February Edition: Dose of Pleasure Workshop at Club OST

Birthed in the heart of Berlin Club Culture, Dose of Pleasure is a dancefloor meditation practice that came out of the lockdown. When the world went into a pause and we were forced to be with ourselves at home, there came a calling to share a practice that shakes the fear out of our system and get into the heart of the grooving body.

As regulations loosened up, Dose of Pleasure became a community of dancers in the parks of Berlin gathering over 150+ dancers each session. This year, we have been fortunate to share this practice in various festivals such as Bucht Der Träumer Festival, WHOLE United Queer Festival, Amsterdam Dance Event, Tag Der Clubkultur, Gender Project Berlin, Inhabitants Festival, Menstrualities Exhibition at Alte Munze & Corona Culture Exhibition.

This project was featured in numerous publications such as DW News, Vice Germany, Companion Magazine, Kaltblut Magazine, Umbigo Magazine, tipBerlin, iheartBerlin and ARTE TV.

19:00 - Arrive

Dose Discussion with Alvin Collantes & Evan Swisher

Theme: "Boundaries as a gateway into liberation, agency & shared expressions"

Mindfulness with Evan Swisher

Dose of Pleasure Session with Alvin Collantes

Overdose DJ Set with TBA

23:00 - Event Finish. Have a beautiful evening!

The theme of this session:

How can we explore, define, express boundaries within ourselves, within each other, within the space? How can boundaries become a gateway into liberating the self, celebrating agency together, practicing permission to let things in, and letting these shared moments become transcendental?

We will look into boundaries as walls of our home, in ways where we build, develop and even play inside the home within our bodies. From this space, we can explore what it means to open the door, inviting guests into our home or even asking permission to enter, to celebrate the security we have within ourselves as we welcome guests and share what we can create moments together.

We look forward to get into this theme with you all!

• We believe in inclusivity. There is great power in sharing the space for every body, every identity. No matter how much we all might differ, how can celebrate this difference, understand what each and every one has been through with the power of movement? Tap into a level of solidarity where we can all learn and grow from each other? That's the beauty of connection, sometimes its just beyond. From here, we yield into softness to learn and grow.
• If you are in a place where you cannot afford the price, due to low-income, please do not hesitate to e-mail us ([email protected]) and we are more than happy to put you in our sliding scale donation list so you are able to join us here.

Dresscode:

We want to put focus on the body and the energy we can access through movement. Please wear comfortable clothes to sweat and extra clothes to change in. You are welcome to dress up as well!

House building:

• It is IMPORTANT to know that this is club space. Therefore, the floors are bare and beautifully raw. This dancefloor has witnessed many memories of club dancing and there is a special piece about doing this work here, in the bareness of what the space brings.
• Please bear in mind that we will practice full expression in movement, we will jump, dance, boogie, shake, get physical and also collapse and stretch on the floor. The guidance is open for you to also modify to shape your experience better.
• Bring comfy clothes and dancing shoes where you are comfortable to lie down or sit in. Clothes that you can also layer.
• Rules of the club, there will be no cameras for this event. There are no taking photos at all during the event.
• This space is a combination of dance training, discussion, bodywork, conscious raving, body awareness.
• Prepare to sweat, be challenged in the most loving way and stay open to explore the process of celebrating all of you in the space.
• Please note that the session might range from solo medititative dancing into partner-work and into groupwork. There might be touch involved, we might progress into touching and massaging and hugging wholesomely! In which opens the space to celebrate each other's consent, boundaries & discernment. You are welcome to participate or if you prefer not to engage in some group or partner work, we also welcome co-create new ways to be involved.

What is this space? Is this ecstatic dance? Is this a guided rave? Is this a dance workshop?

