Less is More
We hope through this illusion of you and I being separated, we can drop it, and go beyond our hanging names to explore and dance the in-between field of existence.
We invite you to a silent jam to listen with space to what’s underneath and in-between.
Our aim is to pair things back, to do a little less and to let go of some of the social layers of speaking and chatting, so that we may sense and move with what is already happening within and around us.
Jam Details
- Attendance: An average of 40-80 people will attend this jam and is open to all movement levels & backgrounds.
- Jam Options: Full Jam and Saturday Drop-In Day.
- Thursday Drop-In Evening: Drop-In Evening is available only to folks who have been to Earthdance before or attending the Full Jam.
- Saturday Drop-In: Drop-In Day is available only to folks who have been to Earthdance before or attending the Full Jam.
- Newcomers: If you have never been to Earthdance, we ask that you only sign up for the Full Jam. This will allow us to better welcome and orient you to Earthdance.
- BIPOC Tickets: We have 2 free and 8 at-cost full jam tickets available, first come first serve.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departure
- Full Jam: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, October 16th from 4:00pm-7:00pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Thursday Drop-In Evening: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, October 16th from 4:00pm-7:00pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm (only for those who purchase dinner) and departure by 10pm.
- Opening Circle: Friday, October 17th at 10am. We request that ALL Newcomers attend the Opening Circle.
- Saturday Drop-In (Only for folks who’ve been to Earthdance before): Arrive Saturday, October 18th at 8am. Breakfast is from 8-9am. Check-In from 1-2pm during lunch with Olive. Departure at 10pm day of.
- Closing Circle/Final Clean: Sunday, October 19th Closing Circle at 12:30pm, Lunch 1-2pm
- Final Group Clean at 2-3pm.
- Full Jam Departure: After the final group clean by 3pm on Sunday, October 19th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance offers a sliding scale payment for participation in this event, please take a moment to reflect as you decide on where you best fit.
Your level of contribution is self selected and does not need to be advocated for. However, we invite you to remember this contribution is currency and we ask that you stretch where you are able so that those who cannot stretch as far of a financial distance may also have potential access to community events. As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership, both currently and anticipated in the future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other intersection marginalizations for you and your family.
- The regional ease of your attendance, while some community members can drive to Earthdance, others will need to consider tuition based on their ability to travel longer distances.
- Earthdance is a community and rental funded organization which recently, historically and uniquely through the Covid-19 pandemic has struggled to have viable income.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
FULL JAM
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $375.00 to Financially Abundant $800.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $350.00 to Financially Abundant $775.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $325.00 to Financially Abundant $750.00
THURSDAY DROP-IN EVENING
Dinner & Jam: Financially Strained $45.00 to Financially Abundant $145.00
Just Jam: Financially Strained $30.00 to Financially Abundant $130.00
SATURDAY DROP-IN DAY
Financially Strained $85.00 to Financially Abundant $450.00
2 Free and 8 At-Cost: Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) Full Jam Tickets
*These tickets are available only for those who identify as black, indigenous or person of color – folks who do not identify as white. They are first come first serve, and are self selected.
Equity & Access Tickets
Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 4 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group in CI and have a relationship with CI. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge, and can feel vulnerable.
Apply Here! Due October 9th!
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events. At our four Seasonal jams we do this through:
- Reduced price Equity & Access tickets for folks who find our normal tickets to be a barrier. Participants self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized in CI are prioritized when allocating these tickets.
- An Accountability, Safety and Care (ASC) team that supports the processing of difficult situations that might come up in relation to consent, identity and other relational issues.
- Support from a BIPOC Team at our seasonal jams that hosts meals and supports offerings and affinity spaces based on BIPOC participants’ desires
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
The Gratitude Lodge (a.k.a. the Earthdance dorm) is the main lodging facility, connected to the Farmhouse by a short wooded trail. The lodge includes large and small rooms featuring dormitory-style bunks and beds (twin & queen size) and is included in the base jam cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
Commuter
You will have access to the jam offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the jam.
Commuter Health Care: We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other jam participants.
Nine Mountain
After purchasing a Commuter Ticket with us, please reach out to Robyn at Nine Mountain to secure a bed with them at an additional cost. robyn@ninemountain.com
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (October 2nd) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (October 2nd) from the start of the event.
