Updated November 23 2025 – Mis à jour le 23 novembre 2025
Let’s Dance! Subscription information is at the bottom of this newsletter. – Ian!
Hello, Ottawa/Gatineau area dancers and movers.
Events in or originating from the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Events that recur weekly or monthly show only the nearest upcoming event or two. Follow the link for future events.
The events in this section recur weekly, with some exceptions. Check the official event page to make sure the event is scheduled on the day you want to attend.
If you’re new to Contact Improvisation Dance, attend the next free CI Basics class/jam on December 6 below.
CI dancers who have already taken a CI Basics class in Ottawa are welcome to attend any of our weekly Saturday CI jams running mostly weekly through the end of June 2026. (We have no Saturday CI during July and August.)
In Ottawa, this dance takes place mostly weekly, outdoors at Mooney’s Bay, all year round. See the web page above, the facebook group: Dance to Nature group, or contact Alana O’Donnell for current information. Some Sundays have no facilitated dances.
The grassy dance area is not very friendly to wheelchairs, though there are paved paths adjacent. Accessible city washrooms are available in the main building at Mooney’s Bay.
Biodanza, which means “dance of life,” has been around for over 60 years and is practiced all over the world. Biodanza is a process of human development that expands and enriches parts of our identity! It is a rich pedagogy of the art of living that enriches our connection to ourselves, to others, and to the world.
Biodanza in English with Alana happens most Wednesdays, except the fourth week of every month is on Thursday instead of Wednesday, at the Rosemount Orange Hall at 41 Rosemount Avenue in Ottawa. See below for the current dates.
Cet événement ne dispose pas de site web pour publier des mises à jour. Vous devez donc contacter facebook: Isabelle pour vous assurer qu’il n’y a pas de modifications de dernière minute.
Les cours hebdomadaires recommence pour accueillir ceux et celles qui veulent découvrir la Biodanza.
These Thursday evening Ecstatic Dances usually take place at 7:30pm on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Rosemount Orange Hall at 41 Rosemount Avenue in Ottawa. Different people run these events, each with their own facebook sites, so you have to look in multiple places to find out the details. See below for the current dates.
This is an open level movement improv evening for artists, performers and anyone who wants to move, led by Mary Catherine Jack and Jocelyn Todd with live music by Pierre Luc Clément. The session will begin with a guided improvisation, followed by a few minutes of free writing and finished with a structured group improvisation.
We will be guided to move and dance or experience stillness - everything is optional and options will be given.
Arts Court has accessible entry-points, the workshop will be held in a physically accessible studio and there is an accessible washroom near the entrance to Ottawa Dance Directive on the second floor.
AWAKEN combines the best of wellness and nightlife into a single, unforgettable experience. With a short breathwork to energize, meditation to center, and a full length DJ led ecstatic dance to awaken your vitality, this event is a full-spectrum journey into connection and transformation
Guided by DJ, producer and Meditation Instructor Corey Sheikh and Friends - Dance freely, breathe deeply, and rediscover your-self in a vibrant space designed to elevate your energy and leave you inspired.
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP:
We will explore a variety of longer and full length meditations, breathing methods, journalling exercises, self-healing practices & conscious intuitive momvement practices that support in bringing emotional balance, inner peace and a deepened understanding on what it means to heal & connect with your authentic self.
The start time and schedule is approximate. These weekly dances are run by different people who may do things differently, so you have to check the facebook event for the current week to know the actual start time and dance schedule.
These Thursday evening Ecstatic Dances usually take place on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Rosemount Orange Hall at 41 Rosemount Avenue in Ottawa. Different people run these events, each with their own facebook sites, so you have to look in multiple places to find out the details. The start times aren’t always the same; check online before you head out. The events are only visible on the facebook; there is no public web page. Try looking in all these places for the upcoming events:
The Rosemount Orange Hall is not accessible; there are many steps up to the dance floor and the washroom is too small for a wheelchair.
Ecstatic dance offers a space for people to let go of inhibitions, connect with themselves and others, and experience the joy of movement in its purest form. It can be a deeply transformative and liberating practice for those who engage with it regularly.
