SAVE THE DATE: Nomadic College
Event Categories: Major Event (left column)
Being With: The Axis Syllabus with Claire Turner Reid and Kerwin Barrington – REGISTER NOW!
In this workshop we will explore Being With our bodies through dance.
Being as living, bringing forth, and causing to grow.
And With-ness as a multiplicity of potential in relating – that being in relationship can include to oppose, vary, or unify.
Our movement investigations will bring us through varied terrain of inquiry: bridging instinctive, intuitive, and intellectual ways of being with. How can we orient towards intimacy and interconnectivity for the long-game of our moving lives?
With information from the Axis Syllabus© – such as principles of the Tri-Axial body, Spiral and Fractal patterns, and Dynamic Alignment – we’ll call in clear choice-making, physical readiness, and enlivened awareness.
We’ll play and engage through rhythm, collective groove, unison, spontaneity, variation, and heart perception as ways to connect with the varied knowledge our bodies hold. There will be motifs and movement sequences, meditative scores, guided improvisations, reflection and journaling, and collective mapping. Join us as we delve into ways of calling forth the wisdom of the body through shared dance experiences.
What is The Axis Syllabus©?
The Axis Syllabus© is a collection of information pertinent to the human body in motion. This information can be applied to any context of movement. It is an effort towards empowered self-sovereignty and informed choice-making with our bodies. Begun by Frey Faust, with contributions from members of the Axis Syllabus Research Meshwork, the information is reviewed and updated based on emerging, evolving understanding and research related to the moving body.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures.
- Arrival/Check-In: Thursday, May 15th from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Opening Circle: Thursday, May 15th after dinner at 7:30pm.
- Closing Circle: Sunday, May 18th in the evening after the last session.
- Breakfast/Final Clean: Breakfast on Monday, May 19th at 8-9am, Final Clean 9-10am.
- Departure: Monday, May 19th by 11am.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections 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.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $500.00 to Financially Abundant $975.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $475.00 to Financially Abundant $950.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $450 to Financially Abundant $925.00
Equity & Access Tickets
We are excited to offer up to 3 FULL Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who have a financial need. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge and prioritize such individuals when granting these discounted tickets.
Apply Here! Deadline is May 8th, 2025
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, this event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
- Reduced pricing offered to people with a financial need and self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
- Classes and discussions that aim to presence awareness and inclusion at the event as a whole.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, and food.
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 event cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, and food.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the event offerings and food.
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 event participants.
Nine Mountain
Nine Mountain is not available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (May 1st) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After May 1st) 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.
HOST BIOS
Kerwin Barrington
Over the past 17 years, I have facilitated dance experiences in a variety of contexts, where I encourage a main focus of exploring new ways of understanding the body in movement through the knowledge that it already holds. Certified to teach the Axis Syllabus, I have been in alliance with its Research Network (ASRM) for over 10 years and am inspired by the pedagogical philosophy of learner centered learning which is inherent to its community. I hold a Master’s degree in dance from the Université de Québec à Montréal — a deep investigation of the expression “To Learn by Heart” — looking into possible relationships between the heart and meaningful, embodied learning in a dance class. These days, I am driven by the curiosity of how tradition, ancestry, territory and music live inside my dance and the dance I share with others.
Claire Turner Reid
Claire is a movement artist and educator in Dance, Qigong, and Internal Martial Arts. She is a Certified and Certifying Teacher of the Axis Syllabus. Claire currently teaches Qigong courses at the Ontario College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Qigong, Taijiquan, and Falling Negotiation programs through the City of Guelph. She has a Diploma of Acupuncture from OCTCM Toronto and a BFA in Acting from the University of Windsor. She is a member of Spiritwind Internal Arts where she is a certified instructor in Qigong, Taijiquan, and Dao In Lung Shen and also practices Baguazhang and Gongfu. She is a Level 2 Certified Radiant Lotus Women’s Qigong instructor.
Claire uses movement and healing practices to deepen awareness, honour the integrity of the body, and enrich inter-relational possibilities. In movement research, she invites open-inquiry and curiosity and values lineage and creativity, rigour and play, somatic sovereignty and collective collaboration. Her teaching encourages exploration of the body in motion for more connected living. She teaches online, internationally, and locally in Guelph and Toronto.
