouraging children to stay home for this jam. We are not providing child care, children’s programming, or kids pricing. Join us for the Summer Jam, which offers many children focused offerings!
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
Arrival and Onsite Check-In: The welcoming will commence for Full Jam participants on Friday, December 27th from 4:00pm-7:00pm. Dinner is at 6-7pm. If you arrive late, please find Olive to pick a chore.
Opening Circle: Saturday, December 28th at 10am. We ask that ALL Newcomers to attend this.
Mid-Jam Tidy Up Clean: Monday, December 30th from 9-10am. All Participants join in on the a Tidy Up Clean.
Drop-In Days: Arrive to check-in at the front of the farmhouse Monday, December 30th and Tuesday, December 31st at lunch between 1-2pm. Only availablefor folks who have been to Earthdance before.
Closing Circle and Final Clean: Closing Circle is at 12:30pm on Wednesday, January 1st. Lunch from 1-2pm and Final clean from 2-3 pm. All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections for you and your family.
The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
Equity & Access Tickets
We are excited to offer up to 10 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who have a financial need. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge and prioritize such individuals when granting these discounted tickets.
Application Deadline is over.
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, this jam offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
Reduced pricing offered to people with a financial need and self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI.
Classes and discussions that aim to presence awareness and inclusion at the jam as a whole.
Affinity spaces (jams, discussions, etc.) for particular groups of people to connect, share CI space together, and rest from the pressures of being in a minority status at the jam.
Opening Circle: Saturday, December 28th at 10am. We ask that ALL participants attend this.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, jam offerings, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base jam cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, jam offerings, and food during the jam.
Commuter & Nine Mountain Tickets
You will have access to the jam offerings including food for the event.
Commuter Health Care: 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 jam participants.
SOLD OUT – Nine Mountain (Across the orchard from Earthdance)
Nine Mountain has beds available in their spacious dorms for the Winter Jam.
The additional rate is $70 per night per person, which includes use of the hot tub, access to the kitchen for personal cooking, and we provide all bedding and towels. There are a few private rooms available.
You will need to contact Robyn at robyn@ninemountain.com to reserve a bed AFTER you’ve registered for a Commuter Ticket with Earthdance.
***ALL participants staying at Nine Mountain MUST check-in at the Earthdance Farmhouse during registration times BEFORE settling into Nine Mountain.
Refund available up to 14 days (December 13th) before the event less a $75 (full jam) & $35 (drop-in) processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After December 13th) 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 after the cancellation date.
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 jam participants.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Dey Summer first went to Earthdance in 2000, and it has for many years been her home away from home.
She’s a body worker in Arlington, MA and recently renovated her home in Florence, MA with a crew of dancing builders that also built Earthdance!
Her current interests center around open scores, sincerity and letting go.
Gabrielle Revlock
Gabrielle Revlock, MFA, is an internationally touring postmodern dancer/choreographer and the creator of Restorative Contact, a mindful touch-based movement practice. She developed the form by synthesizing key elements of various somatic techniques including Contact Improvisation, Restorative Yoga, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Tai Chi, Klein Technique, Yin Yoga, Authentic Movement, and Deep Listening over her 20+ years as a professional dancer, choreographer, certified yoga teacher, and movement educator. As a choreographer, Revlock is the recipient of a New York City Bessie Award and numerous grants including an Independence Foundation Fellowship and project grant from the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Her choreography depicts complicated but relatable interpersonal relationships, developed through meticulous character study and improvisational structures. Presenters include The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, New York Live Arts, JACK, The Flea, Joyce Soho, Gibney, Philadelphia Dance Projects, Center for Performance Research, ODC, FringeArts, Velocity Dance Center, Provincetown Dance Festival, The School for Contemporary Dance & Thought, Chop Shop and American Dance Festival. Internationally she has toured to Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Hungary, Russia and India. Her research on the therapeutic applications of touch is compiled into an essay, co-authored with Aaron Brandes, and published in the book, Resistance and Support: Contact Improvisation @ 50, edited by Ann Cooper Albright. Revlock has been an invited speaker at CI@50 at Oberlin College, the Embodiment Conference, the Dance & Somatics Conference and the Future of CI Conference at Earthdance. Previously offered on Airbnb Online Experiences (2020-2024), Restorative Contact was one of the highest rated experiences in the category of wellness and is now an on-demand offering on Happily, a site dedicated to relationship-building. Revlock has been a practitioner of Contact Improvisation since 2003 and has taught the form through Movement Research, the School for Contemporary Dance & Though, Philadelphia Dance Projects, DNE Dance Camp, Soho Contact Improv Collective, Montreal Annual Jam pre-festival, Smith College, Hampshire College, and Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation Festival. She will be teaching CI at Amherst College in Spring 2025. Revlock holds a BA in Art History from Vassar College and MFA in Dance from Smith College. More at GabrielleRevlock.com
We invite you to perceive atmospheres: to listen to what the space is calling for before dialing up, down or sideways. Where are the energies percolating? How do we support these shifts?
