An Introduction Evening to Mask Work with Akil Apollo Davis

Hello to all the seekers, curious minds, artists, dance enthusiasts, actors, performers, public speakers, and those who are looking for healing, self-discovery, and self-expression!

We’re thrilled to introduce a new collaborator who brings one of the most unique, powerful, and magical forms of Mask Work to the spotlight: Akil Apollo Davis. He’s one of only three Master teachers of The Brahe-Davis Method of Mask in the world. Masks have always held an intricate connection to the depths of the human psyche, a tangible bridge to archetypal images and centers that are within us all.

As we embark on this collaboration with Akil Apollo Davis, we’re excited to offer a special opportunity for both the Earthdance (ED) community and the local community to explore this groundbreaking work. This introduction evening to Mask Work won’t just prepare you for upcoming classes; it will also reshape the way you see yourself, your body, your understanding of images, our cultural influences, and your potential to transform.

Akil aims to make this experiential knowledge accessible. So, this opportunity comes at a discounted price and is open to those aged 13 and up. Join straight after work, we’ll provide snacks, and wear comfortable clothes for dancing and moving. It’s all about free-form movement!

Akil will be facilitating a weekend long Mask Workshop: Archetypes and the Metamorphosis-Masquerade on November 16th – 19th, if you feel called to deepen this work and explore archetypes within you.

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WHY SHOULD YOU JOIN?

Transformation is one of the most potent forces within us. It’s how we grow, learn, heal, and inspire. The Brahe-Davis masks directly engage your body’s natural transformative ability. Here are the benefits you can expect:

– Seekers and the curious: Dive deep into your SELF, exploring images, thought patterns, and cultural influences that both hinder and empower you. This is about unlocking your transformational potential.

– Actors and Performers: Experience astonishing expansion in physicality and find new dimensions of inspiration.

– Movers & Dancers: Enhance and enrich your expression, adding a unique “transformation” to your dance journey.

– Healing: Akil reveals a fascinating insight – “Did you know that trauma is the German word for dream? It’s an image that isn’t real, yet it lingers.” This underlines the power of images. The MASK WORK delves into negative images and replaces them with true self-images, facilitating profound change from within.

– Play and Exploration: The Masks liberate! Akil’s workshops create a space for intentional exploration. It’s a space for unleashing your inner child, creativity, and self-expression. It’s invigorating, joyful, and enlightening.

Here’s the schedule for the evening:

– 6:00 pm – Doors open (arrive shortly after)

– 6:15 pm – Open dance session

– 6:30 pm – Talk on “The New Definition of Narcissism”

– 7:00 pm – (final arrivals – doors close) “The Masks Explained”

– 7:30 pm – 9:00/9:30 pm – Mask play

– 9:00/9:30 pm – 9:30/10:00 pm – Reflection, discussion and movement

PRICING

Financially Wealthy – $250

Financially Abundant – $175

Financially Stable – $100

Financially Coping – $50

Financially Strained – $30

Sauna with use of 2 Earthdance towels for $10

Stay Overnight: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight in our Gratitude Lodge dorm bed is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) Or, camping which is $30. * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

The “Magic”, Power and Function Within the Masks

These masks are unlike any you’ve encountered before. Beyond mere accessories, they hold the key to your inner transformation. While other masks may change your external appearance, The Brahe-Davis Method of Mask sparks change from within. As Terentius wisely said, “Nothing Human is far into me.” We possess the innate ability to embody various facets of human experience, often blocked by guilt, shame, and limiting beliefs. Each mask carries an intentional image, infused through a sacred process. This image connects with your body, tapping into the Egyptian concept of over 100 senses, including sensitivity to images with potent intentions. Just as plucking a guitar string creates resonance in the same string on another guitar, these masks resonate the image within you, facilitating your transformation.

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $20 processing fee.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

Akil Apollo Davis is a full time Performing Artist and Theatre Professor. Akil grew up with Hip-Hop dance in the everyday culture of Memphis TN (watch “House Party” the movie) and began theatre at 12 years old, and got his Bachelors in Theatre from the prestigious NYU TISCH School of the Arts. During that time his dance, music, and performance training and practices intensified dramatically.

He is the teacher of an extremely rare form of Mask work: only 3 human beings teach it. The Masks are designed by Akil and/or his mentor, Per Brahe. After being hand carved from wood and painted by a Balinese Mask-Making Brahman (Priest), they are taken through a cleansing ceremony in a special temple. In this work, the Masks use the power of image to aid in transformation.

Akil is an avid and professional dancer. He has received extensive training in 4 forms of Balinese dance, 3 forms of Thai Classical dance, Modern, Butoh, African, Ballet, Jazz, Butoh, multiple styles of Fan dancing, contact improv and Acro yoga.

