Earthdance

06/19/2026

Many of you know Josh Montoya from his time in the Earthdance kitchen, someone who showed up with care and generosity for this community.

On June 8th, Josh had a serious accident while working on a ladder. He suffered fractures to his nose, cheekbone, and right wrist, requiring surgery. He's now facing 3–6 months of recovery — during landscaping season, which is his primary source of income to support his wife Som and their son Boon.

His friend Arthur has set up a GoFundMe to help cover living expenses during this time. If you're able to give, or simply share the link, it would mean a lot.

Hello, My name is Arthur, and I’m reaching out to share that … Arthur Segreti needs your support for Support Josh Montoya during his recovery from surgery

06/18/2026

Seven teachers. Three continents. Decades of practice.

Spiral & Root 2027 brings together one of the most experienced CI faculties ever assembled at Earthdance — Ming-Shen Ku, Alicia Grayson, Mirva Mäkinen, Chris Aiken, Sarah Young, Meta Bobbe, Jessica Humphrey.

Each of them has spent a lifetime inside this form — as performers, researchers, and teachers. Together they bring perspectives shaped by traditions from across the globe, and a shared commitment to what happens when you give a dedicated cohort three weeks, two world-class studios, and the right conditions to go deep.

January 8–29, 2027 · Earthdance, Plainfield MA
Applications open : https://www.earthdance.net/spiral-root-earthdance-professional-ci-training/

06/16/2026

Alicia Grayson has been practicing and performing Contact Improvisation for 37 years — bringing to Spiral & Root a depth of embodied knowledge that can only come from a lifetime inside the form.

Her work moves across CI, yoga, pilates, and authentic movement, and extends into life coaching, somatic psychotherapy, and Biodynamic Breathwork and Trauma Release. For 31 years she has worked with individuals and groups across the globe — as a movement teacher, and as what she calls a transformational guide.

At the heart of her practice is a simple belief: that we each carry an infinite capacity for love and creativity, and that embodying that — fully, within a finite human life — is the work.

It is our great pleasure to have her at Earthdance this January.

Learn more & register: https://www.earthdance.net/spiral-root-earthdance-professional-ci-training/

06/13/2026

Tomorrow!

Lean in. Reach out.

These two impulses might seem like opposites, but Jason Woofenden invites us to find how they work together. In this month’s Second Sunday Jam, we explore Proximity and Extension: what happens when we extend our limbs outward, reaching away, while simultaneously tilting into a little unknown? What becomes possible in the contact when we’re not just collapsing in, but expanding in other directions?

Jason has spent nearly a decade teaching contact improv, and brings with him a lifetime of teaching in other forms — origami, computer programming, and more. He can get excited about mechanics and technique, but what draws him back to the floor is the way play and embodiment give us a beautiful path toward liberating ourselves through being present with what we fear.

His own practice centers on a simple but profound habit, catching himself when he tries to push away a feeling or a story, and choosing instead to feel deeply into it. To follow the sensations. To let the movement arise.

Come bring your limbs, your leaning, and your heart.

Sunday, June 14
Potluck 5pm · Class 6:15pm · Jam 7:30–10pm

Learn more: https://www.earthdance.net/event/ongoing-sunday-jams/

Photo credit - www.stonehousefilms.com

06/10/2026

Spiral & Root is three weeks of immersive Contact Improvisation training at Earthdance, the oldest CI-based intentional community in the world, nestled in the woods of Western Massachusetts. A place where the practice has been lived, taught, and carried forward for decades.

Whether you're deepening an existing practice or finding new edges in your body and partnering, Spiral & Root offers structured time with some of the most respected teachers in the global CI community, in a space that holds both rigor and play.

Whether you're looking to refine your technique, develop your teaching practice, or engage more deeply with the research and history of the form — Spiral & Root offers the time, the space, and the community to do that work.

January 8–29, 2027 · Earthdance, Plainfield MA

Applications open — link in bio.



