Recess European Gender Bender, Northern Spain

European Gender Bender: A Blues and Fusion Community Event dedicated to creating more inclusive communities. This will be Recess's 7th hosting of this special Gender Bender event, and our first in Europe! Where?: 90 minutes north of Barcelona: Mas Frances, A Cooperative dedicated to ecological and social transformation. When?: May 20th - 22nd, 2016 Registration is NOW Open!! Event Website: http://www.bluesrecess.com/european-gender-bender-may-20th---22nd-northern-spain.html Event Vision Statement: At the Gender Bender Recess we are working to create safer spaces within our dance community for all peoples, bodies, genders, and sexualities. The Setting: All meals will be provided and communal. Workshops all day, dancing all night. Prepare for an inspiringly beautiful venue, with inspired, deep conversation about real issues. And the venue is a Cooperative dedicated to ecological and social transformation. Curriculum Overview : The curriculum is designed to both inspire and challenge every participant. We will actively be working on the major projects we identify in our own communities, as well as the major projects that we identify in ourselves. This is a place to come and be humble, to learn, and to be a part of something both difficult and very special. We will spend portions of the weekend working on dancing our non-dominant dance role as well as talking about and workshopping some of the hardest hitting issues in the community. The event will have be one cohesive curriculum that all participants will move through together, combining dance, activism, discussion, and play. One of our main goals with this event is to not only help improve skills of people dancing outside of their primary role, but to do the work necessary to create a community that allows people to safely dance outside of their conventionally assumed or gender-assigned dance role, and as a whole to do the work to improve the overall safety and empowerment of our community. Everyone will be take together through a single curriculum involving the following topics. Dance Workshops: Classes covering a variety of topics including: learning your non-dominant role, dancing switch, role fluid partner dancing, and classes addressing how gender is expressed by or projected onto movement. Activist Workshops: Interactive workshops and discussions addressing larger cultural and community issues such as gender assumptions, homophobia, sexism, consent, abelism, ageism, and the sexualization of dance to name a few. Facilitated Discussions: Focused conversations designed to create constructive and safe spaces to share personal experiences, discuss issues we see in our community, and construct action plans to bring home after the event.