We welcome you to our Dances of Universal Peace.
Please join us Friday December 5 from 7 till 9 pm
We will dance at the First United Church in the Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa on the first Friday of each month, 347 Richmond Road Ottawa. Room 7/8. Please enter through the back door at ground level on Madison Street. Pat and Jessica and Elyse will lead us through a program of joyful and contemplative dances.
Dances of Universal Peace are monthly, participatory simple circle dances and songs drawn from the earth’s sacred traditions, such as: Jewish, Christian (Creation Spirituality, Aramaic & Gospel), Islamic Sufi, Buddhist, Native American, Hindu, African, Celtic, Zoroastrian, and other Universal songs of peace. All dances are taught on the spot.
Dress casual. Singles and couples are welcome. Bring a friend if you like. Live music by (leader(s)) & friends. $10-20 donation requested at the door. No one turned away for lack of funds. Venue is accessible at ground level. Women’s washrooms are up 3 stairs.
You are invited to dance for peace – bring a friend! The Dances of Universal Peace are a 40 year old tradition of dancing to simple chants from a variety of the world’s religions in a simple and peaceful moving meditation. Newcomers are happily welcomed. No previous experience or dance partner needed. All dances and movements are learned on the spot.
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
Come to our free CI Basics class and dance jam, open to everyone, on
Saturday December 6 at 11:15am.
Invite your CI-curious friends! All Welcome! No experience necessary!
We teach you everything!
Please arrive on time (11:15am) for the consent talk.
The accessible, community-run Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improvisation Dance classes and jams run a free all-welcome CI Basics class and dance jam at 11:15am on Saturday December 6 open to everyone, especially people new to CI dance. Follow this link for details on time, location, and what to wear: Contact Improv Dance Basics. Please arrive on time (11:15am) for the consent talk.
The next free CI Basics course will be held in January 2026.
CI dancers who have already taken a CI Basics class in Ottawa are welcome to attend any of our weekly CI jams running mostly weekly (check the schedule!) for ten months on Saturday at 11:5am until June 27 2026 and then resuming weekly again in September 2026 after summer (July+August) break.
The ODD/CDC studio is fully accessible, with a large accessible washroom on
the same floor as the dance space.
✨ Intuitive Belly dance workshop for Women ✨
Why do I dance? To re.claim, re.member, re.source. To join my sisters and brothers in knowing the bigger truths. As I struggle through the sometimes challenging moments of my day, I feel the need to be more grounded than ever, more capable of grounded joy than ever. Let’s come together in community, and build our way forward in hearing, listening, seeking to understand, and catalysing towards moments of a rebellion of joy.
I hope you’ll join me on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of September, October, November, and December, to re.claim, re.member, and re.source our souls. All are welcome: all bodies, all levels of experience (bring your beginner’s mind!), all faiths, all abilities, all genders, all sexual orientations, all melanin variations. All dancing hours with me count towards the 5Rhythms Teacher Training path.
“Flying starts from the ground. The more grounded you are, the higher you fly.” ~ J.R. Rim
On Saturday December 19 adults can dance the season with Anne Pitman at the Dovercourt Recreation Centre 411 Dovercourt Ave., Ottawa.
Dance from darkness to light, as we celebrate Winter Solstice in a warm, welcoming community. We’ll move through free dance to circle dance, embracing the rhythm of the season and connection in beeswax candlelight.
In contemplative community, dance from autumn darkness to winter light, celebrating the changing of the season through movement and breath. World music sets the rhythm to a practice that includes meditation, intuitive dance and circle dancing from different lineages. Adults only please.
This event has no online site on which to post updates, so you have to contact Owen Tuf to make sure that there are no last-minute changes. (The Rupert Hall gives over-riding event priority to local events such as funerals.)
🦑 Ecstatic Dance this month is indoors at the Rupert Hall, 24 ch Shouldice, Rupert QC.