This season’s gathering proposes an orientation towards plurality: creating an environment that tunes into shifting of states by simultaneously offering activities in spaces with varying moods in the Umbrella barn, the square barn, and upstairs loft.
There will be a range in types of structured/themed jams, workshops, of body-care seances, and of discussion groups to choose from. In this manner, one can actively listen to what they feel drawn to, intently attend to internal shifts, and be held in a space that supports change. Proposals will be suggestive only to aid emergent ways-of-being and becoming.
The event hosts are curious about expressions emerging from a continuous play of differences during facilitated activities as well as in in-between spaces. The upstairs loft will be utilized to hold silent breakfasts, BIPOC community lunches, body spa with musical accompaniment, and discussions facilitated by the hosting team and guests. Participants may connect with activities and densities held in three different spaces that correspond to their moment-to-moment needs and capacities.
A few notes from our former hosts Yun Lee and Jonah Leslie on their need to step down from hosting this jam:
Dear community, I am stepping down from co-hosting the fall jam due to unforeseen events that are requiring much of my attention. I’m also in hopes to bounce back from this experience and be able to hold space for others soon. I wish you joyous dances in the fall. – Yun Lee
Dear community, I’ve had to step down from co-hosting the fall jam due to health issues. In hopes to join the dance at a later moment. Wishing everyone a rich and nourishing experience! – Jonah Leslie
Support 10 BLACK, INDIGENOUS, and PEOPLE OF COLOR (BIPOC) Creatives to Attend Earthdance’s Fall Jam 2024!
Our Goal
We are seeking to raise $2,500 to cover the cost of 10 at cost jam tickets for BIPOC participants for Fall Jam. Your support will directly contribute to creating a more inclusive and diverse atmosphere at the Fall Jam, where all participants can feel seen, heard, and valued.
How You Can Help
Donate: Any amount helps! Your contribution will go towards covering the costs of attendance, including accommodation, meals, participation fees, and overhead costs.
Share: Spread the word! Share this campaign with your network to help us reach as many people as possible.
Support Diversity: By supporting this campaign, you’re not only helping individual artists and movers, but also fostering a more inclusive and equitable community at Earthdance and beyond.
Join Us
Let’s come together to make this Fall Jam a nourishing experience for 10 BIPOC creatives. Your generosity will help create a space where they can explore, grow, and connect in an environment that celebrates diversity and fosters creative expression.
Thank you for being a part of this journey towards equity, inclusion, and creative exploration!
Attendance: An average of 40-80 people will attend this jam and is open to all movement levels & backgrounds.
Jam Options: Full Jam, Saturday Drop-In, and Integration Days (Drop-In Day & Integration Days are available only to folks who have been to Earthdance before).
Integration Days – October 20th-22nd: Stay at Earthdance after the jam to integrate your experience in a small and lightly held container. This will be an unstructured time to be together, use the studios, be on the land, sauna and share meals. Participants will self organize around meals, clean-up and studio time, without hosts, staff or CICO organizing the spaces. We offer this as a way for participants to relax into the setting of Earthdance in a less busy atmosphere, so that your landing back into the world can be as smooth as possible.
Newcomers: If you have never been to Earthdance, we ask that you only sign up for the Full Jam. This will allow us to better welcome and orient you to Earthdance.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
Full Jam: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, October 17th from 4:00pm-7:00pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
Opening Circle: Friday, October 18th at 10am. We request that ALL Newcomers attend the Opening Circle.
Saturday Drop-In (Only for folks who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive Saturday, October 19th at 8am. Check-In from 1-2pm during lunch in front of the Farmhouse. Departure at 10pm day of.
Closing Circle/Final Clean: Sunday, October 20th Closing Circle at 12:30pm, Lunch 1-2pm
Final Group Clean at 2-3pm.
Full Jam Departure: All participants who aren’t staying for the Integration Days will depart after the final group clean by 3pm on Sunday, October 20th.
Integration Days (Only for folks who attended the Fall Jam) October 20th-22nd.
Integration Days Final Clean/Departure: ALL house clean 2pm, Departure at 3pm on Tuesday, October 22nd.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance offers a sliding scale payment for participation in this event, please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit.
Your level of contribution is self selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far of a financial distance may also have potential access to community events. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership, both currently and anticipated in the future.
The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other intersection marginalizations for you and your family.
The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
Earthdance is a community and rental funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic has struggled to have viable income.
Equity & Access Tickets
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 4 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group in CI and have a relationship with CI. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
APPLY HERE! Application deadline is over.
For those who do not identify as marginalized and are in a represented group of CI, we invite you to stretch in your payment to help support those who cannot stretch and create a more diverse jam experience for all.
Note: While Earthdance is making efforts to better support Equity & Access at all its events, this jam offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
Reduced pricing offered to people self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI.
Classes and discussions that aim to bring up the level of awareness and inclusion at the jam as a whole
Affinity spaces (jams, discussions, etc.) for particular groups of people to connect, share CI space together, and rest from the pressures of being in a minority status at the jam.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base jam cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
Commuter
You will have access to the jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
Commuter Health Care: 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 jam participants.
