Mystic Garden Gathering

Hereʻs some more info and a few pictures of this yearʻs Ecstatic Dance Camp at our Gathering of the Tribes 2011. This year in addition to working again with our partner Conscious Dancer magazine (helping us outreach to quality ecstatic dance teachers), we are also partnering with the Berkeley Dance Journey and adding the NIRVANA CABANA dance space! If youʻve been to NCDC in one of the last 10 years, you know this amazing dance space that has itʻs own dance tent, premium flooring, and beautiful decor!

If you or someone you know is interested  in offering an ecstatic dance journey playshop, please refer to the Workshop Offer Form on the workshops page and weʻll forward it to the Ecstatic Dance Camp Coordinators.

Lifts For All Of Us. A fast paced lifting class that will have you safely doing many lifts in no time. We work with our skeletal structure to support the lift. Kinetic energy is used to make our lifting experience relatively effortless. These lifts can be used for Contact Improvisation, Swing dancing, and will enhance many other dance forms.

KEN MARTINIʻS BIO: I have been practicing Contact Improvisation for 24 years, and teaching for about 12 years. During my years studying dance I was turned off to cliques, and inner circles that excluded the less experienced dancers. I vowed if I ever got good at this I would include everyone. 24 years later,  here I am, and I invite you at whatever skill level you have to come join us. Dance is my primary spiritual practice. I know that we can evolve ourselves by practicing deep listening skills in dance with one another. Through this practice I feel the presence of a higher energy; I believe you can too. My love for dance has led to the creation of the Nirvana Cabana, and managing Dance Journey in Berkeley http://dancejourney.org/

This BodyVision playshop offers is a Nia Style Dance offering a Conscious Structured and Freeform Movement to Music, Incorporating the Body , Mind Emotions & Spirit~ Sensory-based practice that leads to self love and community connectedness. Every experience can be adapted to individual needs and abilities.  Step into joy, and journey, positively shaping the way you feel think and live!

PERSONAL BIO: Liz Mac has brought crowds of dancers together through her vivacious
love of community m o v e m e n t. 2010′s Sacred Livlihood Bazaar, Liz
created to share art & dance. That same year Liz & community taught to
over 80 participants(with thanks to the Sweets Ballroom Oakland’s
donation of dancefloor space,Nia Jam teachers and NiaNow.com community
list) was able to send over $2000.00 to Haiti earthquake releif. Liz
unifies a room with her 8+ years of experience teaching weekly Nia
classes in the Oakland and Walnut Creek areas. Liz Mac also has a
strong following throughout Contra Costa Libraries teaching a
children’s “Joy of Movement” program at every library in the county.
Liz Mac offers a unique contagious joy that invites stiff beginners
and highly fit athletes to adapt the movement/meeting their intensity
level & finding their edge physically, emotionally and with heart.

She is a tireless advocate of Nia, not only teaching but living the principles.  She has a special gift. She compassionately guides her students into the joy of movement, allowing them body to reveal and heal. She is a shining light in our dance community, constantly connecting and welcoming all who enter. She is an ambassador of the conscience dance movement.  She has facilitated workshops and jams, donating the money to those in need.

Shake your body loose, drop your mind and free your spirit Through moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, we access the wisdom found in the rhythms of a wave. This awakens authentic creative expression in our dance, our lives and our world. The first half hour will be stretching and bodyparts warm up. Then an opening into an hour and a half wave of music with a wide range of musical styles – funk, hip hop, trance, ambient, electronica, soul, blues, singer songwriter etc. The space is for a deep letting go and opening until you come home to yourself. No previous dance experience necessary.

PERSONAL BIO: Jacia was described by one of her teachers as the ‘embodiment of heart on the dance floor’. She has been a dance teacher and counselor since 1993. She created AcceptDance and trained and certified with Gabrielle Roth, originator of the 5 Rhythms. Jacia is codirector of the Satori Center in Chico, CA, where she has taught Five Rhythms and dj’d a weekly dance jam for the last decade. She is also a founding member of the Move It Move It Collective, which hosts and djs a Sunday morning Soul Shake Ecstatic Dance in Chico, attended weekly by 50-80 people. She led a workshop at mystic garden party 2010 and also teaches at California WorldFest, the annual world music festival in Grass Valley.

Shake it up, loose, free and wild with a big heart to a 2 hour dance wave with a range of musical styles including funk, world, drum and bass, psy-trance, downtempo and more. No particular way you need to move or be – the emphasis here is on letting it all go and enjoying yourself.