He is a an award-winning playwright and director (NYC Fringe Festival “SUMMER BLUE”: Winner: most innovative production) an MC, poet, and educator.

Akil is also a lyricist, freestyle rapper (improvisational verse) poet and composer. He has collaborated with many musicians to create music and video content for himself and his alter-ego “Diamond Adronica De La Funk”.

Akil has taught Theatre and Dance all over America, in over 12 countries, and is now a Professor of Mask and Art Aesthetic at William Esper Studio (previously NYU and SUNY Purchase).

He has trained with Brahmans, Witches in the East Village and Monks in Thailand and works to bridge the gaps between classical knowledge and esoteric education. This has led to inspiring collaborations and panel discussions with psychologists at Pace University, University of Memphis, and NYU on emotional development, Suicide prevention and awareness, and the power of image.

Ecstatic Dance with DJ CJ at Earthdance!

You are invited to come dance, move, stretch, release and recharge ~ Come as you are ~ Let’s co-create a safe place to get into our bodies and celebrate the begins of Fall!

A space to reflect and harvest all the goodness and growth of the Summer. A space to feel free in our bodies and express our desires in through movement in the moment. Sharing a dance with each other and the trees as they begin their beautiful transitions.

TIME and PRICING

Potluck at 6:30pm, Opening Circle starts at 7:30pm

Dance: $20 – $80

Potluck: Bring a dish to share OR donate $10-$15

Sauna (with 2 towel rental): $10

Overnight in our Gratitude Lodge: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food. 

COVID 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. 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. 

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

DJ CJ

CJ is a multi instrumentalist, collaborator and producer with a burning passion for listening, playing and creating music of all forms! Growing up in the greater Boston area, he has worked as an audio engineer and played in multiple rock, funk and ska bands. With a vast understanding of the electronic genre umbrella and involvement in dance and movement events, his understanding of rhythm and flow is felt through his performances. Now living in the hills of Western Mass his music style focuses on harmony with nature and playing with the sounds of the forest. Connected to the moment of improvisation ~ his talents revolve around feeling into an environment and enhancing it with sonic frequencies

Community Grief and Song Ritual with Chaya Leia Aronson and Kaitlyn Cronin + Music with Amanda Turk

We offer an invitation to come together in community to grieve, assisted by music and song. 
What is the medicine of grieving in ritual containers? Unprocessed grief compounds and becomes a toxic emotional energy, which can create violence and perpetuate intergenerational trauma. Singing and sounding together helps vibrate our grief loose from these stuck places in our individual and collective bodies and make more space within us. This gives us a sacred opportunity to choose aligned action and to show up in the ways we truly want to show up in the world.   

Many cultures have shared traditions around grieving, which could sometimes last for days at a time.  We as Western ritualists aim to co-create spaces that honor the wisdom of our lineages as well as the many generous teachers who have brought their practices to the West.   

For this ritual our intention is to invite gentle movement of our bodies and the emotions held there. We will utilize the medicine of communal song and live music to call forward what is ready to be released at this time. We recognize that forgiveness and compassion are essential ingredients of our grieving process.  We are holding these as the foundation for this ritual. 

Following our ritual, we will share a potluck meal together at Earthdance, and then delight in a Dance Jam together. 

This ritual is for you if:

  • You need support processing grief and would like to do this in a held container with others.
  • You understand that grief is both a personal and collective experience and you’re willing to hold your grief as a way to heal both self and community.  
  • You understand that this space will be one piece of healing and are willing to seek ongoing support such as co-counseling, bodywork, nature connection, medicine ceremony, therapy, dance jams, etc.
  • You are willing to be with your pain or discomfort and be witness to others’ without needing to fix it.

It’s not the right time for you to join this ritual if:

  • You are in an active trauma state on the day of the ritual.
  • You feel unable to moderate your nervous system when activated, for example, by noticing if you are dissociating and grounding, asking for support, or taking a break etc.
  • You are unwilling to be with your own and others’ pain or discomfort without needing 
  • to fix it.

Please Bring

  • Journal
  • Water bottle
  • Snacks  
  • Comfortable clothes
  • Possible change of clothes for dancing
  • Potluck dinner item to share

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Event Details

Ritual: 3 – 6:30pm

Potluck: 7 – 8pm

Music + Jam: 8 – 10pm

PRICING

Ritual and Jam: $40 – $110 sliding scale

Ritual: $30 – $80 sliding scale

Music + Jam: $10 – $45 sliding scale

Sauna and 2 towels: $10

Potluck Dinner: Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15

Overnight stay: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40, camping is $35. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15)

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $20 processing fee.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIOS

