To kick of 2024 we have a guest contribution from Volker Eschmann, reflecting on Earthdance old and new, and announcing an exciting and big new offering coming is January 2025:

It's been 25 years since I was last in Earthdance. My hunger for more knowledge and experiences drew me here. It made a lasting impression on me, helped shape my life-vision at an important moment and set me on the path to a new way of life. Since then I have produced over 200 festivals, gatherings, trainings and workshops in the field of Contact Improvisation. My time in Earthdance 1998 has played a significant role in my life.

I recently spontaneously answered the call of the new director Daniel Hayes and came back here out of curiosity as to how Earthdance would feel to me today. It has grown since then; new buildings, more history, completely new faces and new concepts - the world has moved on since then and you can feel that here too. The Earthdance spirit as I remember it - of trying things out, improvising and above all the joie de vivre that goes with it - is still very much alive. It seems to exist independently in the old wooden farmhouse with its winding rooms and floors.

My body begins to move on its own in the studios, remembering movements and feelings of a forgotten time. The trees sway majestically in the frosty winter wind, the fields around the house are covered in a wooly-white of freshly fallen snow. Everything inside me says HOME, loud and clear. At one point I went to the community Jam in Northampton. To be honest, I went there with a slightly queasy feeling in my stomach as I put on my newly purchased Earthdance hoodie. I knew that I would meet my old teachers from my Body Mind Centering training in Amherst, my heroines from back then. And it was like a rush, again the dance floor carried me, the air moved me and the open faces, arms and legs and bellies danced me through effortlessly. Again, everything in me clearly says HOME. And what is someone like me thinking at this moment? A thoroughbred producer and incorrigible contact addict: “Wow, it would be fantastic to celebrate a special moment of dance here for a month with the best teachers of our time and all the embodied knowledge in this truly remarkable place.“

In a few evenings full of inspiration, old and new stories, and blissful moments, we came up with the idea of an Earthdance Professional CI Training for incorrigible contact enthusiasts of the future. And here we are again, a brilliant idea that excites me so much that I take on the load of work and effort without complaining. And before I know it, we're headfirst into the action. Typical Earthdance, I think! Looks like the dream of this place will carry me for years to come.

 - Volker

Fundraising Results
While we were quite busy throughout the 2023 calendar year, the reality is that it was still only our first full year of being open since everything shut down in March of 2020. Recovering from the pandemic involved not only re-staffing Earthdance and having to (re)invent many systems, but we were faced with starting to slowly fill up our rental calendar from scratch. To supplement our income for the year, we made a big fundraising push in December to make sure that we ended up in the black for the fiscal year. And to our immense relief, y’all came through big time! Supported by the very generous gift of an anonymous donor who offered to double all donations made, we’re very happy to announce the final figures of our fundraising efforts, including the revenue from our Soiree. In total, we were able to collect almost $38,000 which among other things will help to alleviate the costs of the new well we are required to dig. Thank-you so so so much to everyone who contributed and ensured that we enter 2024 on a firm footing!

Source - Total
Soiree Registrations: $2,805
Online Donations: $14,814
Donations with Registration: $270
Monthly Donations: $694
Checks in the Mail: $255
 
Total $18,838
Doubled: $37,676

Black History Month Artist Residency Applications Now Open!
In honor and celebration of February’s Black History Month, Earthdance will once again be offering a free week-long residency to two selected black dance-based artists. This annual program is part of our commitment to equity & access and one of the ways we are using our unique resources to further the careers and artistic development of black dance-based artists. If you are interested in applying for the residency please submit the following Google form. Deadline for submissions is March 15th, 2024.

What we are offering is:
- 7 days / 6 nights accommodations in our dorm
- Food included (may or may not include prepared meals depending on what else is happening that week)
- Uninterrupted private access to one of our two dance studio spaces
- Wood-fired sauna and spring-fed swimming quarry
- Extensive woodland and hiking trails
- Multiple common spaces for hangout or quiet space
- Transportation to and from Earthdance is not provided although a pick-up from Northampton or Pittsfield could be arranged for a fee

These artist residencies are being offered specifically in honour and recognition of Black History Month, so we ask that only folks who identity as black, professionally practicing dance-based artists apply. We will assess all applications after March 15th. If you have any questions around the residency or around filling out this form, feel free to email Melanie at programming@earthdance.net.

Help Us Create A Mural!
Earthdance is getting a mural at the Gratitude Lodge Dorms! Visual artist and Earthdance community member, AJ Rombach, is asking for your favorite images that best represent Earthdance throughout the years. They can be portraits, shots of active dancing, interiors, and landscape (all seasons.) AJ plans to collage the images as references for the upcoming project. The mural will begin mid April and we hope it will be done before winter 2025. Please send all images to AJROMBIE@BU.EDU before March 17.

The Earthdance staff and community have been invited to join this online event put on by “Off the Dance Floor”, so we can strengthen our resilience as a community. This may be a valuable resource for some participants who were at the winter jam and who wish to further unpack some of the conflicts that arose around Israel/Palestine, and larger questions of community, dance, and activism in general. Please note, this is not an Earthdance produced or affiliated event.  The event, in the word’s of its organizers, is described below:

Join Off The Dance Floor for our inaugural offering ‘Moving Toward Liberation’ - an 8-week online course exploring the relationship of somatic healing and sacred activism. Every Sunday on Zoom from 1-4PM EST from February 11-March 31st.

Together we will:

• grieve together & process the current crises happening around the world & in our own communities
• learn about the root causes and systems that perpetuate these crises & injustices 
• discover how somatic healing & dance can help heal from these systems
• be empowered as a community to take collective action in alleviating the suffering of others & in service to creating a more beautiful and just world for all bodies

We will be joined by an international group of Palestinian, Indigenous, Black and Jewish somatic teachers and activists from around the world. We hope to inspire & expand our ideas of transformation and freedom; beyond the limits of the individual and into the greater power of the collective. If this speaks to you, visit our website to learn more + to register. Sliding scale payment options + scholarships are available.”

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