Nine Mountain is NOT available.
TICKETS
10 – Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Fall Jam Tickets
*These tickets are available only for those who identify as black, indigenous or person of color. They are for someone who does not identify as white.*
Stay at Earthdance after the jam to integrate your experience in a small and lightly held container. This will be an unstructured time to be together, use the studios, be on the land, sauna and share meals. Participants will self organize around meals, clean-up and studio time, without hosts, staff or CICO organizing the spaces. We offer this as a way for participants to relax into the setting of Earthdance in a less busy atmosphere, so that your landing back into the world can be as smooth as possible. Only for those who attend the Fall Jam or have been to Earthdance before.
GRATITUDE LODGE
$550 – Financially Wealthy
$400 – Financially Abundant
$300 – Financially Stable
$225 – Financially Coping
$175 – Financially Strained
CAMPING
$525 – Financially Wealthy
$375 – Financially Abundant
$275 – Financially Stable
$200 – Financially Coping
$150 – Financially Strained
COMMUTER
$500 – Financially Wealthy
$350 – Financially Abundant
$250 – Financially Stable
$175 – Financially Coping
$125 – Financially Strained
FULL JAM + INTEGRATION DAYS – October 17th – 22nd
GRATITUDE LODGE
$900 – Financially Wealthy
$700 – Financially Abundant
$600 – Financially Stable
$525 – Financially Coping
$475 – Financially Strained
CAMPING
$875 – Financially Wealthy
$675 – Financially Abundant
$575 – Financially Stable
$500 – Financially Coping
$450 – Financially Strained
COMMUTER
$850 – Financially Wealthy
$650 – Financially Abundant
$550 – Financially Stable
$475 – Financially Coping
$425 – Financially Strained
DROP-IN Saturday, October 19th (Only available for those who’ve been to Earthdance before)
Refund available up to 14 days (October 3rd) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (October 3rd) 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 after the cancellation date.
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 jam participants.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Ming Tsai is a dancer and a scientist living in Montreal. He started studying Contact Improvisation(CI) in 2019.
Since 2021, he has been facilitating CI jams and offering CI workshops in Montreal and other places in Quebec. After the pandemic, he took a few months off to visit CI communities in Europe and Asia where he learned about other CI cultures and way of practices.
His recent offerings in California Contact Improvisation Teacher Exchange and Georgia Silence Contact Festival had led him to explore philosophy through the lenses of soma and gravity.
He aims to continue the plurality theme where varying moods and activities will be offered in all three dance spaces at Earthdance to accompany the seasonal shift of energy from summer to winter.
Juliette Gomes
Juliette Gomes is a Cape Verdean and African American dancer, artist, and Earth scientist from Northampton, MA, based in Montreal. As an Oberlin College alum, Juliette is dedicated to the lineage of Contact Improvisation (CI) and the Black and Brown movement practitioners underrepresented in the form. Most recently, Juliette co-facilitated at the Earthdance 2024 Summer Jam in the Trans and Queer facilitator role, integrating lived experience across identities to support transgender, queer, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.
Juliette focuses on the intersectionality of race, gender, sexuality, and non-normative bodies in predominantly white CI spaces. Through somatic movement practices and CI, Juliette is interested in counteracting the impact of unchecked whiteness with embodied healing, community, and connection to ancestry and land. As one of the Fall Jam hosts, Juliette is excited to integrate these modalities to support and hold space in a non-hierarchy way through the theme of Plurality.
Entering into fall, as the energy of summer hits the slowness of a colder season, Juliette is interested in the restlessness that sits in our bodies. Juliette is curious about what happens when restlessness poses a constant question of the multiplicity of what to do, where to be, and the Plurality of staying and leaving, moving and stillness. Juliette hopes to thread these questions into movement, rest, and resilience this Fall Jam.
Dive into full bloom at the Summer Contact Improvisation Jam at Earthdance! We will gather to share in focused movement, grounded exploration, and workshops designed to deepen your CI practice. The Summer Jam is our family jam of the year where participants are welcome to bring their children and to come as families, making this a rich multigenerational space. The children share in our living and learning spaces bringing their energy of joy, chaos, hope and playfulness.
As we prepare for this portal, we propose the following warm-up questions to tune our collective experiences: What are the pathways of connection between external and internal? Me and you? When does one and one equal something other than two? What is the alchemy of refilling one’s life force when the well feels empty? How does the quality of my focus and presence change the space? How wild can I stay in the dance while cultivating connection with the ground and with another? How can I cocreate spaces that integrate magic, connection and survival skills? Where is down? What is a spiral? How can we grow and age more wholesomely? What does it mean to pass on the torch to the new generation? What are we taking on from the originators of the form who recently became ancestors? How to stand in the mystery? How to cultivate as much joy as possible? What are the ways to open up the possibility of the body?
We invite you to bring personal explorations and questions to share.
