Dance Venues/Events-informationt, Reviews, Schedule Geoff LaPlace

Ecstatic Dance LIVE Music and Freestyle Dancejam Boogie

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:37:51 -0700

it's 2012 - and we have a live music dance scene. DJ's and musicians from around the country vie to play at Ecstatic Dance in Oakland.

Tyler Blank, founder of Ecstatic Dance Oakland has created this LIVE music scene to totally serve this community. Who benefits: Dancers. And an extra bonus for those who like

NPR Radio talks about Ecstatic Freestyle Conscious Dance Scene in San Francisco Bay Area

Sat, 17 Mar 2012 09:55:50 -0700

San Francisco and the Bay Area have always been a growth area for new dance styles involving group connection balanced against individual freedom of movement. This month a new national radio article talks about this continuing phenomenon.

LISTEN HERE: Ecstatic Freestyle Dance in SF interview

This browser cannot play the embedded audio file.

Dances similar to the Oakland Ecstatic Dance are also Dance Journey in Berkeley on Friday nights, Barefoot Boogie on Sunday nights, and Metta Dance in San Francisco.

The article has also sparked several “argue-scussions” about what started where, but we at the Dolphin-Dancing.com Dance Calendar just aim support and grow the communities wherever the energy can find some fertile soil.

Some clarifications: 1> if you listen to the piece, it does give credit to the transplanted Texan who started Ecstatic Dance in Hawaii as well as the 5 Rhythms, 2> although Garbielle Roth is based in NYC now, she actually developed the 5 Rhythms out here in Northern California - at Esalen, and her other Moving Center School is in Marin County, 3> The grand daddy of all dances started in Boston in the 70’s and runs today every Wednesday in Harvard Square as Dance Freedom

"A SHAMANIC DISCO" WEEKLY CONSCIOUS DANCING

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:13:04 -0700

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT 8P - 10P

CLUB CONSCIOUS @ THE YOGA CENTER OF LOS GATOS
9 MONTEBELLO WAY
WWW.YOGACENTERLOSGATOS.COM

MUSIC + MOVEMENT + COMMUNITY

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT WE DANCE IN COMMUNITY.
"I see dance as being used as communication between body and soul to express what is too deep to find in words..." Ruth St. Denis

WEDNESDAY NIGHT'S, CLUB CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY
+ "SHAMANIC DISCO" 8:00P - 10P, COST: $15
+ ALTAR SPACE, LEAN INTO SACREDNESS
+ DRUMS ARE WELCOME HERE
+ 1ST & 3RD WED. OF THE MONTH CONTACT CLASS 7:45P - 8:25P, DONATION CLASS

CONSCIOUS DANCING
+ NO talking + NO alcohol +EVERY movement is a prayer + RESPECT the space and the people in it. A dance with the Divine.

JOIN FB GROUP, "CONSCIOUS DANCE TRIBE"
This group is a 'no traffic' group, intended for community who want to receive invitations to our monthly conscious dance schedule, and our weekly dance practices. Please no posting. There are global networking dance groups on FB to share including: "DANCE CHURCH", "ECSTATIC DANCE", "CONSCIOUS DANCER GROUP"

MONTHLY CONSCIOUS DANCES 2012 - 2ND YEAR OF MONTHLY DANCES

Friday Night Dance Church Santa Cruz | Monthly 3rd Friday

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 11:23:00 -0800

Great space. Great Spirit. Free parking in City lots. People are just plain Santa Cruz happy and loving. Ecstatic and Freestyle Barefoot Jam dancing for Santa Cruz County, Monterey, Salinas, Pacific Grove, and Carmel and Monterey Bay.

Fridays 8 PM to 11 PM 3rd Friday of each month.

Price: $10 - $20 sliding scale

A DJ'd Freestyle Ecstatic DanceJam Barefoot Boogie style dance that starts with a slow warmup inner-journey music. Then revving up to a rockin' boogie.

- Bring your Joy, your Sorrow. Something for the altar.

- Be in your own space, ...or connect with others.

Location: Project 418, 418 Front Street, Santa Cruz, CA

Click for google maps to Dance Church Santa Cruz

Check Yahoo Group Postings: Santa Cruz Dance Church on YAHOO

Check Facebook Group info: Santa Cruz Dance Church on Facebook

Occupy the Dance Floor in Berkeley

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 19:11:52 -0800

Saturday March 3 8:00pm until 12:30am Sawtooth Building in Berkeley -- multiple studios, 2525 8th Street

On Saturday, March 3, DJs Sol Rising, Sophia Sol, Ron Tofanelli, and Ken Martini will be in the house for an evening of dance, education, and networking, in support of the Occupy movement in the Bay area and beyond!

