No matter our cultural background, we can all speak the language of Movement.
~ Current Movement offerings ~
PULSE
Pulse is a focused experimental space to practice Contact Improvisation Dance in a class and jam format with the accompaniment of recorded and live music. You are invited to experiment, research, play, and develop new pathways of movement within the framework of Contact Improvisation. All levels of dance and movement experience are welcome to participate.
The evening beings at 7pm with a facilitated class/guided warm up focused on concepts and themes related to the principles of Contact Improvisation. The warm-up is intended to provide a comfortable, welcoming space for beginners to learn basic concepts of the form to move more fluidly into a jam setting, while providing more advanced dancers a focus in which to deepen their movement exploration.
At 7:30pm we begin a Jam with music. The Jam portion of the evening is a non verbal, self guided, movement focused space to explore solo or partner dance, technique, physical listening, and improvisation.
At 9pm we close the evening with a moment of stillness and silence together, and end with a short circle.
This is a welcoming and consent-centered environment that values curiosity, presence, and the shared practice of improvisation. Come as you are, to move, listen, connect, and explore the unfolding dance.
When: Bi-weekly on Fridays
Where: Ashtanga Yoga Studio
Cost: $15-$25 sliding scale
What is Contact Improvisation Dance?
Part “non-martial” martial art, part acrobatic dance, part movement meditation, part collaborative bodywork practice, contact is a place where we can, with a sense of playfulness and curiosity, explore our bodies and interconnection. ~ Karl Frost
Contact Improvisation emerged in the 70’s through a group of contemporary modern dancers who were experimenting with the physics of moving together in shared weight. It is an un-coded form of dance meaning there are no rules, but rather a set of fundamental techniques that act as a frame for the exploration of improvisation and emergent movement. It is an exceptionally dynamic form in that it can be very fast, acrobatic and technical, while also being very subtle, slow and intimate. This is a unique style of partner dance in that there is no set lead or follow, and the direction of movement is inspired more through the point of contact and shared weight, and the dancer’s attention and curiosity. This shared attention, curiosity and willingness to improvise allows the dancers to enter into an effortless playful flow state. Apart from being a movement practice, Contact is also a relational practice and provides a container to explore relational dynamics, boundaries, patterns, habits and stories. It is accessible to all bodies and levels of movement and is practised in many cultures around the world.
Interested to learn about upcoming workshops and events? Leave your email below.
What are we cultivating?
A large part of my work is focused on cultivating embodied connections. We can do this through enhancing our proprioception, somatic atttunement and awareness of our physiological landscape. The study and research of Somatics has remained a constant thread that ties all the elements of my work together. I have experienced and witness how harnessing these skills can transform pain and discomfort, and open new pathways of being.
Being still or moving while tracking and observing sensation rather than just sitting down or moving while in the mind, drastically impacts what is possible in the body. It is incredible how shifting our position a few inches with mindful attention can transform our physiological experience. How softening and getting still while deepening our breath can dissolve tension and pain. When we come to realize these connections, we see how much power we have to impact dis-ease in the body.
We are a mind-body universe, one is not separate from the other. The difference is the body never lies. It is necessary to include the body in the conversation, otherwise we are only existing with half of our intelligence.
My Movement Journey
I was always an active person from a young age, running around and eager to move my body. I grew up playing sports and loving the comradely of being on a team. I never had any formal dance training and always envied my friends who were performing in dance shows. I wasn’t quite an athlete and I didn’t associate as a dancer either, I was somewhere in between. I found it challenging to not really fit in to either. I just felt like some wild creature who loved to move, and there was something about being part of a group that I loved. Throughout my early twenties I found ecstatic and 5 rhythms dance and a part of me came alive. I had found a community that was just moving to move rather than perform. When I found Contact Improvisation my life changed. I had found a movement research that met every part of me that wanted to be expressed. The acrobatic, the improviser, the weirdo, the play, the strength, the technical, the subtle, the intimate, the relational aspect, the thrill and unpredictability. This form has taught me so much about my body and how I move through the world relating to other bodies.
I started practising Contact Improvisation in 2012 and began teaching in 2015 on Salt Spring Island. I have taught across Vancouver Island, in Nicaragua and on Salt Spring in class, workshop and festival environments.
Related training & experience
14 Years practising Contact Improvisation Dance & 10 years teaching in class, workshop and festival environments.
Fusion dance Festival, with Samuel Samways
Zouk & Bachata 4 week training, with Javi Monsa
Somatic Inquiry Play Shop, with Mariah Moser (Combining Attachment Theory, Parts work, Trauma Resolution and Somatic Explorations)
Embodied Relational Gestalt Training, with Michael Clemmensat Esalen Institute in Big Sur California
7 day Somatic Meditation Retreat, Vajrayana Buddhist practice at Stowell Lake Farm on Salt Spring Island
Youth on Fire ~ A Somatic Rite of Passage Dance Teacher Training, with Melissa Micheals (Combining Bill Plotkin’s Eco-psychology principles and the human development wheel, Gabriel Roth’s 5 Rhythm framework and Somatic awarness techniques for body-centered rites of passage.
6 week Salsa Course
Classes in Feldenkrais, Acro Yoga, & Thai Massage
Apart from these trainings, my experience with somatic therapy, somatic movement, bodywork and dance has contributed greatly to my understanding and connections of the body and what is possible.