Chaya Leia Aronson

Chaya Leia Aronson, RN BSN is a mother, partner, lover and ecosensensual earth worshipping clown goddess. Chaya maintains a private practice offering Maya Abdominal Massage, Holistic Pelvic Care and Health, Movement and Sexuality coaching for over a decade. Chaya has also facilitated a number of transformational and alchemical rituals related to grief, wombs and eros. She has great passion and skill in supporting people and relationships to have clear conversations about desires and boundaries and to unpack our wounds and traumas gently to find more capacity for love and pleasure. She has a private practice, Your Sacred Pelvis, where she sees clients in person and virtually based in the Northampton, MA area.  

www.yoursacredpelvis.com
@yoursacredpelvis

Kaitlyn Cronin

Kaitlyn’s inner flame exists in the intersection of mycology, creativity, and the continued dedication to learning from the life and death cycle. She hopes to actively take part in decomposing our fears and limiting beliefs around the dying process and help to reestablish Death and grief on the sacred altar of Life.

Amanda Turk

Amanda holds the generational beat of the drum in her blood. Both her father and her maternal grandfather were drummers. She grew up in the epicenter of the music world with her long standing family business, Colony Records, in NYC. In 2006 she discovered the darbuka, a type of tabla, and passionately began her study of Middle Eastern percussion under the guidance of contemporary masters Raquy Danziger (Brooklyn/Istanbul), Bunyamin Olguncan (Istanbul), Todd Roach (Brattleboro, VT), Zohar Fresco(Israel) making regular pilgrimages to Turkey to delve deeper into a style called the Turkish Split Hand Technique and applies these techniques to a variety of drums including frame drum, riq, handpan and cajon. When her hands are not on a drum, Amanda nurtures her community with her passion for bodywork in a 22 year massage therapy practice in Northampton, MA.

Embodied Personal Storytelling with Mandy Snyder

ALL of us, no matter what kind of lives that we have lived, have tales to tell that are compelling to others. Sometimes these are stories of our peak highs and other times, our heartbreaks. They may be stories of the mundane, a funny anecdote or a frustrating family gathering. No matter what the topic, when we share our stories with each other, we find a sense of shared humanity that is deeply satisfying. 

In this embodied approach to personal storytelling, we use movement as the ground and inspiration for our stories. We slow down and connect to our bodies which lands us in the present moment where the magic happens. We move and speak, speak and move, not knowing what we are going to say; the words are waiting just beneath the surface. While it may seem like walking and chewing gum, it quickly becomes quite natural.

Using improv games, we get comfortable speaking small vignettes of our life and have fun exploring together. Then we share longer stories with each other. We do this in a supportive container, witnessing each other from a place of care, encouragement and non-judgement. This is about authentic human expression. No performance experience or skill is needed. 

Come experience the richness of this work! I hope you will join me for this nourishing soul play. 

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Event Details

Workshop: 3 – 6pm

Potluck: 6:30pm

PRICING

Workshop: $40 – $160 sliding scale

Potluck Dinner: Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15

Sauna and towel rental: $10

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food. 

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $15 processing fee.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

Mandy Snyder is a Somatic Healer and group facilitator who is passionate about creating spaces for embodied self-discovery. With warmth and welcoming, she guides others to make contact with self-compassion, a balm that makes everything just a little easier. Her individual sessions, groups and workshops draw from her training in Somatic Experiencing, study in Internal Family Systems and 25 + years as in movement studies, including Authentic Movement, Body Tales and Contact Improvisation. A lover of nature and laughter, Mandy has spent many years in Vermont and California, and now makes Western Massachusetts her home.

Loom Ensemble presents “Tell Me How You Breathe” Dance Theater for Collective Liberation

This summer, Loom Ensemble is bringing together a racially diverse team of professional dancers, musicians and theatermakers, to invite you into an outdoors experience of Dance Theater for Collective Liberation. Loom’s newest piece “Tell Me How You Breathe,” brings us to a world where climate crisis has progressed slightly more than our present day, to play out the interrelationship of institutional power structures and ancestral healing practices.  Playful humor, live music, and beautiful storytelling help us lean in to meet these pressing issues.

The story centers on the lungs, as the site of interconnectedness and the organ of grief. “Who gets to breathe freely, fully, with ease,” is a necessary question for our time, right at the intersection of eco-activism, social justice, and public health. With the nourishment of participatory ceremony and song, Loom grounds this political conversation in the physical body, to incite the radical act of collectively imagining a more just and beautiful world.

This is a body positive, queer, anti-racist space. The work is explicitly political, leaning into raw conversations, but centering wellbeing and respect for the artist throughout. 

