Programming and Facilitators
Our vision for camp is to provide a broad range of opportunities for movement, exploration and growth.
Our offerings will focus on Contact Improv, Conscious Dance, and Expressive Arts, as well as Community Building, Inner Movement, and Partner Dancing.
Check out our 2026 Schedule draft to get an idea of the flow of camp and see when your favorite facilitator will likely be teaching. Also below you will also find bios that hint at the extensive wisdom everyone is bringing forth this year.
Hiva (She/her) is a Tehran-born choreographer, performance artist, and somatic practitioner currently based in the US. A graduate of the Tamalpa Institute in Expressive Arts Therapy, her practice explores the body’s transformative power through imagination and embodied expression. Drawing from Persian mystical poetry and traditional rituals, her recent work utilizes somatic relational knowledge to access imaginal realms and ancestral technologies. By bridging Eastern philosophy and the interdependency of all beings, Hiva invites a shift in how we perceive the living world, offering alternative ways of coexistence through the profound connection of body and spirit.
Wyld is a sensitive and awkward animal whose native tongue is dance.
The 5Rhythms practice has given her the route to the root of creative expression and healing. Offering this freedom is her most profound joy. She has been holding 5Rhythms spaces since 2018 in devotion to the Mystery and in gratitude to the creator of this practice, Gabrielle Roth, who once said "It takes discipline to be a free spirit."
Kurt teaches partnering and improvisation workshops focused on sensing and moving from one’s moment-to-moment state, clear communication about availability and consent, and savoring relational interaction.
After dancing in New York, Kurt lived and worked in Europe from 1988-2012, teaching and performing at festivals, schools and companies throughout Europe and Asia. From 2007-2011, he directed the Masters Program in Contemporary Dance Pedagogy at the HfMDK in Frankfurt, Germany.
Constanze (she/her) has been dancing since before she was born—quite literally moving in her mother’s belly. A professional dancer and movement facilitator for many years, her background is rooted in ballet and modern dance, with the past 15+ years deeply influenced by Contact Improvisation as both a dancer and facilitator. Originally from Germany, she grew up in a culture where generations often blend more fluidly and playfully, with children and adults naturally sharing space, movement, touch, and everyday life together. As a mother herself, she has loved weaving contact improvisation and movement exploration into her experiences with her own children, and is passionate about creating spaces where adults and kids can connect through curiosity, play, trust, and embodied communication.
Bob Antolin (he, him) and Alan Merrihew ( he. Him), have been performing at clubs, private parties, Ecstatic Dance events, and other similar dance formats since the 1980s. Bob and Alan are longtime musical soulmates who play a range of saxophones, flutes, guitars, basses, and percussion instruments to create their musical soundscapes. Bob and Alan’s music spans many genres from Jazz Standards to Latin, Rock, Blues, Reggae, and Pop. Together they create intimate heart and soul touching musical experiences.
Tyson Wilson aka DJ Permissionary has been curating the ecstatic vibe since 2014, and specializes in fusing together a rich variety of genres, including world house, downtempo, organic trap, sacred bass and more, into a sensual flow that will dependably invite you into your body and into the moment.
Kalyana Maitri Long time dancer and more recently delighted curatrix of ecstatic dance containers in Portland OR, K.Maitri leans into rich sounds from around the globe backed by luscious big bass to create journeys that draw the body into motion and buoy the soul into flight.
Grace Bell and Jon Elizondo met on the ecstatic dance floor in 2007, married in 2012 in a powerful ceremony that included many dancing friends and family members, and started Freeform Dance Dance — fondly known as F2D2 — six months later as a new flavor of conscious dance.
Their offering, “The Dancing Playground,” is a joyful, inclusive space for freeform movement, embodiment, play, and community connection. Grace brings decades of experience in self-inquiry, group facilitation, retreats, and transformational learning. Jon brings 35 years of teaching early childhood education and a deep love of music, ceremony, and community. Together, they create a warm, consent-aware environment where dancers of all ages, genders, bodies, and experience levels are welcome.
Stuart Phillips stulips.org, as a relational mediator i combine personal swift healing with interrelational movement
Noam Paco Gaster (they/them) has been moving and sounding for approximately 56 years. They have extensively studied intuitive improvisation with Stu Phillips, physical theater with Ruth Zaporah, dance with a focus on intersectional disability & performance, and are licensed as an occupational therapist. With Bee Hear Now Productions, they have seeded diverse participatory geographies on multiple continents. They love co-creating spaces that accentuate access to liberating expression and authentically inclusionary connection, and are additionally especially excited to contribute to community practices that empower individuals and groups to heal their relationships with Wilds without & within.
Wonder Phallen, started movement improvisation in 2001. They spent years exploring creative expression. In 2004 Wonder began training in the martial arts. Training in martial art, they developed kinesthetic awareness of self and other bodies through space. In 2011, they started social dancing which led to increased understanding in partnership, connection, rhythm, floor craft, social etiquette, and consent-based practices.
