Let’s Dance Ian!! Let’s Dance Ian!!
The best way to read this message is using the Newsletter Web Version that is updated mid-week. Click on your favourite events in the Table of Contents. – Ian! D. Allen
Local News:
To slow the spread of the COVID-19 “coronavirus” pandemic in Canada, all in-person events are cancelled in the Ottawa region and elsewhere. Contact the event organizer to know when they might re-open.
What the Next 18 Months Can Look Like, if Leaders Buy Us Time: Coronavirus: The Hammer and the Dance
If you think it’s time to end the lockdown, these analogies are for you: “The curve is flattening, we can start lifting restrictions now” is like saying “The parachute has slowed our rate of descent; we can take it off now” and Andrew Welch says: “I think we have this fire under control. I’m going to turn the natural gas supply back on - but just a little bit for now.”
If you think that the lockdown wasn’t even necessary, this analogy is for you: “The hospitals didn’t get overloaded, so clearly the lockdown wasn’t necessary” is like saying “I landed fine using the parachute, so clearly I didn’t need it”
The links to images on the facebook may be broken in this newsletter. They must have changed their policy on access, so at some point I’ll have to go through the newsletter and delete all the facebook references. Event organizers: please ensure you have a non-facebook web site with images to which I can link for your event.
CI Dancers at the Ottawa CI dance jam: Ken, Kia, Isabelle, Barbara, AnneMarie, Ian, Marcia
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
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.
Explore the joy and creativity of group improvised movement in a weekly online (Zoom) drop-in class in Group Movement Improvisation on Monday evenings.
All adults welcome (drop-in); no registration or experience required. Led by Lola Ryan.
We invite you to attend online and have fun on your way to learning new skills and enhancing your dancing and movement.
Contact Lola Ryan 613-237-0790 for more information.
Rebecca says:
I will be live streaming events from my Rebecca White Raven facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccawhiteraven/ Please find me there if you’d like to join.
Alana writes (March 27):
Collectively dancing from our favourite nature spots or other preferred location (including your backyard or your home – maybe from a room full of your favourite plants…). I invite you to join us Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday mornings at 10:30 am. This is a free event. If you are interested, please find all the details at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1522188478077142/
Always connected, 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.
Anne says (on the facebook, April 27):
Contact Anne Pitman for more information.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Dance the Summer Solstice as part of Seasonal Dances with Anne Pitman.
at the Dovercourt Recreation Centre 411 Dovercourt Ave. (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
Dance your aliveness, your life and the turning of the wheel. Dance your rhythm and the rhythm of the season. Free form dances, circle dances, and warm community. No dance experience necessary. All adults welcome.
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.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Ecstatic Dance Summer Weekend Retreat near Ottawa
Last summer’s impromptu retreat brought people together with incredible joy, freedom and depth of connection, so put the date in your calendar for this summer’s free-spirited rural get-away from Friday afternoon til Monday for Ecstatic Dance, heretical yoga, workshops and time to swim, sunbathe, sing, share and hang out on the back verandah.
We will have two workshop/meeting rooms, 100 acres of land with mown walking paths, Swimming pond with dock and paved sunbathing area, fire pit, hot tub under the stars, spaceous kitchen, dining area and verandahs.
Schedule details TBA - Ecstatic Dance, Cacao ceremony, Yoga, Music …
DJs: Kaia & Sarah
Last year’s group enjoyed the self-catering, which keeps costs low. Join a team to create one meal, and be served the rest of the weekend through a SurveyMonkey sign up a week ahead of time.
The retreat owner wants more than twice the rental, and Kaia plans to build a big mosquito-free net tent so we can dance outside during the evening - hopefully it will all work out. $295 get’s you a bed with full sheets, quilt and towel - 15 beds - first come first served. Friends can request to room together.
Campers: $265 - lots of beautiful areas close and far.
Children: half price for those who camp, $40 for kids who are up for organizing play and activities with other kids.
To reserve your spot, PM Kaia or email kaia(at)kaia.ca
Offer a ride if you can; ask for a ride if you need.
