B I O D A N Z A : Life in Movement
Movement ~ Music ~ Community care ~ Restorative play ~ Rest ~ Revolution
A nine-week gathering to journey through Winter into Spring
Wednesdays, January 15th – March 19th, 7–9pm (except 2/19)
Venture Way Collaborative @ 200 Venture Way, Hadley, MA
***Open session on January 15th***
Register below and spread the word!
Facebook event: https://tinyurl.com/Biodanza-open-winter
BIODANZA: vida en movimiento
Aula bilingüe en inglés y español
Sesión abierta el 15 de enero a las 19 horas
Póngase en contacto con Clara para más información e inscripción
(email y teléfono siguen al final)
with Clara Rubin-Smith McKie
Certified Biodanza Facilitator
Facilitadora bilingüe en inglés y español
What nourishment are you craving as winter sets in? What needs to be shed, or pared away at least for now, and what’s wanting to come forward?
As we venture into this new year, let’s keep gathering and sharing and moving with each other. There is so much afoot in our world, and in each of our worlds, and the need for community, for true connection and shared support, of staying close to what’s most essential amid the swirl, feels at once extra important and sometimes so completely out of reach.
We are gathering as a group for another two-month cycle to meet and move with these questions, and to follow needs and hopes that arise as we journey through winter into spring. To practice our own good medicine in community, and our collective good medicine together. The container of a committed weekly group is an opportunity to build trust and a journey together that supports our personal and collective unfolding; a place of mutual care where you can come just as you are and leave with more energy, feeling more connected and resourced each week.
This round we will continue to meet on Wednesday evenings, January 15th through March 19th (no class on February 19th) at the beautiful Venture Way Collaborative space in Hadley. The group has an overall commitment, but missing a session or two within this is fine if needed. And the first week of the series, we’re opening our arms wide to welcome in friends and all who’d like to experience Biodanza and this wonderful group of folks, and for those considering diving in with us to dip toes in first.
All ages 18+ welcome. No experience necessary, just bring your curious heart and a desire to connect with yourself and others.
Biodanza is a gentle and powerful integrative system promoting human development both personal and collective, originally developed in Chile during the 1960’s and now a global movement. Each class is tailor-made for the group, and journeys through life-affirming exercises that take the form of dances and other everyday movements, paired with carefully-chosen, inspiring music from around the world and building upon each other. These are invitations into vivencia, experiences of feeling completely alive in the present moment, that open up new ways of relating with ourselves, each other, and the world around us. In the process, we are invited to return to what’s most life-giving for each of us, discovering new ways of moving through life, learning how to live together as human beings, and celebrating and building on all the good.
This is a regenerative practice that lowers stress, brings out natural creativity and resilience, and has many positive benefits for our communication, all of our relationships, and overall health. Research studies have documented the positive impacts of 6-12 week Biodanza programs on emotional, social and biological health – including lower stress hormones in the body, improved mood and blood pressure regulation, and increased immune system function, to name a few – effects that were found to continue in the months following participation (check out this research summary for details). Two months is a nice stretch to practice new habits and for changes to take root. Connect with your inner strength and innate creativity, move to heal your emotional and physical body, grow your resilience and capacity for being in the here and now. Come for two hours of restorative play and community care that will return you to your most essential self and ripple far beyond our time together.
Advance Registration Required
Sliding scale $225-360 for the nine weeks.
For the January 15th open session only, sliding scale $25-40.
Register through www.venmo.com/u/ClaraRSM or paypal.me/ClaraRubinSmith and be sure to include your email address for class details and updates.
Preguntas? Questions?
Email cirubinsmith@gmail.com
Text or WhatsApp 1-415-694-8843
Date
- Jan 22 2025
Time
- 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Cost
- Sliding scale $225-$360
More Info
Location
- 200 Venture Way, Hadley, MA 01035
Organizer
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Clara Rubin-Smith McKie
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Email
cirubinsmith@gmail.com Clara is an interdisciplinary teacher and artist building individual and collective wellbeing working at the intersections of health and the arts. Her practice focuses on community facilitation and capacity-building, designing accessible participatory arts experiences that invite connection and embodied nervous system learning through play. Clara is a certified Biodanza facilitator with specializations in working with youth and families as well as organizations and teams. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology, Modern Languages and Dance, and has worked across diverse fields including nonprofits, education and health care, from pregnancy and early childhood to end of life. Clara is bilingual (English/Spanish) and creates circles and sanctuary spaces that help people who hold space for others -- especially caregivers, teachers and other leaders -- to tap into the wisdom of their bodies, find and use their voices, and step into greater connection, creativity and healing for themselves and this world we live in together.
Speaker
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Clara Rubin-Smith McKieCertified Biodanza FacilitatorClara is a lifelong dancer and music-maker, somatic movement educator, songleader, and mother raising her two greatest teachers. Now making home in western MA after many years living in San Francisco, CA. She has a B.A. in Anthropology, Modern Languages and Dance, and her thesis work centered on ways that womxn in Latin America have mobilized social change through dance and music. She is a certified MotherCircle Facilitator, and longtime Biodanza Facilitator, leading in English and Spanish with additional specializations in bringing this practice to youth, organizations and teams; her Biodanza monograph focused on co-creating conditions supportive of growth and wellbeing with families and individuals at any age.
Clara has worked across diverse fields including nonprofits, education and health care, from pregnancy and early childhood to end of life, with an emphasis on communication and community building. In many years as an interdisciplinary teacher and artist, she’s focused on building individual and organizational wellbeing working at the intersections of health and the arts, and has been an invited presenter to a wide range of groups and events including a statewide early education conference for teachers and parents. During pandemic times, she created a program called Lullabies for Grownups, bringing forward singing to ourselves and in community as a centering and regenerative practice, and pathway for evolving how we use our voices in relationship and out in the world.
As a facilitator, Clara creates circles and sanctuary spaces that help people who hold space for others — especially caregivers, teachers, and other leaders — to tap into the wisdom of their bodies, find and use their voices, and step into greater connection, creativity and healing for themselves and this world we live in together.
