6:40pm – Doors open
7:00pm – Class/Playshop: Rope Dance with Be and Fruit
8:20pm – Intention/container setting, ritual and orientation (Required*)
9-11pm – Everything Everywhere All At Dance with DJ Maya Light
*Unless you’ve already been to an Everything Everywhere All At Dance.
Cost: $20 at the door ~ Cash, Check, CC/Debit or ApplePay
Class description: Rope Dance is an embodied practice of merging contact improvisational dance and rope. It’s a practice full of exploration, playfulness, curiosity, creativity, spontaneity and possibilities.
- There is no need for experience with either contact improv or rope to join this playshop! This is a complete beginners class and can be a lovely introduction to how it feels to play with rope in both roles while learning some basics of contact improv through the explorations.
- Loaner rope is available for the workshop, but feel free to bring your favorite 15-20 footer.
- Wear a long sleeve shirt if you are concerned about the rope irritating your arms.
DJ Maya Light will be on the decks for this edition, starting off the first hour of music in your stereotypical Fusion fashion – fading out every song to mark the end of a dance, switching partners, then fading in a new track at the start of a new dance. And then she will shift to a seamless journey for the last half of the dance.
*** Due to a current surge of COVID that appears to be very contagious, we feel it is best to require negative test results to attend. You can either show your own COVID test at the door or show up 15mins early and purchase a test for $6 at the door.***
Benevolent Containment is a relational embodied practice steeped in darkness that orients to attunement and co-regulation. with a gentle pursuit towards softening through resistance, it draws upon contact improv, power exchange and skillful body manipulation to first build and then release tension in the body as we soothe and heal and play together.
Using pressure, force, and touch in deep and subtle ways, both statically and dynamically, the practice combines aspects of acro, partner stretching, grappling, cuddling, D/s, and primal archetypes in the aim of emotional and psychic release.
In this class we will be introducing the groundwork for skillful body manipulation and what it means to play a beautiful game.
Evan James
The dark underbelly of life intrigues Evan and he feels inspired to make the soulful descent as inviting as possible for others. As he pursued a number of movement practices his life, he’s often been attracted to the small, subtle exploration within different disciplines.
Evan’s passionate about the pursuit of exquisite movement – movement not just for movement’s sake or self-expression, but movement with purpose and meaning. He’s long been intrigued by the question: in the conversation of dance (and life), what are we saying with our efforts?
Drawing on Evan’s background in contact improv and martial arts, he endeavors to bring a reverence and discipline to this pursuit of exquisiteness. This principle is present in his personal practice and also in his classwork and he hopes you find it a soothing tree energy amongst some of the air-oriented spaces in our radical communities.
other passions of Evan’s that inform his practice are:
-nearly 15 years of contact improv
-10+ years in the poly/kink/sex positive community
-2 years of Brazilian jiujutsu
-over 2 years training in the lineage of Ido Portal
Lastly, Evan enjoys the pursuit of playing not just simply to win, but to play a beautiful game.
DJ Jess
Jess (they/them) has been dancing and grooving throughout their entire life. From ballet as a wee baby, to east coast swing as a teen, musical theatre, contact improv for many years… they finally landed in the fusion scene when they moved to CA two years ago.
Jess is currently a somatic psychology grad student, and a creative and mover in their spare time. Finding ways to weave the two worlds together keeps them curious and inspired about what kind of healing is possible through shared dance. They are excited and honored to share a sweet collection of music with you.
The Art of Close Embrace: The Moving Hug
Join us for “The Art of Close Embrace,” a connection-based partner dance workshop designed to deepen connections on the dance floor. This class draws from traditional lead/follow dance techniques, blending influences from Tango, Salsa, and Swing, and introduces our ‘Moving Hug’ techniques — a fusion of physicality and heartfelt engagement that creates a deeply connected, harmonious improv dance experience.
Starting with grounding exercises that integrate Reiki principles, we show participants how to tune into their partners’ energies, establishing a profound connection even before the physical dance begins. Our distinctive “Moving Hug” philosophy then guides you through essential aspects of close embrace dancing such as posture, weight distribution, and subtle adjustments, enhancing both leadership confidence and follower sensitivity. Finally, we introduce some basic principles of leading and following that add a little spice and create presence, polarity, and flow.
