Updated March 21 2025 – Mis à jour le 21 mars 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 free CI Basics class/jam on April 5 below.
CI dancers who have already taken a CI Basics class in Ottawa are welcome to attend any of our weekly CI jams running almost every Saturday starting January 11 2025.
This dance takes place mostly weekly, outdoors at Mooney’s Bay, all year round. See the facebook: 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.
A 4-Week Improvised Movement & Voice Class.
Welcome to weekly Wednesday Contact Improv Jam Nights in Ottawa at the Routhier Community Centre. Contact Anne-Marie Vachon for more information.
Contact improv (CI) is the dance of physics, where we experience the joy of dancing in contact with others while experimenting with gravity, weight sharing, rolling, falling, and flying. We will be open jamming to an exquisite music playlist on a sprung dance floor! The jam is open to all levels. There is no class, so it is strongly encouraged that you have some CI experience before attending. Note: You must be 18 years of age or older to participate.
Please do not come to the jam if you are experiencing any symptoms of cold, seasonal flu, COVID-19, or any other communicable sickness.
See the Jam Guidelines on The Facebook event page, above.
Bonjour à toutes et à tous: J’aspire pour cette nouvelle année à une abondance de rêves improbables. Puisque les résolutions ne semblent pas marcher, allons dans le mystère de la vie et dansons.
Je vous propose une session hiver-printemps 2025 le MERCREDI SOIR de DIALOGUE AVEC LES POSSIBLES. Les possibles sont les potentialités que nous possédons déjà ; à nous de les manifester, « L’impossible devient possible, le possible devient facile, le facile devient agréable et l’agréable devient élégant » ( Feldenkrais)
Alors osons l’élégance et la danse !
Au plaisir de vous retrouver ou de vous rencontrer pour révéler nos possibles.
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.
🦑 Ecstatic Dance this month is indoors at the Rupert Hall, 24 ch Shouldice, Rupert QC.
Transcollines on-demand transportation will service this address. The building is wheelchair accessible. The parking lot is gravel and there is a wooden ramp going up from the parking lot to the front doors.
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!
This class will offer you an opportunity to connect with the ancient wisdom held within your body. Each class invites one element to speak through you and reveal its unique wisdom. We will move through playful improvisational experiences of movement, breath and sound, that will guide you beyond your everyday mind and into the intelligence of your body and the Earth herself.
In these challenging times, when questions of purpose and direction arise, the simplest truth remains: our path forward becomes clear when we settle into deep presence. This series creates a sacred space for that presence to unfold. As we attune to our bodies, we become vessels for elemental wisdom—the timeless knowledge of earth, air, fire, and water that has flowed through all beings since the beginning. Together, we’ll discover how to listen, receive, and give voice to the Earth’s guidance that lives within us all.
The March 30 dance may be cancelled. Watch for updates on the facebook.
Ecstatic dance is an immersive free-form movement guided by a musical journey intentionally crafted to induce healing and self-discovery. This journey follows a wave-like progression: it begins with gentle rhythms, builds to a vibrant climax, and softly descends into tranquility. It’s an inclusive practice where no prior dance experience or partner is required—only an openness to explore personal expression within a supportive environment.
This dance happens on Sundays approximately every two weeks until at least May 11 2025. See the links to Katie’s Dance Temple Ottawa and Katie Bigras’ events under Links to Various Local Dance/Movement Pages
The start time is approximate. I’ve given up posting a start time and schedule for the evening; each dance does it differently each week so you have to check The Facebook event for the current week to know the 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.
We welcome you to our Dances of Universal Peace.
We will dance at the First United Church in the Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa. 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. A donation will be requested (Suggested $10.) No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Our leaders and musicians team includes Marlene Neufeld, Bob Neufeld, Pat Kerr and Yves St-Pierre.
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
Free CI Basics class and dance jam open to everyone on
Saturday April 5 at 11:15am.
All Welcome! No experience necessary! We teach you everything.
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 April 5 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.
The next free CI Basics courses will be held on May 3 and June 7 at the same time and venue.
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!) on Saturday at 11:5am until June 28 2025 and then resuming weekly again in September 2025.
The ODD/CDC studio is fully accessible, with a large accessible washroom on
the same floor as the dance space.
Introduction to Continuum in Ottawa: A Moving Inquiry
Instructor: Linda Rabin
Linda Rabin is a phenomenal teacher, and Continuum offers a unique and transformative way to explore movement. This workshop is the perfect introduction—don’t miss it!
For anyone curious about Continuum and/or somatic movement. Linda speaks both languages well and can teach in both English and French. She will adapt to the crowd.