Children’s Program
The children’s program at the Earthdance summer jam is a space dedicated to the kids aged 3 to 17 that comes alive from 9:15am until 1pm every day. The activities vary from day to day and are planned and facilitated in attunement with the kids’ ages and interests. You could expect water games (slip n’ slide, sprinklers, kiddie pool), arts and crafts, storytelling and role playing, adventure walks in the woods, fire camp and s’mores, pizza making, maybe a talent show and intergenerational activities. Five facilitators and one coordinator collaborate throughout the jam with the intention to hold the program in a way that is both attractive to the kids and easeful for the parents.
Summer Jam Details
The Summer Jam is one of the four main Earthdance seasonal jams, it often has around 100-160 participants, offers children’s programming and is open to all movement levels & backgrounds.
We will have commuter, children, full and 2 half jam ticket options.
We are not offering a single day drop in for this jam.
CHILDREN: May only attend the jam with a caregiver responsible for the child.
NEWCOMERS: We ask that newcomers only attend the FULL or 1st Half of the Jam (Friday-Tuesday). We will be offering classes on embodied consent and CI fundamentals.
NINE MOUNTAIN: You must purchase a ticket for Nine Mountain here AND then email robyn@ninemountain.com to reserve a bed at an additional charge.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures.
Arrival and Onsite Check-In: The welcoming will commence for Full and 1st Half Jam participants on Friday, June 28th from 4:00pm-7:00pm. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
NEWCOMERS: May ONLY register the Full or 1st Half Jam to attend the Opening Circle, attend classes on embodied consent and CI fundamentals, and to orient you to this new environment.
Opening Circle: Saturday, June 29th at 10am.
Half Jam All House Clean: Tuesday, July 2nd at 10am
1st Half Jam Departure: Participants will depart on Tuesday, July 2nd by 12pm (before lunch).
2nd Half Jam Check-In: Arrive to check-in on Tuesday, July 2nd between 4-7pm. Dinner is at 6-7pm
Full and 2nd Half Jam Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Friday, July 5th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance offers a sliding scale payment for participation in this event, please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit.
Your level of contribution is self selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far of a financial distance may also have potential access to community events. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership, both currently and anticipated in the future.
The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other intersection marginalizations for you and your family.
The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
Earthdance is a community and rental funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic has struggled to have viable income.
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 12 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group in CI and have a relationship with CI. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
For those who do not identify as marginalized and are in a represented group of CI, we invite you to stretch in your payment to help support those who cannot stretch and create a more diverse jam experience for all.
Note: While Earthdance is making efforts to better support Equity & Access at all its events, this jam offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
Reduced pricing offered to people self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI.
Classes and discussions that aim to bring up the level of awareness and inclusion at the jam as a whole
Affinity spaces (jams, discussions, etc.) for particular groups of people to connect, share CI space together, and rest from the pressures of being in a minority status at the jam.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, Jam offerings, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base Jam cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, Jam offerings, and food during the jam.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to Jam offerings including food for the event.
Commuter Health Care: 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 Jam participants.
Nine Mountain
Please contact to Robyn at robyn@ninemountain.com to reserve a bed at an additional charge after registering with Earthdance.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (June 14th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 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 after cancellation dates.
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.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Radmila (Rad/Rada) Olshansky (b. Kiev, Ukraine) is an artist, performer and facilitator living and working in Chicago. She started her Contact Improvisational journey in NYC in 2010 and has been spiraling into and out of its questions and discoveries ever since. Rada’s curiosities include Non-violent/Compassionate Communication, Fake Healing, Dreams, Yoga Nidra, Mindfulness and Applied Psychology which are woven into her somatic explorations. Rad studied with Nancy Stark Smith, Kathleen Hermesdorf among other dear teachers at festivals and workshops in the US and overseas. She has been teaching dance for over a decade and currently directs a high school dance program in Chicago.
Anya Smolnikova
Anya Smolnikova (b. Minsk, Belarus) is an artist and educator living and working in Vermont. Her art practice spans painting, drawing, performance, installation, dance and community actions. Anya works with movement pathways to listen for connection between external and internal experience and aims to facilitate spaces which integrate magic, joy and embodiment into individual and community learning.
Anya started studying Contact Improvisation in Boston in 2016 and has attended classes and jams across the country and internationally. Anya has been an organizer, facilitator and teacher at the Boston and Chicago CI Jams. She is a co-facilitator of the Contact Improvisation Program and Director of Operations at the Field Center, VT and is a member of the Contact Improvisation Committee at Earthdance. IG Page @anyasmolnikovastudio
Anya and Rada met at the Chicago CI Jam six years ago and bonded over their shared experience as Eastern European immigrant artists who do CI! Together they are navigating the complexities of identity/ies and moving toward healing, making, and learning in community.
Children’s Program Host
Malaïka Bittar-Piekutowski
Malaïka comes to Earthdance with her family since 2017. She lives in Montreal with her husband and two daughters (3 and almost 6 years old) and is a therapist. She loves connecting with fellow humans and the opportunity to coordinate the children’s program since 2019.