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Testimonials

“Remarkably coherent… richly textured dance-theatre” –Newyorkcool.com

“Powerful and unique… Don’t miss it!” –Gulf News 

“Loom Ensemble can do it all–act, sing and above all dance!” –Khaleej Times

“Loom Ensemble brings fresh ideas, inspires the local community and helps showcase the community’s talent.” –Art Kentro

EVENT DETAILS

Friday and/or Saturday options include:

Performance: 6pm – 7:30pm

Dinner: 7:30 – 8: 30pm

CI Integration Jam: 8:30pm

*** These performances will be outside on the grass in our orchard. We have limited folding chairs. Please bring a blanket or camping chair to sit on and bug spray.

*** RAIN or SHINE the show will go on! We will move the show indoors to accommodate the weather.

PRICING

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.

Performance Offerings

Friday August 4th and/or Saturday August 5th

Event Package includes – Performance, Dinner and CI Integration Jam: $50 – $150

Performance Only: $20 – $80

Dinner: $15 

CI Integration Jam: $20 – $80

Sauna $10 (includes 2 towels rental)

BIPOC spots and children under 12: Pay what you can! Please reach out to programming@earthdance.net if you would like to register before the event. Otherwise, you can pay onsite.

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special event, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight in a dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge for $40 or camp on our land for $35. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food.

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days (July 21st) before the event less a $25 processing fee for the full package, $10 for individual.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

Participant Community Support

Earthdance runs as a​ community, thus part of the participation is that all individuals contribute to cleaning up after meals throughout the event. This is a great way 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.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

About Loom Ensemble

Loom has been devising interdisciplinary theater for culture shift for 13 years from NYC blackboxes to stone monasteries in Italy, repurposed industrial warehouses in Dubai and to the fields and forests of Vermont.We use our performances to open difficult conversations, and then facilitate community discussion to unpack the emotional vulnerability and cultural taboos of each show. In that shared space, the social value of art made from a place of deep integrity becomes clear: our actions matter, new ways of living are possible, together we can build a more loving world.

As a direct response to broken patriarchy, lonely individualism, and shame-inducing capitalism, our performances call audiences home to themselves and their communities. Our work is to reconnect with the earth, with emotional integrity, and with each other. 

Loom Ensemble devises “dance-theater” in the most literal sense, using character, story, and dialogue to ground abstract dance in emotional specificity; and using full-bodied contemporary choreography to deepen the resonance of our narrative storytelling. Mix in group songs to connect the body of the performer with the hearts of the audience, and you’ve got Loom Ensemble’s interdisciplinary approach to live theater.

Read more about Loom Ensemble and this work.

New England States Touring (NEST)

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

Like Water: Deepening Water Quality in our Dance with Eliana Bonard using the Fedora Aberastury Conscious System and CI

Eliana Bonard is joining us all the way from Argentina!

Following *Fedora Aberastury’s fundamental principles and Contact Improvisation, we awake our “energy centers” in order to make energy flow freely. In so doing, subtle and authentic movement happens. Expanding the volume of our body, by opening joints, by moving our spine and by letting go unnecessary tensions, we generate a true presence. Then we get to Contact with the earth and the others, deepening our senses and hearing , unfolding communication. We will practice specific contact improvisation exercises in order to develop skills, and we will explore ways in our language of improvisation for solo, duo, and larger groups.

Fedora’s System is based on conscious thought. The word resonates and gives power to action, to movement. Movement is life, Fedora used to say. By awakening the energy centers from conscious thought, we allow their free flow that produces movement, a genuine movement born from within, without any pretension, giving space to our own dance. The spinal cord energetically connected to the tongue can move like a snake. Rivers that flow “undoing the muscular armor little by little”… as Wilhem Reich said.

Bringing to our dances a bit of the quality of water, which makes up more than 70% of our body. The planet is also a body, a large body with continents – islands floating in oceans, land floating on water. Wet earth, plants and animals, sap and blood flowing, watery plasma in each of its cells.

With this quality, we will approach contact improvisation by spreading our weight on the floor, practicing shapes and technical details. We will build solid but fluid structures to offer support. We’ll explore in detail how to share weight on rolls in order to be light. We will try slides, falls, effortless flights and dynamic weight transitions. We will include the relationship between eyes and movement in improvisation.

All levels of experience in CI and movement in general are welcome!

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Event Details

Workshop: 10am – 1pm

Lunch: 1 – 2pm (lunch will be provided)

Workshop: 2pm-4pm

PRICING

$400 – Financially Wealthy

$260 – Financially Abundant

$160 – Financially Stable

$100 – Financially Coping

$80 – Financially Strained

Sauna and 2 towels: $10

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight it is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food. 

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.

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $30 processing fee.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

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.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

Eliana Bonard – Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Since I was a child, dance has always meant pleasure, health and freedom. At age fifteen I began my path in movement improvisation through the Aberastury System. My training includes contemporary dance, ballet, tango as well as yoga, eutony and somatics, I also nourished my practice with theater and clown.

