Let’s Dance Ian!!
The best way to read this message is using the Newsletter Web Version that is updated mid-week: http://contactimprov.ca/on/ottawa/news.html Click on your favourite events in the Table of Contents below or use the web version above. (Outlook/Evolution email users – sorry, clicking below doesn’t work; use the web version.) – Ian! D. Allen
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. – Hanna Poikonen
CI Dancers at the Ottawa CI dance jam: Ken, Kia, Isabelle, Barbara, AnneMarie, Ian, Marcia
Events in 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 Ottawa Authentic Movement group meets most Saturday mornings each month at Arts Court in Ottawa. (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Experience with Authentic Movement is required to attend these events. Contact Wendy before you attend.
If you are new to Authentic Movement, please contact Wendy Philpott to arrange a short briefing session before you arrive in the studio.
Venue: ODD Studio “B”, Second Floor, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue
Click on the link above or contact Wendy Philpott for more information.
Experience with Authentic Movement is required to attend these events. Contact Wendy before you attend.
Come to a weekly open drop-in Contact Improv Dance Class and Jam. Hosted by Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improv.
Some things to watch:
CI Dancers at the Ottawa CI dance jam: Ken, Kia, AnneMarie, Isabelle, Barbara, Ian, Marcia
Step outside for Dance to Nature outdoor dances among the trees at Mooneys Bay. Express, create and surrender the dance from within! Let go of all inhibitions and come Dance to Nature! (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Alana.)
No rules, steps or choreography, only your own unique dance creation.
Exprimez, créez et libérez votre danse de l’intérieur!
Click on the link above or contact Alana O’Donnell for more information.
Sacred Circle Dance is back in Chelsea. I am looking forward to share with you some of the dances I learned during the year. I invite you to come and join the circle each month to explore a different aspect of the vast repertory of dance and music that is part of this global dance movement.
Le cercle de danse sacrée sera de retour cet automne les dimanches après-midi à Chelsea. J’ai hâte de partager avec vous les nouvelles danses que j’ai apprises cette année. Je vous invite à vous joindre au cercle à chaque mois afin d’explorer un volet du vaste répertoire de musique et de danses de ce mouvement planétaire.
Ottawa Contra Dance presents a Christmas Evening Contra Dance with the Old Sod Band and Catherine Burns.
Wear red and green to ring in the season at our annual Christmas dance! Bring a sweet or savoury snack to share at the break and brush up on your favourite seasonal songs for our carol-sing! Ottawa favourites the Old Sod Band and Catherine Burns headline this celebration of the season.
Please note: The Churchill Recreation Centre is a scent-free space. Please do not wear scented products.
Dance the Winter Solstice as part of Seasonal Dances with Anne Pitman at the Dovercourt Recreation Centre 411 Dovercourt Ave. (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Dance in the darkness, this season of long nights, toward the centre of the spiral, and the light. Free dance, circle dance and warm community. No dance experience necessary. All adults welcome. $10
Seasonal music, free form dance, circle dance, and warm community spirit.
Dance the Seasons of the Year – Take time out of your busy life to dance your aliveness, your life and honour the turning of the wheel. No dance experience is necessary. Dance your rhythm and the rhythm of the season. All of nature; earth, air, water and fire – everything that surrounds you, is also in you. Connect with these natural elements and find their qualities of groundedness, inspiration, flow and passion in you and in your life. Dance in the season with open arms.
Click on the links above or contact Anne Pitman for more information.
Anne usually hosts four Seasonal Dances each year. Check her web link, above.
The Spring Equinox Dance may happen in March. Contact Anne for details.
Come to the next Ecstatic Dance – Winter Solstice with your Ottawa/Gatineau Ecstatic Dance community. Dances take place twice monthly as part of Ecstatic Dance Ottawa. Venue: 41 Rosemount in Hintonburg. (This location is not wheelchair accessible.)
Come gather with the ecstatic community. To dance, to be held in circle, & to look within through the medicine of movement. On this darkest night of the year, we honour nature, invoke renewal, regeneration, and our own spiritual sun within. Let’s celebrate! and welcome back the light together. With music, movement, sweat, and the sweetness of letting go. Move into your intentions for this coming new year.
This will be the last ecstatic dance of the year and our farewell to DJ Kaia and Louis before they head south for the winter.
Music: A magical soundscape, featuring shared DJ mixes by both Kaia Nightingale and Saira Monica. A fiesta of musical compilations accompanied by live percussions and vocal accents.