BIPOC Host
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai is a dancer and a scientist living in Montreal. He started studying Contact Improvisation(CI) in 2019. Since 2021, he has been facilitating CI jams and CI workshops in Montreal and other places in Quebec. After the pandemic, he took a few months off to visit CI communities in Asia where he learned more about other CI cultures and way of practices. As his first time holding this role, he aims to create a space where trust is reexamined on and off the dance floor and a place where people of color can meet and be seen in.
In honor of Springtime, we will return to foundations – laying fertile ground for rebirth and re-entry into committed and focused Contact Improvisation. We will let go of what no longer serves us, and metamorphosize our practices.
Jam Details
Attendance: An average of 70-100 people will attend this jam and is open to all movement levels & backgrounds.
Jam Options: Full Jam, Post Jam Lab and Saturday Drop-In (Post Jam Lab and Drop-In Day is available only to folks who have been to Earthdance before).
What is a “Post Jam Lab”? After our traditional Spring Jam, and to cultivate the deepening of our shared practice, we are offering participants the opportunity to stay on for a few more days till Tuesday, April 9th for a Post-Jam Lab and Integration days. During this time participants will be able to enjoy our beautiful facilities and explore CI and other movement practices through self organized labs, workshops and jams. Food will be served as normal so you can also decide to just stay and relax giving your self time to integrate all the rich experiences from the Spring Jam itself. Those who did not attend the Spring Jam weekend are welcome to join the Post Jam Lab, however only if you have been to Earthdance before.
Newcomers: If you have never been to Earthdance, we ask that you only sign up for the Full Jam. This will allow us to better welcome and orient you to Earthdance.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
Full Jam: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, April 4th from 4:00pm-7:00pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
Opening Circle: Friday, April 5th at 10am. We request that ALL Newcomers attend the Opening Circle.
Saturday Drop-In (Only for folks who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive Saturday, April 6th at 8am. Check-In from 1-2pm during lunch in front of the Farmhouse. Departure at 10pm day of.
Closing Circle/Final Clean: Sunday, April 7th Closing Circle at 12:30pm, Final Clean at 2-3pm.
Full Jam Departure: All participants who aren’t staying for the Post Jam Lab will depart after the final group clean by 3pm on Sunday, April 7th.
Post Jam Lab (Only for folks who attended the Spring Jam OR who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive/Check-In on Sunday, April 7th between 4-7pm in front of the Farmhouse. Dinner 6-7pm.
Post Jam Lab Final Clean/Departure: ALL house clean 2pm, Departure at 3pm on Tuesday, April 9th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance offers a sliding scale payment for participation in this event, please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit.
Your level of contribution is self selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far of a financial distance may also have potential access to community events. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership, both currently and anticipated in the future.
The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other intersection marginalizations for you and your family.
The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
Earthdance is a community and rental funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic has struggled to have viable income.
Equity & Access Tickets
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to6 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group in CI and have a relationship with CI. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
Application deadline is over.
For those who do not identify as marginalized and are in a represented group of CI, we invite you to stretch in your payment to help support those who cannot stretch and create a more diverse jam experience for all.
Note: While Earthdance is making efforts to better support Equity & Access at all its events, this jam offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
Reduced pricing offered to people self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI.
Classes and discussions that aim to bring up the level of awareness and inclusion at the jam as a whole
Affinity spaces (jams, discussions, etc.) for particular groups of people to connect, share CI space together, and rest from the pressures of being in a minority status at the jam.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, Jam offerings, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base Jam cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, Jam offerings, and food during the jam.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the Jam offerings including food for the event.
Commuter Health Care: 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 Jam participants.
Refund available up to 14 days (March 22nd) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After March 22nd) 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 after the cancellation date.
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.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Lilianna Kane is a dancer and chef, currently invested in Contact Improvisation and collective improvisation. She is committed to improvisation as a physical practice of asking questions and paying attention. She is curious about the disruption of normative culture through dancing and gathering. She values the interplay of rigor, rest, discipline and play. She teaches and shares her practices nationally and internationally. She is currently the head chef at The Field Center in Bellows Falls, VT, where she also has the privilege of regularly practicing, teaching, and researching Contact Improvisation. Website: www.liliannakane.com
Anna Vomacka is a dance maker, performer, & educator based in NYC. She is driven by her curiosities and cravings for community, connection, and spaces of shared learning / (un)learning. As a performer Anna has worked with Brennan Gerard & Ryan Kelly in their Bessie Award winning project Timelining (2014; 2015; 2023), Nami Yamamoto (Trooper’s Brother; 2022), Mei Yamanaka, & Sondra Loring among others. As a creator Anna’s work explores collective/individual identities, edges, care, & disruption, with an emphasis on research as practice. As an educator Anna is dedicated to creating pathways for her students to deepen their practices of personal inquiry, reclaiming autonomy over one’s own body and choice making. Contact Improvisation has persisted as one of her main modalities. Anna is committed to the study and rigor of CI as a physical form, and practice of gathering people of varying identities. annavomacka.com (site under reconstruction)
Lilianna and Anna have been collaborating in life, dance, and friendship for ten years.