• If you come from ecstatic dance, we work with dance and meditation together to open the space for creative expression and freedom in movement. If you come from Gaga or dance of any background, we work with challenging the body and open doors to welcome effort, gain awareness and discover new ways of moving. If you come from the rave scene, we work with creating a juicy dancefloor together and let the rhythm take us.
• It s a combination between life coaching + dance class + conscious raving + meditation + bodywork + freedom of expression + group work all inside a dancefloor space. Gear up to laugh, cry, scream, sweat and all the ways we can celebrate expressions of life.

What can I expect in this space?

• Expect the unexpected. This space is creative, its spontaneous, it flows with the moment as well as it works with resistance and tension as material to create transformation.
• Every experience serve to the benefit of getting to know yourself better. How can you move with an open heart and a curious mind? What is the value here? We embrace here our weirdness, failing is our teacher, mistakes can lead us to possibilities, exploring the unknown can break us out of our bubble. This is the work of the brave and we are all here to take courage to learn how we can relate to each other.
• Diamonds are made from under pressure. And as we flow in this process, there might be moments where your body will feel triggered to move in the best way. It is to assist you in understanding more ways to express yourself, to know yourself deeper, to open spaces for trial and error, to pick yourself up in moments of falling, to find pleasure in every moment, what it means to be alive and reclaim parts of you that have been left behind.
• This space is punk, it flows in queer expression, it welcomes every body, it opens permission for you to discover what it means to move from authenticity, to exercise free will, to harness your ability to choose.

What music do you play in this event?

• Click here to listen to our playlist for the vibe

What if I don't go to dancefloors but I want to attend this event?

• A dancefloor space can be a place to check-in with yourself, how you come into connection with your body, tapping into your authentic nature through grooving, and facing fears to connect deeply and honestly to other bodies in the space. And when we look at dancefloors as a space to understand ourselves, it can be a beautiful opportunity to integrate these key insights and discoveries into the "dancefloor" of your life.

Is it possible to take a break during the sessions?

• Yes of course, actively listening and observing the space is part of your contribution into the space we are building. If you feel at any moment you need to take a break, there will be a special place for you to plant yourself while still being with the group.

What to do if I come across overwhelming states or challenging feelings during the session? How can I navigate this?

• This is a super vital and important question. Of course, we may be tackling sensitive topics, themes and environments that can trigger something challenging to feel, we encourage you to create space to feel into that, to let these challenging feelings to be heard, seen and felt. This is the beauty and power of dance.
• This can be a space for us to feel things through, so we can open the process of letting things flow through us and not get stuck in story.
• There is wisdom in everything we experience. Every information that shows up in this space here can bring great value to the betterment of understanding yourself. Alvin offers integration calls with his Jungian Life Coaching certification, if you need support in integrating something that showed up for you.

"For me Dose of Pleasure is a private and political space at the same time. I met Alvin as a Gaga teacher a few years ago and immediately gravitated to his work. I learned how to get in touch with my body, how to express, how to let go, how to hold tight. It was a very important journey for me since I am a sensual person and got a lot empowerment out of it. With the practice of Dose of Pleasure I felt that this experience was taken to another level. New was the immense pleasure I experienced through music and movement while participating. Every dose is a highly joyful experience, that kind of joy I felt as a kid, not knowing where to go with all the smiles in the body. Having this in mind, facing all the shit we manifest in the body got a lot easier for me. I can now embrace it and take it with me to the dancefloor, dancing it out, dancing it in, whatever feels right. I can’t emphasis enough what that means to me.

In addition to that, Dose of Pleasure sets a statement on how we want to live with each other in this world. The fact that you can liberate others by liberating yourself was mind-blowing to me. Every session shows it: in such a short period of time all those dancers show up, they open up they express themselves, they are vulnerable and they hold each other. When I go home I feel in touch with the other dancers, I feel in touch with Berlin and in touch with the earth even though I have sometimes spoken no word."

