From The Earth Dance Project

From The Earth Dance Project is the main focus of my creative work right now, and we have a new website!!!

Please go to www.fromtheearthdanceproject.com for current, updated information about my work. 

Thank you for your interest!

Jenny

Fall Gaia Movement Workshop - Oct. 10 & 11, 2015

Photo: From our Spring Gaia Movement Workshop

It's Fall! The perfect time to announce From The Earth's first annual....

Fall Gaia Movement Workshop:
Our Sensory Playground

Date: October 10 & 11
Time: 1-5pm both days
Location: Wissahickon Woods (Valley Green Entrance)
Investment: $85 full-workshop
To Sign-up: Click HERE

It's really Fall! Can you feel it? Just last week it still felt like summer, but now the night's are getting cooler and the sunlight is turning golden and slanting through the trees. Fall is my favorite season because it is literally a SENSORY PLAYGROUND. It is full of auditory delights like the crunching, swishing, and scrunching of leaves and it offers the stunning visual beauty of red, orange, yellow, green and golden leaf rainbows covering every block, park and mountain side. The lingering smells of summer give way to the musty, damp scents of decaying leaves and the fresh, clean smell of crisp fall air. There is a constant shifting of warm and cool air dancing on our skin as we move between light and shadow. This makes Fall an ideal, luscious and rewarding time to get out and get connected to nature. However, with schools, programs, activities, and commitments starting up again and many holidays looming on the horizon, Fall can feel like an overwhelming, hectic, crazy-making flurry of activity. Sometimes in the Fall it feels like we as a society are doing everything we can think of as quickly as possible to get ready for winter. This can be exhausting and cause us to accidentally miss out on truly connecting with this beautiful season. Don’t let that happen!!

The Fall Gaia Movement Workshop offers you a place to slow down, ground your energy in the earth, reconnect with your body, and rejuvenate your spirit by intentionally deepening your connection to the natural world.

• Are you looking for a place to playfully explore your physical relationship to nature through dance and movement?
• Are you curious about how the systems in our bodies are similar to the larger systems of the earth?
• Are you looking for a place to turn OFF your mind and turn ON your senses? Where the only thing on your to-do list is the amazing exploration of simply being?

This workshop will invite you to connect intimately with nature, to listen deeply to the sounds and the movements of the earth in the Autumn, to invite these into your own physical & sensory awareness and allow them to affect your body, to move in response to them, and to create your own spontaneous dances with the earth!

We will meet in a secluded spot in nature and we will cultivate a relationship with that place. We will witness it and move with it and it will move with us and witness us. It will provide a secure space for you to dive deeply into your sensory awareness and explore your movement responses to the landscape. On the first day of the workshop we will focus on cultivating our own individual impulses for connection and movement in relationship to the natural elements of the landscape. On the second day we will deepen our individual tools and investigate what happens to our awareness and our relationship with nature when we introduce duet/group scores and experience increased human interaction.
 
This workshop offers you three things:
1) A deep physical connection to nature
2) A heightened ability to connect to the present moment
3) A profound sense of belonging to the natural world

AND… You will learn tools you can use to connect meaningfully with nature anywhere!


SIGN UP NOW!
Click HERE to go the registration page.


Not sure if this workshop is for you?
This workshop is geared toward both dancers and non-dancers. It is for anyone who enjoys moving their body and feels comfortable (or at least interested in) exploring movement in an open-ended, improvisatory way. You will be generating your own movement based on your own feelings, desires, perceptions, energetic shifts, observations, etc. There will be many guided, structured movement scores and explorations, but I will not be giving you specific movements to do with your body. Please contact me with further questions: Jenny 215-840-5710, jroesawyer@gmail.com.

UPSTREAM goes on tour to State College, PA

This weekend my beloved, creek dance UPSTREAM is going on tour to perform four shows in the waters of Spring Creek, in Spring Creek Park, in State College, PA as part of this year's Central Pennsylvania's Festival of the Arts!!

Growing up in State College, Arts Fest (as the locals call it) was always my favorite thing about summer. As a young child, I made crafts to sell on children's day, as a teen I danced the days away to amazing live music. However, as a budding dancer I was always a bit sad that dance as a performing art never had much of a place at Arts Fest. So it is truly a dream come true to be performing UPSTREAM this year, in my hometown, to my hometown crowd, in Arts Fest 2015.

If you are in town for the Fest, come check us out!