Danse Extatique Wakefield fait partie de la communauté mondiale de Danse Extatique. Plutôt que de danser pour nous divertir, nous dansons pour célébrer, jouer, explorer, prendre conscience, transformer, construire une communauté et exprimer notre liberté. En tant que forme de méditation en mouvement, la musique commence doucement, monte en énergie puis se termine en créant un espace méditatif.
Les directives générales consistent à créer un espace sécuritaire et sacré pour bouger comme vous le souhaitez, en honorant votre corps et en permettant une connexion respectueuse avec les autres à travers la danse. Nous bougeons pieds nus (ou en chaussettes, bien sûr), tout le monde est le bienvenu (incluant les enfants accompagnés d’un adulte), et c’est une zone sans drogue/alcool et sans parfum. Vous pouvez assister à l’ensemble de l’événement, en commençant par un cercle d’ouverture et un centrage, ou simplement passer nous voir pendant l’événement. Nous demandons aux participants de s’abstenir de parler sur la piste de danse afin de permettre aux autres d’approfondir leur expérience, mais si vous souhaitez bavarder, il y a un espace confortable dans l’entrée pour le faire.
Rather than dance as entertainment, we dance in celebration, play, exploration, expansive awareness, transformation, building community and expressive freedom. As a form of meditation-in-motion, the music starts slow, builds energy, then ends in a meditative space. We gather as part of the worldwide community of Ecstatic Dance.
The general guidelines are about creating a safe and sacred space to move however you wish, honouring your body and allowing respectful connection with others in your dancing. We move in barefeet (or socks of course), everybody is welcome (children accompanied by an adult), and know that it’s a drug/alchohol free and scent free zone (no perfume pls).
You can come to the whole event, starting with an opening circle and centering, or just drop in for a visit during the event. We ask movers to refrain from talking on the dance floor to allow one another to deepen into the experience of expression through movement, but if you would like to chit-chat, there is comfortable space in the lobby for hanging out!
2026 is wide open for NIA fun!! Dance the night away NIA-style… Fun music and joyful movement will help bid farewell to 2025 and bring in the New Year with upbeat energy! Close out the practice with some hot stone grounding to set intentions for a magical New Year!!
Reserve your spot with class credits or pay the drop in fee 🎶
Unfortunately, the various Ottawa dance organizers don’t cooperate and list their events on one site, or even on each other’s sites, so you have to watch a half-dozen different places to know what’s going on. Many events don’t have public web pages, so you have to sell your soul to The Facebook to access their information. We’ve included links to some of the dance events we know about, below.
Except for the community-owned, community-run Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improvisation Dance group, all dances are privately run.
Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to some of the above dance events.
Nothing truly dies…all energy simply transforms. We like to think of everything as being linear…In reality, everything is cyclical. So, it is with the cycles of life.
Life is a journey. Its route is essentially the same for everyone, even though we start in different settings and with different baggage.” Gabrielle Roth
In the Cycles workshop we give ourselves permission to embody the journey with new eyes and understanding. We explore the patterns, waves and vibrations that move us from birth to death
Our journey will be a deep investigation into our personal relationship to the rhythms and rituals, teaching and traditions, the people and places that have formed and informed who we are. It is an opportunity to move with the parts of ourselves that we wish to honour & explore as well as those parts of ourselves that we wish to let go of.
Common ground connects us all and coming together to explore the cycles of life gives us the opportunity to see ourselves in each other.
Workshop level details: Cycles is an up close and personal look at our own lives, our birth, our upcoming death and everything and everyone between. We make connections, reweave threads, let go of the hurt and humiliations. We get real. We honor the people and events that have shaped who we are and the challenges and gifts they left us with and reinvent our inherited self into somebody we truly want to be.
Peter Fodera completed the 5Rhythms teacher training with Gabrielle in 2004, Heartbeat in 2010 & Cycles in 2022. As a founding member of the 5R Reach Out, he continues to work with differently abled communities.
Our hosts and fellow Love Weavers, Nelson Té and Robin Shaw, will infuse our Winter Jam with the theme: “What would Love do?”
