Colours in Contact: Moving Roots - Dance, Listen, Tend, & Transform

Moving Roots is a 5-week journey through movement, reflection, and presence. Inspired by the principles of contact improvisation, we’ll explore the stories that live in our bodies, notice what holds us back, and gently cultivate new ways of being. Through guided explorations, journaling, and shared witnessing, we’ll learn how to loosen what no longer serves us and nourish the seeds of self-trust, resilience, and self-love.

Week 1 – Stories as roots

Theme: Stories / Dreams

Which roots do we wish to loosen? What narratives about ourselves keep us small, and what might shift if we began to rewrite them? We begin by noticing, naming, and imagining new possibilities.

Week 2 – Meeting the hurdles

Theme: Blockages / Loosening

Where do we feel stuck? What feels tender, hidden, or vulnerable? Together, we’ll stir the soil, softening the hard clumps and gently revealing what lies beneath.

Week 3 – Moving with coeur-rage

Theme: Courage / Fear

What does it mean to move with fear rather than avoid it? Here, we invite bravery into the body, practicing presence with discomfort and sensing the power that arises when we face ourselves.

Week 4 – Planting new roots

Theme: Nourish / Strengthen

Here we turn inward and nurture the compassion and care already living within us. Through movement and journaling, we’ll plant seeds of gentleness, self-trust, and strength.

Week 5 – Being seen, being loved

Theme: Seeing / Being Seen

We close with community witnessing, affirmation, and celebration. This is a week of self-recognition, of offering love to ourselves and receiving the reflection of others.

Movement explorations may include gentle partner work, embodied affirmations (for example, moving with the intention of I am enough while being witnessed), movement journaling (partnered or solo, while noticing and naming inner dialogue), solo improvisations, and other practices designed to support both your own process and the collective energy of the group.

Together, we’ll create a space of presence, care, and curiosity where it’s safe to explore, stumble, rise, and be seen. By the end of this journey, you should leave feeling more grounded in your body, gentler with your mind, and more connected to your own resilience, compassion, and capacity to move through life with intention and ease.

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This is for those longing to feel more present in their bodies, to soften toward their emotions, and to practice a deeper kindness with themselves.

SERIES DETAILS:

Dates: Oct 28, Nov 6, Nov 11, Nov 20, Nov 25, each from 7-9 pm

Location: Society Clubhouse, 967 College St, Toronto

Cost: $140/person

Registration required, no drop-ins

WHAT TO BRING:

• Comfortable clothes to move and dance in
• A water bottle
• A journal and pen
• Kneepads if you have some

ABOUT YOUR FACILITATORS:

Pablo and Emma bring over 20 years of collective experience in contact improvisation. Since 2023, they’ve been co-creating Colours in Contact, a community of movers drawn to creative exploration, self-expression, and the joy of shared movement. Their work is rooted not only in dance but also in therapeutic traditions; Pablo integrates his coaching practice and shamanic lineage, while Emma brings her years of coaching experience and a master’s degree in psychology. Together, they hold space with both movement and depth, weaving playfulness with care, and supporting participants to explore, express, and transform.

ABOUT CONTACT IMPROV:

Contact Improvisation (CI) is a partner/solo/group-improvised dance style developed in 1972 by Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith, heavily influenced by Aikido and Modern dance. Due to the open-ended nature of the dance, each new dancer can add to this pot of creativity. This has lead to various influences weaving in and out of the form. Some of those influences include but are not limited to Tango, Zen, Zouk, Contemporary, Ballet, Hip Hop, Qi Gong, Capoeira, Ballroom, Salsa and the list goes on. This is the beauty of CI: it can offer such an open fertile ground for exploration in expression and movement. Your voice in this dance is what will drive the creative freedom possible at Colours in Contact.

SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS:

- Since Colours in Contact events involve a rolling point of contact and sliding, clothing that have zippers and buttons as well as jewellery are not permitted. Sleeveless shirts, shorts, skirts and slippery clothing are also not recommended.

- Only non-glass water bottles are allowed in the studio as we dance barefoot.

- Please avoid wearing perfumes or scented body care products in consideration for people with chemical sensitivities.