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This container offers an immersive time and space to engage with contact-improvisation as a powerful gateway for getting closely acquainted with your personal physiology and kinetics. Carefully curated sessions will blend theoretical knowledge of female biomechanics with the playful study of weight, gravity, momentum and connecting with moving bodies, notorious to contact-improvisation.

Your body, in this context, becomes the landscape and architecture for a deliberate and precise self-study, a deepening of your  contact-improvisation practice and a greater understanding of your female body.

Although assembled as a deep solo study, the female-body group container of femina.kinetica.ci will naturally give rise to essential collective insights. This support will lead your solo towards the pathways of optimizing a heightened and autonomous lucidity of expressiveness, efficiency and creativity within your contact-improvisation  dance.

femina.kinetica.ci leverages the benefits of a female-body container to deepen the study of the female body in motion.  It is specifically designed for those with anatomical female bodies, creating a nurturing and empowering environment that highlights the diversity, strength, and fluidity inherent in the female body form. The shared experience of like-bodied participants enriches the learning process, enabling a deeper, collective exploration of movement that is tailored specifically to female biomechanics.We hope this to be a nourishing and liberating experience for those who hold a female-anatomy-body. With the femina.kinetica.ci container offering an exclusive focus on the female anatomy in contact-improvisation, cis-men, are asked to not attend this event.

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What to Expect

Welcome to Femina Kinetica—a four-day deep dive into the female body in motion. This workshop invites participants into an intimate and expansive practice space where we’ll explore Contact Improvisation through the lens of female anatomy, lived experience, and somatic intelligence. 

• Embodied study and discussions on feminine biomechanics.
• Daily somatic movement classes rooted in Material for the Spine, Tuning Scores, and embodied female anatomy.
• Contact Improvisation practices that honor weight, momentum, and deep listening.
• Guided partnering, solo research, and group constellations.
• Improvisational scores, evening jams, and spontaneous composition.
• Early morning silent forest walks exploring foot-to-floor responsiveness, followed by sauna and quarry plunges.
• A like-bodied container for anatomical female bodies, held with care, creativity, and mutual respect.
• A balance of rigorous physicality, emotional spaciousness, quietude, and collective insight.

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Arrival Check-In, Opening Circle and Departure

• Arrival/Onsite Check-In: Participants will check-in at the front of the Farmhouse from 4-7pm on Thursday, September 11th. Dinner from 6-7pm.
• Opening Circle: Friday, September 12th at 10 am. All participants are asked to attend.
• Closing Circle: Sunday, September 14th at 12:30pm. Lunch 1-2pm.
• Final Group Clean: Sunday, September 14th from 2-3pm
• Departure: Sunday, September 7th by 3pm.

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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.

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PRICING: Sliding Scale

GRATITUDE LODGE

$400 – Financially Strained to $800 – Financially Abundant

CAMPING

$375 – Financially Strained to $775 – Financially Abundant

COMMUTER

$350 – Financially Strained to $750 – Financially Abundant

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Equity & Access Tickets 

Although we’re not able to offer any full scholarships this year, we’re excited to offer up to 3 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! Applications Due September 4th

Earthdance makes efforts to support Equity & Access at all its events, and 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.

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Housing Options

Gratitude Lodge

Includes a bed in the Gratitude Lodge, event offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the event.

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 cost. Beds are available on a first come basis.

Camping

Includes a spot to camp at Earthdance, event offerings, sauna & quarry access, and food during the event.

Commuter

You will have access to the event offerings, sauna & quarry access, 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 is NOT available.

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Cancellation Policy

Refund available up to 14 days (August 28th) before the event less a $75 processing fee. 

No refunds available less than 14 days (August 28th) 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 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

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HOST BIO

Valerie Sabah

Valerie Sabbah is a Montreal-based choreographer, teacher, and psychosomatic dance therapist. Her 18-year Contact-Improvisation practice and research draws specifically from FIGURE SPACE, a 4 year-training with Steve Paxton (Material for the Spine) and Lisa Nelson (The Tuning Score). This profound training has reshaped her approach to viewing the body in motion, embracing a 360-degree and spherical perspective that captivates her curiosity about the body’s natural reflexes and how the body will or will not respond in states of perceived urgency.

At the heart of Montreal’s Contact-Improvisation scene, she curates dynamic C.I. programming. Her offerings include varied-level weekly classes, engaging jams, and master class intensives featuring celebrated guest teachers like Mark Young, Kristen Lewis, and Stu Philipps.

