Sunday January 25th, 2pm-4pm, Rockfish Valley Community Center, $30 (maximum 12 participants, please register to reserve your spot)
Saturday February 7th, 2pm-5pm, Harrisonburg Dance Coop (fundraiser for Mountain Valley Mutual Aid) suggested $35 but any donation amount is welcome and nobody turned away for lack of funds
Participants may attend one or both sessions as desired. They will be similar workshops, though the fundraiser event will be more in-depth and longer.
Register here:
More details below!
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We are in (yet soon to be nearing the end of) the time of winter dreaming. We are still in the chrysalis, individually and collectively. In the cloak of the disintegrating dark, dreaming in a liminal space, in the soup of possibility. Yet, the seasons turn towards spring and we are beckoned to soon emerge. Whether Imbolc, Chinese New Year, Maslenitsa/Pust, or other upcoming seasonal holy days, change is afoot. The intense auspices of the Year of the Fire Horse will call for courage as well as wisdom. What needs to transform at the level of the subconscious and bodily tissues to meet the call?
To transform, we disorganize to then re-organize, just like a caterpillar dissolves and rebuilds their organs (re-organizes) during metamorphosis. This is a kind of “somatic opening” to make space for change. This process occurs at the level of the tissues; in particular, the fascia matrix has a lot to do with how we habitually shape our bodies and minds. This class focuses on a metaphoric chrysalis as a place to unwind stuck, numb, or rigid tissues and patterns and to make possible other ways of being. The unwinding, “un-choreographing,” movement portion asks of you willingness to be in a space of slowness, witnessing what might be otherwise suppressed, hidden, subtle, taboo, rotting, “messy,” or just otherwise unacknowledged. I provide some structured movement patterns that are likely to help you listen to what’s happening and emerging in the web of connective tissue, and give you several “ways in” to allowing improvisational movement to emerge from that perception. We learn to strengthen the muscle of trusting processes that are transforming within our bodies and lives, trusting that our “wings” are growing inside the chrysalid soup. We reinforce embodied pathways to finding a calm center within seeming chaos, as well as pathways towards play and dynamic responsiveness.
After the unwinding, we make our way towards reintegration (knowing that larger patterns are still underway and many metamorphoses cannot find resolution within the span of one class). Yet, we can learn and rehearse how to nurture the emergence of new shapes and patterns in the body that can bring us into closer alignment with our values and commitments in the world. What is practiced in the class is a touchpoint, an anchor, a first draft, a body memory to guide further unfolding.
Participants can expect to be guided through movement practices and somatic invitations which structurally include moving on your own, as well as invitations (optional) for partner and group practices. There will be ample time allocated for nonverbal movement exploration (at times accompanied by music/sound) as well as some verbal time at different points to process what’s coming through the body if conversation is helpful for you. If weather permits, we will incorporate short durations of time outdoors to connect with the beings of the place and the patterns of the season. Regardless of outdoor time, participants will also be invited at different times to connect with non-human beings who might inform our deeper understanding of metamorphosis and the aspects that are most prominently showing up in our lives.
Note on Context and Lineage of Practice: Some movement practices in this workshop are directly inspired by Butoh dance training and methodology. However, it is not *strictly* a Butoh workshop, but rather more broadly a somatic movement workshop. Please see the “About Me” page of my website to learn more about the constellation of specific teachers and techniques that inform and ground my approach, which synthesizes several different lineages. No dance experience is necessary, but a willingness to get curious about your body and engage in improvisational as well as lightly choreographed movement in the presence of others is needed. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions- you can email me at victoria.maria012@gmail.com
“Human fascia is a continuous and ubiquitous three-dimensional web of pre-tensioned connective tissue permeating and supporting every cell, tissue, and organ of the body, providing structural integrity and tensional balance…Fascia is not a passive container but a dynamic complex tissue constantly remodeling in response to mechanical and biochemical stimuli, modulating muscle function, bone health, fluidic dynamics, joint stability, posture, pain, interoception, and proprioception. Moreover, fascia plays a crucial role in intercellular communication, emotions, immune defense, and inflammation regulation.” -John Sharkey and Mark Flannigan, “Towards a Paramedical Interdisciplinary Definition of Fascia Supporting Practitioners Offering Fascia-Focused Therapies”
“First, the caterpillar digests itself, releasing enzymes to dissolve all of its tissues. If you were to cut open a cocoon or chrysalis at just the right time, caterpillar soup would ooze out. But the contents of the pupa are not entirely an amorphous mess. Certain highly organized groups of cells known as imaginal discs survive the digestive process. Before hatching, when a caterpillar is still developing inside its egg, it grows an imaginal disc for each of the adult body parts it will need as a mature butterfly or moth—discs for its eyes, for its wings, its legs and so on. In some species, these imaginal discs remain dormant throughout the caterpillar’s life; in other species, the discs begin to take the shape of adult body parts even before the caterpillar forms a chrysalis or cocoon. Some caterpillars walk around with tiny rudimentary wings tucked inside their bodies, though you would never know it by looking at them…Once a caterpillar has disintegrated all of its tissues except for the imaginal discs, those discs use the protein-rich soup all around them to fuel the rapid cell division required to form the wings, antennae, legs, eyes, genitals and all the other features of an adult butterfly or moth.” -Ferris Jabr, “How Does a Caterpillar Turn into a Butterfly?”