Dance Improvisation / Ecstatic Dance

Class starts promptly at 7:30pm

The first half hour will be warming up our joints and instruction on dance technique.

The following hour and a half (8pm- 9:30pm) will be freeform dancing using what you have learned and what you already know. You may skip the instruction intro and just come for this part of the session.

Where: The City of Aspen Rio Grande Room, Aspen CO 81611
             Behind the Library next to the knight statue
When: First and Third Sundays of every month
             August 1, 15; Sept 5, 19, etc. 2010
Contact: Jess Bates DanceJamAspen@gmail.com 206-393-2689
Cost: $15 per person

Improvisational dance is a creative outlet not tied to any finished form. Many types of art demand a level of 'finish' which the average person will come up against as the deciding factor to whether the artwork is completed successfully or not. Even for the trained artist, the discipline and skill required to apply the appropriate 'finish' can be a demanding task. Freeform dancing will release you from this obligation and become a purely creative personal process. This freedom can be exhilarating, refreshing, dynamic, and recharges our creative energies. -Jess Bates

Dancing with partners is not necessary. Contact Improv is optional. Music is modern rock, tribal, and percussion. Knowing how to dance is not a requirement. This is a safe non-judgmental environment. Beginners and all levels of dancers are welcome.

Come with us to move. Within a loving, moody space. Unfurl your powers, your shadows, your emotions and transform, release, authenticate. Shake it up! Shake it out!

Dance Jam Aspen is ALSO
Great exercise, a full-body workout, aerobic conditioning,
playful, rejuvenating, and huge fun.

Minimal Rules:
- No talking inside the dance studio during the session.
- Please keep opening and closing the main doors to a minimum.
- Respect the boundaries of other dancers.
- Palms together and a bow signal that you are ending partnered dancing.

What to wear:
This is good exercise, so any athletic clothes, yoga clothes, or loose comfortable clothing is fine. Most dancers dance barefoot, but dance slippers may be used. Our floor is safe for tennis shoes as well. Bring water and maybe a handtowel.

Pre-session Warm-up and instruction (first 1/2 hour)

Do you love to dance but you've forgotten how?
Is your body tight? Have you lost your flow?
Are you interested but not exactly sure what "Dance Improv" is?
Do you feel awkward or self conscious on the dance floor?
Are you recovering from an injury or trauma?
Do you need emotional release? Do you feel blocked?
Are you an example of having two left feet?
Have you never learned how to 'freeform' dance in the first place?
Do you have limited dance moves and ideas?

This is for you! The class will explore different ways to move your body to music. There are no steps to learn; emphasis will be on developing a dance vocabulary and discovering your own needs and expression for movement.

What is Ecstatic Dance?

It is generally well established how healing dance and freeform movement can be. Most of us also experience deep joy when our bodies are allowed to express themselves completely without inhibition.

There are many variations of Ecstatic Dance: 5 Rhythms, Freeform, Contact Improv, Spiritual Movement, Dance Jam, etc. One of the basic principles is that these are all dance types without prescribed steps or form. You don’t have to learn how to do it, you discover how. You don’t have to dance with anybody. You don’t have to move any particular way except for how you want, how you feel.

What is Ecstatic Dance Utube 1

What is Ecstatic Dance Utube 2

What is Ecstatic Dance Utube 3

What is Ecstatic Dance Utube 4

Freeform/ Dance Jam/ Dance Improv is lightly structured and about just dancing, transforming, playfully moving. The music may be eclectic or Pop, or it may be themed.

Ecstatic dance is held in a non-judgmental spirit, as a place of love where people can come to heal, to move, to reduce stress, to express themselves, to release their emotions. In a dance you might find a 65 year old man dancing like a young ballerina. You might see someone moving to their own inner needs or emotional expression . There might be someone embodying seaweed. It doesn’t matter. You can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t cross the boundaries of other dancers.

5 Rhythms founded by Gabriel Roth is described as a movement meditation that lasts 1 ½ - 2 hours. The music is arranged in 5 segments: Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. It is intended to incite physical emotion, ramp it up, and then take it down, ensuring a full range of embodied emotional and physical release. Dancers may move their bodies in any freeform way they wish. The lights may be low and the music is frequently rhythmic to help dancers enter a dream-like state. Generally dancing is without partners, and dancing non-stop for the full session is encouraged. Depending on your individual mood, it may range from relaxing to extremely aerobic. Music is generally more tribal and non-vocal.

Contact Improv is freeform contact with other dancers. Generally it is a voluntary activity within a dance, so if it is not for you, just bow out. It is a form of intimate contact that seems to resemble people sticking to each other more than dancing with each other. It may include several dancers at once. Its’ aim is to express yourself while also tuning into others’ movements while holding on or maintaining contact. Easier said than done, but sometimes it’s highly enjoyable. Obviously it’s a huge distraction from meditative dance, and so it isn’t always encouraged and/or participated in by everyone.

Spiritual Movement obviously has many esoteric types; Eurhythmy, Twirling, etc.

Ecstatic Dance is NOT:
   Where you have to dance with someone else.
   Where you have to know how.
   Where you go to talk.
   Where you hit on members of the opposite sex.
   Where you worry how you look.
   Where you impose your needs on others.