What are different aspects of Love, and how might these qualities inspire and inform the ways we dance with the whole Jam experience?
From relishing in intentional movement on our buttery dance floors, to walking with the forest’s rhythms; from connecting socially or in tremendous community co-creations, to savoring deep solo time… how wholeheartedly might we inhabit our moments if we invite this question to move us: “What would love do now?”
How might this question dance and grow in our hearts, minds and bodies, from one human experience to the next?… whether we’re struggling with hard emotions, or overwhelmed with joy; whether we’re feeling dysregulated, numb, or we’re excited to share our gifts?
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠. 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒. 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠. 𝐽𝑜𝑖𝑛 𝑢𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑢𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑄𝑢𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑐 𝑆𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐽𝑎𝑚 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑌𝑒𝑎𝑟’𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦, 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡, 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑗𝑎𝑚 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 3 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 3 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 2 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 (𝐹𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑦 - 𝑆𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑑𝑎𝑦). 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 𝑣𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑒. *𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑐 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑥 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖-𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑗𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑢𝑔𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠, 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠.
𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒. 𝑇𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑡𝑜 jamsilence@outlook.com 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑚 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝑃𝑎𝑦𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑦 𝑒-𝑇𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑓𝑒𝑟 (𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑑𝑎) 𝑜𝑟 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑝𝑎𝑙 (𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙).
Join us Noon to 9 PM on Saturday February 14th for a loosely structured long jam in Detroit! Indoors at lovely Andy Arts. You can also take part in the regular Sunday class & jam the following day (10:30-1pm.) We’ll provide an optional dinner Saturday at cost around 5pm on location. Bring some snacks to share as well. There are many Air BnBs/hotels in the area or let us know if you want to stay with a local host for Friday and/or Saturday night.
The last two iterations of this event provided a delicious mixing of local dancers and out-of-town dancers in a focused creative container. We ask that you have some experience with contact improv before attending the 9HR JAM.
Sliding scale fee for Saturday jam is $30-$60, plus an optional Lebanese dinner for $15.
Not sure what to pay on the sliding scale? Pay $60 if you can easily afford to. Pay around $45 if you’re on a tighter budget but that amount is not a hardship. Pay $30 (or contact us to pay less) if paying more is a hardship.
Visiting dancers are also welcome to join our Sunday class and jam–emphasizing rest and rehabilitation!–for an additional $5-$15 donation. Class is from 10:30-11:30am and the jam is 11:30am-1pm.
LOCATION: We’re dancing in the spacious, luscious corner studio at Andy Arts: 3000 Fenkell Ave, Detroit, MI 48238. PARK & ENTER ON PARKSIDE. Andy is a wheelchair-accessible venue.
Through her social enterprise Somatic Society, with the support of dear friends, Cara is pleased to offer a facilitated open space to learn and grow in a regular practice of contact improvisation, within the context of a healthy community.
The Ontario Regional Contact Jam is
in Toronto again in 2026.We welcome beginners and newcomers and all levels of dance experience. See dozens and dozens and dozens of your bestest dancing friends from all over the world!
https://contactimprov.ca/orcjSend us your ideas about what you’d like the organizers to make space for at the jam. Send your suggestion to ontjam@contactimprov.ca
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Recurring Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Some of these events changed during the pandemic. If the listing below seems out-of-date, please contact the organizers.
facebook: Groove Tonic PEC hosts a weekly barefoot, free-form movement and dance event in Picton (Prince Edward County).
For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact the organizer.
Dear contact dancers (or those who want to do contact improvisation!), Suzanne and Opal are continuing to host Contact dance Jams in Peterborough, after a summer hiatus. Details are below. Please feel free to share widely! Contact Improvisation is movement inspired by the spontaneous interaction between two people playing with weight, momentum and gravity. Beginners welcome! Contact Dance Jam is hosted 4-5pm on the 4th Sunday of the month (with some exceptions - see below).
Fueled by Public Energy!
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
For other Peterborough dance events, e.g.