Retreat location details: http://www.newliferetreat.ca/
Please get in touch if you have any questions!
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Come to a three-day 5Rhythms Workshop Presence with Erik Iversen in Wakefield.The Wakefield Community Centre is 38 ch de la Vallée in Wakefield. Free parking is available in front of the building. (Please car pool!) The building itself is fully wheel chair accessible (including washrooms), but the parking lot and walkway up to the building are unpaved dirt/gravel.
Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
The Global Underscore long-form Contact Improv Dance Jam takes place for four hours simultaneously, world-wide at 10am EDT (14:00 UTC) on Saturday June 20 in 2020. Follow the link for a location near you. We have no Underscore practice in Ottawa, alas, but we have a regular dance jam on Saturday and you can find events in other communities on the facebook Global Underscore page.
The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by 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 is no longer happening at UniCamp. It is coming in some form, but we don’t know what that will look like yet.
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.
Click on the link above or contact Big Heart Dance Camp 705-444-0550 for more information.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
The annual Earthdance Summer Contact Improv Dance Jam at the Earthdance retreat centre in western Massachusetts.
Enjoy the brilliant sunshine, grassy fields, fun, games, and dances of all kinds at this family-oriented Jam. Includes programming for young people of all ages.
Earthdance’s annual Summer Jam is about abundance and play. One of the biggest events of the year, the Summer Jam averages 180–200 people and takes place across all corners of the land. Sunning, sauna-ing, quarry swimming, frisbee playing, tenting, resting on the earth, children squealing, packed and sweaty studio dancing, performances, bonfires, and all kinds of indoor and outdoor play…the Summer Jam invites a total, multigenerational celebration of life, family, and community. The Summer Jam is particularly geared toward anyone looking to experience a festival atmosphere, as well as to families looking for a variety of offerings to suit all ages. The Summer Jam includes a Youth Program available from 10am–1pm time each day for youth ages 1–16.
Contact Improv Dance Jam at Earthdance – Ian! and Karen, photo and Photoshop by Moti
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Stories of Rewilding and Resilience – Playing with Courage, Compassion, Consent & Inclusion
BE – Be in your body… Be passionate… Be seen… Be listening… Be curious… Be courageous… Be loving… Be playful… Be trusted… Be trusting… Be resilient… Be interested in what you’re here to contribute to others… Be held and appreciated… Be yourself more than you’ve ever been…
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.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Touch&Play Montréal Summer Edition may return again to Montréal in 2020. Details to come.
“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.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
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.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Enjoy dance, movement, and community at the Dance New England annual Summer Dance Camp in Massachusetts in August 2020. See last year’s 2019 Camp Schedule to see the kind of workshops that may take place in the 2020 camp. Child and family friendly; free child care available much of the day. (This location is only partially wheelchair accessible.)
Dance New England (DNE) is a creative collective of individuals who love to dance, as well as a consortium of cooperatively-run, not-for-profit freestyle barefoot dances in the New England area. DNE members are also actively involved in creating and running other freestyle barefoot, cooperative dances in New England and elsewhere. DNE events include our annual summer camp, and a few weekends throughout the year hosted and produced by our member dances.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
The Burlington VT International Contact Improv Dance Jam happens in a beautiful downtown dance space: Contois Auditorium, Burlington VT City Hall, 149 Church St., Burlington, Vermont. All levels of CI dance experience welcome. Led warm-ups and other surprises. Burlington Annual Contact Improv Jam 2019 on the facebook (This location is wheelchair accessible.)
The events below are tentative, based on the 2019 dance jam:
Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Autumn’s vibrancy of colors, shapes, and forms enters our bodies as we play with a range of approaches to Contact Improvisation and community. Diversity and Inclusion Scholarships available to support those who self-identify as being under-represented in CI. Sweetness embodied - dance, play and connect against a backdrop of cool nights and warm, golden days. As with our other jams, those who show up employ improvisation to design a yummy, full weekend of classes, performances and open jam times. If you’re new to Earthdance or an old friend, please come join us. All levels of experience welcome. Follow the above link for details.