No booze, no shoes, no smoke, no scents -- just dance, connect, and raise the frequency in an Occupy-aware space! All proceeds beyond expenses will go to support Occupy Berkeley, Occupy Cal, Occupy San Jose, the East Bay Nonviolent Action Network, and a new Occupy-related informational website.

Four hot deejays...maybe more!...and two rooms for expressing yourself in a conscious dance environment. You're likely to hear world music, house, breaks, hip-hop, dubstep, and downtempo electronica.

There will also be tables hosted by various Bay Area groups working for a better future for us all.

$15-$50 at the door...pay as much as you can.

CONTACT: Dancing Village Productions

Conscious Dance in Community

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 17:09:45 -0800

Wendy Dando, from "A Shamanic Disco", and Hamid Martin, of "Inner Rhythm" take you on a journey through sacredness, soulfulness and playfulness through ranges of music. Movement medicine, a journey for all levels of movement and dance. Every movement is a prayer, a moving meditation, a journey deep inside yourself, expanding and being present with more of who you really are. A conscious dance, free expression, free form movement in connection with yourself and others. YES sacredness. NO talking. NO alcohol. Please bring a healthy snack for yourself or to share with a few others after dancing. Bring a water bottle and dress to sweat. Dress in layers. "Tea Zone" for the melt down in community, connecting and being present in community. A chill space to drop down, let go and off your feet. Release some tension, create some joy! If you are new to conscious dance, you will be warmly greeted into community, you'll feel your own "Inner Rhythm" in a safe container to express more of who you really are.

Dance Church Santa Cruz | Dance Saturday Sundays

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 19:21:17 -0700

Dance Church on Saturday and Sunday

Saturday: 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Sunday: 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM

Price: $10 A DJ'd Freestyle Ecstatic DanceJam Barefoot Boogie style dance that starts with a slow warmup inner-journey music. Then revving up to a rockin' boogie.

- Bring your Joy, your Sorrow. Something for the altar.

- Be in your own space, ...or connect with others.

- Ends with a circle for sharings and announcements.Closing circle with announcements at 11:30. Must clear building for next class by 11:45

Location: Project 418, 418 Front Street, Santa Cruz, CA

Click for google maps to Dance Church Santa Cruz

Check Yahoo Group Postings: Santa Cruz Dance Church on YAHOO

Check Facebook Group info: Santa Cruz Dance Church on Facebook

Thursday night Freestyle Dancing to Live Music Oakland on Broadway at Bart

Sat, 30 Apr 2011 20:19:24 -0700

Dancing to live music is really special, especially when everyone dances. Of course this is a dance studio scene and not a club scene so everyone is there to dance. Which makes finding people of like minds quite easy. Finding people of like steps is another matter, this is after all freestyle, and this slow to medium tempo music really brings out all the moves from Acro-Yoga to Ballet and Modern to Barefoot Boogieing.

A lucky find for those who love to dance on Thursday nights. Plenty of safe parking in the neighborhood and right above the Broadway and 19th Bart station. The cost is as low as $10 if you buy 20 tickets on line or at the door, or... almost as economical is 10 tickets for $110. This makes entertainment at this level quite affordable for everyone.

Never been to a Thursday night before? It is waaay different than any dance night here, Marin, or SF. One could almost say “it’s precious”.

Is it like Ecstatic Dance on Wednesday or Sunday? A simple “no” can be said. It is simply called Ecstatic Dance “LIVE!” with the accent on “LIVE!” Credit should be given to the creator of this music scene Tyler Blank. It takes a lot of “love of music, movement and dance” to even think this could be done. It needs more people, so if you’re tired of jumping up and down in the same personal space of other dance venues, give this one a try. You might be surprised you can fly given the right space, music, and other flying dancers support.

Metta Dance San Francisco Monthly on a Thursday

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:54:09 -0800

Who knew? Great Dance floor, holistic heart, art and motion combined in a great space. That’s Metta Dance. Of course all good dance venues also need the “dancers and matching dj” to really hit that sweet spot “the most wonderful place on the planet right now”.

As this new great venue creates a footprint in the San Francisco Freestyle barefoot jam ecstatic dance community there is some changing varietal offerings going on weekly. As I write this I have been there three times out of their first six productions. I can say that so far “all dance bases have been covered” from Ecstatic boom-boom dance in place to freestyle balletesque, and overall, this event has real potential to serve the San Francisco dance community.

