Cacao Ceremony W/Suns of the Earth

These Cacao Ceremonies honor a “rainbow prophecy” pathway of ceremony, drawing from a diversity of Indigenous, self-mastery and world sacred traditions. Honoring the Great Spirit that moves through all things, our Mother Earth and the bridging of the angelic and ancestral realms. Suns of the Earth share a passion for sacred songs, practices and their musical talent makes for a very unique, powerful and healing experience bringing participants on a deep journey into the heart.

The three core members of Suns of the Earth all have extensive training in group facilitation through years of ceremonial, shamanic and esoteric practices and initiation. Adepts in their trade, they bring a multi-dimensional approach and understanding to their ceremonial offerings & workshops. For more information : http://www.sunsoftheearth.com/more-offerings.html

Aria Michaels Paradise

DANCING THE ECSTATIC:  A RITUAL OF SURRENDER

Throughout the ages, dance has been used as a vehicle of expressing spirit. This purity and passion of expression is often lost when dancers are concerned with technique and choreography. By focusing solely on perfecting technique, dancers can lose the spontaneity and passion needed for an effective performance. In this workshop, we will explore ways of having the best of both worlds; blending refined technique while surrendering to the character, music, spirit, and energy of a piece.  This will allow for dancers to deliver more effective and more powerful performances.

The workshop will involve an amalgam of techniques designed to both inspire and challenge participants. We will learn a short combination and practice it with different musical selections. After this we will employ specific visualization exercises to increase our awareness of the energy and movement in the piece.

This workshop is suitable for dancers of all levels.

Bio: 

Aria Michaels Paradise is the founder/ Artistic Director of ABRAXAS Dance Theatre, and producer of events including Rara Avis, Alchemy, Paradox, Revelations, and the ongoing series Muse: A Theatrical Bellydance Project. She also served as co- producer of the monthly event Belly Dance Underground.

 

Aria’s extensive background in movement and the arts includes advanced training in ballet, modern, jazz, belly dance, gymnastics, and piano. She is a former member of the State Ballet of Rhode Island where she performed in contemporary works as well as romantic ballets such as Giselle and Coppelia. It was during a performance of Giselle where Aria first discovered how art can highlight, honor, and celebrate the journey to the underworld: exploring the paradox of beauty and the grotesque, and mourning the temporary while celebrating the eternal. The celebration of narrative found in Romantic ballets is evident in Aria’s solo and group choreography, as she often returns to her classical roots for artistic inspiration.

 

Aria began her study of belly dance in 2001 with Sabra Jamal, and from 2008 – 2009 performed with Johara’s Snake Dance Theater. In 2011 Aria founded ABRAXAS Dance Theatre which is focused on delving into the collective unconscious, and tapping into myth, media, literature, and art through the ritual of theatrical dance.  As a solo artist Aria has performed nationally and internationally in theatrical events including Raven’s Night, Lumen Obscura, Waking Persephone, Cabaret Danse Macabre, and the New York Theatrical Bellydance Conference.

 

Aria holds graduate degrees in art history and clinical social work, is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi honor society for outstanding graduate work, and is currently an independently licensed psychotherapist, Reiki Master, tarot reader, and owner of ABRAXAS Intuitive Arts.

 

Please visit her websites www.tinydancer.co and www.abraxasintuitivearts.com.

 

Cathy Pedevillano (Jaguar Moon)

“Journeying Into The Heart of Earth and Stars”

Sink your roots deep into Mother Earth, connect with Spirit Allies and Inner Soul Guidance through Shamanic Drum Journeying, replenish and re-align with a Transmission of LuSTARA Energy. Join Jaguar Moon for sacred and fun time in nature and a powerful shamanic drum journey. Receive the gift of “The Energy of the Stars” to awaken and support deep healing and transformation.  

Cathy Pedevillano (Jaguar Moon)

Sink your roots deep into Mother Earth, connect with Spirit Allies and Inner Soul Guidance through Shamanic Drum Journeying, replenish and re-align with a Transmission of LuSTARA Energy. Cathy is here as your shamanic guide and Lightworker to help you ground into your physical body and Earth body, explore your inner realms, and expand into higher states of consciousness. Jaguar Moon has been walking a strong Medicine Path of visionary, shaman, healer, channel, teacher and writer for 25 years. She has worked with indigenous elders in Siberia, the American Southwest and Northeast, Mexico and Hawaii.

 

Cathy joyfully shares her gifts of clairvoyance, energy healing, shamanic practices, channeling, Earth connection and teaching the Ancient Wisdom Ways.  She holds and creates strong ceremonial and transformational space. Her work has empowered many to heal their past, claim personal mastery and create inspired change in their lives and the world. Jaguar Moon offers private healing sessions, trainings, workshops, classes, ceremonies, trips to sacred sites, and rites of passage; providing ways to reconnect with Self, Spirit, Nature and Tribe.