I like to experiment with hybrid/juxtaposed languages on scene. I have choreographed dance-theater pieces, aerial dance, dance for children and also made site specific and street performances.

I fell in love with Contact Improvisation in 1987 and I began teaching CI four years later. I have been a CI teacher at the School of Artistic Education (ESEA) since 2012. I was co-creator of Eimcila, Latin America CI Teachers Meeting in 2011, co-organizer of the Buenos Aires CI50 Celebration, as well as ongoing Jams in my city. Another passion of mine is to work in heated water and I give Aguahara sessions and facilitate @milon.gota mixing CI and tango in water.

I love simple things, like practicing yoga at the seaside, cooking or collecting grapefruit in my neighborhood and sharing time with my beloved 20 year old son.

Eliana Bonard – Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Desde pequeña concebí la danza como placer, salud y libertad. Comencé a los 15 años mi camino en la improvisación de movimiento a través del Sistema Aberastury. Me formé en danza contemporánea y ballet como en yoga, tango, eutonía y somáticas. Nutrí mi práctica con actuación y clown.

Me interesa la experimentación escénica en el cruce de lenguajes. Realicé varias obras coreográficas de danza teatro, danza aérea, danza para niños y performances en espacios no convencionales.

Me enamoré del CI en 1987 y lo comencé a enseñar cuatro años más tarde. Dí clases en varias ciudades y festivales internacionales en América y Europa. Soy profesora de CI en ESEA, profesorados oficiales de danza desde 2012. Soy co-creadora de Eimcila, Encuentro internacional de maestros de CI en Latinoamérica en 2011, co-organizadora de Celebración 50 CI Bs As, y actualmente coordino Jams en mi ciudad. Otra de mis pasiones es trabajar en agua climatizada dando sesiones de Aguahara y facilitar la @milon.gota, lab en el agua cruzando CI y tango.

Amo las cosas simples como hacer yoga en la playa, cocinar, cosechar pomelos y paltas en mi barrio y compartir tiempo con mi amado hijo de 20.

IG: @eli.bonard

Eliana’s Historical review with The Fedora Aberastury Conscious System:

I began to investigate movement evoking water more than 10 years ago.

The Fedora Aberastury Conscious System revealed several axes on which to experiment.
The tongue, a powerful energetic center, is perhaps Fedora’s most important discovery. The tongue that expands like a sponge and connects with the the marrow and spine, invites the nervous system to relax, and the entire volume of our body to expand. Top of the head, center of thought, tongue, cardiac plexus, solar plexus, lower center or aura, energy centers coinciding with the chakras evoked from thought, and the centers at the tips of our ten fingers and toes, where energy can flow and connect us with the source of the bio electro magnetic field.

I was lucky to meet my teacher Ana Labat when I was fifteen. She taught the principles of Fedora’s System to me for seven years. Fedora’s System matured in Buenos Aires from the 60’s, without school, without diplomas, founded on a conception of human being and a rigorous practice. I was also lucky to meet Fedora. She would come to see us practice. We were the youngest, the ones that would succeed her.

It is a System that is transmitted, like martial arts, from master to disciple. I used to attend Ana’s classes every day. Her studio was open to me and she welcomed me with joy. When I was eighteen one day she spoked to me very seriously and told me that I was ready, that I had to start transmitting it. And I did it. In my own bedroom I would raised the mattress and received a group of friends and relatives for classes every week.

A year later, I met CI through Daniel Trenner, who taught his first CI intensive in Buenos Aires. It was a quantum leap. Since then I knew that this dance would stay with me forever with its infinite possibilities. We organized the first jam in my city in 1988. Alma Falkenberg, who was one of the first CI transmitters in Argentina, was my teacher at the dance school training I was attending. Foreign teachers visited Buenos Aires every year and I didn’t miss any of them. Dany Trenner, Nancy Stark Smith, Lisa Nelson, Danny Lepkoff, Alito Alessi, Karen Nelson, Luc Petton, Sue Lauther, Martin Keogh, Camillo Vacalebre, and more. I started teaching CI in 1991. Eight years later I traveled to deepen my practice (San Francisco, CA) with Martin and Ray Chung, and then I organized Ray Chung ́s visit Buenos Aires. I went to Europe to deepen the Underscore with Nancy (Arlequi, Spain). I was invited to teach at international festivals in Argentina, in Brazil (Sao Paulo, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro), and Freiburg Contact Festival in Germany…

In 2007 in Buenos Aires with my colleague Paula Baratta I began to investigate the connections between Fedora Aberastury System and CI. Several years ago they invited me to my first jam in heated water. In 2019 I began my Aguahara Training. Currently I offer Aguahara sessions. Last year, I co-created @milon.gota, mixing contact and tango in water.

