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.

Awakening the Seeds of Your Practice: A 6-week Contact Improv Fundamentals Intensive!

 

It's Spring!!!   Come out of your cave!    Wake up your body!  Connect to others!!!  Play in the meadows! ...  We mean in the studio, of course!!

Come join us for the second annual...
Awakening the Seeds of Your Practice:
A Contact Improv Fundamentals Intensive

For All Levels

Newly Expanded!

A 6-week workshop led by Lee Nussbaum Fogel & Jenny Roe Sawyer

Tuesdays 7-9pm
April 16, 23, 30 & May 7, 14, 21  (Must pre-register for whole series)
@ Mascher Space Cooperative
155 Cecil B. Moore Ave.
+ The opportunity to attend a Community Contact Jam with Lee & Jenny!

Somatic Movement Educator Lee Nussbaum Fogel and Interdisciplinary Dance Artist Jenny Roe Sawyer are joining together to offer YOU a playful and invigorating class series that builds confidence in basic Contact skills, expands your range of dancing possibilities, and approaches dancing with a sense of joy and discovery!

~Have you been dancing for a while and wanting to get back to the basics of Contact so you can create a strong and responsive connection to your dancing partner?

~Are you new to Contact, and wanting a safe and supportive group of people with whom to build on skills, such as sharing weight, following points of contact, and riding waves of momentum through space??

~Are you wanting to access a greater range of energetic states and movement qualities in your dancing?

~ Do you love contact but feel intimidated by going to a jam?

....then this is the class for YOU!!!

We are very excited to offer you this unique opportunity to explore and learn with a committed group of dancers, have direct attention for YOUR specific needs and interests, AND have the extra special experience of trying out a jam, supported by your teachers & fellow students!

***Register by Friday April 5th for our Special Early Bird Discount!!!*** 

Info:

Tuesdays 7-9pm

April 16, 23, 30 & May 7, 14, 21

Mascher Space Cooperative

155 Cecil.B Moore Ave., Philadelphia

+ The opportunity to attend a Community Contact Jam with Lee & Jenny!

 

Price:

$185 for the full series

$165 *Early Bird Discount* - register by Friday April 5th!

Click here to Register Online!

Contact:  leefogel@visioningbody.com 

*Contact Improvisation is a revolutionary movement form developed through the investigation of touch, weight, sensation, and momentum in relation to another moving body.  

Lee Nussbaum Fogel, MA, RSME is a Registered Somatic Movement Educator, Reiki Practitioner, and Artist who guides people in living creative, empowered lives according to their body's wisdom.  Her practice draws on extensive experience in process-oriented art, movement, and somatic practice, including graduate degree studies in Dance and Somatic Well-being through the University of Central Lancashire.  Lee began teaching Contact Improvisation and somatic movement as a student at Oberlin College, and has since studied Contact, Somatics, and Improvisation with Kirstie Simson, Andrea Olsen, Simone Forti, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Andre Gribou and Mary Abrams, among fabulous others.  She co-founded, taught and performed with the Philly Contact Collective, and has movement and somatics in a variety of settings throughout and beyond Philadelphia.

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 Contact improvisation 13 years ago while a student at Oberlin College and has since studied with Contact greats like Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, KJ Holmes, and Kirstie Simson. In Philadelphia, Jenny co-founded, taught and performed with the Philly Contact Collective; she was a founding member of Amnesiac Music and Dance, an experimental improv company; she co-directed the modern dance company Lo Roe Productions; and was a founding member of Mascher Space Cooperative. Her work has been presented by the Philly Fringe, GLUE Performance Series, Mascher Space Co-op, the Studio Series at SJtudio 34, and the Falls Bridge Improvisation Festival, among others. She is currently excited about expanding her improvisational teaching practice and touring her newest site-specific work, UPSTREAM.

Basking in the Glory of a Dream Come True

It is with great joy, gratitude, excitement, and pride, that I announce... our recent performances of UPSTREAM were a HUGE success!!

We had over 100 total audience members. We had amazing, picturesque weather for all 4 shows. Each audience was filled with appreciative, grateful, adoring, enthusiastic, and encouraging fans, many people who I already adore and some of whom I barely know. Each performance was beautiful and powerful in its own way with its own emotional journey. Really, things could not have gone better!! One of my mentors came. Two potential outdoor dance presenters attended (though ironically both watched from the "wrong" side of the creek). We even made MONEY! I asked for what I felt the show was really worth and for the first time ever, I got to pay myself and my dancers!!

YEE-HAW!!!

It is amazing when one can envision and imagine something grand and then will and work and coax and love it into being! I marvel that I imagined this beautiful project, brought it to life through love, sweat and tears, and it turned out just as beautifully as in my wildest dreams! (At least the wildest ones I dared to hope could come true...)

Now perhaps I will dare to dream of even wilder successes! Thus, I hope that soon there will be more wild dreams to report coming true. For now, please bask in the glory of this success with me..... with these lovely photos!

Dancers: Jenny Sawyer & Sinead O'Neill
Photos: Krista McKinnon

Live Outdoor Performances this Sept 15/16 & 22/23

Announcing a truly unique, evocative and strikingly beautiful site-specific duet IN the Wissahickon Creek. Please come to witness and be a part of this one-of-a-kind dance experience, surrounded and enveloped by the beauty of nature.

UPSTREAM

September 15th & 16th and September 22nd & 23rd @ 2pm
Outdoors IN the Wissahickon Creek (near Valley Green Inn)

Suggested Donation $15

Choreographed by Jenny Sawyer

Featuring Sinead O'Neill, Marina Libel and Jenny Sawyer

 

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 piece by Philadelphia based choreographer Jenny Sawyer is a call for you to remember your own intrinsic connection with nature. 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.

Make your reservations now for this beautiful and remarkable dance!

To make your reservation please email jroesawyer@gmail.com and you will receive a confirmation email containing all the audience information you will need. Audience seating is somewhat limited, so reserve your spot now!