Grieving Ourselves Whole: Exploration of Grief Through Embodiment, Song, and Ritual with Chaya Leia Aronson and Kaitlyn Cronin
We invite you to join us for three days and nights of tending the sacred waters of our e-motions, through ritual, movement, and song. We gather at Earthdance, a beloved place to many and has become home to a lineage of ever-evolving grief work.
Coming together to move, sing, and feel has great power to connect us more deeply to our wholeness and purpose, opening the door to the unique and necessary ways our Soul can contribute to healing on this planet.
If we think of grief as an expression of our love, we remember that grief is one powerful facet of the human experience, inextricably woven with growth, play, pleasure and joy. Rage might arise too. If grief is an expression of love, then rage is an expressed need for a boundary. So let us come together and stoke the sacred fire of our longing, belonging, grief, rage, repressed resentment, hope, fear, and so much more.
Dancing the Landscape Week Workshop with Frieda Kipar Bay and Dana Iova-Koga – REGISTER NOW!
To be alive is to be in constant, reciprocal relationship with our environment. We shape and are shaped; we move and are moved by our landscapes.
In this immersive workshop we ask the question- what happens when we consider this relationship as a dance? How do we dance a landscape? How are we danced by a landscape? How do we practice moving with and through the world with elements we might search for in any partner dance- listening, sensing, responding, give and take, composing, witnessing and being witnessed? And most importantly, what arises from that kind of attention?
In the flush of early summer we will work indoors and out, drawing from our primary movement sources of Qigong and Butoh dance, Body Weather, Fighting Monkey, and Contact Improvisation. We will also become intimate with some of the plants, geology, and animals of the Earthdance landscape through animal track and sign, plant identification, and land stewardship tasks. We will expand upon the many definitions of “landscape” (physical, internal, psychosocial, geological, political); we will explore the role of time, rhythm and cadence within our dance, and we will traverse the spectrum of practical to poetic implications of what it means to dance and be danced by our landscapes.
All of this juicy depth will be integrated with amazing meals, sauna and quarry plunges, and sleeping with the bountiful stars of Western Mass.
“Dance, dance, otherwise we are lost”. -Pina Bausch
Dance is a universal common language that belongs to us all, regardless of age, ability or experience level. All bodies are welcome, no prior ‘dance’ experience required.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures.
- Arrival/Check-In for Full Week and 1st Half Week Workshop: on Friday, May 23rd from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Opening Circle: Saturday, May 24th at 10am.
- Departure for 1st Half Week Workshop: Monday, May 26th by 2pm sharp.
- 2nd Half Workshop Arrival/Check-In: Monday, May 26th at 4-7pm, Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Final Clean: Thursday, May 29th at 2-3pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
- Departure for Full and 2nd Half Week Workshop: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Thursday, May 29th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections 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.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
Week Long Workshop: May 23rd – May, 29th, 2025
- Gratitude Lodge: $750.00 to $1250.00
- Camping: $725.00 to $1225.00
- Commuter: $700.00 to $1200.00
1st Half Workshop: May 23rd – 26th, 2025
- Gratitude Lodge: $390.00 to $890.00
- Camping: $365.00 to $865.00
- Commuter: $340.00 to $840.00
2nd Half Workshop: May 26th – 29th, 2025
- Gratitude Lodge: $390.00 to $890.00
- Camping: $365.00 to $865.00
- Commuter: $340.00 to $840.00
Equity & Access Tickets
We are excited to offer up to 3 Equity & Access Discounts for the weeklong workshop and 3 Equity & Access Discounts for the half weeklong workshops to individuals who have a financial need. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge and prioritize such individuals when granting these discounted tickets.
Apply Here! Deadline is May 16th, 2025
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, this event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
- Reduced pricing offered to people with a financial need and self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
- Classes and discussions that aim to presence awareness and inclusion at the event as a whole.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, and food.
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 event cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, and food.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the event offerings and food.
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 event participants.
Nine Mountain
Nine Mountain is not available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (May 9th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After May 9th) 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.
HOST BIO
Frieda Kipar Bay
Frieda Kipar Bay is a weaver of plants, movement, parenting, and the written word. She has found many of the deepest wells of this body of knowledge through non-linear, non-academic pathways, including performing as a dance artist for 8 years professionally, mentoring with Daoist medicine pulse diagnostic master William Morris and herbalist Matthew Wood, unschooling two incredible kids, and reading Ursula K. LeGuin at a ripe young age alongside a high alpine lake, 10 miles in. Find her full bio at www.friedakiparbay.net., but essentially, she’s simply learning to live like a landscape.