Ecstatic dances are a safe space container created for self expression, investigation, & exploration. Come explore the magnificent territory between your head and your feet, your breath, and your overall physical, emotional and mental body through movement. As an investigator of your psyche and heart, you will learn to search for the hidden jewel as you come into a space of discovery. Beginning and ending in circle. There is no particular yoga or dance experience necessary. Come and share your energy with other electrifying souls. Dance your joy, dance your pain; just dance and have some fun! Celebrate where you are, where you’ve been, and where you are going.
Click on the link above or contact DJ Saira Monica for more information.
Follow the link above for future dances and confirm future dates and times with the organizers as they change.
Please confirm the date, time, and location with the organizers.
Every third Friday, come to the next monthly Dances of Universal Peace event at the University of Ottawa, hosted by Dances of Universal Peace Ottawa. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact the organizers.)
Circle Dances to live music. We bring the unifying traditions of spirit centered cultures to life with our song and dancing together.
Dances of Universal Peace – Monthly, participatory simple circle dances and songs drawn from the earth’s sacred traditions, such as: Jewish, Christian (Creation Spirituality, Aramaic & Gospel), Islamic Su, Buddhist, Native American, Hindu, African, Celtic, Zoroastrian, and other Universal songs of peace. All welcome. No partner required. Beginners welcome. The Dances have no performers or audience. No musical or dance experience is necessary, All dances are taught. Dress casual. Singles and couples are welcome. Live music by (leader(s)) & friends. $5-10 donation at the door.
The Dances of Universal Peace and Walking Concentrations are spiritual practice in motion. Drawing on the sacred phrases, scripture, and poetry of the many spiritual traditions of the earth, the Dances blend chant, live music and evocative movement into a living experience of unity, peace and integration. This taste of our true nature – as Universal Peace – opens to the possibility of a deep spiritual revolution within the person.
From the beginning of time, sacred movement, song and story have brought people together – at times of seasonal ceremony and celebration, as part of everyday life and life passages, in daily renewal and meditation. The Dances of Universal Peace are part of this timeless tradition of sacred movement, song and story.
Dances of Universal Peace are participatory simple circle dances and songs drawn from the earth’s sacred traditions, and other Universal songs of peace. Dress is casual. No previous experience or dance partner needed. Live music and a cappella. A donation of $5-$10 is requested.
Next dance (after this one) is usually the third Friday. Contact the organizers to be sure.
For more information please contact Patricia Kerr
Dance with your Ottawa/Gatineau community at an Ottawa Inner Rhythm Ecstatic Dance at Surround Circle Yoga, 15 Aylmer Avenue in Ottawa. facebook event (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Rebecca White Raven, Kevin Guerette, and Maureen Fallis are so happy to be hosting Inner Rhythm Ecstatic Dances the last Saturday of each month at Surround Circle Yoga. So grateful for with this wonderful space for us to get out of our heads and into our bodies to discover and explore our inner rhythms!
These evenings will be about community connection, open hearts, and free spirits. No drugs or alcohol please. ♥ We will meet and mingle, circle and connect, move and dance, center and tone, and end with community circle and sharing. All ages and abilities are welcome! We SO look forward to sharing exuberant joy through dance with you!
Questions? Send an email to Rebecca or find her on the facebook. For further chanting, sound healing and ecstatic dance events see http://rebeccawhiteraven.com/upcoming-events/
Click on the above links for information. Next dances (after this one): Last Saturday of each month. Contact the organizers to be sure.
Please verify this time and venue with the organizers.
We’re Dancing!! A free (by donation) happening 6:30 to 8:00, at Bells Corners United Church at 3955 Old Richmond Road. All are welcome; Join us! Contact Wendy at 613-726-1375. Ottawa Sacred Dance Guild Dances are open to all; no registration required; last Sunday of every month; donations welcome. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact the organizers.)
For more information call Wendy at 613-726-1375
Next dances (after this one): Last Sunday of every month. Contact the organizers to be sure.
The events below happen next year.
Explore the joy and creativity of group improvised movement in a weekly drop-in class in Group Movement Improvisation on Monday evenings in New Edinburgh. All adults welcome (drop-in); no registration or experience required. Led by Lola Ryan. (This location is not wheelchair accessible.)
Movement Improvisation is exploration – you can explore what you like to do in dance and in movement. It frees you to be as daring and creative as you wish. This is not a contact improv dance class, though safe touch and elements of contact improv are usually incorporated as we improvise to music.