 

In 2011, Cathy began channeling LuSTARA Energy and the Messages from LuSTARA guides. This is a high vibrational energy of that is here to awaken one’s purpose, activate the essence of Who We Really Are, and create alignment with current planetary shifts.  She is committed to her own awakening and assisting humanity and Earth in the grand shift of consciousness that we are all part of. With her roots dug deeply into Earth, and her wings spread wide into Stars, Cathy and Her Spirit Allies work their Magic to mend and restore the sacred hoop of harmony and wholeness.

For more about Cathy and her work see www.shamaniclightwork.org

 

 

Ryan B Curtis

Ryan B Curtis

I create and share art with the intention of communicating and celebrating sacred, profound and beautiful aspects of life and spiritual-reality.  I aim to make work that powerfully references, communicates and reminds the viewer as well as myself of the vital connection to the divine that we are all invited to experience and share in… that soul soup that we are here stirring up… lets make it be an over-flowing love filled cup!  I choose to align with the universal current that recognizes life as spirit and spirit as life.  If we claim to hold spirit sacred, then we must hold life sacred.  And even if we do not “believe” in spirit then all the more reason to hold life sacred.

 

My art is currently born of experiments and practices with drawing, photography, digital collage, alternative printmaking, mixed media painting and digital meets analogue airbrush body painting. The muses which I currently tap into to create my work include human and animal forms, sacred geometry, all forms of spirituality and reverence for nature and humanitarian ideals .

 

My physical process often begins with digital collage composed of photographs of nature, animals, natural and man-made structures, sacred geometry and people.  I own an old oil toner printer from which I assemble a collage of prints which I then transfer the prints to pre-painted wood, paper or raw canvass.  The transferred image becomes a layer of the mixed media painted collage as I continue to work the piece with layers of paint, airbrush, stencils, love, hope and desire towards my goal for a meaningful aesthetic with harmonic resonance and impact.

 

Right now I am living in Trumansburg NY just outside Ithaca.  I am working on my first album while making paintings as inspirations strikes and illustrating my first children’s book, “You’ve got the UNIVERSE in your hands”.

My work can be seen online at AquariusDreams.com

Bless your life and follow your hearts dreams!

ryanbcurtisreleasing+peace!+

OmFly

omfly_photos_jen Founder and artistic director Jen Taylor studied aerials with    NECCA & LAVA, and circus with Circus Minimus & Circus  Yoga.  She has been teaching and directing circus arts and  yoga for 9 years. She also has a degree in Philosophy and  studied engaged  Buddhism with peace activist Thich Nhat  Hahn.

 
 
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OmFly Co-artistic director, Melissa Cokas, has been teaching various aspects of yoga and movement since becoming certified with Nosara Yoga Institute in 2001.  A lifelong dancer she has studied many forms of dance including ballet, modern, ecstatic, contact, and African the form she has focused on for the past 10 years.  She has been learning, playing and teaching flying yoga, and hooping for over 10 years.  Beginning 5 years ago she developed a love for aerials and now studies and teaches silks with the OmFly team.  She has a degree in Environmental Engineering and loves to share her passion for nutrition and the environment with those who wish to learn.

 
 
 

omfly_photos_daniDani Bobbi Lee is a free spirit, circus lover with a passion for total awesomeness! YEAH!  She started hooping 6 years ago when a good friend let her borrow a hoop during a party and she fell in love completely.  She continued to learn new tricks by experiencing, observing and her all-time favorite way to learn a new trick: accidental miracles. With the hoop community now growing at a rapid pace, Dani is so grateful to share and learn with others that have the same passion, especially with the tiny humans (kids!). During her hoop career she became a massage therapist, discovered the magic truth of yoga, and found a community of circus folk to play with at OM-FLY.  She grew with this special community to discover new things about herself and the Universe we all share.   All these brilliant gifts have transformed her abstraction of the human body and she started to see the true beauty of how precious this vehicle is that we all drive in this wondrous place.  Dani continues to be in awe of all the wonders the world has to offer and all the play that there is to be had, especially with each other!  Her philosophy is celebration of collaboration; the more the merrier, the higher the vibrations, the bigger the love. She aspires to continue to move with freedom and high spirits and to inspire and continue to be inspired.

 
 
 

 Maia Rose has been spinning up spirals and gathering momentum for the northeastern hoop dance community since 2009, omfly_photos_maiawhen she left a cozy job to pursue a creativity fueled life. Through her hoop journey she was introduced to the greater circus arts community, specifically collaborating with the OmFly Collective in CT under the direction of Jen Taylor. Maia has recently expanded her offerings to include creating space within the CircusYoga container of playful human connection, and has taken off around the US (and beyond) exploring the many facets of the human experience and connection to spirit through ritual, play practice, and ecstatic embodiment. You might see her spinning fire and crazy LED hoops, balancing humans on her feet, twisting herself into knots, singing silly songs, or hanging upside down in various fashions. Follow her nomadic musings on Instagram and Tumblr @maiaroseblossom, or find her on the book.

