Remembering the Body: Dance Explorations for the Winter Solstice

In this profound moment of the changing of seasons, darkness becomes longer, yet the seeds of light are sown.

We invite our bodies, emotions, and imagination to explore the interplay between darkness and light, metaphors for creative renewal that remind us of how we can feel alive in the face of unsettling times.

Come as you are and be curious as to what may show up.

Darkness invites us to turn inward, to rest, to quiet our minds and prepare for what is to come. Through somatic receptiveness, we slow down, soften, fall, and yield into earth.

As we negotiate earth's forces, we connect with what's going on inside and around us.

Inviting curiosity, we rise and activate pathways to welcome light/ lightness, radiating, pulsing, spreading, opening to new dreams and possibilities.

We dedicate our practice to trusting our inner intelligence, to reflect on:

What experience(s) shaped you this year and what resources can you cultivate as you survive, thrive, dream, express your longing and aspiration?

What if we could embody our many capacities - to hold and to let go, yield and push, contract and expand, fall and rise, to trust and open to the unknown, to remember our aliveness?

Resources:

Anna Halprin's Integrative Dance and other somatic approaches

Movement improvisation

Life-Art tools: multiple levels of awareness and response, group interaction

Writing and drawing

Receptiveness, curiosity, courage, compassion, care

Ritual and nature's cycles

Please bring:

1 object that symolizes drakness, 1 object that symbolizes light for our collective altar

Drawing and writing materials

Clothing/ layers for warmth

Light snack (we will have a short break)

Getting to Finnish Hall and parking:

Finnish Hall is a 10-minute walk to and from North Berkeley BART station.

Please allow extra time for parking as this is a busy neighborhood.

You are welcome to arrive 10 minutes early to settle in.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Finnish Hall, Meeting Room, 1970 Chestnut Street, Berkeley, United States