Dance Core
with Caitlin Coflin, 9:30am-10:45am (75 minutes)

This Dance Core class will use the principles and practice of Bartenieff Fundamentals and Laban Movement Analysis to deepen the individual’s embodiment and sense of self. Participants will explore concepts such as weight sensing, breath support, and development movement patterning to find ease of movement and whole-body connectivity. Each class will begin on the floor, gradually building to standing and moving through space. 

Caitlin Coflin is a dancer and dance teacher in Regina, SK. Caitlin completed her Post-Secondary training in Winnipeg, MB and received her BA Honours in Dance from the University of Winnipeg in affiliation with the Professional Program of the School of Contemporary Dancers. Since returning to Regina in 2010 she has been a member of the teaching staff at Youth Ballet of Saskatchewan and teaches through New Dance Horizons’ Dance Core. In 2020, Caitlin completed her training to become a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst and Somatic Practitioner (CMA-SP).

https://www.instagram.com/caitlincoflinsomaticmovement/

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Feldenkrais
with Johanna Bundon, 12:15pm-12:45pm (30 minutes)

​The Feldenkrais Method® is an innovative system of movement education. The intention is to learn greater ease and efficiency of movement. A major theme of this method is that movement is life, and life is movement. When we find more comfort in our movement, we find more comfort and pleasure in our life. Group classes in the Feldenkrais Method are called Awareness Through Movement® (ATM). ATM classes consist of verbally guided movement sequences intended to refine habitual and non-habitual movement patterns, and value restorative movement ideas like: taking rest & doing less than you can. Regular practice of Awareness Through Movement® (ATM) informs movement intelligence & self awareness. Participants may discover increased coordination & mobility. Other by products of regular practice are better breathing, reduced pain, even better performance in sports, art and life!

Photo by Michael Bell

​Johanna Bundon is an independent artist whose practice includes dance and theatre performance, choreography, and teaching. She has been working in the field of movement arts for over 15 years. A 2005 graduate of LADMMI (Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de Montréal), a 2008 graduate of the Globe Theatre’s Actor Conservatory, and holds a BA in Arts & Culture from the University of Regina. As a choreographer, Johanna’s work has been presented across Western Canada through the Prairie Dance Circuit and as a part of the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene. Johanna has been instructing Yoga and Somatic studies since 2006. She is recently sharing her work in Feldenkrais since graduating from San Diego 4 Feldenkrais Professional Training Program (2020). Johanna is an Authorized Trainee Awareness Through Movement® teacher. 

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Introduction to Franklin Method
​​with Krista Solheim, 2:30pm-3:15pm (45 minutes)

​The Franklin Method® focuses on how the body is ideally designed to function using Dynamic Neurocognitive Imagery™ to align with that function. With the use of touch, our minds, speech, embodiment, and functional anatomy, we will work to create positive change in our bodies, to find comfort and joy in everyday movements. No experience necessary, all you need is your body and your imagination!

Krista Solheim is a Level 2 Franklin Method® Educator, STOTT PILATES® Certified Instructor, independent dance artist and movement teacher. She holds a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University and has taught a variety of movement classes across Canada for over 20 years. Krista has dedicated her life to research of movement in the body through dance and a range of somatic practices. Krista brings physical awareness, her somatic experience, and the excitement of movement to the classes that she leads.

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Story Reading & TEA PARTY
​with Dr. Kathleen O'Reilly, 4:00pm-4:30pm (30 minutes)

Grandfather's Reminder 
Authors: Alberta-Rose Bear & Kathleen O'Reilly
Illustrator: Lindsey Bear
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​“We need to be careful that we don’t hurt the gifts that are given to us.” Told in paskwâwinîmowin (Plains Cree), anihšināpēmowin (Saulteaux), and English, this simple tale of traditional teachings and values follows a grandparent and grandchild on a visit to a chokecherry patch, where lessons about respect and gratitude for the earth’s gifts are shared.

​Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly is a professor in the Department of Indigenous Education, Health, and Social Work at First Nations University of Canada. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in social justice, language, literacy, and research with Indigenous peoples.

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Subtle Awareness and Emergence
with I-Ying Wu, 5:00pm-5:30pm (30 minutes)

Subtle Awareness is a contemporary improvisational somatic practice inspired by ancient Chinese Daoist concepts of bodymind integration. The aim is to soften the bodymind from the interior, enhance internal sensitivity to heightened awareness, unite movement (body) and consciousness (mind), and improve connection between the inner and outer worlds. The notion of subtle awareness is a form of intuitive sensitivity that exists prior to the process of interpretation, and is achieved by nurturing a calm, relaxed, and focused state of consciousness. For this reason, this somatic approach listens to subtle emergence from inside and outside, allows intuitive reaction that arises from within, which gives rise to improvisational movement. In this class, we will explore and relax the internal space of our bodies via sensation, imagery, and felt sense of being at the emergence of movement in a continuous process without breaks. This 30-minute somatic and improvisational exercise can be a daily practice for enhancing connection between awareness and bodily response.