Dana Iova-Koga
Dana Iova-Koga began dancing at the age of 4, and her first role was a cloud. Over 40 years later, her research in being cloud continues.
She is a multi-disciplinarian creature practicing performance, writing, teaching, gardening, creative midwifery, and listening.
She studied Experimental Theater at NYU, danced and farmed with Min Tanaka in Japan for many years, had the deep privilege of working with dance legend Anna Halprin, and has been a member of dance/theater company inkBoat since 2005. She is 17th generation Wudang San Feng Pai lineage holder through her Shifu David Wei of Wudang West, is certified in Holden Qigong and Mov Nat, and is an “Inspired by FM” teacher in the Fighting Monkey Practice. She currently teaches with Frieda Kipar Bay under the name “Elemental Vessel” and works one on one with folks in her choose-your-own-adventure style program called “Unfolding.”
SAVE THE DATE: New Year’s Jam!
SAVE THE DATE: Falling Leaves Jam!
SAVE THE DATE: July 4th Jam!
Spring Jam! Guest Facilitator Brandon Gonzalez & hosts Meta Bobbe and Anya Smolnikova – REGISTER NOW!
The Weight of our Unfolding
New buds in spring are tender, full of potential yet vulnerable, to the elements and to the weight of their own unfolding. They emerge from the stillness of winter, delicate yet determined, stretching toward warmth.
Like these buds, we will attune to the delicate rhythm of our own emergence. How can we create enough spaciousness and cultivate enough sensitivity to make this process visible? By slowing down, shedding what is not needed, and attending to each other, we will cultivate a space ripe for easeful creativity. Through the lens of dance as ritual, we will invite an expansion and deepening of possibility within our Contact Improvisation practices.
Spring Jam Curatorial Update
Earthdance is excited to introduce a new addition to this year’s Spring Jam— a CI Intensive! Brandon will be leading classes on Friday and Saturday, offering a chance to deepen our dancing throughout the weekend. No additional sign-up or commitment is needed—come as you are and dive in.
We are also delighted to welcome Ana Harmon on Saturday, who will be offering a Gaga movement class.
About Gaga:
Gaga is the ever-evolving movement language created by choreographer Ohad Naharin. Classes are predicated on a deep activation of the body and attunement to physical sensations. Information is layered, building into a multisensory, physically invigorating experience. While many instructions are imbued with rich imagery, the research of Gaga is fundamentally physical, connecting to a specific process of embodiment. Inside Gaga’s guided structure, the improvisational nature of exploration enables each participant to connect to their own research and range.
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.
- Saturday Drop-In: Ana Harmon will be offering a Gaga movement class. (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.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
- Full Jam: Arrival/Check-In on Thursday, April 3rd from 4:00pm-7:00pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Opening Circle: Friday, April 4th 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, April 5th 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, April 6th 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, April 6th.
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
SATURDAY DROP-IN DAY
Financially Strained $85.00 to Financially Abundant $450.00
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! Deadline is March 27th!
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 is NOT available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (March 20th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (March 20th) 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 Facilitator
Brandon Gonzalez
Brandon Gonzalez is an interdisciplinary dance artist, choreographer, and educator based in Austin, Texas. He’s moved by the transformational power of dance as a ritual practice, using it as an experimental ground for investigating embodied human experience. Focusing on the capacities of the body as a resource for artistic practice, he develops works across a variety of media and performance modalities. He teaches Contact Improvisation nationally and internationally, and for over 15 years has produced dance events in Austin. Working as a co-organizing member, he helped establish the annual Texas Dance Improvisation Festival (TDIF). He is also the Artistic Director and an established DJ/facilitator at Ekstasis, a vibrant community ritual-dance event in Austin. Brandon is an Associate Professor of Practice in the Department of Theatre and Dance at TXST University. He holds a BFA in Studio Art from TXST and an MFA in Dramatic Arts from UC Davis.
Brandon has only been to Earthdance a few times and is looking forward to dancing and getting to know the community there!