OnDanse Val-David est un collectif soutenant la pratique de la danse extatique. Offert hebdomadairement, la danse suit une courbe musicale particulière pour induire un contact à soi à travers l’expression corporelle et une exploration personnelle dans le mouvement. Une rencontre entre le festif et le sacré!
A monthly therapeutic conscious dance journey, where we express ourselves and all of our big feelings by moving freely in community without judgment.
Our mission: to invite pure, unabashed self-expression through movement, in a warm, permissive, nonjudgmental space. NOTE: the capacity of our space is limited to 65 people; therefore, please register ahead so that you can ensure you have a spot.
This is a dance intended for all bodies, and St. Peter’s Church is an accessible space with an elevator. There are no “moves” or “steps,” but rather just an invitation to do what feels right. This kind of dance can look like anything – it can be big, small, upright, or lying down. As long as you are moving and breathing, you are doing it right.
Dance and celebrate – Danser, se rassembler, célébrer, s’émerveiller …
Classes in Biodanza and Authentic Movement in and near Montréal and Val David with Catherine Fabiola Lessard
Currently (August 2025) only the French pages are up-to-date. The English pages still date from 2021. Use the French pages.
I recall always dancing. A tiny, faded 3×3 photograph of me in traditional garb with hair in plaits doubled over, age 4, in my village in India, shows me dancing (and caught self-consciously!). I’ve tried many forms of movement and 5Rhythms® is my home-coming. 5Rhythms® is free-form movement meditation, in every class we dance through the five energies/rhythms of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness®. There is a vast ever-changing inner landscape of our bodies and psyches for us to be fascinated by and navigate with curiosity. Certified at the Waves level of this practice, philosophy, and perspective, you can find out about my classes here. As an accredited 5Rhythms® teacher, all class and workshop hours with me count towards teacher training prerequisites.
I produce workshops where I invite teachers to Montreal/Ottawa to share their wisdom, experience, perspective, and learnings. Upcoming workshops can be found here.
Freeing the Creative Spirit Teaching people to experience the pulsating sensual energy inside them and awakening their connection to flowing breath, rooted feet and a centered alive pelvis – reach up, root down, live in the heart center. Visit https://www.erik.iversen.ca/ or https://www.5rhythms.com/teachers/Erik+Iversen or contact Erik Iversen for more information. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Erik.)
Lynne Adams runs 5 Rhythms classes in and near Montréal. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Lynne.)
facebook: Contact Improvisation Bas-Saint-Laurent
Groupe pour faciliter l’épanouissement de la communauté de contact impro dans la région. Cours, jams, covoiturage vers des activités ailleurs au Québec, etc.
Bienvenue à tous. Les jams de Contact improvisation seront annoncés dans le groupe par le biais d’évènements. Consultez la publication épinglée pour plus d’information.
Classes are facilitated in French (with possible English translation on request): Biodanza Sherbrooke: français and Sherbrook Biodanza: English (The English pages may not be updated; use the French pages!)
Shake! Mornings, afternoons, and evenings
facebook: ~bioLUMINosity®~ Edge of Trance dance, meditation, playground.
Dancing is not just getting up painlessly,
like a leaf blown on the wind;
dancing is when you tear your heart out
and rise out of your body
to hang suspended between the worlds.
We have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance
[…]
If people ask me how to Contact Improvise, I simply say, “Start small” or, “Start small for a long time.”
After fifty years of all this, I realize I should have said,
“Go beyond small to the place where no message is being given. Start there. Let small be the first of the pleasures to come.”
Accept the first perturbation of that emptiness as the focus of the next moments. It is not a dance about you, or your partner. It is a dance about its movement.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
[…]
At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh or fleshless;
Neither from nor towards;
at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance,
and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
[…]
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
[…]
Dancers who pursue graceful movement must practice being aware of their bodies and being aware of wordless communication. These skills are particularly important today, when we spend so much time sitting and in virtual realities. Our way of life has taken us further from our own physical experiences and the understanding of the wordless emotional messages of others. For example, contact improvisation makes the dancers listen attentively to the body of their partner. Touch is known to reduce pain, fear and anxiety.