Already have experience practicing Continuum? Please come! There is always something to gain when practicing the basics—you go deeper within.
5 ateliers : observation et exploration en mouvement somatique
Découvrez votre façon unique de bouger et de vous exprimer
* Quelle est votre façon particulière de bouger et de vous exprimer ?
* Comment en prendre conscience ?
* Comment pouvons-nous observer quelqu’un bouger et trouver les mots pour décrire ce que nous voyons et ressentons ?
Les lundis, du 7 avril au 12 mai 2025 (pas de cours le 21 avril)
Welcome to the experience …
Feet are our plug into the Earth’s socket.
Fascia is the connective web of tissue that creates our shape.
Freedom is the essence of our being.
Our feet are the primary connection to the Earth and are our foundation. In connecting to the intelligence of our feet, we gain a felt-sense of belonging with the Earth.
Fascia is the shimmering, elastic silk that wraps around our muscles, cradles our organs, and connects everything from head to toe, allowing us to dance through life with grace. By recognising the presence of fascia, we attune to a felt-sense of our body as whole.
Freedom in the body liberates our life force flow. By bringing awareness to our body’s need for creative expression, we invite our limitless ability to play and dance in our full aliveness.
This experience of embodied aliveness is a movement workshop where you will be invited into 5Rhythms movement meditation and Playful Improvisation. This is a special father-daughter collaboration between Erik Iversen and Kaï Sunrise.
See the March 1 Free CI Class for details.
See the March 1 Free CI Class for details. This is the last CI Basics class before the summer break. The next CI Basics class will be in September.
This event has no online site on which to post updates, so you have to contact Sarah Willbond to make sure that there are no last-minute changes.
Awakening Instinct
Slip inside your skin, taste deeper instincts, what is here under your feet, senses awakening. Sensation, vibration, texture, form…the aliveness moving through you right now. Listen, follow, this moment as it shifts as it changes. Blink of your eyes, twist of your flesh, a flick of wrist, the uncurling spine welcomes new insight, lick your lips. Pause, softening breath, presence. Beginners and lovers of dance welcome. 5Rhythms is a simple, yet profound map. No experience necessary, just a willingness to move.
Sarah Blagg is a qualified & experienced 5Rhythms Teacher. She has offered classes & workshops for 17 years. Sarah is also an Open Floor Movement Teacher, Yoga Instructor & runs support circles for girls. Raised in Quebec & Ottawa. Lives in England. Reach Sarah at dancetherhythms@gmail.com
If this speaks to you, and you are all ready to register. Please complete the form below and make a payment to confirm your early bird spot. We looking forward to have you join us!
Register for 5 Rhythms Solstice
Au Solstice D’ été ç’est le temps d’ honorer le soleil, la lumière en nous
avec la danse. Atelier du niveau “Waves”
“Awakening Instinct” 20-22 Juin, 2025
Instincts plus profonds
Qu’est ce qu’il y a ici sous tes pieds ?
Réveillez vos sens
la vitalité qui te traverse en çe moment
Ecoute, suis ce moment qui change…
qui change en un clin d’oeil..
La colonne vertebrale qui peut deroulé, soulagé les muscles, çe corps éveillé
Laisse adoucir ton souffle
avec presence.
Que ce sois ta première fois ou centième..Bienvenue à tous!
5Rhythms sont une forme simple mais avec profondeur.
Aucune expérience nécessaire,
seulement une volonté de bouger.
Atelier animé par 5Rhythms facilitatrice Sarah Blagg , pleinement qualifié
avec plus de
16 ans expèrience avec les classes, les ateliers et les danses dans le
bois. Sarahenseigne aussi Open Floor et dirige des cercles de
soutien pour les filles. Sarah viens d’Ottawa et le Québec.
Elle habite à Sheffield en Angleterre.
facebook event: Global Underscore 1 Ottawa Gatineau
The Global Underscore long-form Contact Improv Dance Jam takes place world-wide on Saturday June 21 in 2025.
Here in Ottawa, we are hosting a parallel three-hour Underscore event on Saturday June 21 in the usual Studio “B” at Arts Court, preceded by an hour-long Underscore Talk-Through Orientation:
Description: This event will focus on Nancy Starks underscore principles that we will study in a detailed Talk-Through orientation. You can skip the orientation if you have already attended a Talk-Through session in the past. After the orientation, we have 3 hours to dance the underscore. If you’re looking to expand your possibilities, hone your dance skills and technique, and deepen your connections, I think
Hope to see you there!
The Global Underscore (in this newsletter)
You can find Global Underscore events in other communities on the facebook Global Underscore page.
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.
Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improvisation Dance
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.