Photo by Raymond Ambrosi

I-Ying Wu is an improvisation practitioner and researcher. She completed a PhD at the University of Northampton, UK and postdoctoral research at the Improvisation Studies Centre, University of Regina. Her PhD practice-led research employed a Daoist understanding of qi to develop a system of improvisational movement. Informed by Contact Improvisation, Chinese traditional qigong and martial arts, and Daoist philosophy, I-Ying’s somatic/improvisation practice focuses on subtle awareness of the very moment when an improvisational phenomenon emerges. To her, improvisation is itself interdisciplinary, or to be more exact, it is beyond any particular art form.

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FlexEnergetics
​with Ray Ambrosi, Jeff Quinn, and I-Ying Wu, 5:45pm-6:15pm (30 minutes)

FlexEnergetics is a bodymind integration system that builds precise body mechanics integrated with force pathways and energetic systems of the body. Training consists of five modules: Weights (Metal), Meridian Stretching (Water), Five Stances Stretching (Wood), Plum-flower Posts (Fire), Meditation (Earth).  These improve functional strength, balance, flexibility, coordination and mental focus, and increase energy levels. FlexEnergetics explores health and the body through training approaches rooted in Meihuaquan, an ancient Chinese martial art. Training is centred on core principles from Chinese health such as the concepts of Jing (materiality of the body), Qi (energetic state), and Shen (heightened consciousness).   These help one return to the original energetic condition of a child:  flexible, full of vitality, integrated in body and spirit. The name FlexEnergetics refers to training a flexible body and a vibrant, calm energetic state.

Raymond Ambrosi, is a PhD social science researcher, martial artist and somatic practitioner who has performed on many times for New Dance Horizons. His training in the martial art Meihuaquan (Plum Flower Fist) began in 1990 in China. Over the years, his teaching has been influenced by various forms of training including, the sword arts of Kendo and Iaido in Japan, intensive study of Chen Taijiquan, Iyengar and Ashtanga yoga, Vipassana meditation in Nepal, the Mitzvah Technique, and related bodywork methods. Ray enjoys exploring the intersection of eastern and western body-based exercise modalities and performing art. Since 1993, Ray has taught Meihuaquan martial arts, neigong meditation in workshops in Canada, China and Japan, often working with performing arts groups. Ray continues to study various methodologies that explore interconnections between the body, mind and space, and in 2019 established FlexEnergetics, a bodymind training system for fitness informed by traditional Meihuaquan.

Jeffery Quinn
In time-honoured prairie fashion, Jeff began his lifelong obsession with movement by climbing. Trees, telephone poles, schools, neighbour’s houses, or anything else taller than him. After a misspent youth of traditional athletics and damaged cartilage, discovered internal martial arts and somatics. Jeff trained Meihuaquan in China from 1997 to 1999, and is one of the founders of Flex Energetics. Jeff is now in his thirtieth year of volunteering with New Dance Horizons.

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Contortion (online)
with Anastasia Evsigneeva and Anna Protsiou, 6:30pm-8:30pm (120 minutes)

Online link
Meeting ID: 875 4732 1458
Passcode: 729244
The class will not be available through the recording afterward.

In this all-levels Contortion class, you will be introduced to very specific exercises that will help you learn how to hand-balance and improve your flexibility. It is different from a regular stretching class or a workout because this program will allow you to learn the art of hand-balancing and contortion by providing you with the right progressions. Contortion is about your journey of finding comfort in uncomfortable at first poses. Anastasia will adjust your program depending on your background, level and goals to help you reach them with the most joy and comfort, but the least amount of pain. You will be working towards gaining skills such as handstands in the center with ability to switch leg shapes, handstand presses, bridges, cheststands, elbowstands and more. The class will contribute to your overall fitness, flexibility and strength.

Photo by Orange Slice Photography

Anastasia Evsigneeva, born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia to an artistic family Anastasia began her dance education at 5 years old under the guidance of her mother Marina Evsigneeva, a dancer and choreographer. Her father Sergei Evsigneev was a mime, who worked with the circus in his youth. Thus, Anastasia is a combination of dance and circus with her own vision of contemporary art. In 2015 Anastasia moved to Canada to pursue her education at the School of Contemporary Dancers (SCD) in Winnipeg. In 2019 Anastasia graduated from the Professional Program of the SCD, with a BA Honors in Dance. Throughout the program, Anastasia had the opportunity to learn from and perform in the works of different choreographers from across Canada including Jennifer Mascall, Davida Monk, and Marc Boivin.

Photo by Dania AboAoun

Anna Protsiou is a dancer and circus artist who is currently residing in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She immigrated to Canada from Thessaloniki, Greece in 2014. Anna graduated with a Bachelor Honors Degree in Contemporary Dance from the School of Contemporary Dancers’ Professional Program, an affiliated program with the University of Winnipeg. Anna started dance at age of seven training in ballet, but her love for contemporary dance took over when she became a teenager. Since then, she has participated in many workshops and intensives, and has performed in multiple shows. Some of her recent performances include works by: Odette Heyn and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Stephanie Ballard and the Winnipeg Preservation Initiative, Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers and Peter Quanz. She has also worked with out of province choreographers such as Harold Rhéaume and Le fils d'Adrien danse in Quebec City, and in Toronto for the New Blue Dance Festival. In the summer 2019 she participated in Creando Lazos a Traves De La Danza with Ilse Torres and Roberto Mosqueda in Mexico.

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