Contact Improvisation and the Argentine Tango are two improvisational forms and emerging dance vocabularies gaining worldwide popularity. They have vastly different roots, and yet have many interesting intersections which offer opportunities for dancers of each form to expand their social consciousness and movement skill sets. They are both forms which have performing arts and social trajectories, offering their dancers a wide range of explorations in which to build dance as both an art form and a social container.
In this Workshop, Erica and Daniel will explore some of the overlapping commonalities and distinctive differences of the two forms. They hope to encourage dancers to widen their improvisational vocabularies and overcome any confusions about how these two divergent forms of improvisational dance can inform each other.
We invite you to join us, both new and experienced dancers from either form, in a structure that honors all and different abilities. If you are worried about steps we specialize in dancers with two left feet. We will have fun doing it!
THE JAM
We want to build something new from the familiar. Contact has the Jam, Tango has the Practica. They are both spaces where dancers can build the dance skills they have been learning in class, build social awareness of the forms, experience social codes and boundary keeping, all in the context of safe, conscious, and joyful interaction.
We will seed these experiential spaces with structured warmups, one where the different social codes and rituals can inform each other. Contact is often danced in silence, tango mostly to music. We will have some of each. Contact encourages spontaneous movement in and out of partnership, tango has a set of codes for beginning and ending dances together. We will endeavor to find common ground for our dance and play. We will begin and end with sharing circles, because we acknowledge that we are evolving something new and we want your feedback.
Wear comfortable clothes.
*** Please ONLY bring leather or rubber soled shoes or socks, no heels or shoes worn outside to dance in.
$15 when you register. $20 if you choose dinner when you arrive.
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 $20 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.
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.
Daniel’s first introduction to Improv and Contemporary Dance was with Bill T Jones, at the American Dance Asylum in 1975. He began his own Jazz Improv group in 1978 whilst dancing with Brenda Bufalino, and has been involved with Contact Improv since 1980, first with Steve and Nancy’s cohort on the East Coast, and then with the men of Mangrove on the West Coast.
He traveled widely in the 1980s teaching Contact, BMC, Tap, and Contemporary Dance. His travels led him to Argentina in 1987, where he taught at the State School of Contemporary Dance for the next 7 years, and began his Tango obsession, one which eventually redirected his career.
He has become one of the prime movers in Tango’s modern revival, touring widely in North America, helping create the Tango tourism industry in Buenos Aires, and the first Tango store in the US. He is one of the founding cohort of Earthdance, senior faculty at DNE, and a co-owner of CTT. He taught Tango and Salsa at the Five Colleges for 14 years before the pandemic.
He resides in Florence, MA, where he is the owner of a co-living experimental dance house, and his in residence/ online Tango Archive.
Erica Skye Roper
Erica’s first memory is learning folk dances with their grandparents. Erica began performing folk dances at ten and began learning Argentine Tango at nineteen. Erica played at the edges of Contact improv and tango fusion for more than fifteen years before diving in and studying Contact Improv in 2019.
Erica began teaching dance around 2007 and is available to teach or co-teach Tango Fusion, ConTango Fusion, Salsa Rueda, and Taking-Back-Boundaries workshops. Erica brings a devotion to life long learning through a continuing study of dance and movement as well as the desire to strengthen and build community into the center of all of her teaching.
“The body is a mystery moved by tangible and intangible forces”
These forces can originate in interaction with other people, the relationship with space and also from the memory of our tissues and cells.
During these sessions, we will initiate explorations that allow us to make contact with the information received from the skin inwards. In this way, it will generate a sensitive record of the internal universes that can be decoded through the “sensations”, which in some way, could be the gateway to physicality.
Through different somatic dynamics and Contact Improvisation we will seek to sensitize our state of presence and attention in the body. This, in order to awaken a record of the different impulses which can originate from the inherent vitality of the organism, cellular memory, or the interrelationship that appears when inhabiting space and linking with other dancing bodies. These registers and connections could allow us to find a better state of presence and to see what is happening in our dance.
We will try weight exchanges with different qualities, dancing off the axis without losing connection with our bodies and our weight, exchanges of strength in connection to the earth, and we will explore how to take advantage of the momentum to fall in multiple directions.
Is it possible to fall upwards?
We will search how we can allow the creative power that inhabits each participant to unfold freely to improvise, play, and dance collectively. During the weekend, information from somatic disciplines, craniosacral therapy and other movement arts will be integrated.
Arrival and Onsite Check-In: The welcoming will commence for participants on Friday, October 27th from 1:00pm-4:00pm.
Friday CI Workshop: Friday, October 27th from 4-6pm, Dinner is at 6-7pm.
Opening Circle: Saturday, October 28th at 10am
Saturday, October 28th Drop-In Day: Arrive/Check-In between 8am-10am, Breakfast is at 8am-9am, Opening Circle 10am and Departure at 11pm day of.