Attuned to guiding women toward grounding back into their bodies and developing personal strength, as a somatic psychotherapist, Valerie’s sessions weave together Contact-Improvisation, BMC, Cranio-Sacral Therapy, and Art-Therapy. With  as her focus, her movement therapy work encourages women to anchor themselves in their physicality and cultivate resilience and autonomy. She guides women to ground themselves in their bodies, develop resilience, and anchor their personal strength.

Intrigued by the essence of spontaneous composition, Valerie explores how performance environments can deepen the practice of Tuning, promoting an intense, embodied experience that enhances creativity through the body’s innate survival instincts. She instinctively creates fertile playgrounds for artists to meet, gather, create, collaborate, and showcase their work. Her curatorial approach proposes a highly visual and surrealistic universe, centered on the expression of the female body: stereotypes, clichés, oppression, the feminine, the wild, and the infinitely complex and multifaceted forms it can take.

Currently, Valerie’s research in Contact Improvisation focuses on how intimate familiarity with one’s biomechanics and unique structural nuances can transform the Contact-Improvisation dance into playful, rigorous, and expansively responsive state. She is captivated by how understanding your own body’s interactions with gravity, space, and other moving bodies can revolutionize personal expression within the art form. 

Her workshops and classes are designed to be immersive experiences, where participants are encouraged to explore their boundaries and develop a nuanced appreciation of their own bodies in motion. 

Deeply dedicated to psychosomatic wellness, her teaching approach resonates with profound societal themes. She advocates for healing through movement and self-expression, inviting individuals to delve into her world of motion, emotion, and transformation, whether through teaching, therapeutic sessions, or artistic projects.

About The Nomadic College:

The Nomadic College is an itinerant school for the principle study and application of The Axis Syllabus. Rather than a festival, or celebration, the Nomadic College is what its title suggests; an intensive study context. 

Our Philosophy is: Conscientiousness towards commitments, self organization and voluntary participation. As below, so above.​

As organizers, we seek to adapt and integrate the Nomadic College into the local conditions we find at the venue. The living and working conditions we search for are as low cost as possible, to permit as many people as possible to participate for as long as possible. These options usually entail communal living, which offers an opportunity to practice practical coordination & collaboration, mutual respect, and the mature maintenance of hygiene. Participants arrive with the awareness that they are expected to take initiative to alter their circumstances if unsatisfactory, to conserve their health and strength for the intensive demands of the study of The Axis Syllabus, and adapt to the challenges inherent in sharing spaces and resources. If people have the means, they are always welcome to organize living spaces for themselves.

At the Nomadic College, we organize a few pre-scheduled extra curricular events. Our idea is to leave time open for spontaneous initiatives. Alternative meetings, conferences, jams, or performances can be organized on a consent basis with/among the participants during the Nomadic College.

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SCHEDULE: WEEK ONE – SOUL FUSION

September 27th to October 2nd​​​

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Class Descriptions:

Week One:

You Got This

teacher: Frey Faust
Yes, you do! 70,000 or more muscle fibres, bedded in a web of tensile connection and endless nervous sensors, capable of re-bundling and responding intelligently to any context, even to the unforeseen. 206 bones offering 900 synovial joint surfaces that in collaboration with the fascial meshwork, can reorganise and channel enormous forces in, through and onwards, transforming the potential danger of a fall into joyous, million-year old celebration of gravity. In preparation for two weeks of intense dancing, this class offers an in depth review of the body’s common heritage in all it’s endless variation, as drawn from the latest and 6th edition of The Axis Syllabus©, Volume One.

Circular Pathways

teacher: Claire Turner Reid

Explore sequential movement as it relates to clear circulation through our structure. Map and sense major thoroughfares that provide tunnels and highways for our precious fluids to circulate through. How might sequential spirals invite enlivening blood paths for easy flow and invigorated tissues? As we play with communication between our masses and articulating surfaces, we will bring our movement choices into relationship with our blood. Connect to the pathways of our pulses for soft circular sequencing, collaboratively working with the patterned miracle of our design.