Ideal for both beginners and experienced dancers, this class serves as the gateway to our “Art of Close Embrace” series, providing a comprehensive exploration of intimacy on the dance floor. Join us to learn how to transform each embrace into a deeply communicative and enriching experience, thereby enhancing your dance skills and deepening interpersonal connections.
Angela and A'lan
Angela has been captivating the dance floor since she was 11 years old. With extensive experience in Europe and the Bay Area, she has mastered a variety of Ballroom and Latin dance styles, including Salsa, Cha Cha, Rumba, Swing, Bolero, Samba, Foxtrot, Tango, and Waltz. Currently, she excels as a Lead Studio Coordinator and Partner Flow Specialist, passionately guiding dancers through the intricate world of dance.
A’lan brings over two decades of experience to the dance floor, specializing in close-embrace dance forms such as Blues, Fusion, Tango, and Micro. A prominent figure in the national fusion scene, A’lan is known for his insightful teaching that emphasizes connection, consent, safety, and clear communication. He frequently travels across the US, teaching and DJing at various dance events.
Together, under Heartbeat Partner Dance, Angela and A’lan are committed to blending deep intimacy and spiritual practices into their dance teachings. At The Center SF, their monthly HeartBeat Dance nurtures a community engaged in heartfelt and sensual celebrations. They are excited about their new class offerings that bridge partner dance with elements of connection, healing, self-care, and spiritual growth, enhancing both their teaching approach and the experiences they offer to their students. This journey reflects their dedication to fostering not only dance skills but also a holistic journey of personal and community growth. Discover more about our journey and upcoming events at https://heartbeat.myflodesk.com/events
DJ A'lan
A’lan’s sounds broke onto the national festival scene at the Portland Fusion Exchange. Since then he’s played at SDFX, LVFX, SFFX, DFX, SFFX, MFX, Recess Festival, Seattle Fusion Dance Festival, Albuquerque Fusion Experiment, City in Motion, Emerald City Blues, Mile High Blues, and Bay Area Micro Festival, and Hi-Fi Dance.
With an impressive 18 years of experience DJing for partner dances (Ecstatic, Blues, Fusion, WCS and Tango) , DJ A’lan is set to captivate you with his sweet and spicy musical curation built for partnered dancing.
DJ CUTTaRUGG
CUTTaRUGG Brandon Bosch AKA RA’mmm AKA The Brilliant Elixir guy AKA The Celebration DJ AKA CUTTaRUGG is many things, but at his core, he’s a music lover.
His passion for music is palpable and dance floors reflect and amplify this love. ‘Whatever-his-name-is’ loves to spend days crafting intentional and thematic Dance journeys, always featuring easter-eggs and sonic innovations. Expect something unexpected and let’s cut that rug!
**** With the current rise in COVID cases and concern/care for some folx, as an act of inclusivity for immunocompromised individuals, we’re asking for COVID test results at the door. We’ll have tests for sale for $7 at the door or arrive with your test already taken on the way to save time.****
Kinetic Intimacy:
A Consent(Sual) Partner Dance Methodology
A methodology in building an embodied dance community of somatic awareness and synergy with consent culture. This class will focus on both energetic and somatic attunement. Interwoven with partner dance technique to navigate sweeter connections and flow in intimate partnered dance spaces. Cultivating trust to provide a far more rich, vulnerable, intimate and even sensual connection through partner dance on and off the dance floor.
Shantala Davis
Shantala is part of multiple dance communities and conscious festival culture who seeks embodied intelligence of movement in connection, expression and communication of dance. From Ecstatic Dance to Social Partner Dance, her passion and curiosity lies within the layers of intimacy that can exist within oneself and others within the somatic, energetic and technical layers of dance language.
As a ConSensual Connoisseur, Conscious Embodiment Facilitator, Mischievous Mystic, Sexual Priestess, Embodied Linguist & Somatic Relating Practitioner, Shantala Davis, aka: ShantiMonster, is a lover of a multitude of dance languages and embodied connection, bringing a diverse array of styles to her teachings, offerings & produced events. She travels all over the world sharing versatile concepts, integrating somatic, tantric and meditative practices with mastered dance partnering technique, including: West Coast swing, Zouk, Blues/Fusion, Contact Improv, Ecstatic Dance and her solo dance speciality Dance Sauce. Shantala is here to inspire, co-create, connect and transform through pleasure, play, and the magic and medicine that is dance.!! Meeeeeooow!!