Lola opens each class with a specific warm-up and then focuses on a movement technique or a way to open up your movement vocabulary. It could be an exercise on vision or balance, a unique way to create shape or pattern, or the best way to connect with a partner or partners. The class always concludes with an open dance space where you are free to create your own movement experience, in solo, in duets or as an ensemble. Music courtesy of Lola!
We invite you to come and have fun on your way to learning new skills and enhancing your dancing and movement with other people. Regular drop-in class fee $25 for 2.5 hours. (Student rate available – talk to Lola.)
Click on the link above or contact Lola Ryan 613-237-0790 for more information. 
Come to a weekly open drop-in Contact Improv Dance Class and Jam. Hosted by Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improv.
Some things to watch:
CI Dancers at the Ottawa CI dance jam: Ken, Kia, AnneMarie, Isabelle, Barbara, Ian, Marcia
Ottawa Contra Dance presents a Family Contra Dance with live music & all dances taught!
Please note: The Churchill Recreation Centre is a scent-free space. Please do not wear scented products.
Dance with your Ottawa/Gatineau community at an Ottawa Inner Rhythm Ecstatic Dance at Surround Circle Yoga, 15 Aylmer Avenue in Ottawa. facebook event (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Rebecca White Raven, Kevin Guerette, and Maureen Fallis are so happy to be hosting Inner Rhythm Ecstatic Dances the last Saturday of each month at Surround Circle Yoga. So grateful for with this wonderful space for us to get out of our heads and into our bodies to discover and explore our inner rhythms!
These evenings will be about community connection, open hearts, and free spirits. No drugs or alcohol please. ♥ We will meet and mingle, circle and connect, move and dance, center and tone, and end with community circle and sharing. All ages and abilities are welcome! We SO look forward to sharing exuberant joy through dance with you!
Questions? Send an email to Rebecca or find her on the facebook. For further chanting, sound healing and ecstatic dance events see http://rebeccawhiteraven.com/upcoming-events/
Click on the above links for information. Next dances (after this one): Last Saturday of each month. Contact the organizers to be sure.
Ottawa Contra Dance presents a Community Contra Dance with live music & all dances taught!
Community-oriented dance opportunity for families of all ages … ESPECIALLY school-aged kids and their parents!
Please note: The Churchill Recreation Centre is a scent-free space. Please do not wear scented products.
Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Earthdance annual New Year’s Contact Improvisation Dance Jam
As winter swirls outside, we come together on the dance floor to find new connections through Contact Improvisation, co-creating five days of magic, intimacy, warmth, and dancing celebration. Workshops, performances, bonfires, and nonstop jamming ring in the New Year with utter joy at our biggest Contact Improvisation Dance Jam of the year.
Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa/Gatineau.
(This location is partially wheelchair accessible.)
The events below happen next year.
We are announcing the opening of registration for 2019 January Workshop! Thank you for helping us spread the word by forwarding this to others who you think might be interested.
A 3-week residential workshop focused on contact improvisation and other related work: physical training, solo and group improvisation, composition, contemplative practice, observing/listening, jamming, discussion, feedback, labs, and performance studies. In solo, duet, trio, and group work; in and out of contact; in silence and with live music; we’ll move toward greater clarity and depth in our dancing and watching. Please come prepared for intensive practice (and a bit of fun!).
Intermediate level in CI required. Fill out online application form outlining your background and skill level in contact improvisation, dance, and improvisation, and your reasons for wanting to attend. All registrations must be approved by Nancy.
The workshop will meet Monday–Friday, 10 am to 5:30/6 pm in studios at Earthdance, in Plainfield, MA, (a beautiful dance retreat center located 35 minutes west of Northampton, MA, in the Berkshire Mountains), and in town at an Aikido dojo. There will be some evening and weekend activities.
Hello beautiful Touch&Play community!
The team of organizers of Touch&Play Montreal are excited to announce that a winter edition of our beloved event is happening in a gorgeous Canadian wonderland “Sur les Toits du Monde” near Montréal!
At the health center Sur les Toits du Monde, located on the highest mountain of Sainte-Catherine-de-Hatley, QC,you will be able to live a peaceful experience in direct connection with nature. Available to you are a salt indoor pool, sauna, SPA, fully equipped community kitchen and meditation room and inspiring library to feed your spirit.
Touch&Play Montréal Winter 2019 will be held on February 14-17th, 2019. This is a bilingual festival, held entirely in both English and French.
Les organisateurs du Touch&Play Montréal sont heureux de vous annoncer qu’une édition d’hiver du festival aura lieu!