*Fedora Aberastury was born in Chile and moved to Argentina at a young age where she began her musical training. She moved with her husband to Washington for a while and studied in NY with whom she considers her masters Claudio Arrau and Rafael da Silva. It was the sound she was looking for with the neccesary emotional charge. Back in Buenos Aires, she developed her System, researching for decades with countless students and various disciples. The System’s protagonists are the tongue and the hands , a legacy of her training as a pianist. She passed away in 1985. “I’ll be, no matter when. Life is inside me”

Ecstatic Dance with DJ CJ at Earthdance!

You are invited to come dance, move, stretch, release and recharge ~ Come as you are ~ Let’s co-create a safe place to get into our bodies and celebrate the gifts of Summer!

This will be a dance of celebration with Summer. To celebrate the sun, the fire in our vitality, the fruits and crops growing upon the fields and orchards. Giving our gratitude for the abundance of Mother Earth. The love for our friends and families as well as our safety and protection. We come together as an ocean and flow with the waters ~ counting our blessings and dancing with the forest, the nature spirits and fairies. 

A message from an Apple tree:

‘I. the Great Mother Apple Tree, send you the full sun of summer and the sweetness of my fruit. Notice that there are many kinds of apples to choose from. As a species, I represent variety. Your species is the same. Each of you is a unique and wonderful gift from the universe. I represent beauty and choice. I represent the Goddess in all her manifestations. Think of healing when you focus on me. Think of magic and the unseen fairies and devas of the nature kingdom, who secretly go about their work of caring for the flora on the planet. Think of the realms of imagination and myth, where dragons and unicorns still live. Take a moment to close your eyes and remember the innocence of childhood and the awe of mystery. Take a day off from worries and concerns. Travel to Glastonbury in your mind’s eye and have a conversation with the Goddess. Choose a variety of apples and bake a pie! Close your eyes and imagine a beautiful apple tree full of beautiful apples. Look at each apple as if it has a particular choice written on it. Let the many choices you are contemplating appear. Look carefully, and when you are ready, choose an apple that represents a choice. Take a bite.

Enjoy it thoroughly. Then go ahead and move towards that beautiful choice. Be willing to fully taste and experience it.’

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TIME and PRICING

Potluck at 6pm, Opening Circle starts at 7pm

Dance: $20 – $60

Potluck: Bring a dish to share OR donate $5-$10

Sauna (with 2 towel rental): $10

Overnight in our Gratitude Lodge: If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food. 

COVID Precautions

No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend the workshop. Please take adequate measures to limit your exposure in the days before. 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.

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

Resonance and Ritual hosted by Marie Ebacher, Emmett DeBeer Charno and Charlotte Malin – DATE CHANGE!

Singing together is a ritual, and song has been part of collective ritual practice across time and place. In Resonance and Ritual, we gather an emergent community to sing together and collaborate on ritual sound experiences co-created by participants and master teachers. We combine various vocalization practices and ground them with nightly rituals rooted deeply in music. Our workshops and shared practices include improvisational singing, folk songs, song circles, invocations, and musical embodiment. The ritual practice is tied closely to land-based reverence at the beautiful location of Earthdance on Nipmuc and Abenaki land.

Weaving their Earthdance roots with a synchronous vision, Marie Ebacher, Emmett DeBeer Charno and Charlotte Malin come together as song leaders and space holders to generate this space. The event will feature local indigenous leader Evan Pritchard and master song leader Onome. 

Our days begin with an opening ritual and land acknowledgement, followed by a morning practice from one of the master teachers. Throughout the day there will be workshops and jams from teachers and community members, with encouraged flexibility for integration, play, and personal practice. The evenings will feature our collaborative rituals and fireside music jams. 

Schedule

Friday: Dinner, evening welcoming circle, and song share around the fire.

Saturday: Opening ritual and land acknowledgement; whole group singing experience from a master teacher; lunch; afternoon workshop from a master teacher; free time for community jams, community shares, and personal practice. Day Drop-In Options Available.

Sunday: Group song and closing circle, group clean and departure.

Arrival, Onsite Check-In, Opening Circle, Departure and COVID Testing

  • Arrival and Onsite Check-In: The welcoming will commence for participants on Friday, August 25th from 4:00pm-7:00pm.
  • Dinner: Friday, August 25th at 6-7pm
  • Opening Circle: Friday, August 25th at 8pm
  • Saturday Drop-In Arrival and Departure: 8am – 11pm
  • Closing Circle: Sunday, August 27th at 12pm and final group clean at 2pm
  • Departure: Sunday, August 27th at 3pm
  • COVID Testing: Please make sure that you have tested for COVID on the day of arrival for the event. If needed, participants may purchase tests from Earthdance for $10 each.