SATURDAY Drop-In Gaga Facilitator
Ana Harmon
Ana Harmon is a dance and movement advocate currently living in her home state of Massachusetts. She has been a Gaga teacher since 2019, completing her certification in Tel Aviv with the artistic guidance of Ohad Naharin. Now more than ever, she is committed to dancing every day and sharing the healing power of movement with a range of movers. Ana currently divides her time between Gaga teaching engagements and supporting the Gaga organization’s various artistic and educational programs across the globe. She is a faculty member at the Boston Conservatory and recently led an undergraduate Gaga course at Harvard University. Ana trained with Boston Ballet’s pre-professional program for 13 years and joined Ballet Austin II in 2008. In 2010, she joined Kamea Dance Company in Be’er Sheva, Israel where she danced for three years. Ana completed a BA in English Literature & Middle Eastern Studies from Tel Aviv University in 2016.
As a new resident of the Pioneer Valley, Ana is excited for her first visit to Earthdance!
CICo HOSTS
The CI Committee (CICo) is the Earthdance seasonal jam production team. Since 2001, this team has been supporting the Guest Facilitators and producing the jams from behind the scenes. For this Spring Jam, instead of having two guest facilitators, Anya and Meta will be joining Brandon in hosting the event.
Meta Bobbe
Meta Bobbe (she/her) is an integrative body therapist, embodiment and movement researcher, and a CI teacher and community organizer. Since first encountering CI in Israel in 2012, this practice has become central to her life. Meta has been part of the leadership team at Earthdance for years, serving on the CICo seasonal jam organization team since 2019, was an intensive teacher at Spiral & Roots CI Professional Training 2025, and is a former Earthdance Board Member (2020-2023). Curating CI spaces that foster creative expression, community connection, and a welcoming atmosphere is both a passion and a practice for her. She’s excited and honored to be part of this Spring Jam’s team!
Meta is a Certified Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapist, Ilan Lev Method Practitioner, and Licensed Massage Therapist. She holds a BBA in Management and Human Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A seasoned traveler and former expat, Meta now resides in Florence, Massachusetts.
Anya Smolnikova
Anya Smolnikova (b. Minsk, Belarus) is an artist and educator living and working in Vermont. Her art practice spans painting, drawing, performance, installation, dance and community actions. Smolnikova has exhibited internationally in Armenia at HAYP; in Los Angeles at LAST Projects; in Chicago at Mana Contemporary, Heaven Gallery, Links Halls, No Nation, and 6018 North; in Massachusetts at the Boston Boston Center for the Arts, Piano Craft Guild, MUSA Collective, Dorchester Art Projects and Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown. Collaborations include projects with Anastasia Tinari, FAR x WIDE, Seeding Sovereignty among others. Teaching includes Northwestern University; Northwestern Prison Education Program; Chicago Art Partnerships in Education; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; Brookline, Cambridge and Boston Centers for Adult Education; The Field Center and The Putney School in Vermont among others. Smolnikova has been a resident artist at the Vermont Studio Center, Boston Center for the Arts, Groundworks Space in Hudson Valley, and holds an MFA from Northwestern University in Chicago. She lives at The Field Center in Vermont, where she is a founding member, Director of Operations, Curator and Faculty.
Contact Improvisation & Somatic Approaches Applied Therapeutically with Aaron Brandes and Gabrielle Revlock – REGISTER NOW!
“All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you.” – Octavia E Butler
This workshop delves into the therapeutic potential of Contact Improvisation (CI), Authentic Movement (AM), and Restorative Contact (RC), as well as other somatic practices, demonstrating how their principles can enhance somatic intelligence, attunement, and co-regulation.
Areas of CI that will be covered include compression, reciprocal touch, bonding with the earth, spherical space, attunement, and weight-sharing. Sessions on AM will include embodied practice as well as historical and theoretical contextualization, highlighting how AM can be scaffolded to support emotional and psychological healing. Drawing from our unique career pathways combining movement, choreography, fascial bodywork, psychotherapy, and evidence-based mindfulness practices, we have developed therapeutic material that articulates safety, empathy, mutuality and agency through movement, touch, and verbal processing.
This workshop welcomes therapists, bodyworkers, and individuals interested in personal healing and wellbeing to explore these transformative practices.
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures
- Arrival/Check-In: Thursday, April 10th from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Opening Circle: Friday, April 11th at 10am.