UPSTREAM

FREE Outdoor Dance Performance IN Spring Creek

Sat. July 11th & Sun. July 12th

Shows at 12pm & 1:30pm (both days)
Spring Creek Park, Pavilion #2

901 Houserville Rd. State College, PA 16801

Suggested Donation $10-20 per person

this dance is about humans

this dance is about nature
no music. no lights. no stage. no social accoutrements.
just two beings. stripped down to the bare essentials of their human-ness.
muscles. bodies. water. breath. air. rock. and bone.
existing as one. together. in joy and sorrow. 
in search of a place, of a world, where they can continue their deeply vital and connected existence.

This stunning and powerful dance is a call for you to remember your own intrinsic connection with nature. Created by Philadelphia based choreographer Jenny Roe Sawyer and performed by From The Earth dance company, this evocative duet is taking the traditional, sanitized dance performance and literally putting it into the river. This will be unlike anything you have seen before.

UPSTREAM is a radical plea for us to heal our ailing world by fully acknowledging that humans are part of nature and not separate from it.... a plea for a paradigm shift of cultural proportions.

This performance is FREE and no reservation is necessary. Mark your calendars now to make sure you don't miss this beautiful and remarkable dance!

If you have questions about the performance please email local contact Jerry Sawyer at jvs3@psu.edu.

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Location & Show Information

Spring Creek Park is located at 901 Houserville Road, State College, PA 16801 

Google maps will take you there.

The show runs approx. 40min.

It will happen rain or shine (barring thunderstorms).

The audience will be sitting on rocks or standing during the show. Bring a cushion if you want. There are no chairs. If you want to come and need a chair, please contact Jerry at jvs3@psu.edu to work out details. You can bring your own or we can provide one for you, but chair seating will be limited at each show due to site constraints.

There are public bathrooms, drinking fountains, and plenty of parking on the premises.

Announcing our first Gaia Movement Workshop!

SPRING Gaia Movement Workshop:
Awakening Connection to the Earth

May 23 & 24
Time: 1-5pm both days
Location: Wissahickon Woods (Entrance TBA)
Investment: $85 Regular, $65 Early-bird (until May 15^th)

It’s Spring! An amazing season of MOVEMENT. The earth is waking up out of her deep freeze! We can see, hear and feel it all around us. And we can feel it inside of us. We are waking up too. Just like the fluids in the earth, the fluids in our bodies are warming up, thawing out, and beginning to move and flow again with greater ease and possibility. There is movement, growth and change afoot! But sometimes the process of waking up from the winter can be uncomfortable. You may still be feeling a bit stiff and cold, like your body hasn’t completely warmed up yet, or you may be feeling a bit disconnected from the outside world, like you haven’t quite made it completely out of your winter hibernation.

This workshop will help you to reconnect with yourself, rejuvenate your body and invigorate your life by intentionally deepening your connection to the natural world.

• Are you looking for a place to playfully explore your physical relationship to nature through dance and movement?
• Are you curious about how the systems in our bodies are similar to the larger systems of the earth?
• Are you looking for a supportive, energizing way to reconnect with your body after spending so much time cooped up inside this winter?

 
This workshop will invite you to connect intimately with nature, to listen deeply to the sounds and the movements of the earth in the springtime, to invite these into your own physical & sensory awareness and allow them to affect your body, to move in response to them, and create your own spontaneous dances with the earth!

We will meet in a secluded spot in nature and during our time together you will choose a place to be your outdoor home. Over the course of the workshop you will cultivate a relationship with that space. You will know it, feel it, observe it and it will know, feel and observe you, holding space for your experiences. You will create a sense of safety, familiarity and belonging that will help you feel secure to dive deeply into your sensory awareness and exploring your movement responses to the landscape.
 
We will investigate the fluid systems of the body as a way of warming up the body and connecting deeply into the very core of our own being. Exploring our fluid systems will enable us to create varied energetic states in the body that can lead us to discover new and interesting dance and movement experiences and possibilities. These investigations will offer us a way of finding commonality, affinity and responsiveness between our own selves and the complex natural elements around us.

This workshop offers you three things:
1) A deep physical connection to nature
2) Increased warmth, energy, & fluidity in your body
3) A profound sense of belonging to the natural world

AND… You will learn tools you can use to connect with nature anywhere!


SIGN UP NOW!
If you sign-up by May 15^th you get $20 off the full price!!

Click HERE to register.

Not sure if this workshop is for you?
This workshop is geared toward both dancers and non-dancers. It is for anyone who enjoys moving their body and feels comfortable (or at least interested in) exploring movement in an open-ended, improvisatory way. You will be generating your own movement based on your own feelings, desires, perceptions, energetic shifts, observations, etc. There will be many guided, structured movement scores and explorations, but I will not be giving you specific movements to do with your body. Please contact me with further questions: Jenny 215-840-5710, jroesawyer@gmail.com.