DJ Be, co-founder of Metta Dance, is a great dj. His sets are not too loud, allow dancing to different beats, and promote “warmth” in the room.

Dancers, this is an event to support. Why? Well, it is actually IN San Francisco and on the Bart line. Second, is that it really has the SF-City-Edge. There are SF people here, and as I dance on both sides of the bay, I can truly say, SF is not Berkeley…

LIVE Dance Music Monthly Sweets Ballroom

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:31:19 -0800

I attended three test runs of this new concept prior to its Grand Opening March 10^th in the Big Ballroom. Tyler is really raising the bar on the dance and entertainment scene with this offering. Imagine live music you and couples can dance to. From long meditative yoga stretches to flying non-contact ballet to contact dancers just chillin’ to the scene, this event has it all.

As a bonus, how about Ecstatic Dance that is not like your typical Ecstatic boom-boom uber:bass young crowd “ecstatic place”. Every Thursday night …right in Oak-town …right on the 19^th street Bart stop this amazing event unfolds. Inspired dancers can dance their way from their seat right onto the floor.

Huge bathrooms and changing space, suspended floor, and room to “fly…

This is a real masterpiece created live before your eyes by different acoustic groups. From world music to ethereal to get-it-on this is an event where dancers can dance. I predict this will soon become a “must appear” scene from strong male and female dancers.

Saturday night at Ecstatic Dance SF

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 21:34:52 -0700

This review was written in 2009. A valiant effort by Dance event pioneer Tyler, it has since gone on it's way.

On Ecstaticdance.org’s website, Tyler refers to Saturday night’s event as “transform(ing) this epic San Francisco Yoga studio into a sweet and steamy Dance Temple...”. This they do well, to include a five foot square altar in the center of the floor which honors “Temple as Dance and Dance as Temple”. Included in this beautiful honor to dance and its dancers are fifty candles, six circular seating pads for meditation, and several yoga decks at each sitting place for reflection and creation”. Quite well done.

We can predict growth for this venue as it gains identity and traction among more and more San Francisco Bay area Ecstatic, Freestyle, Dance Jam, and Barefoot Boogie dancers. We welcome Ecstatic Dance’s new SF home in the center of the Castro, crossroads of many communities. Saturday nights: $17 at the door or use/purchase Yoga Tree Castro class passes – approx $14

Wednesday nights at Ecstatic Dance

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:20:03 -0700

Ecstatic Dance here is the ultimate dance night. The music is more controlled by the DJ and his mood/specialty than by the Ecstatic Dance format.

Variety – form ethereal almost ‘old goth’ to club with an edge
Rhythms varied with multiple peaks – whether you stayed for one hour or three, you got a full ride up and down the spectrum of movement
Crowds stayed to the end – this says a lot as dancers found the energy to stay for the whole thing as it was a special night you knew was precious.

This space, the Oakland Sweets Ballroom holds a hundred plus dancers on the floor plus three (yes, count ‘em – 3!) altars honoring ‘Dance as temple and Body as Temple’. A nice space, a great venue, good vibes.

One of the musical differences between club music and music at Dance Jam, Barefoot Boogie, and Ecstatic Dance is "words". Yes, the same riffs and rhythms exist in both venues, but club music has the words which add a little "edge" to the mood. Knowa gets that edge selecting music with and without words to create a powerful mood mix that infects all with energy, love and movement.

Loudness Rating: 5 Optional: Uber

Bass for sure, but also has quieter beginning and end, if you usually wear them OK, if not OK you will need them for the fast middle.

Level of Dancers: High

Sunday Night at Barefoot Boogie

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:43:09 -0700

I went to Barefoot Boogie in Berkeley Sunday night and had a wonderful time. I am a freestyle dancer and I go to other dances around the Bay area, mostly Dance Jam on Friday nights. I got there about 8 PM and the room was a beautiful suspended hardwood floor with a plush couch and yoga mats in the corner. The room was lit by those little colored light strings and I didn’t need to put in ear plugs as the volume was medium and I could even be in front of the speakers with no pain.

What I am really writing about is the dance and the dancers. The dance is called freestyle, or barefoot boogie style. The music changes all night long from slow in the beginning to fast to a slow wind down. I was exhausted after an hour’s wonderful workout of movement – I did my ballet and jazz steps and briefly experimented with a couple of partners in a dance style called “Contact Improv”.

Some people wore split sole dance slippers, more were barefoot , some with tape on their toes.

Surprisingly there were as many men as women, with ages from 18 to late fifties. Everyone was physically fit and flexible and the dancers danced together or just ‘with the room, i.e. everybody’.