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

Gratitude Lodge

$525 – Financially Wealthy

$450 – Financially Abundant

$375 – Financially Stable

$300 – Financially Coping

$250 – Financially Strained

Camping

$495 – Financially Wealthy

$420 – Financially Abundant

$345 – Financially Stable

$270 – Financially Coping

$225 – Financially Strained

Commuter

$475 – Financially Wealthy

$400 – Financially Abundant

$325 – Financially Stable

$250 – Financially Coping

$210 – Financially Strained

SATURDAY 26th Drop-In ONLY

$125 – 8am to 10pm – Includes 3 meals

Equity & Access Tickets 

Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 4 Equity & Access Discounts to individuals who feel part of an underrepresented and/or marginalized group and have a relationship with this work.  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” and see more details here. Application deadline is August 18th.

For those who do not identify as marginalized and are in a represented group, we invite you to stretch in your payment to help support those who cannot stretch and create a more diverse jam experience for all. 

Note: While Earthdance is making efforts to better support Equity & Access at all its events, this event offers particularly strong support for diversity, equity, and inclusion through:

  • Reduced pricing offered to people self-identifying as being underrepresented and/or marginalized.
  • Classes and discussions that aim to bring up the level of awareness and inclusion at this event as a whole.
  • Affinity spaces (events, discussions, etc.) for particular groups of people to connect, share movement space together, and rest from the pressures of being in a minority status at the jam.

Housing Options

Gratitude Lodge at Earthdance Tickets

Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, 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 Tickets

Includes a spot to camp on Earthdance, event offerings, and food during the jam.

Commuter Tickets

You will have access to the event offerings including food for the event.

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 and wear a mask in public spaces to maintain the health and well being of the other participants.

***Nine Mountain is not available for this event.***

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days (August 14th) before the event less a $75 processing fee. 

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID Precautions

No specific requirements on vaccination status are needed to attend this event. However, ALL registrants are required to take an antigen test on the day of, before arriving on Thursday, August 24th at Earthdance. If you need a test, Earthdance will have them available to purchase for $10 each. 

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 COMMITMENT: 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 and wear a mask in public spaces to maintain the health and well being of the other 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.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIOS

Charlotte Malin

Charlotte Malin is a performer, teacher, and healer guiding people into direct, communal, and transformational encounters with music. My artistic identities include classical violinist & violist, free improviser, songwriter, song leader, group facilitator, dancer, priestess, and healer.  I’m passionate about bringing audiences, clients, and students into aliveness, authenticity, and attunement through music and awareness practices.

Charlotte has collaborated closely with luminaries of the classical world including Yo-Yo Ma, Midori, Kim Kashkashian, and has performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, Asia, and South America. She makes her home in Western MA and is devoted to building a rooted community that embraces new culture and sustainability. She co-curates a community hub for embodiment, arts, and spirituality in Florence MA called The Hidden Temple, and teaches viola at Amherst College. 

www.charlottemalin.com IG: @resonantcharmony

Marie/Murry

Marie/Murry is a song weaver, dream teacher, death doula, & cosmic clown. They paint space with ruminative, playful and etheric sonic strokes. Both a contact dancer & vocal improvisor, the union of movement and sound is at the core of their practice of somatic instrumentation.

Hailing from the Northeast woodlands of Western MA, Marie/Murry carries the gentle & fierce landscapes of the forest in her voice. Involved with several musical projects, most dear to her heart are Tender Spot, her witchpunk project, and Eerie Muse, her folk project, both streaming on Bandcamp. Marie/Murry’s passions include poetry, forest bathing, singing with the wind, dream interpretation, herbalism, queerness and clowning. Marie/Murry is part of the organizing team for Resonance and Ritual.

IG: @eyeblinktherefore

Emmett Charno

Emmett Charno is an educator, facilitator, interdisciplinary artist, performer, and producer bringing magic and play to everything they do. They create events and spaces that are committed to radical self expression and inclusion, especially for those often held in the margins. Emmett has been facilitating group vocal improvisation for over ten years, and has trained with master teachers Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, and Rhiannon among others. They create and collaborate on movement, vocal music, harp, looping, costume, and narrative installation.

In the daytime, Emmett is a reading specialist in NYC teaching elementary school age children to read in private practice and in schools. In the nighttime, Emmett performs and produces as their alter ego Excess Materials in their interdimensional narrative drag shows Portals and other drag performance. Emmett is passionate about science fiction, sex positivity, social justice, literacy, fairy houses, outsider art, and magic. 

www.charnoeducation.org

 

Onome

Onome (pronounced Awe nuh MAY) leads ​​experiences at the intersection of voice, creativity, and mindfulness.

