2026 Spring Weekend

Friday March 27th-Saturday March 28th
St. John’s Episcopal Church 74 Pleasant St. Arlington, MA
(Lombard St entrance at back of building)

Welcome in spring with a little bit of camp in March

To register click here … or for a printable registration form click here
The full weekend is only $110.  See other attendance options in the chart below schedule

New! Saturday only option $80 until Wednesday 3/25, after that $95.00

Friday March 27th and Saturday March 28th, 2026

Tentative 2026 Weekend Schedule

FRIDAY, March 27th

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 74 Pleasant St, Arlington, MA (Lombard St entrance at back of building)

OPENING DANCE

7:20pm – 7:40pm Check in, Welcome, Opening Circle (Foyer)

7:30pm – 8:30 — Tuning Moving Meditations — Helena Froehlich

8:30pm – 10:30 — Live Music for Dancing with Stan Strickland with DJ’d interlude(s) by DJ das Mojo (Dave Sheppard)

SATURDAY, March 28th

Full Day of Classes, Dinner & Performances, Evening Dance

St. John’s Episcopal Church, 74 Pleasant St. • Arlington, MA (Lombard St entrance at back of building)

1:30 Registration and Opening Circle

Class Period 1 — 2-2:50pm

Contact Improv Partnering — Olivier Besson (Parish Hall)

Class Period 2 — 3-3:50 

Movement, Rhythm & Voice in Community: A Transformative and Holistic Experience Time to Release & Connect **** with Live drumming **** — Sophie Leurent (Parish Hall)

Embodying Stories From Our Lives — Christopher Ellinger (Parlor Room)

Class Period 3 — 4 – 4:50pm

The 5Rhythms®: The Shamanic Journey — Margaux Skalecki (Parish Hall)

Class Period 4 — 5pm – 5:50pm

Belly Dance to Bliss — Johara (Parish Hall)

Foot Reflexology — Bill Kennedy (Parlor Room)

SATURDAY Dinner & Evening Dance, March 28th:

6:pm – 8:30: Dinner and Bardic Circle (Time includes Set up)

8:30pm – 10:30: DANCE — DJ das Mojo (Dave Sheppard)

Then, closing circle

For those who prefer a tabular schedule:

Friday March 27 th	St John’s 74 Pleasant St, Arlington, MA (Lombard St entrance at back of building)
7:20-7:40pm	Check in, Opening Circle, Welcome!
7:40-8:30pm	Class 1 Tuning Moving Meditations —Helena Froehlich
8:30-10:30pm	Live Music Dance with Stan Strickland	with DJ’d interlude(s) by DJ das Mojo (dave sheppard)
Saturday March 28th	St. John’s Episcopal Church 74 Pleasant St. Arlington, MA (Lombard St entrance at back of church)
	Parish Hall (Main Room)	Parlor Room & Foyer
1:40-2:00 pm		Check in (Foyer)
2:00-2:50pm	Contact Improv Partnering — Olivier Besson
2:50-3:00pm	Break	Break
3:00-3:50pm	Movement, Rhythm & Voice in Community: A Transformative and Holistic Experience Time to Release & Connect **** with Live drumming **** — Sophie Leurent (Parish Hall)	Embodying Stories From Our Lives — Christopher Ellinger
3:50-4:00pm	Break	Break
4:00-4:50pm	Roth 5Rhythms® — Margaux Medicine Dancer
4:50-5:00pm	Break	Break
5:00-5:50pm	Bellydance to Bliss: an Ecstatic Dance Journey — Johara	Foot Reflexology — Bill Kennedy
5:50-6:00pm	Set up for dinner
6:00-8:30	Bardic Dinner: Share a poem, song or short dance piece during dinner
8:30-10:30pm	DJ’d Dance – DJ das Mojo (dave sheppard)
10:30-11:00pm	Take down
Sunday March 29th
Times/locations Vary	Support Your Local Teachers Day

REGISTRATION FORM:

Full weekend (includes Dance Friday, Classes,  Saturday Dinner, and Saturday Dance)		By 3/15	Regular
Adult		$100___	$110_____
Youth (13-22)		$75_____	$85_____

Dance Friday + Class By  March 15/Walk in	Saturday Dance By March 15/Walk in	Both Dances By March 15/Walk in	Dinner & Saturday Dance By March 15th
$28/30	$28/30	$50/55	$45

 

Class Descriptions and Artist Bios

Tuning Moving Meditations

Tuning Moving Meditation with Helena Froehlich – Dance, tuning into your movements from within. We will warm up, and practice the 8 pieces of Brocade: an ancient Qigong series of flowing movement balancing the energy (Qi) and supporting health, vitality and mental clarity. Then in tune with Stan’s music, we will do some guided improvisation, connecting to the music, the space and people around you. Breathing in, breathing out, dance and expand the limits of your perceptions.

Helena Froehlich Boston Ballet Faculty. Dancer, Teacher, choreographer, Helena has worked with several companies including, Centre National de Danse Contemporaine in France, Staatstheater Biberach in Germany, American Repertory & Princeton Ballet School in the USA. She performs with her company CreationDance in Europe and the United States. Along with ballet, modern, and other forms of dance, she studied Tai Chi, Acupressure, Pilates, and Yoga with Sadhguru.