Partial refunds might be given if a cancellation takes place under extenuating circumstances (e.g. a death of a 1st or 2nd degree family member, serious non-preventable illness or accident requiring hospitalization). Refunds in such cases remain at the discretion of the local organizers and will be decided on a case to case basis according to the timing of the cancellation and other factors. We do not offer refunds if you catch a cold, the flu or COVID after the cancellation date.
Health Precautions
No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before arriving. If you are feeling sick, or have a known close exposure to someone with COVID in the past 5 days, please sit this one out to keep the community well.
COMMUTERS: We ask that you please use caution when commuting and limit, if possible, to just commuting to and from your home and Earthdance, staying away from large crowds to maintain the health and well being of the other jam participants.
Participant Community Support
Earthdance runs as a community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to 1-2 work shifts (typically meal cleans) throughout the event and participate in a final house clean on the last day of the event. These are great ways to connect more with your fellow participants and Earthdance staff, and to feel more at home in the Earthdance buildings & grounds. Your contributions to this collective caring of this space are invaluable!
Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.
GUEST TEACHER BIOS
Rosalind Holgate Smith
Rosalind Holgate Smith is a Dance Artist, Choreographer, Somatic Movement Educator and Bodyworker, with a BA(hons) degree in Fine Art and Choreography and an MA in Dance. Rosalind has over 15 years’ experience teaching Contact Improvisation and takes inspiration from her studies in Body Mind CenteringⓇ, Authentic Movement, Skinner Release Technique, The Axis Syllabus, Martial Arts and her love for dancing outdoors. She creates performances and installations that explore intimacy between people, place and the environment. Rosalind recently completed a PhD in which she investigated how touch is used and experienced in Contact Improvisation and how it enables encounters with Otherness. From this project she developed a Vocabulary of Touch techniques that is now a signifcant aspect of her teaching. Rosalind is also an experienced Yoga Instructor and following her love of water, she teaches swimming with the Shaw Method which integrates the Alexander technique. https://rosalindholgate-smith.com
Alessandro Rivellino
I have been living dance and contact improvisation in a surrendered way as a dancer for 20 years and as a teacher for 15 and I had the opportunity to travel to at least 30 countries, offering and having classes, intensive courses, workshops, residencies and Jams with different and experienced colleagues, which probably gave me a good “floor” to start with ‘not knowing with certain quality’…
I have studied a little bit of: BMC, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Antigimnastics, Craneosacral Osteopathy, Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, Anthropologie, Philosophie, Choreography, Performance Studies, Sitespecific, Butoh, Authentic Movement, Zen Buddhism, Ancient Technologies of the Sacred; and a lot of Contact Improvisation. I am passioned by the Contact Improvisation practice and I am engaged in organising retreats for it to receive its depth, with different containers, either in silence or within a somatic approach, bodywork research or getting inspiration on nature, the biggest pleasure is to offer space and time to the practice in itself. I come from different dance schools at the somatic level and movement research, I have the luck of having a masters degree and different awards and nominations as a dancer and choreographer.
Today I see that I have danced and taught for big part of my whole life and yet I feel that I have just started. In my practice I have been integrating various techniques and bringing the potential of dance to life. If I ask myself between my name and my body, the second one is the dearest, and if you ask about my deepest interest in dancing and teaching the answer would be around living questions related to dance itself, to the presence and to the Big Mystery. I hope through this illusion of you and I being separated, we can drop it, and go beyond our hanging names to explore the in-between field of existence to dance and be danced with and through the visible and invisible forces entangled at each single moment and find the way to be at the arch of beauty.
CICo (CI Coordination) HOSTS
Ming Tsai
Ming Tsai is a dancer and a multidisciplinary artist born in Taiwan, living in Montreal. He submerged himself in Contact Improvisation since 2019 and has been part of the seasonal jam organizing team (CICo) at Earthdance since 2022. He is interested in connecting CI communities across culture and geography. He has visited CI communities in Europe, South America, and Asia, where he learned many other ways of practicing. He recently taught in California, Georgia, Salt Spring Island, and Quebec and hopes to expand and invite more diversity and colour into the world of touch.
Chandra Cantor
Chandra Cantor has had a lifelong relationship with movement. Dancing since she could walk and practicing yoga & meditation as soon as she could sit still, she has devoted her life to the study and teaching of mindfulness and embodiment. Chandra first fell in love with Earthdance in 2009 and has been steeped in the community since then. She is a yoga teacher, life coach and mother of three beautiful boys living in Florence, MA.