Weekend Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Sunday, October 29th.
COVID Testing: Please make sure that you have tested for COVID on the day of arrival for weekend and drop-in days. If needed, participants may purchase tests from Earthdance for $10 each.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance offers a sliding scale payment for participation in this event, please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit.
Your level of contribution is self selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far of a financial distance may also have potential access to community events. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership, both currently and anticipated in the future.
The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other intersection marginalizations for you and your family.
The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
Earthdance is a community and rental funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic has struggled to have viable income.
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 3 Discounted Tickets to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized groups. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
For those who do not identify as marginalized and are in a represented group, we invite you to stretch in your payment to help support those who cannot stretch and create a more diverse jam experience for all.
Note: While Earthdance is making efforts to better support Equity & Access at all its events, the event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
Reduced pricing offered to people self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
Classes and discussions that aim to bring up the level of awareness and inclusion at the event as a whole.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base event cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, and food during the jam.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the event including food.
Commuter Health Care: 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 participants.
Refund available up to 14 days (October 13th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 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.
COVID Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. However, ALL registrants are required to take an antigen test on the day of before arriving on Friday, October 27th at Earthdance. If you need a test, Earthdance will have them available to purchase for $10 each.
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 participants.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Dancer and Teacher of Contact Improvisation. Dedicated to the transmission of the C.I since 2013. I have learned from different somatic approaches such as: B.M.C, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique and Topf Technique. Craniosacral Therapist and teacher. Practitioner of Butoh and Kinomichi (Japanese martial art), languages that are part of his experience and that also cross the way of teaching and sharing the practice.
I was manager and co-creator of various projects and festivals in relation to Contact improvisation and somatic disciplines, to name a few; Mueves: platform for the production of festivals and workshops in relation to the practice of C.I. (Year 2013-2018 Chile). Matriz: International Contact Improvisation Festival, Chile between 2014-2017. Cuerpo inteligencia: Dance Training Program (year 2016-2019 Chile). Movere: International Dance Festival (year 2020-2022 Mexico). Mazunte Contact festival: International Contact Improvisation Festival to be held in February 2022, México. Immersion: International Contact Improvisation Festival to be held in January 2023, México.
I shared my work in festivals, universities and independent spaces in the following countries: Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Mexico, Colombia and the United States.
Hello to all the seekers, curious minds, artists, dance enthusiasts, actors, performers, public speakers, and those who are looking for healing, self-discovery, and self-expression!
We’re thrilled to introduce a new collaborator who brings one of the most unique, powerful, and magical forms of Mask Work to the spotlight: Akil Apollo Davis. He’s one of only three Master teachers of The Brahe-Davis Method of Mask in the world. Masks have always held an intricate connection to the depths of the human psyche, a tangible bridge to archetypal images and centers that are within us all.
As we embark on this collaboration with Akil Apollo Davis, we’re excited to offer a special opportunity for both the Earthdance (ED) community and the local community to explore this groundbreaking work. This introduction evening to Mask Work won’t just prepare you for upcoming classes; it will also reshape the way you see yourself, your body, your understanding of images, our cultural influences, and your potential to transform.
Akil aims to make this experiential knowledge accessible. So, this opportunity comes at a discounted price and is open to those aged 13 and up. Join straight after work, we’ll provide snacks, and wear comfortable clothes for dancing and moving. It’s all about free-form movement!
Transformation is one of the most potent forces within us. It’s how we grow, learn, heal, and inspire. The Brahe-Davis masks directly engage your body’s natural transformative ability. Here are the benefits you can expect:
– Seekers and the curious: Dive deep into your SELF, exploring images, thought patterns, and cultural influences that both hinder and empower you. This is about unlocking your transformational potential.
– Actors and Performers: Experience astonishing expansion in physicality and find new dimensions of inspiration.
– Movers & Dancers: Enhance and enrich your expression, adding a unique “transformation” to your dance journey.
– Healing: Akil reveals a fascinating insight – “Did you know that trauma is the German word for dream? It’s an image that isn’t real, yet it lingers.” This underlines the power of images. The MASK WORK delves into negative images and replaces them with true self-images, facilitating profound change from within.
– Play and Exploration: The Masks liberate! Akil’s workshops create a space for intentional exploration. It’s a space for unleashing your inner child, creativity, and self-expression. It’s invigorating, joyful, and enlightening.
Here’s the schedule for the evening:
– 6:00 pm – Doors open (arrive shortly after)
– 6:15 pm – Open dance session
– 6:30 pm – Talk on “The New Definition of Narcissism”
– 9:00/9:30 pm – 9:30/10:00 pm – Reflection, discussion and movement
PRICING
Financially Wealthy – $250
Financially Abundant – $175
Financially Stable – $100
Financially Coping – $50
Financially Strained – $30
Sauna with use of 2 Earthdance towels for $10
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.***
These masks are unlike any you’ve encountered before. Beyond mere accessories, they hold the key to your inner transformation. While other masks may change your external appearance, The Brahe-Davis Method of Mask sparks change from within. As Terentius wisely said, “Nothing Human is far into me.” We possess the innate ability to embody various facets of human experience, often blocked by guilt, shame, and limiting beliefs. Each mask carries an intentional image, infused through a sacred process. This image connects with your body, tapping into the Egyptian concept of over 100 senses, including sensitivity to images with potent intentions. Just as plucking a guitar string creates resonance in the same string on another guitar, these masks resonate the image within you, facilitating your transformation.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $20 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.