🌸Please join me Valerie Sabbah for ESSENTIALS : 4 sessions of 6-week courses for those beginning to roll into Contact-Improvisation and are searching to deepen their curiosity of this enigmatic and fascinating movement practice.
Although ESSENTIALS is especially for movers with no previous experience in Contact-Improvisation, it is also open to those who would like to brush up on their basic skills.
🌸 Rejoignez-moi Valerie Sabbah pour ESSENTIELS : 4 sessions de 6 semaines destiné à celles et ceux qui débutent en Contact-Improvisation et souhaitent approfondir leur curiosité pour cette pratique de mouvement énigmatique et fascinante.
Bien qu’ESSENTIELS soit spécialement conçu pour des personnes n’ayant aucune expérience préalable en Contact-Improvisation, il est également ouvert à celles et ceux qui aimeraient réviser leurs compétences de base.
The Field Center is hosting the bi-annual SHAKE Workshop! This somatic durational exploration is created and facilitated by Anya Smolnikova & Rose Cole-Cohen. Through multiple daily Group Shakes, guided movement, and supported rest, we will collectively shake up and nurture our sweet nervous systems.
Each day will be structured around 2 one-hour long shakes, with a final two-hour Big Shake on Sunday. Guided movement, writing, and drawing sessions will be offered to process what arises in our bodies. Our practice will be supported by nutritious home-cooked meals, beautiful studios, steamy saunas, cozy fireplace, {optional} cold plunges, and more.
No previous shaking or dance experience necessary.
Come join us and shake into Spring!
We offer 3 full scholarships for Black, Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] folks in each session. As well as 3 Work Trade spots in each session.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Body Music is the oldest music on the planet - beyond body percussion, we include melody and harmony in the music the body makes. There are many traditional Body Musics in the world, from African-American Hambone and Flamenco Palmas to Sumatran Saman and Ethiopian Armpit music. BODY MUSIC is an effective way of internalizing and understanding rhythmic work, enhancing one’s sense of time, timing, phrasing, independence, coordination and ensemble awareness. It is a useful tool for musicians, dancers and movers of all kinds – anyone interested in deepening their rhythmic and harmonic skills. Using the oldest instrument on the planet – your own human body – we clap, slap, snap, step and vocalize our way through some very fun and funky, original and traditional rhythmic music. Sessions involve skill building, rhythmic independence and coordination, physical multitasking, basic joint mechanics lessons with a good dose of play and improvisation - in harmony and time.
Keith Terry and Evie Ladin are co-founders of the International Body Music Festival, exploring the language of body music from culture to culture, and have worked with Axis Syllabus teacher Nuria Bowart for 20 years in Body Music ensembles such as Corposonic and MoToR/dance, from their home base in Oakland, California.
We offer 3 full scholarships for Black, Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] folks in each session. As well as 3 Work Trade spots in each session.
The Ontario Regional Contact Jam is
back live and in person in Toronto for the
first time since 2019.Online Registration for 2025 is OPEN! Register early (e.g. before March 30) and get a discounted $160 full three-day weekend registration price with on-site vegan lunches included! Price rises to $170 in April 2025.
There is NO registration form to fill out. Dancers in Canada can register and pay simply by sending an Interac (email) transfer of $160 (before March 30) to the ORCJ email. Dancers who can’t pay by Interac (e.g. outside Canada), or who have any other complications, whether financial or logistical, can register by sending an email to the same address and we will arrange other payment options. Price is $160 in March, includes three on-site vegan lunches, and rises to $170 in April 2025.
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/orcjIf you register early enough, we will feed you an on-premises catered vegan lunch every day!
Send us your ideas about what you’d like the organizers to make space for at the jam. Send your suggestion to ontjam@contactimprov.ca
Looking forward to this beautiful weekend together in the forest 🌳, with plenty of trails and a mountain we can hike 🏔️, a private lake 🌊, and a sauna
🌿 Renouveau: Retraite Communautaire de Contact Improvisation 💧
📍 Lieu: Auberge du Renouveau, Sutton, QC
📅 Dates: 2-4 mai 2025
🌸 Plongez dans votre première baignade printanière et sauna lors de Renouveau : retraite communautaire de contact improvisation. 🌊✨
💫 Participez à des moments de co-création : préparation des repas ensemble 🍲, entretien du feu du sauna 🔥, facilitation de pratiques de contact improvisation (et autres pratiques somatiques connexes) 🤸, des tête-à-tête en binôme, de la musique live 🎶, et bien sûr, beaucoup de temps pour jammer!
🧘♀️ Nos hôtes pour le weekend offriront des ateliers, et nous ajouterons plus d’ateliers et de détails quand nous recevrons vos propositions!