Touch&Play is a community and conscious sexuality festival. It’s a space for exploration of participants’ comfort zones and edges. The festival is built around certain disciplines related to relationships, sexuality and movement. Inspired by: Contact Improvisation, Nonviolent Communication, Authentic Movement, Tantra, BDSM, Ritual, Somatic Consciousness, and more.
Again in 2019 the annual Ontario Regional Contact Improv Dance Jam will be in Toronto, Ontario. There is a facebook event. (This location is fully wheelchair accessible.)
Three days of contact improvisation on one entire floor of Canada’s National Ballet School. Three beautiful studios with grand pianos in every room. Over 250 people to dance with – the largest contact improv dance jam in North America.
One of the key values of the ORCJ is to be welcoming and friendly – to all. We want to be the multi-day Jam of choice for first time people. We have a peer support team available to you throughout the jam – to listen, mediate, and offer emotional support to dancers in need in English and French.
Especially welcoming to new people, non dancers, people of all sizes, ages, shapes, mental and physical abilities. The venue is completely wheelchair accessible. LGBTQ welcoming.
Register early and we should have no problem finding you a local host accommodation (billet).
It’s an incredible deal, really. A whole weekend of contact improv dance jamming, several meals, a place to stay, dance workshops, etc., all for one low price!
Details are still being arranged. Click on the links above or contact An ORCJ Human Being for more information. Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to Toronto.
It is important for us that everyone feels welcome: people who are new to dance, people with disabilities, all kinds of bodies, minds and hearts; that all gender and gender expressions are welcome, womyn and men; cis and trans; of all ages, sizes and shapes, skin colours, cultures, sub-cultures and counter-cultures; that gays, lesbian, bi, queer and straight people are welcome. Whatever your story or the story of your people, your mother tongue, you are welcome, the fullness of you is welcome, no parts left out. Whatever your mind state, whether your heart is heavy or light, troubled or clear.
If there’s a way we can better include all parts of you, please let us know; we want to know. We are perfectly imperfect beings. We are going to make mistakes, and we want to learn from them and to create a jam that welcomes you.
Big Heart number Eleven is coming! See you June 18–23 in 2019!
Big Heart Dance Camp is a multi-arts, intergenerational extended week/weekend gathering. (This location is partially wheelchair accessible.)
We are a growing community of artists, dancers, musicians, healers, helpers and lovers. Big Heart takes place annually in June at Unicamp of Ontario in Dufferin County, north of Toronto. Nurtured and infused by the spirited land, we strive for peace and joy by being together consciously and creatively.
Big Heart reaches a broad spectrum of ages. We welcome singles, couples and families to join us. Big Heart offers a wide variety of dance, music and other healing arts classes.
- See Yourself … dancing on the grass
- Hear Yourself … singing around the campfire
- Feel Yourself … sharing a meal of nourishing food and rich conversation
- Delight Yourself … watching children dance, while you sit and chat with an elder
- Express Yourself … finding new and juicy ways to move, create, play and be
- Give Yourself … the gift of living in creative, conscious community
- Be Yourself … at Big Heart Dance Camp!
We welcome you to experience embodying your full creative self in a safe, supportive and playful environment. A wide array of dance, yoga, music, and other healing arts modalities are shared through playshops and evening events. Meals are eaten in community, lovingly and mindfully prepared by our kitchen team.
Big Heart Dance Camp takes place at Unicamp, near Honeywood, Ontario. Beautiful hiking trails, forest, and a swimming pond invites you to take a dip. We invite you to join us in growing our creative, conscious community as we blossom into our 9th year!
Click on the link above or contact Big Heart Dance Camp 705-444-0550 for more information. Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa.
The annual Earthdance July 4 Contact Improv Dance Jam at the Earthdance retreat centre in western Massachusetts.
Contact Improv Dance Jam at Earthdance – Ian! and Karen, photo and Photoshop by Moti
We welcome a diverse community of dancers and somatic visionaries. This is a festival about play, vulnerability and building community with embodied, emotional, and erotic intelligence. It takes courage, compassion and consent to play truth or dare with integrity. Sharing one’s truth is an act of intimacy. Being daring is about getting outside our comfort zones. If we want something we’ve never had before, we have to do something we’ve never done before. This is a space to explore our personal, tribal, and societal desires! What can dance, somatics, tantra, kink, Contact Improvisation, and communication practices contribute to our intimacy?
