2/22/2020.
Dedicate this magical day to play, connection, and embodied improvisation! Yeah Team!
Find an aligned gain in your energy from practices designed to deepen trust and togetherness. Come dance and co-create from the potency of spontaneity in the Flowspace Arts Temple.

This class is for you if:

~you are curious about collaboration and community
~you are looking for new ideas on how to interact with others in movement spaces.
~You are new to contact improvisation and wanting to learn the basics
~you are interested in art, comedy, drama, and improvisation.
~you are curious about letting go and allowing life lead the way.
~you would like to spend your day in a beautiful space with beautiful people

Flow of the Day:
1:00-3:30- Being Danced: An experiment in communal Play
3:30-4:00-Rest and Snack (please bring your own snack)
4:00-6:00- Contact Improvisation Basics
(see description of both bodies of work below)

This class welcomes all bodies, all genders, and all ages.
No dance experience is needed.

Please arrive on time at 1pm.
**The container will close at 1:20 and no one else will be admitted. Special requests permitted, please communicate.

Contact Improvisation is an evolving system of movement initiated in 1972 by American choreographer Steve Paxton. The improvised dance form is based on the communication between two moving bodies that are in physical contact and their combined relationship to the physical laws that govern their motion—gravity, momentum, inertia. The body, in order to open to these sensations, learns to release excess muscular tension and abandon a certain quality of willfulness to experience the natural flow of movement. Practice includes rolling, falling, being upside down, following a physical point of contact, supporting and giving weight to a partner.

"Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Sometimes wild and athletic, sometimes quiet and meditative, it is a form open to all bodies and enquiring minds."
—Ray Chung


Being Danced is a vehicle for embodying presence and playfulness. A movement class geared towards igniting the creative spark in humans. A unique and innovative style of dance that creates a safe, playful, and loving space for you to release inhibitions and dare to be seen.

We work as an ensemble in silly and theatrical ways to co-create an alive response to our togetherness.
Participants will be guided through simple scores, and games that create connection, promote positivity and develop awareness training.

​Gifts you will receive from this class:

To participate with life in a more authentic way.

To trust your instincts and intuition.

To find intelligence in improvisation.

Laughter and Full Permission to be yourSelf.

The container is a safe place to revel in your inner child's creative genius! An improvisational playground for collaborating in community through movement, theater, and humor.

The space is created so that each and every one of us have an opportunity to be seen and heard.
A creative outlet to give voice and movement to what is alive for you.
From this place your have deeper access to your own potency for participating with this great turning that is happening on our beloved planet.


Admission $55
1) Pay online to Eventbrite.
2) Paypal or cash at the door.


Logistics and what to bring:
~Arrive on time, we want to open and close the container together.
~Bring your own water/water bottle, journal/pen + self-care necessities.
~Wear comfortable clothing to move in and be prepared to have a good time.
~If you have feedback/concerns/questions, please message Shannon on the Being Danced FB page.
~You are invited to turn your phone off or on airplane mode to minimize EMF interference to the space and our bodies.

***About Shannon***

Shannon Sahaja is devoted to helping people dance, move and connect with their bodies so that they can be happy, healthy and enjoy life to its fullest!!! Dance is her first language and she has performed, taught, and trained in dance for the past 20 years. Shannon is the Founder of Being Danced. An experiment in communal play. A movement arts modality dedicated to rekindling a healthy relationship with your inner child. Her main influences for Being Danced are contact improvisation, the humor of the Burning Man community, and spontaneity.

Also a dedicated yogini and lover of the earth, Shannon's soul-nourishing approach to yoga breathes a fresh perspective on what yoga can be.
As the Creative Director of Ecstatic Dance Oakland, Shannon manages and orchestrates the Sunday event. She received her BFA in Dance from State University of New York, has a 500 hour massage certification from SF school of Massage and a 200 hour Yoga Alliance Certification, among others.
She is deeply influenced by the teachings of Kaia Ra and 'The Sophia Code', Angela Farmer (yoga), Nancy Stark Smith (contact improvisation), and Cass Phelps (continuum)

****Testimonials****

"I noticed that each Being Danced session is different given the tenor of Shannon's facilitation, the tempo of the gathered players, and the "third body" wisdom that emerges moment to moment. I learned that all experiences of Being Danced contain some magic." Susan McKerran

"The landscapes created were always rich and stimulating. Individual creativity and group synergy constantly weaving and dissolving patterns. The platform offered void of judgements and pretenses allowed us to tap into our own unique creativity and style and soar higher and higher till we fell into deep silence." ~Shanti Ragnoli

​"Deliciously decentralized, collaborative, individualistic, yet playfully structured with purpose. It's a lot of fun simply moving around in a room with a small group of fantastic humans." ~Abram Clark

"So many of my wants and needs were met today in the best Being Danced I have been to. Shannon is masterful with creating a container that is safe and judgment free, where we can all express ourselves however it comes out of us. We danced, giggled, played, smiled, meditated, co-created and shared ourselves in this amazing art space with beautiful souls and ended with few moments of sound healing."
~Laura Schneider

"Being Danced is full embodied fun, the venue is exceptional, and Shannon is delightfully masterful!" ~Yakov

www.shannonsahaja.com
Being Danced facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/shannonpujasahaja/