- Final Clean: Sunday, April 13th at 2-3pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
- Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Sunday, April 13th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections 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.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
GRATITUDE LODGE
Financially Strained $400.00 to Financially Abundant $950.00
CAMPING
Financially Strained $375.00 to Financially Abundant $925.00
COMMUTER
Financially Strained $350 to Financially Abundant $900.00
Equity & Access Tickets
We are excited to offer up to 3 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who have a financial need. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge and prioritize such individuals when granting these discounted tickets.
Apply Here! Deadline is March 27th, 2025.
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, this event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
- Reduced pricing offered to people with a financial need and self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
- Classes and discussions that aim to presence awareness and inclusion at the event as a whole.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, and food.
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 event cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, and food.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the event offerings and food.
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 event participants.
Nine Mountain
Nine Mountain is not available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (March 27th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After March 27th) 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.
HOST BIOS
Aaron Brandes
Aaron Brandes (Brando), LCSW, M.Ed, is a movement educator, psychotherapist, and bodyworker dedicated to fostering healing and resilience through somatic practices. With over 20 years immersed in dance, yoga, and body-based therapies, Brando has both taught and performed internationally, sharing his passion for movement as a tool for emotional and physical well-being. Together with Gabrielle Revelock, Brando co-authored an essay on the therapeutic applications of touch is published in the book, Resistance and Support: Contact Improvisation @ 50 edited by Ann Cooper Albright, and presented at CI@50 at Oberlin College. His journey includes a two-year residency and yoga teacher training at the renowned Kripalu Center, which solidified his dedication to integrating mindful movement into his work.
As a nationally certified Structural Integration practitioner, Brando brings a unique approach to his body-based psychotherapy practice, blending extensive experience in Contact Improvisation (CI) and other somatic modalities. CI remains central to his research and professional evolution, inspiring him to explore how movement can serve as a deeply therapeutic practice for navigating the complexities of modern life. Brando’s work continues to innovate within the field, encouraging others to use movement as a pathway to self-discovery and resilience.
For more insights and links to Brando’s videos, visit his website: BodyandBeing.net.
Gabrielle Revlock
Gabrielle Revlock, MFA, is the creator of Restorative Contact, a mindful touch-based movement practice. She developed this form by synthesizing key elements of various somatic techniques including Contact Improvisation, Restorative Yoga, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Tai Chi, Klein Technique, Yin Yoga, Authentic Movement, and Deep Listening over her 20+ years as a professional dancer, choreographer, certified yoga teacher, and movement educator. Her research on the therapeutic applications of touch is compiled into an essay, co-authored with Aaron Brandes, and published in the book, Resistance and Support: Contact Improvisation @ 50, edited by Ann Cooper Albright. Revlock has been an invited speaker at CI@50 at Oberlin College, the Embodiment Conference, the Dance & Somatics Conference and the Future of CI Conference at Earthdance. Previously offered on Airbnb Online Experiences (2020-2024), Restorative Contact was one of the highest rated experiences in the category of wellness and is now an on-demand offering on Happily, a site dedicated to relationship-building. Revlock has been a practitioner of Contact Improvisation since 2003 and has taught the form at Movement Research, the School for Contemporary Dance & Though, Philadelphia Dance Projects, DNE Dance Camp, Soho Contact Improv Collective, Montreal Annual Jam pre-festival, Smith College, Hampshire College, and Salt Spring Island Contact Improvisation Festival. She will be teaching CI at Amherst College in Spring 2025.
As a choreographer, Revlock is the recipient of a New York City Bessie Award. Her work depicts complicated but relatable interpersonal relationships, developed through meticulous character study and improvisational structures. Presenters include The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, New York Live Arts, JACK, The Flea, Joyce Soho, Gibney, Philadelphia Dance Projects, Center for Performance Research, ODC, FringeArts, Velocity Dance Center, Provincetown Dance Festival, Chop Shop and American Dance Festival. Internationally she has toured to Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Hungary, Russia and India. Revlock holds a BA in Art History from Vassar College and MFA in Dance from Smith College. More at GabrielleRevlock.com
Skimming the Surface: A Movement Healing Retreat with Valerie Green – REGISTER NOW!
“Skimming the Surface” Movement Healing Retreat will support adults that may be overcoming diverse forms of stress and trauma through somatic based expressive movement exercises. These workshops will help participants release blocked and repressed energy causing stress or discomfort in one’s life by integrating movement, feelings, and emotions.