- Johanna Dreyer

“By practicing Dose of Pleasure I’m imprinting in my body the concept of going for what feels good. Because of low self-esteem, I too often ended up going for big compromises that left me unrealized. In the process of unapologetically embracing my intuition, Dose of pleasure is helping me embody this change of perspective. By going 100% for MY groove I’m telling myself I’m allowed to choose what feels good and that I know how to do it. Moreover, I found in Dose of pleasure a community that shares the same open-minded approach and where my energy is not just accepted but also celebrated.”

- Nicoló

"I was blown away by the workshop, because I never find any comparable space where opening up will be celebrated like in these sessions. Not only dancing, energy exchange and freedom. It also gives a serotonin boost. Alvin's sessions should be labeled under "culture" and be founded by the state in order to give people back their will to live. I am dancing on the streets for many years now and no street musician ever managed to get close to the effect his workshops had on me, since Alvin is great at encouraging others to open up and listen into their own feelings and mindsets.

- Willi

"I came to Berlin for the Garbicz festival. 2 days after it over, I was walking around Berlin by myself. The weather was beautiful, the city blooming. When in Tempelhof park, I heard music away, couldn't see where it came from. Kept going, until I saw a group of people dancing together. Music was nice, energy was good. Decided to stay for a bit. Now I'm dancing as well, someone is talking on the microphone, words sweet to the ear. Something between meditation and ecstatic dancing. The sun was red and the moon was full. What a beautiful moment. A moment of joy, of liberation, of life"

- David

“The meeting with Alvin and Dose of Pleasure literally changed my life in many ways. I discovered my groove, I connected to my inner power, I learned to let go, I learned how to let my animal out. Then, of course, the connection to my body, which is now becoming a main tool of expression for me as an artist and the connection to my spirituality. Through DOP I became connected to my Spirit and from there I started a beautiful healing journey. These are just some highlights on a personal level, but also on a social level, I feel that I am belonging to a big family, to a tribe of pleasure, to a community of people that are willing to awaken, that believe in soul connections. That feeling when we all groove as one, when we feel the heart-to-heart connection, when we feel like screaming of joy while the sweat is running down the body – that is the moment!”

- Cristina

We all love a juicy dancefloor where everybody is just 'losing it' in the best way -- and that's an infectious vibe to have in a party.

What if we take everything out for a moment and create a dance workshop devoted to building these kinds of dancefloor spaces? What kinds of conversations can we have to welcome more awareness within the bodies that we carry and the identities we represent?

There's a correlation here that we would like to explore with you and it relates to how we can show up to the space, build community to explore the body in a safe way so we can express the f*ck out of life.

Hallo! I am a Filipino-Canadian dance artist, drag performer, Certified Gaga teacher and a newly Certified Jungian Life Coach based in Berlin, Germany.

Drawing from my personal experiences as passionate raver, queer, immigrant and a person of colour, the essence of my work explores topics of assimilation and its emotional upheavals, uncovering strength inside vulnerability, physical sensations of grieving bodies, resistance as catalyst for transcendent growth and touching upon the impact of drag & resilience of queer communities contributing towards the cultivation of self-acceptance.

I am curious to create a space of integrating jungian life coaching tools into how we relate with our bodies and from there create meaningful celebration of togetherness and radical self-expression in Berlin dancefloors. I believe that everybody has the ability to become a channel of change, of transformation, to build a community of trust and safety so we can inspire other bodies to show up in the space fully.

In this space, we are growing together. I am no higher than you. You are not below than anybody else. We are here to support each other no matter how challenging it can be. We are here to show up to the potential of what we can create together. What I do here is to facilitate the space, express what already is happening and offer ways in which we can crack our hearts open in the presence of resistance and the constructs of the mind.

Are you ready to make things move? Let's vibe.

Click here to read my full bio

Thank you for reading! Looking forward to have you!

Photos & Videos by Luisa Orduno Cazares, Anastasia Gavrilovva & Fabian Kramer

Event Venue

Club OST, Alt-Stralau 1-2,, Berlin, Germany