🌟 Billets Équité et Accès
Nous visons à offrir jusqu’à 3 tarifs solidaires pour les personnes rencontrant des obstacles financiers, grâce aux contributions des participant·e·s au-delà du minimum dans l’échelle tarifaire flexible.
Shanthi Minor, D.O. - Contact Improvisation Thérapeutique
À Corps Consentants (Caro et Cachou) - Consentement - Approches Somatique (un atelier pratique)
Hâte de passer ce magnifique week-end ensemble dans la forêt 🌳, avec plein de sentiers, une montagne à explorer 🏔️, un lac privé 🌊 et un sauna!
With Chris Aiken and Andrew Harwood
In this workshop, dancers will investigate how foundational principles of contact improvisation, including the dynamics of touch, moving support, yielding and reaching towards, collaborative improvisation, and perceptual tuning, can support inspired dancing. Through guided practice, we will develop our capacities for movement, creativity, and heightened awareness. Our practice will center around communal and individual respect for ourselves and one another.
We offer 3 full scholarships for Black, Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] folks in each session. As well as 3 Work Trade spots in each session.
Classic Thursday-Sunday Contact/Collective Improvisation Jam at The Field Center with Jennifer Hong + Carmen Serber! Classes, labs, and open jams. Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided. Indoor sleeping options, and camping options. Dancing, sunbathing, swimming, eating food fresh from our garden, sauna, rigor and relaxation…
We offer 3 full scholarships for Black, Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] folks in each session. As well as 3 Work Trade spots in each session.
The Field Center is in south-central Vermont near Rockingham / Bellows Falls / Brockways Mills.
An Open Floor Movement Workshop with Kathy Altman and Lori Saltzman
To unmask is to reveal our stories: the ones we hide, and the ones we always tell until they become our presentation to the world, Our stories change through the lens of time. To know, mine and revise our stories is maturity in action. Sharing stories in the good company of others is to be true to yourself and to let yourself be known.
Unmasking is for anyone who believes they are not an artist, and everyone who knows they are. Together we’ll ride the untamed river of our creative juices and let its wild current carry us. We’ll dance outside the box, draw outside the lines, pursue imperfection, and listen to the whisper of words on page.
We’ll dance with abandon, take dictation from our bodies, make colorful messes and marvel at the art taking shape in and through our hands.
Stop waiting for a creative moment and realize that you are one. Remember, it doesn’t matter how badly you dance, sing, scribble, or paint, as long as you don’t do it badly like anyone else.
Kathy and Lori have spent decades honing the craft of weaving visual art, writing and theater with dance.
Ottawa is participating in the Global Underscore
The Global Underscore long-form Contact Improv Dance Jam takes place for four hours simultaneously, world-wide at 10am-2pm EDT (14:00-18:00 UTC) on Saturday June 21 in 2025. Follow the link for a location near you, or join the global Zoom link. You can find events in other communities on the facebook Global Underscore page.
The Global Underscore Talk happens on June 14. A meta-sharing harvest happens on June 28.
The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by the late Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe.
The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable.
The practice—usually 3 to 4 hours in length—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing.
Big Heart Dance Camp always starts on the first Tuesday after Father’s Day (which itself is the third Sunday in June). 2025 will be the 15th year of celebration.
See the Big Heart Learn More page for details about Big Heart Dance Camp. Registration is not yet open for BH15.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Details to be announced. Save the dates!
July 24–27 (over four days: Thursday to Sunday) in Sutton QC near the USA border 120km south-east of Montréal.
NOTE: The jam is four days long again this year, as it was last year!
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.
Dance New England Summer Dance Camp
Wednesday July 30 through Sunday August 10 2025.
NOTICE: The DNE web site may not be updated to 2025 yet; it may still show old information from 2024.
Up to eleven days of dance, movement, drumming, yoga, workshops, food, and clothing-optional private swimming in the woods of Camp Timber Trails outside of Tolland in south-western Massachusetts. On-site all-ages daytime child care is included in the event fee so that parents may attend workshops. A camp schedule is available (may not be updated yet for 2025).
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
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 the 4th Sunday of the month (with some exceptions - see below).
We will start with just an hour and a silent jam and we can consider expansion, depending on interest. Mark your calendars!
We have created guidelines to foster a culture of consent. Please review them (your feedback welcome, if you have any). We ask people to sign that they will abide by them.
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
For other Peterborough dance events, e.g. Ecstatic Dance, see Dance Your Bones
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!
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 with Catherine Fabiola Lessard
Currently (January 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.)
Dance a weekly Thursday night 5Rhythms class with Lynne Adams in 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.
facebook: Contact Improvisation de la ville de Québec
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.