(This location is partially wheelchair accessible.)
Learn More & Register: http://www.earthdance.net/
Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa/Gatineau.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
The 38th Annual Montréal International Contact Improv Jam will take place some time in late 2020. Nearly 200 dancers participate from across Canada and the USA.
Contact the organizers for the exact date of the CI dance jam.
The ACI’s most prized event: Montréal’s Annual Contact Improvisation Dance Jam. This annual dance jam usually takes place in November, and is jam-packed with great warm-ups and a beginner class, lots of open jamming, great food, a show and dance. Don’t miss it!!
Please bring your own re-usable mug, cutlery, and dishes, if possible.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
God, Sex and the Body – A 5Rhythms Workshop with Alex Mackay
In the dancing path of the 5Rhythms, God, Sex & the Body is an initiation into being an embodied soul. It is a deeply personal journey, a celebration like no other, a ritual for the hot and holy you.
It’s a call to stretch our imaginations, move through a spectrum of feminine and masculine archetypes, to dress them up, get inside them and give them expression. No one can embody your soul, project your magic or have your specific curiosity. Part artist, part lover, part god – we were born to rock the world and feel our way into each other’s hearts. This workshop liberates and inspires us to emerge a bit more fascinated with each other and the mystery of it all.
First early-registration deadline is October 1 2020.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Earthdance annual Gratitude Contact Improvisation Dance Jam and Workshop Celebration
The Gratitude Jam & Workshop Celebration is an annual USA Thanksgiving weekend gathering at Earthdance for sharing CI dances, fall harvest food, and the Earthdance land. We gather in the spirit of generosity and thanks to remember all who came before us and all who may come after.
(This location is partially wheelchair accessible.)
Learn More & Register: http://www.earthdance.net/
Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa/Gatineau.
I don’t know if this event is cancelled or not. Contact the organizer.
Formerly known as “The Earthdance New Year Jam”.
Earthdance annual Winter 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.
Earthdance’s annual Winter Jam centers around the theme of darkness and light. One of Earthdance’s biggest events of the year, the Winter Jam averages 180–200 people and fills every nook and cranny of Earthdance’s rooms and studios, bringing an intimacy and warmth to the sharing of Contact Improvisation (CI). With long patches of morning sun, luxurious warm-ups, lounging, packed saunas, fun in the snow, bonfires, and performances, the Winter Jam is particularly geared toward anyone looking to connect deeply with self and other through the extremes of Winter.
(This location is partially wheelchair accessible.)
Learn More & Register: http://www.earthdance.net/
Contact Ian! Allen about car pooling from Ottawa/Gatineau.
Recurring Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
I don’t know if these events are now happening online. Contact the organizers.
Groove Tonic PEC hosts a weekly barefoot, free-form movement and dance event in Picton.
We meet every Wednesday evening from 7–9:00 pm for barefoot, free-form movement and and dance. All are welcome! Wear comfortable clothing, bring water to keep hydrated and a $5 donation to cover the cost of the space. Groove Tonic happens at the Picton Town Hall, 2nd floor above the old firehall (2 Ross St, at King St).
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
DYB’s purpose is to offer an Ecstatic Dance movement practice in an accessible, respectful and safe environment.
Each Thursday evening, we dance together in a beautiful church hall for 90 minutes without interruption. The music varies weekly depending on the dj. We try to use an interesting blend of world music, pop, blues and even classical.
Dance and celebrate – Danser, se rassembler, célébrer, s’émerveiller …
Classes in Biodanza and Authentic Movement in and near Montréal with Catherine Fabiola Lessard
Dance and celebrate – Danser, se rassembler, célébrer, s’émerveiller …
Classes in Biodanza and Authentic Movement in and near Montréal with Catherine Fabiola Lessard
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.)
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
Ian! D. Allen via idallen@idallen.ca
Contact Improv Dance Jam at Earthdance – Ian! and Eva, photo by John Barrett
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