PERSONAL BIO: Born in South-East Asia, raised in Asia and England, Luke’s love for dance was born in the British DIY free party scene at the start of the 90s. He then trained internationally over the next two decades with teachers from zen, advaita, indigenous shamanic, mystical christian, and therapeutic traditions. Luke has worked on the frontlines of social and environmental movements in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Canada and the United States. He now lives in Chico, CA, where he has a counseling practice, leads ‘awake in the masculine’ men’s groups, and co-directs the Satori Center, a center dedicated to the embodiment of authentic awakening. Luke is also a founding member of the Move it Move it Collective, which hosts and djs Chico’s weekly Soul Shake Dance Church with 50-80 people every sunday. Luke dj’d several times at mystic garden party 2010 and also leads a soul shake dance at Calfornia Worldfest, the annual world music festival in Grass Valley.

Nurturedance is a derivative of CI. it is a movement form that provides methods for making safe, loving, and nurturing connections between people. By holding, rocking, and cradling each other, a direct path is formed to deep and visceral experiences of nurturance. Some of the movements we do induce mutual trance states by using repetitive circular motion. A hug that evolves into a spiral that is so safe and supported that we enter graceful states of consciousness. Learn more at: http://nurturedance.org/

KEN MARTINIʻS BIO: I developed Nurturedance in 2002. It is derived from Contact Improvisation. The desire to give and receive nurturance has been a lifelong theme for me, and I feel an abundance of grace to be able to facilitate this. Dance is my primary spiritual practice. I know that we can evolve ourselves by practicing deep listening skills in dance with one another. Through this practice I feel the presence of a higher energy; I believe you can too. My love for dance has led to the creation of the Nirvana Cabana, and managing Dance Journey in Berkeley http://dancejourney.org/

Core Elation – A movement exploration- Pilates
and more! Discovering the pelvic floor and more that encompasses
working from core. Starting with micro movement  , moving on to
elements of   pilates  , chi-gung and yoga traveling on to  world
dance, martial arts and elements of jazz, modern and latin . Moving
from center From the smallest small to the largest leap , moving with
breath , balance and ease from center.

BIO: ABOUT MOANA -Moana started as a modern dancer at age 5 in a barn in
Connecticut “dancing like a tree, like fire , like the wind”. She
graduated at age 7 to Olatunji’s African dance center in Harlem and
later as a teen to Martha Graham and Alvin Ailey schools in NYC.As a
Pilates instructor she received certification from Physical Mind Body
and then again from ITT Pilates. Later as a theater performer, dancing
singing and acting her injuries started her on an exploration of
healing through study of therapeutic movement including Pilates .Moana
has taught Pilates and dance for over 10 years at Nautilus of Marin
and has lead workshops in Marin County , Maui, Kaui and Oahu. Most
recently she taught in the Ecstatic Dance program at Mystic Garden
Party , the Science and Non- Duality Conference and Lightening in a
Bottle 2011.

You are the power, the presence and the love of god. You ARE the WAY. Join us for this powerful dance ceremony to fully awaken and empower the divine human blueprint in each of us. Activate your Light Body in ecstatic, somatic & shamanic cycles of dance, breath, rhythm & active imagination. Empower abundance, wellness and enlightenment in every cell. Embrace and elevate your shadow AS your light. Release doubt, blame, separation and fear. Anchor heaven on earth within your body, heart and mind. Choose the living and loving path of FREEDOM and service to all of life.

Samantha Sweetwater brings passion, presence, & 25 years of experience to embodied leadership & awakening. She is a spiritual guide, life coach & movement expert who inspires & empowers personal and collective transformation through sacred practice, rigorous inquiry, celebration and direct spiritual perception. She is the founder and director of Dancing Freedom, Soul Coaching & PeaceBody Japan. Her work supports optimal physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health, and creates learning laboratories for the emergence of peace, co-creative leadership, resilience and joy. As a Priestess of the Beauty Way, she serves the unfoldment of oneness for all beings. A much loved facilitator, she has shared the awakening journey through soul coaching, conscious dance, vision questing & ceremony with thousands of people around the globe since 1995.

Conscious Compassion Continuum ©

Compassion, love, intimacy and forgiveness – all are virtues of an empathic being. Such qualities are a foundation to internal awareness and much needed for societal growth in any sustainable social system. Yet to receive it, we need give it, and to give it, we must feel it. Using contemplative practices, qigong, dance and discussion, we will explore and build upon a continuum of compassion for self and others. Come dance to build together and bridge the gap between personal practice and community! No movement experience is necessary.

Marguerite Pawlick bridges more than 20 years experience in human potential development via extensive and diverse graduate and participant research, somatic and internal arts, dance and contemplative practices.  She has developed and teaches human potential movement and expressive arts workshops and classes. She co-facilitates a weekly contact improvisation dance event and teaches classes with focus on human potential and/or state awareness in relation to self/others with movement and other art forms. She works with all ages and all levels of ability. Marguerite is known for her compassionate and connective heart-filled approach. She has learnt and shares from the inside out her experience of being right there with you.