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.
Akil Apollo Davis is a full time Performing Artist and Theatre Professor. Akil grew up with Hip-Hop dance in the everyday culture of Memphis TN (watch “House Party” the movie) and began theatre at 12 years old, and got his Bachelors in Theatre from the prestigious NYU TISCH School of the Arts. During that time his dance, music, and performance training and practices intensified dramatically.
He is the teacher of an extremely rare form of Mask work: only 3 human beings teach it. The Masks are designed by Akil and/or his mentor, Per Brahe. After being hand carved from wood and painted by a Balinese Mask-Making Brahman (Priest), they are taken through a cleansing ceremony in a special temple. In this work, the Masks use the power of image to aid in transformation.
Akil is an avid and professional dancer. He has received extensive training in 4 forms of Balinese dance, 3 forms of Thai Classical dance, Modern, Butoh, African, Ballet, Jazz, Butoh, multiple styles of Fan dancing, contact improv and Acro yoga.
He is a an award-winning playwright and director (NYC Fringe Festival “SUMMER BLUE”: Winner: most innovative production) an MC, poet, and educator.
Akil is also a lyricist, freestyle rapper (improvisational verse) poet and composer. He has collaborated with many musicians to create music and video content for himself and his alter-ego “Diamond Adronica De La Funk”.
Akil has taught Theatre and Dance all over America, in over 12 countries, and is now a Professor of Mask and Art Aesthetic at William Esper Studio (previously NYU and SUNY Purchase).
He has trained with Brahmans, Witches in the East Village and Monks in Thailand and works to bridge the gaps between classical knowledge and esoteric education. This has led to inspiring collaborations and panel discussions with psychologists at Pace University, University of Memphis, and NYU on emotional development, Suicide prevention and awareness, and the power of image.
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. 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
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 $20 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.
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 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.
Kaitlyn’s inner flame exists in the intersection of mycology, creativity, and the continued dedication to learning from the life and death cycle. She hopes to actively take part in decomposing our fears and limiting beliefs around the dying process and help to reestablish Death and grief on the sacred altar of Life.
Amanda Turk
Amanda holds the generational beat of the drum in her blood. Both her father and her maternal grandfather were drummers. She grew up in the epicenter of the music world with her long standing family business, Colony Records, in NYC. In 2006 she discovered the darbuka, a type of tabla, and passionately began her study of Middle Eastern percussion under the guidance of contemporary masters Raquy Danziger (Brooklyn/Istanbul), Bunyamin Olguncan (Istanbul), Todd Roach (Brattleboro, VT), Zohar Fresco(Israel) making regular pilgrimages to Turkey to delve deeper into a style called the Turkish Split Hand Technique and applies these techniques to a variety of drums including frame drum, riq, handpan and cajon. When her hands are not on a drum, Amanda nurtures her community with her passion for bodywork in a 22 year massage therapy practice in Northampton, MA.
ALL of us, no matter what kind of lives that we have lived, have tales to tell that are compelling to others. Sometimes these are stories of our peak highs and other times, our heartbreaks. They may be stories of the mundane, a funny anecdote or a frustrating family gathering. No matter what the topic, when we share our stories with each other, we find a sense of shared humanity that is deeply satisfying.
In this embodied approach to personal storytelling, we use movement as the ground and inspiration for our stories. We slow down and connect to our bodies which lands us in the present moment where the magic happens. We move and speak, speak and move, not knowing what we are going to say; the words are waiting just beneath the surface. While it may seem like walking and chewing gum, it quickly becomes quite natural.
Using improv games, we get comfortable speaking small vignettes of our life and have fun exploring together. Then we share longer stories with each other. We do this in a supportive container, witnessing each other from a place of care, encouragement and non-judgement. This is about authentic human expression. No performance experience or skill is needed.
Come experience the richness of this work! I hope you will join me for this nourishing soul play. Part of the workshop will be outside, weather dependent.
Potluck Dinner: 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.
Mandy Snyder is a Somatic Healer and group facilitator who is passionate about creating spaces for embodied self-discovery. With warmth and welcoming, she guides others to make contact with self-compassion, a balm that makes everything just a little easier. Her individual sessions, groups and workshops draw from her training in Somatic Experiencing, study in Internal Family Systems and 25 + years as in movement studies, including Authentic Movement, Body Tales and Contact Improvisation. A lover of nature and laughter, Mandy has spent many years in Vermont and California, and now makes Western Massachusetts her home.