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Stan Strickland
Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor Stan Strickland has performed throughout the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, New Zealand and the former Soviet Union. In addition to numerous radio and television appearances, Stan has performed in many clubs and concert halls, including Jordan and Symphony Halls in Boston, Carnegie Recital Hall and Town Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Stan has performed with jazz greats Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann, Danilo Perez, Shirley Scott and Marlena Shaw.

 

 

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Improv Partnering will introduce improvisational strategies (scores) to help us explore and increase our capacity to collaborate in real time. We will draw inspiration from multiple sources including contact improvisation, martial arts, ballroom, rock climbing and nature’s own flocking behavior.

Olivier Besson Over the years, Olivier has had the pleasure of collaborating and performing improvisational duets with many individuals. That list includes Chris Aiken, Jane Shockley, Cathy Young, Debra Bluth, Lisa Schmidt and Liz Roncka in the US along with Min Shen Ku (Taiwan), Emmanuelle Pepin (France) and Toshiko Oiwa (Japan). He currently performs with Chandra Cantor. He is a full time faculty in the Dance Division of the Boston Conservatory.

 

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The 5 Rhythms®: A Shamanic Journey

The 5Rhythms ® is an ecstatic moving meditation practice.

Gabrielle Roth channeled  the 5Rhythms in the 1960s and by the 1990s they created a movement revolution throughout the world. 

The 5Rhythms® are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, Stillness . When we put them all together a Wave of movement and music merge and we find all the ebbs and flows of our inner and outer compass.

Giving ourselves permission to surrender into our own exploration as we move into each Rhythm and ride the wave of life.
All levels of movement experience are welcome
Wear soft soled shoes, non slip socks or bare feet
Wear clothing to easily move in. Bring layers of clothing as body temps can fluctuate
Bring a notebook and pen if you’d like.
Bring your Curiosity

Margaux Skalecki Medicine Dancer. BFA Dance, MA Expressive Therapies and Healing through the Performing Arts
Margaux is one of two teachers who lovingly brought The 5Rhythms^® to MA in the 1990s. 

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Belly Dance to Bliss: an ecstatic dance journey
Discover this earthy and sensual dance from the Middle East. Learn slow serpentine snake-arms, body-waves, Belly-rolls, and figure eights along with fast and fiery hip-locks and shimmies.Wear comfortable clothing (Optional: bring any variety of scarf for the hips).

Johara
Johara has been a leading performer, instructor, choreographer, and percussionist since 1995. She is certified in Hatha & Vinyasa yoga and has trained in multiple dance styles. As the director of Snake Dance Theater Company, she has performed her innovative blend of traditional (Egyptian, Turkish) and fusion belly dance in Turkey, Greece, Brazil and across the US. She’s produced over 15 theatrical shows. Currently, Johara teaches at the New
England Movement Arts and the Dance Complex where she has been a faculty member since 1993.

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Foot Reflexology/Foot Massage
You are invited to delight in a few minutes of foot heaven with us! No previous experience necessary and beginners especially welcome.  Together we will create a safe space for giving and receiving healing energy and learning to share the magic of a foot massage with each other.  Join us for the pleasure, the intimacy and the joy of learning to release tension and restore body balance.

Bill Kennedy
Bill Kennedy has taught numerous classes of yoga, massage, reflexology, and meditation for many years.   His regular Reflexology classes at the MIT Medical Department and at Cambridge Center for Adult Education received 5 stars consistently.  Formerly he taught Physics at MIT and was a Research Fellow in Mind Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School.  He is a Reike Master, and trained in Reconnection Healing.  He believes each of us has a miraculous capacity for healing ourselves and others. 

 

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True Story Theatre

Christopher directs True Story Theater, which performs and teaches a style of improvisation theater called Playback in which audience or group members tell stories from their lives and watch them enacted on the spot. It’s a moving and artistic form of embodied empathy. In over 25 years, Christopher has been in over 800 performances and workshops.

This class will give anyone interested an experience of trying out simple dramatic embodied forms and getting to know something meaningful about others in the class.

Christopher Ellinger 

 

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Sophie Laurent I love sharing the joy and energy that dance and yoga bring. Originally from Brittany, I know how essential it is to take care of ourselves and to connect with others, especially when far from our roots.

I first trained at the Conservatory of Brittany, then in Movement, Rhythm & Voicewith France Schott-Billmann, Cécile Lasalle and Henri Samba in France. This dance therapy is inspired by the extraordinary Katherine Dunham Method as well as the work of Herns Duplan, a remarkable Haitian dancer and choreographer. Each year, I continue to deepen my practice, cultivating my love of rhythm and exploring the transformative power of this therapeutic approach.

After moving to Boston, I expanded my practice to include yoga, NIA, and African dance.

In a world where screens and remote work often keep us apart, I see dance as a powerful way to reconnect, with ourselves and with one another. For me, movement is not only a form of self-expression but also a path to building bonds, realigning body, heart, and spirit, and finding joy in shared rhythms.