Each movement journey is handcrafted to best support the participants. Green serves as a guide to help open doorways where each individual will do their personal work, leading them to a heart centered and intuitive place, finding a physical expression and release of emotions and energy whereby a healing process can begin.
Ms. Green’s approach helps participants confront emotional wounds and bring them to the surface in a gentle and compassionate way. When using the language of movement rather than words, different images or emotions may arise, which bypass the controlling and censoring mind. This experience leaves participants feeling expanded and curious about their emotions, with new insights to move forward from.
Offerings will integrate creative movement, improvisation, body reading, energy and breath work, body/mind embodiment and consciousness exercises, shamanic journeying, somatic experiencing, parts work, use of voice, free writing prompts, intuition and Core Energetics.
The weekend will also allow time in sauna and nature to journal, reflect and integrate, and create community connection among participants.
*This retreat experience is open to adults of all bodies and abilities.
Workshop Themes
Friday Evening: Identity & Embodied Transformation
Saturday Morning: Becoming Unstuck & Overcoming Fear
Saturday Afternoon: Self-Exploration through the 4 Elements
Saturday Evening: Forgive/Accept/Surrender ~ Ancestral Healing Ritual
Sunday Morning: Group Healing & Individual Processing
Sunday Afternoon: Closing ~ Courage
Participant Testimonials
“It is such a fruitful journey. Staying present with all of the material you generously offer allows for big insights and ‘aha’ moments.”
“A new experience is a way in; the class opened up a door that I needed to go through on a path I hadn’t been.”
“Powerful journey & positive, deeply connective, experience”
Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, and Departures.
- Arrival/Check-In: Friday, May 2nd from 4-7pm front of the Farmhouse. Dinner is at 6-7pm.
- Opening Circle: Friday, May 2nd at 7pm after dinner.
- Final Clean: Sunday, May 4th at 2-3pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
- Departure: All participants will depart after the final group clean at 3pm on Sunday, May 4th.
Our Fees Explained
Earthdance is a Public Charity that relies greatly on ticketing income to fulfill its Artistic, Cultural and Educational mission. We want to make our work available to folks with varying economic realities and offer a sliding scale payment for participation in most of our events. Please take a moment to reflect where you best fit on that scale. We ask everyone to stretch where they are able so that those who cannot may still have access to our events.
As you choose your rate please consider the following factors:
- Your access to income and wealth, as connected to family and partnership(s), past, present and future.
- The historical, systemic impacts of wealth accrual based on culture, race and other marginalized intersections 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.
PRICING: Sliding Scale
Gratitude Lodge: $375.00 to $925.00
Camping: $350.00 to $900.00
Commuter: $325.00 to $875.00
Equity & Access Tickets
We are excited to offer up to 3 FULL JAM Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who have a financial need. We know that for those who come from marginalized populations showing up to spaces filled with primarily privileged groups can be a challenge and prioritize such individuals when granting these discounted tickets.
Application coming soon! Deadline is April 25th, 2025.
Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, this event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:
- Reduced pricing offered to people with a financial need and self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
- Classes and discussions that aim to presence awareness and inclusion at the event as a whole.
Housing Options
Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets
Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, and food.
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 event cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.
Camping Tickets
Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, and food.
Commuter Tickets
You will have access to the event offerings and food.
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 event participants.
Nine Mountain
Nine Mountain is not available.
Cancellation Policy
Refund available up to 14 days (April 18th) before the event less a $75 processing fee.
No refunds available less than 14 days (After April 18th) 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.
HOST BIO
Valerie Green
Valerie Green is a Certified Practitioner in Core Energetics, CCEP, and Body/Mind Fitness and is a Movement Healing Coach who has traveled the world as a performer, choreographer and teacher. Combining more than 30 years of movement and healing work, she has developed a new modality for stress relief and transformation called Skimming the Surface. She also leads a series of movement workshops for non-dance populations rooted in the philosophy that all bodies can benefit from movement. Whether it’s working with the professional or aspiring dancer or leading workshop and performance residencies for trauma survivors, older adults, persons with differing abilities or at-risk youth, Green fosters creativity, physicality, and healing beyond the stage.
She is the Artistic Director of the professional dance company Valerie Green/Dance Entropy and founder of Green Space Studio, an unparalleled dance hub in Queens. She has been an active dancer, choreographer, and movement educator in the New York City dance community since 1995.