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” -― Albert Camus
Contact Improvisation can be an act of freedom and revelation! Let’s pull back the veil, expand our edges, investigate how our patterns and attitudes may limit us and try on new versions of ourselves. We continue to question the relationship of “chemistry & physics” in CI through movement, touch, intimacy, communication and connection to radical truth.
Touch&Play festivals have a history of exploring the edges of what CI can be while maintaining high standards of safety and consent, and are known as events in which personal and communal celebration and growth reach new levels.
We believe that major change can and does happen when we give ourselves time and space to recognize our growing edges and feel safe enough to explore and expand them with ourselves and within community. Touch&Play aims to both provide a profound space for honesty, celebration, joy, discomfort, clarity, growth, and acceptance. It also is a time where consent, choice, and self-care come first.
What happened last time? From Touch&Play 2017 at Earthdance comes this Are you ready for Liberation? video by Zahava (“Z”). At Touch&Play 2017, Zahava led an intensive dealing with The Intimate Act of Creating Performance Ritual: Exploring Kink, Gender Expression & Devotion See descriptions of all the 2017 Touch&Play workshops and descriptions of all the 2018 Touch&Play workshops.
The annual Sutton Summer Dance Jam happens near the USA border 120km south-east of Montréal in Sutton Québec.
Come for dance, pond swimming and sauna playing outdoors and night bonfire singing. Hear the roosters crow, horses gallop and frogs croak. Sleep in cabins, the big house or tent in the orchard or forest. Your summer dreams come true.
Stay tuned for information on August? 2019 Touch&Play Montreal in Canada.
“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” -― Albert Camus
Discover a new world of play and pleasure, drawing from:
and more!
Contact Improvisation can be an act of freedom and revelation! Let’s pull back the veil, expand our edges, investigate how our patterns and attitudes may limit us and try on new versions of ourselves. We continue to question the relationship of “chemistry & physics” in CI through movement, touch, intimacy, communication and connection to radical truth.
Touch&Play festivals have a history of exploring the edges of what CI can be while maintaining high standards of safety and consent, and are known as events in which personal and communal celebration and growth reach new levels.
We believe that major change can and does happen when we give ourselves time and space to recognize our growing edges and feel safe enough to explore and expand them with ourselves and within community. Touch&Play aims to both provide a profound space for honesty, celebration, joy, discomfort, clarity, growth, and acceptance. It also is a time where consent, choice, and self-care come first.
From Touch&Play 2017 at Earthdance comes this Are you ready for Liberation? video by Zahava (“Z”). At Touch&Play 2017, Zahava led an intensive dealing with The Intimate Act of Creating Performance Ritual: Exploring Kink, Gender Expression & Devotion See descriptions of all the 2017 Touch&Play workshops and descriptions of all the 2018 Touch&Play workshops.
Enjoy dance, movement, and community at the annual Dance New England Summer Dance Camp in Massachusetts in August 2019. See last year’s 2018 Camp Schedule for a sampling of what kind of workshops might take place in the 2019 camp. Child and family friendly; free child care available much of the day. (This location is only partially wheelchair accessible.)
The Burlington VT International Contact Improv Dance Jam happens in a beautiful downtown dance space: City Hall, Contois Auditorium, 149 Church St., Burlington, Vermont. All levels. Led warm-up and other surprises. (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Click on the link above or contact Abbi Jaffe for details. Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa.
The 37th Annual Montréal International Contact Improv Jam takes place in a lovely renovated church building on Sherbrooke street.
The ACI’s most prized event: Montreal’s Annual Contact Improv. Jam takes place usually around late November, and is jam-packed with great warm-ups & a beginner class, lots of open jamming, great food, a show and dance. Don’t miss it!!
Recurring Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Contact Arsalan Ahmad for details on what’s happening around Contact Improvisation Dance in Peterborough, Ontario. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Arsalan.)
For other Peterborough dance events, e.g. Ecstatic Dance, see Dance Your Bones
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 http://www.erik.iversen.ca/ or http://www.5rhythms.com/teachers/Erik+Iversen or contact Erik Iversen for more information. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Erik.)
Dance a weekly Thursday night 5Rhythms class with Lynne Adams in Montréal. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Lynne.)
Once a month September through December, dance a women-only 5Rhythms Women’s Waves workshop series with Lynne Adams in Montréal. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Lynne.)
Classes are facilitated in French (with possible English translation on request): Biodanza Sherbrooke: français and Sherbrook Biodanza: English
Ian! D. Allen via idallen@idallen.ca
Contact Improv Dance Jam at Earthdance – Ian! and Eva, photo by John Barrett