Through structured group improvisation and vocal embodiment practices, Onome designs and leads events for a wide variety of audiences internationally at colleges, corporations, cultural centers, and retreats that “a-ha!” people to new levels of self-discovery, emotional freedom, joy, and creative flow. 

Onome grew up with her ear in multiple worlds, starting with the Nigerian lilt of her immigrant parents, and the African-American vernacular of her classmates. She got her start as a choir geek and embraced the eclecticism of folk, soul, spirituals, European classical chorale, rock, and hip-hop music that she grew up with in Chicago. 

She is a partner artist at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, where she contributes her performances and trainings across their vast educational programming spectrum.

Onome’s work serves holistic-oriented individuals committed to moving beyond fear and emotional stuckness to voice their truth, expressive arts enthusiasts whose souls are deeply nourished by community vocal rituals, and organizations committed to building thriving cultures of connection through experiential learning in the workplace. 

Website: www.onome.org  |  Insight Timer: www.insighttimer.com/onome  |  IG: @onome.om 

Evan Pritchard

Evan Pritchard, a descendant of the Micmac people (part of the Algonquin nations) is the founder of Center for Algonquin Culture, and is a former Professor of Native American history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is also the author of the widely praised No Word For Time, the Way of the Algonquin People, and many other books, including an Algonkian language series. 

Somatic Healing with Parts Work: Partnering with Our Protectors with Mandy Snyder

Come join others on a path of self-discovery for a fruitful dive into your inner world. Drawing from IFS (Internal Family Systems), also called Parts Work, we will root into our centered self, that inner witness, and attend to the parts of us that hold challenging emotions or thought patterns, such as depression, anxiety, judgment, and jealousy, from a place of curiosity.

As we do this, we learn that all parts of us are simply trying their best to help us. One role they play is trying to shield us from pain, harm, discomfort or overwhelm. These are called our “protectors”. Often their strategies aren’t so great: They may distract us, lead us toward addictive behaviors, ignite anger or cause endless mental loops. Pushing these protectors away or ignoring, often makes things worse. Here, we learn to partner with them and support them. We get more familiar with their strategies and
discover their deepest needs: to feel more safe and connected. We also take time to meet
these needs, as best we can.

The practices we engage with are somatic skills, such as breath, sensing and movement, as well as writing, drawing, sharing and creativity. Some practices are done alone, others in small groups or the whole group.

It’s important to know this work may unearth feelings or sensations that can feel uncomfortable. While I will be offering strategies for working with these feelings, please come with a tool or two for getting back to center if you feel triggered or overwhelmed, for example, taking deep breaths, grounding practices or taking breaks. I will encourage self-care and give opportunities for co-regulation. You may want to schedule a little time after the workshop or the next day for rest and self-reflection. Reach out if you have any questions about this workshop. I hope you will join me for this rich opportunity to receive personal insights, to grow in self-acceptance and to experience the joys of learning together.

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Event Details

Workshop: 3 – 6pm

Potluck and Open Movement: 6pm

PRICING

Workshop: $50 – $125 sliding scale

Potluck Dinner: Please bring your favorite dish or donation of $10-15

Sauna and 2 towels: $10

***If you find that you are struggling financially or there are other circumstances that are making it difficult to join this special workshop, please email programming@earthdance.net with your situation so that we can create a way to have you join us.***

If you wish to extend your visit and stay overnight: A dorm bed in our Gratitude Lodge is $40. (Rental of sheets and towel is $15) * Includes access to the sauna and kitchen use but does not provide food. 

Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 10 days before the event less a $20 processing fee.

No refunds available less than 10 days 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.

COVID 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. 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. 

Earthdance’s buildings are ADA accessible. More info here.

Earthdance’s Jam Guidelines

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

HOST BIO

Mandy Snyder is a Somatic Healer and group facilitator who is passionate about creating spaces for embodied self-discovery. With warmth and welcoming, she guides others to make contact with self-compassion, a balm that makes everything just a little easier. Her individual sessions, groups and workshops draw from her training in Somatic Experiencing, study in Internal Family Systems and 25 + years as in movement studies, including Authentic Movement, Body Tales and Contact Improvisation. A lover of nature and laughter, Mandy has spent many years in Vermont and California, and now makes Western Massachusetts her home.

Family Constellation Workshop, Potluck and Sauna with Petrus Slaghekke


A kind of “living map,” Family Constellations is a unique, phenomenological approach that invites you to make peace with your past. It is a way of seeing and knowing your history, and discovering what belongs to you and what doesn’t. When you know what belongs to you, the burdens of the past drop away, allowing you to step into a new spaciousness and vitality.


You can find a more in-depth description of what Family Constellations are in this 5-minute video.

Join us for the workshop from 2-5pm. A potluck and option to enjoy the sauna afterward.

Sauna and 2 towel rental is $10 (which will be paid to Earthdance)

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