From The Earth is officially launching!!

 

I am BEYOND excited to announce...
The Official 2015 Launch of  From The Earth!!
An outdoor experiential dance company 

The Beginning:
In 2012, many of you came to watch as my first outdoor piece UPSTREAM took flight. From that first performance in front of four sold out audiences in the Wissahickon Creek, I knew that I had stumbled onto something special, something unique, something awesome, something that changes you.

In 2013, when UPSTREAM was presented by The Morris Arboretum, it struck me again: the way people respond to witnessing the wildness of this piece is different. They are full of awe, they are struck by beauty, they feel inspired, and it feels like something inside of them has changed. It is thrilling to witness, for it is the dream of every choreographer!

It has become clear to me that human bodies moving expressively in nature activate our profound natural connection to the earth. And in our increasingly disconnected society, this connection is something that deep down we are all craving.

So I have created a dance company... just for this! 

The Big Idea:
I believe, we as a society are living within a lie that humans are separate from nature. In reality, nature is our very source and living in disconnection from our source is hurting each and every one of us every day and it is destroying our planet.

From The Earth's mission is to connect humans deeply and intimately with nature through dance, movement, performance and somatic (body-based) experiences.

By offering you deep connection to your body and your relationship to the natural world, From The Earth can help you recover a deep lost part of yourself. And together, just maybe, we can cultivate a deeper sense of connectedness that will enrich our lives and spread across our world.

Currently offering:

• Outdoor site-specific performance & choreography.
• Nature-based movement classes & workshops.

We have a NEW SERIES of seasonal  Gaia Movement Workshops!
Check back soon for details.
They will be happening in the SPRING, SUMMER & FALL of 2015!!

Sensing the Living is BACK!

Sensing the Living: 

Finding Connection in Nature

An Outdoor Movement Workshop in the Wissahickon Woods

with Jenny Roe Sawyer
 
Two Dates:

Sunday November 2^nd, 2014 from 1-4:30pm &

Sunday November 9^th, 2014 from 1-4:30pm

You may sign up for one or both workshops!

Price for one workshop: $27.50 if you pre-register, $35 at the door

Price for both workshops: $52 if you pre-register, $60 at the door

Description
Sensing the Living is an outdoor movement workshop focused on exploration, that is specially designed to offer you an afternoon of experiencing DEEP CONNECTION to yourself as part of the natural world!

We will connect to ourselves, following our own deep internal impulses, and feeling our bodies come alive with breath and blood as we move our muscles, bones and hearts in new and inspired ways.

We will connect to the natural world, opening our senses to experience and respond to nature’s vast array of sounds, colors, smells, temperatures and textures.

Through curiosity and openess will create new relationships with ourselves, our bodies and the natural world.

And we will connect with each other in joy, fun, compassion, curiosity and playfulness!

The fall is an amazing season, offering us beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery. This season is an opportunity to connect with the splendor of nature that is not-to-be-missed!!

So come out to the woods and spend an afternoon following your own body’s wisdom, soaking in the beautiful fall colors and feeling deeply connected. Take an afternoon out of your busy schedule and make the time to feed yourself!

To Participate
Plan to meet at the Valley Green entrance to the Wissahickon woods at 12:45pm, so we can find each other and get started by 1pm. Wear sturdy footwear, clothes you won’t mind getting dirty and plenty of layers! Also bring water and a snack,
ALL levels and abilities of movers thoroughly welcomed and encouraged to attend!
Please contact me if you need directions, need help finding a ride or have any other questions.

Jenny Sawyer, 215-840-5710, jroesawyer@gmail.com

Bio
Jenny Roe Sawyer is a choreographer, improviser, teacher and dance artist who has been practicing dance and improvisational movement for over 20 years. She first fell in love with improvisation 15 years ago while a student at Oberlin College and has since studied with many great teachers like Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, KJ Holmes, Kirstie Simpson and the Architects. Recently, she has become enthralled with outdoor site-specific improvisation, choreography and performance. Her latest work UPSTREAM premiered in the water of the Wissahickon Creek in 2012 and was presented at the Morris Arboretum in 2013. Jenny recently had the amazing opportunity to take a Body & Earth workshop with Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose and this newly inspired her to share the joy she finds in outdoor movement practices through her teaching. This year Jenny is excited to be launching all her outdoor movement and dance endeavors under one name, From The Earth. When in the woods she can often be found improvising with trees.