 
 
 

omfly_photos_mariMari Nazzaro is a joyful and curious journeyer of life. She lives to explore all corners of the mind and universe through improvisation, dream travel, and connecting with other humans and beings.
Mari serves her community as an Infant/Toddler Montessori Lead Teacher and Parent Educator at the Children’s Tree Montessori School in Old Saybrook. Through this work, Mari empowers children to become their authentic selves through individualized peace education. As a circus performer/educator, Mari specializes in hoop dance and the facilitation of creative improvisational flow. Her current focuses include double hoop manipulation and the spiritual benefits of flow practice.

 
 
 

christanomflyChristiaan Cokas, an athlete by nature, has a passion for utilizing the gifts of the body.  Whether its flying yoga, human pyramids, juggling or other forms of object manipulation, he is always ready to play.  He has been engaging in various forms of flying, partner and acrobatic yoga for 6 years.

Charity Ritscher

Going Inside. Outside.
Charity Ritscher, of Indigo Yoga, has been practicing yoga and bodywork for more than a dozen years. She draws on her knowledge of the body, a deep iyengar practice and love of  nature and meditation to teach a relaxed practice of becoming present with yourself and the outdoors. Feel the sunshine, feel your heart.  Notice the touch of wind and the settling of your breath.  Come and relax and drop into your own being

charityyoga

Moti Zemelman

CONTACT IMPROVISATION
Through the physical principles of touch, momentum, and weight sharing, this partner dance practice explores the skills of falling, rolling, counterbalance, lifting using minimal effort, how to make ourselves light when being lifted, centering and breathing techniques, and responsiveness to our partners and surroundings. Together we create a safe space to explore these skills and let our curiosity and joy lead the dance.


TOUCHING the MOMENT: FROM STILLNESS to IMPULSE to ACTION
Contact Improvisation is a patner dance form that honors each moment. There is a sweet surrendering that happens when our bodies stay faithful to what is happening now, and now… and NOW! In this class we learn to recognize and differentiate the subtle impulses in our choices and our partner’s choices. We begin to decipher the cues that we give and receive which tell us when to lead or follow, when to go up, when to go down, where to touch, how to lift, when to slow down, and when to be still. Learn to stay in integrity with each choice, never forcing, never rushing. When Body, Mind, and Spirit are united in their instinctive wisdom we find our-selves at home in every moment expressing our true nature.


Moti Zemelman, MFA
, began practicing Contact Improv 26 years ago. Over the past 20 years he has taught and performed across USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Europe and Israel. In 2008-09 he was Dance Professor at the Instituto Naciónal de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Moti has been both a teacher and a board member at Earthdance Retreat Center in Plainfield, MA. He was an original member of Wire Monkey Dance Co., (Holyoke, MA, USA) and is a featured dancer in Sanford Lewis’ soon to be released documentary film about CI “An Intimate Dance.” As a musician Moti plays vocal-electronic music for Contact Jams and in 2007 released his debut CD, Doorwaves. He also designs and moderates the international Contact Improv resource website www.contactimprov.com.

 

 

Nahko and Medicine for the People #wisewordswednesday

Nahko and Medicine for the People

Don’t Waste Your Hate, Rather Gather & Create.

It’s hump day Unifiers! To get you over the slumpity slump, some wiseness from one of the amazing artists coming to #UnifierFestival2015, Nahko and Medicine for the People: “Don’t waste your hate, rather gather and create.” – Nahko Bear —

#wisewordswednesday #quotespirations #nahko#nahkobear#nahkoandmedicineforthepeople#sharingiscaring #transformational#music #dance #art#organicfood#ceremony #tribal #circus #chant#kirtan#festival #tolland#massachusetts #sayyes

Healing Drums with Dan Bailey

Drumming is one of the rare practices that both stimulates and relaxes the mind.  It is a moving meditation.  Join our healing circle as master drummer Dan Bailey teaches traditional West African polyrhythms, chants and djembe techniques for getting proper tones and protecting your hands while tuning into the healing qualities of ancient rhythms.  Godson and protege of Grammy Award winning cultural ambassador Baba Olatunji, Bailey has been teaching African drum workshops for over 20 years.  Using Olatunji’s method of vocalizing rhythms, drumming becomes accessible to all.  No experience necessary and advanced percussionists welcome.  Please bring a djembe, hand drum or other percussion instrument.

 

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