In 2015 Wonder received their bachelor degree in communication, dance, and leadership from Western Washington University. This is when Wonder began teaching Fusion and Contact improvisation (CI) locally and internationally. They held a weekly jam for 2 years in Bellingham. Their dance education overlaps with functional movement, pilates, and yoga, which sparked their interest in other movement modalities.They continue to learn other practices such as Butoh, aerial arts, clown, yoga and movement theater performance. They continue to emphasize presence, authenticity, movement expression, functional movement, mindfulness, and movement practice that include Authentic Movement, group assemble and composition
Xanne Kozuki, aka Uname, (they/them) is the founder of Sneaky Deep Collective, whose mission is to ignite social change through play. Born and raised in Hawaii, they developed a passion for multiculturalism, which led them to a path of majoring in Intercultural Communication. After dedicating the past 20 years of raising two children with special needs, they are excited to be in a position of having the time and energy to apply their passion of building authentic connection and community.
Dr. Jessica Tartaro (she/her) is a cis-gendered, able bodied, Sicilian Jewish Intimacy Coach & Connection Facilitator with nearly 20 years of experience in the healing arts working with individuals, couples and groups. Former Fulbright scholar, she passionately believes that everyone can learn how to have closeness with others – whatever your history – through committed practice, connecting with your body and a good dose of play. In 2022, Jessica gave birth to her daughter Joya, who has become her greatest teacher in intimacy and is now a curious, strong willed, and very charming toddler.
Read more about Jessica’s services and story at www.DrJessicaTartaro.com
Matthew Nelson is a somatic therapist, dancer, and facilitator passionate about creating BraveSpace® for people to empower themselves in the divine intelligence of their bodies. Matthew has an MFA in dance, certificates in massage, Pilates, and Laban Movement Analysis, is a Mystery School initiate, and has 30 years’ experience in the somatic field.
"Owlchemy" is an ever-evolving heart-share by David "Owl" Chen (he/him). Owl live in Sisters, Oregon, a land of lava rock, juniper & sage, panoramic mountain ranges, and wild rivers. This land inspires both reflection and rapid transformation, qualities that inevitably weave through deeply intentional sets. A set with Owlchemy is much more than just music; the loving vision is to share ceremonies of beauty, power, and self-remembrance.
Maureen Momo Freehill MFA, Directing Asian Performance U of Hawaii. Founder of DailyDance.Us, offering nature- based retreats + somatic wellness training and intermodal arts performance globally. Facilitator of NatureMoves.org nurturing embodied intimacy between humans and nature.
Over 40 years as improvisational performer, educator and director; recognized internationally for innovative fusing of somatic modalities with what’s natural. Guide for Butoh Landscape offerings in lineage of founder Kazuo Ohno.
Noé Khalfa (they/he) and Adnan Khan (he/him) are passionate facilitators of dance and movement spaces that invite deep embodiment, play, and connection. Noé has been guiding ecstatic dance, contact improvisation, and movement workshops for over a decade, while Adnan brings his DJing gift and love of rhythm, energy, and guided meditation into the mix.
Together, they create BloomDance—an immersive, consent-centered dance journey that has become a favorite at Dance Camp. Their facilitation blends dynamic music and interactive elements to inspire full-bodied expression. They’re thrilled to bring BloomDance back for another unforgettable night!
Anto (he) is a registered yoga teacher from the Bali Yoga Ashram 200RYT and has training in the Power of Awareness by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. He also have 26 yrs of yoga practice in Viniyoga with third generation in the lineage of Krishnamacharya, and 15 yrs of experience in Buddhism and meditation with a Vipassana experience. Anto had 17yrs of experience in conscious dance and 12yrs in building community around music. You may know him from the zen arts group - ZAG concerts or from ecstatic dance and his own music.
Karen Joy Fletcher, MPH, writer and qigong instructor, loves sharing her passions of qigong, Earthgym and nature connection with people around the world. She is a personal student of Qigong Grandmaster XuMingtang, has trained and traveled with him at Shaolin Monastery in China and worldwide. She has also trained for over a decade with Mick “the Barefoot Sensei” Dodge in the Hoh Rainforest and offers unique qigong and Earthgym programs at retreat centers, including Omega Institute in New York. Karen has led Qigong trips in Western China, is the founder of an international Women’s Nourishing Qigong community, and enjoys facilitating enchantment and joyful connection in Nature for people of all ages.
Scot Robinson tribal weaver, organizer and wild, whimsical guide of Turtle Dance will invite us into the open and eclectic Turtle mosaic. Flying Turtle Dance is musically and emotionally wide-ranging. The dancing leans toward group interactivity, but only if you're drawn... Musical energy stretches all the way from gentle ambient to playful delight to fiery stomp.