Creation Now!: Tracing Gesture –  Choreographing Meaning

teacher: Karola Luttrinhaus

This two day workshop focuses on the personal and inter-relational aspects of embodied creativity. Through moving intuitively and verbalising our experiences, we find belonging in spontaneity. Working with the idea of tracing our gestures, we will explore solo and duet formats that invite us to wildly distill meaning from our movement, and movement from our meanings. We tap into the membrane between the conscious and the subconscious to invite movement, poems, and conversational texts to emerge that bear witness to the beautiful and powerful interconnectedness of moving and thinking.​ 

A Tapestry of Relational Circuits of Interdependence
Complex Movement Puzzles

teacher: Kerwin Barrington

Let’s explore some Axis Syllabus principles by relating them to the living organisation that is a movement phrase. Through a series of Fractals (self-similar movement patterns on a smaller/different scale), we will take time to move with and find new variants of these principles as we integrate/embody them. By way of this process, we will learn about the whole phrase through it’s very own parts, then eventually take these parts back to the whole. Like tapestry, we will weave together a multiplicity of variations of the original pattern, and in doing so, make it our own.

Reaching towards the Earth and Sky: the Logic of Support

teacher: Nuria Bowart

We all need support as we go through life. In this class we will practice dancing from the ground up, keying into the many systems that are already designed to support us as we move, and checking to insure the synergetic behaviour of our body’s masses.

• ⁠Hands and Feet
• ⁠Spine
• Tensegrity expressed the Fascial network
• Physical principles as they suggest vectors to harnessing the energy of our falls

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SCHEDULE: WEEK TWO – KINETIC KINSHIP

October 4th to 9th

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Class Descriptions:

WEEK TWO:

Playful Discoveries: A Study in Collective Intelligence

teacher: Nuria Bowart

“We are multiple and singular intelligences. Which one you are is determined by how you move your attention.” Nita Little 2025

Through the use of various games and scores, this class will involve some serious play! Together we will practice collective strategies for “success” and “failure”. Through movement play together, we will work to identify and expand our zone of adaptability while look for ways to find “success” in every moment. We will be working in duos, trios and larger groups.

This class aims to:

• Expand proprioception 
• ⁠Tune intero/exteroception
• Practice moving between being one and many

Up and Falling UP!

teacher: Frey Faust

Here we will check runway options, landing gear integrity and propulsion system power output efficiency and energy conservation. Roll-through, vault, slingshot, catapult, and micro compensation motion for macro rebound! Flight ready?

Made of the Same Stuff

teacher: Dan Bear Davis

This workshop moves in the studio and out into the moving landscapes of the breathing, pulsing earth around us. We explore the human body in context of the winding contours and branching intelligences that we evolved with. We are made of the same stuff. Engaging nature as collaborator and teacher invites an intimacy with our own possibilities. This workshop will span from the contemplative to the dynamic. We will explore counterbalance, hanging support, three-dimensional architectures, spinal wrapping and contouring, and so much more.

Dialectical Cycles

teacher: Claire Turner Reid

We will test the proposal that by fully committing ourselves to the opposite of our aim, we might accomplish greater success. Go back in order to go forward. We will play with laws of physics, principles from Taijiquan and Taoist philosophy to inform this dance. We will apply ourselves to the progressive process of movement. Enjoy a refinement of nuance and subtlety in order to invite virtuosity. While attempting to hold the frame of locomotion as a great cyclical wave, we will stretch our minds’ and bodies’ ability to orient towards complexity – not through pushing, but through understanding. Parsing out phases of movement in opposition and in relation to a whole cycle, we will hone our agility within processes of landing and launching, reception and propulsion, lead and lag, undulations and oscillation. Can we allow ourselves to enter the dialectic with such awareness that we feel we might slow down time and escape earth’s gravity?

NOTE!!!! OPEN MENTORING SPACE 

The open mentoring space will be available to all NC participants without further charge. Facilitators will be on hand to answer questions, give  counsel or feedback

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

Axis Syllabus Lab Classes
Tuesday 30th September 3:15 to 5:15

Wednesday 1st October 3:15 to 5:15 

Sharing: informal performance opportunity for NC participants 

Wednesday October 8th 9:00 to 10:00pm​

After-Dinner Closing Celebration!

Thursday October 9th

If you have any questions about Nomadic College classes or registration please contact Kerwin at nomadiccollege.americas@gmail.com

If you have any questions about Earthdance accomodations, food, or work-exchange opportunities please contact Olive at site@earthdance.net

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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.

SHARE OUR FACEBOOK INVITE!

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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.

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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

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INTERNATIONAL DISCOUNT

Earthdance is happy to announce a 20% discount for international travelers wanting to attend an Earthdance run event. We hope this gesture helps to keep our events accessible for those from different cultures that are traveling from afar. We also realize that given the current political situation coming to the US might be more expensive or challenging and hope this discount is a way of keeping Earthdance in your hearts.

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.

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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.

Earthdance’s Nudity Policy

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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.

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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.