VESICA - Oakland Ecstatic Dance - Weds Night @ Sweets

Ecstatic Dance Oakland @ Sweets Ballroom Weds Dec 4 - DJ: VESICA Contact Improv: Marcus van Duren Yoga: Satya Gita Opening Circle & Meditation: Shannon Sahaja Food: Sacred Decadence (Leela Maya) Arrive when you wish: 6:45pm - Doors Open 7:00pm - Contact Improv Class (Main Floor) 7:00pm - Yoga Class (Upstairs) 7:50pm - Opening Circle 8:00pm - Ecstatic Dance 10:30pm - Sound Bath / Closing Meditation 10:45pm - Good Night Everyone! Sweets Ballroom 1933 Broadway, Oakland, CA 19th St. BART Secured Covered Parking: Dalziel Garage 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612 $6.30 Tickets: Available at the door with Cash / Card / Venmo $25 Drop-In $20 Circle Passes sold in 5 packs ($100) Volunteer Opportunity: Show up at 6pm sharp! for Opening or ask at the door for Closing Opportunities. ----- DJ: VESICA Vesica is Initiator and Co-founder of Ecstatic Dance Berlin, where she is a resident DJ and the organizer of Ecstatic Dance Sundays. Vesica, while born & raised in Berlin, has lived most of her adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. Oakland Ecstatic Dance saved her in 2008, when her doctoral dissertation on spirit possession & psychiatry was literally driving her mad. Ever since, Ecstatic Dance has been her twice weekly, non-negotiable pilgrimage to the dance floor -to get down and right with herself, her community, her body and the Sacred. It is no surprise then, that Vesica is a dancer’s DJ deeply steeped in West Coast Bass music committed to the Heart, Soul and Funk of her dancers. Catch her this Spring on her US West Coast Ecstatic Dance tour and in the Netherlands. https://soundcloud.com/vesica-ecstatic Contact Improv: Marcus van Duren Marcus van Duren is a dancer and teaching artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Marcus has intensively studied movement and dance performance since his discovery of contact improvisation in 2013. He has had the pleasure of studying with Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Frey Faust, Scott Wells, Kathleen Hermesdorf, Ray Chung, Martin Keogh, Nita Little, Sarah Shelton Mann and many others. Marcus actively investigates new ways of moving and understanding movement as a member of the international Axis Syllabus community. In addition to appreciating dance as a performing art, Marcus sees dance, especially contact improvisation, as a life practice. Marcus is endlessly curious about how dance can be used to access different states of being and uncover new ways of relating to self and other. Yoga: Satya Gita Satya Gita is a long-time, devoted practitioner and teacher of yoga. In her more than 20 years of practice, she has studied many forms of yoga, including Jivamukti, Integral, Ashtanga, Standing Wave Yoga, Forrest, and Anusara. Born in Oslo and raised in Trondheim Norway, she studied dance at The London Contemporary Dance School and on Africa’s Ivory Coast before moving to New York to study and teach at Jivamukti. She was also certified at the Integral Yoga Institute and studied Standing Wave. Satya then created and implemented a yoga program for Harbin Hot Springs, an internationally known retreat center in California. During this time, she founded her own teaching style called Anahatha Yoga, which utilizes physical postures and alignment to open energetic dimensions and pathways in the body. Preparing the body in this way opens the student’s awareness to more subtle dimensions of Being in an embodied way. She has been teaching and developing this form for 18 years, as well as training and certifying others in the approach. She continues to offer classes and workshops using Anahatha yoga to help students deepen in themselves. https://satyaaune.com/about-satya Opening Circle & Meditation: Shannon Sahaja Two decades of holding space for yoga, meditation, dance, Sunday Ecstatic Dance Oakland Facilitator, and Certified Sophia Circle Journey Faciliator. Shannon offers exquisite meditations while creating impeccable sacred space. Participants often reflect on how incredibly safe they feel in her field. www.ShannonSahaja.com Food: Sacred Decadence (Leela Maya) Leela started her journey as a raw vegan dessert chef in 2007 during the early days of Cafe Gratitude where it first began in San Francisco and Marin County. It was working there that she discovered the power of intention, community, & how truly nourishing food felt like sensual kitchen witch craft for her soul. It was love at first bite. Since then she has been a chef and product developer for local healthy food companies like Urban Remedy and Good Earth. She is wholeheartedly happy to serve the Bay Area Dance Community in nourishing connection from within. When she is not playing with her food, Leela teaches Play based Authentic Relating & Connection Classes, Full & New Moon Circles for Womyn+, & Cacao Ceremony Soundbaths. She believes that love, joy, connection, and play are key ingredients to a healthy happy life. Blessed Be and Bon Appétit! ----- All are Welcome, Without Restrictions or Limitations. We only ask that you refrain from: 1. Talking on the Dancefloor 2. Using your Phone 3. Wearing Shoes or Scents 4. Using Substances (Be Yourself!) Thank You for Respecting the Space so that everyone may Move, Celebrate, Heal, & Pray in their own unique way... Together. Tix available at the Door: Drop-In: $25 (Cash / Card / Venmo) Circle Dance Passes: $20 each (sold in packs of 5 for $100) Available at the Door. @ Sweets Ballroom 1933 Broadway, Oakland, CA 19th St. BART Secured Covered Parking: Dalziel Garage 250 Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, Oakland, CA 94612 $6.30 ----- Website: https://ecstaticdance.org/dance/oakland-ecstatic-dance/