DJ SyStemic
DJ SyStemic (Elliot Katz) is a dancer first, DJ second, intoxicated by the subculture of Fusion partner dance. His sonic inspirations blend sultry electro R&B, jazzy trap, melodic down-tempo hip hop, and acoustic world musicianship for an evocative arc of dynamic soundscapes.
Elliot is a founder of the PULSE Partner Dance Collective based in Sebastopol CA where he often DJs.
WatsoniX
Watson’s mission is to unite creator with source — to foster authentic expression of body through surrender to what wants to move through — supported by a deep, sweet and spacious structure of bass and vocal frequencies.
A lover of dance and a dancer of love, Watson is an embodied facilitator whose tool is sound waves that move beings. Drawing from over two and a half decades of sonic expression, Watsonix is a project which weaves an intricate web of rhythm, melody, voice, silence and especially bass frequencies that dance the body, drawing from cultures as disparate as the Middle East, India, Africa and Latin America, as contextualized and blended by some of the worlds most innovative sonic artists. Favorite among all spaces to DJ in are play spaces, where all forms of movement and inter movement are welcome to be explored. We look forward to helping give your body expression.
Dance of Dominance & Submission Explore conscious power play through dance. Power dynamics are present all the time, kink is about making power dynamics exquisitely clear, creative, consensual, and passionate. Want to adventure into desires that are at the edge of your comfort with a compassionate and present companion? Curious about embodying your dominant energy or your submissive energy in the dance?
This workshop invites us to contribute to each others’ erotic courage, vulnerability, and playful expression so we can create more meaningful intimacy. You are free to discover and ask for what you really desire in a compassionate space that does not shame your wants. This is also an empowering space to say, “no,” strengthen your boundaries and voice them with certainty. We will learn how to create a culture of shame resilience, attune to our own eros and healthy limits, and track our partner’s experience.
You are welcome to come with a beloved with whom you desire to go deep or to come ready to make some new sensual connections. Are you ready to play?! (Knee pads are encouraged but not required as we’ll have puzzle mats.)
Z (They/Them)
Z (aka Zahava Griss, pronouns: they/them) is the founder of Embody More Love, a spiritual kinky dance community for personal & cultural liberation. Since 1999, Z has been facilitating dance, embodiment and eros as a source of healing, creativity, building community, and shifting our culture. Z’s performance rituals, books, coaching, grief rituals, and workshops invite a dismantling of oppression so we can create more truthful, empowering, and meaningful relationships.
Their core offering is Play with Power & Gender through Dance, a 3 month spiritual kinky dance immersion. The next round is Oct to Jan! Learn more at https://www.embodymorelove.com/play (photo by @fourcubes.photography)
DJ Jonathan Liu
Jonathan is a musician-dancer with decades of experience playing the piano and singing. His first introduction to social dancing was through his college West Coast Swing club, and ever since then he has been hooked. Nowadays he primarily dances swing, tango, and fusion. He is a regular DJ at Bay Area fusion venues such as Shades, Mission Fusion, and Alchemy of Fusion.
When DJing, Jonathan loves to lean on his dual musician-dancer background to craft a deeply embodied connection between the floor and the music, regardless of dance background or genre. He loves creating seamless arcs through the night to take the dance floor on a magical adventure across soundscapes, from melty gush to lyrical transcendence.
DJ VICTOR
Victor has been a DJ since 1996, he specializes in top 40’s from the 80’s to the 2010’s, pop, soul, hip hop and rock. He is most well known for DJ-ing the adult events at Fairyland, and being the DJ for the now defunct Mouth Off Wednesdays, a once popular open mic in Oakland. He doesn’t come in with a playlist; he relies on his years of experience and musical knowledge to respond to the crowd.
He is one of Elle’s best friends and is excited to have been brought into the sensual communities. He also has a cheesecake business, Reuschelle’s Cheesecakes, which you will be able to purchase in the single serve size the night of the event.