Applications open: https://www.earthdance.net/spiral-root-earthdance-professional-ci-training/

06/10/2026

What happens when your attention shifts — from yourself, to your partner, to the whole room dancing?

This September, internationally recognized Contact Improvisation pioneer Andrew Harwood comes to Earthdance for four days of duet, trio, and ensemble dancing. Grounding in the core principles of CI — touch, tone, weight — we'll expand our perception to include space, time, image, and the ever-changing atmospheres in the room, discovering how a lightly held compositional awareness can deepen connection and open new possibilities for individual and collective improvisation.

More than a creative practice, this work builds our capacity to collaborate and hold space for one another in community.

Andrew has spent over fifty years immersed in dance improvisation, having studied and performed with the original developers of Contact Improvisation, including Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith.

· September 10–13
· Lodge, camping, and commuter options, all meals included
· Sliding scale pricing, early bird rates through August 6
· Equity & Access tickets available

Learn more & register: https://www.earthdance.net/event/compositional-awareness-in-contact-improvisation-workshop-with-andrew-harwood/

06/07/2026

We are deeply honored to welcome Ming Shen Ku to Spiral & Root 2027.

Ming Shen Ku is a choreographer and dancer based in Taiwan, whose work has developed a distinctive voice shaped by both Western and Eastern dance traditions. Since 1992, she has been a central figure in Contact Improvisation — introducing the practice to Taiwan and helping spread it across Asia. Her CI performance debut was a duet with Steve Paxton.

In 1993, she founded Ku & Dancers, a company dedicated to original works and improvisation that has toured internationally. In 2011, Ku & Dancers co-founded i-dance Taiwan, now one of Asia's significant platforms for improvisational dance. Her solo works have been described by the New York Times as "simple and handsome."

A former Dean of the Dance School at Taipei National University of the Arts, Ming-Shen retired as an Honorary Professor after a 25-year academic career. She has received the Wu San Lien Award and Taiwan's National Award for Arts.

For more information and to apply: https://www.earthdance.net/spiral-root-earthdance-professional-ci-training/

06/06/2026

What does it look like to build community that actually transforms?

Co-Creating Transformational Communities is a 3-day workshop at Earthdance grounded in self-responsibility, authenticity, and interdependence — offering practical tools for the kind of collective life many of us are reaching toward.

Drawing from Internal Family Systems, Non-Violent Communication, Circling, and Possibility Management, participants will explore what transformation means at the personal, interpersonal, and systemic level — learning to express feelings with intention, navigate conflict, and make authentic offers of connection.

Facilitated by Hannah Hirsh, Jonas Ratza, and Nina Chausow.

Aug 28–30, 2026 · Plainfield, MA

Learn more & register: https://www.earthdance.net/event/co-creating-transformational-communities-workshop-with-hannah-hirsh-jonah-ratza-and-nina-chausow/

06/02/2026

Get your hands in the soil. 🌱

Join Neal and Shosei for a community garden work day at Earthdance, drop in anytime between 10am and 5pm.

Help with planting, weeding, harvesting, bed making, compost turning — whatever the garden needs. No experience or tools required, just outdoor clothes and a willingness to get a little dirty.

Stick around after for a potluck at 5pm, CI class at 6:15, and jam at 7:30.

Sunday, June 14 · 10am–5pm

Earthdance, Plainfield MA

Details: https://www.earthdance.net/event/earthdance-garden-2nd-sunday-community-work-day/

05/20/2026

Come move with your people, big and small.

Family Dance Jam is a new space at Earthdance for parents, kids, and adult friends to share the dance floor together. Open format, loosely held. You don't need to know Contact Improvisation. Come as you are.

Instigated by Natasha Brooks-Sperduti, who has spent years nurturing creative movement in children and adults alike.

Sunday, June 7 // 10am–1pm
Sliding scale $15–$65 // Kids free

Learn more: https://www.earthdance.net/event/family-dance-jam/