Updated September 18 2025 – Mis à jour le 18 septembre 2025
Let’s Dance! Subscription information is at the bottom of this newsletter. – Ian!
Hello, Ottawa/Gatineau area dancers and movers.
Events in or originating from the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Events that recur weekly or monthly show only the nearest upcoming event or two. Follow the link for future events.
The events in this section recur weekly, with some exceptions. Check the official event page to make sure the event is scheduled on the day you want to attend.
If you’re new to Contact Improvisation Dance, attend the next free CI Basics class/jam on October 4 below.
CI dancers who have already taken a CI Basics class in Ottawa are welcome to attend any of our weekly Saturday CI jams running mostly weekly through the end of June 2026. (We have no Saturday CI during July and August.)
In Ottawa, this dance takes place mostly weekly, outdoors at Mooney’s Bay, all year round. See the web page above, the facebook: Dance to Nature group, or contact Alana O’Donnell for current information. Some Sundays have no facilitated dances.
The grassy dance area is not very friendly to wheelchairs, though there are paved paths adjacent. Accessible city washrooms are available in the main building at Mooney’s Bay.
WHAT IS ECSTATIC DANCE? Ecstatic Dance is a free-flowing and non-judgmental space where music and movement merge to unlock creativity, release emotions, and connect with yourself and others. There are no steps to follow, just let your body respond to the rhythm and explore the freedom of self-expression. It’s a celebration of presence, community, and pure joy. Join us for an uplifting and transformative journey through the power of dance.
Arrive on time so we can begin together. We open and close in silence—enter quietly, settle in, and sync with the space.
This event has no online site on which to post updates, so you have to contact an organizer to make sure that there are no last-minute changes.
Biodanza, which means “dance of life,” has been around for over 60 years and is practiced all over the world. Biodanza is a process of human development that expands and enriches parts of our identity! It is a rich pedagogy of the art of living that enriches our connection to ourselves, to others, and to the world.
People sometimes gather outdoors in Majors Hill Park at 5:30pm or 6pm for CI, often followed by some Acro Yoga. See the facebook Messenger group “Contact Improv Community Gattawa” for details each week.
Ottawa Biodanza in English with Alana takes place weekly in Ottawa.
Cet événement ne dispose pas de site web pour publier des mises à jour. Vous devez donc contacter facebook: Isabelle pour vous assurer qu’il n’y a pas de modifications de dernière minute.
Les cours hebdomadaires recommence pour accueillir ceux et celles qui veulent découvrir la Biodanza.
These Thursday evening Ecstatic Dances usually take place at 7:30pm on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Rosemount Orange Hall at 41 Rosemount Avenue in Ottawa. Different people run these events, each with their own facebook sites, so you have to look in multiple places to find out the details. See below for the current dates.
7:30PM Arrivals, warm-up, grounding time
7:45PM Opening Circle into dancing
7:45PM Dance Journey
9:30PM Closing Circle
These Thursday evening Ecstatic Dances usually take place on the first and third Thursdays of each month at the Rosemount Orange Hall at 41 Rosemount Avenue in Ottawa. Different people run these events, each with their own facebook sites, so you have to look in multiple places to find out the details. The start times aren’t always the same; check online before you head out. The events are only visible on The Facebook; there is no public web page. Try looking in all these places for the upcoming events:
The Rosemount Orange Hall is not accessible; there are many steps up to the dance floor and the washroom is too small for a wheelchair.
Are you in need of an outlet for your big feels? Curious about avenues for non-verbal expression? Hungry for a collective affective encounter? Whether you’re the type to cry at a car commercial or bury your feelings deep beneath the seventh layer of the Earth, this workshop has something to offer.
In this 2-hour session, we’ll explore dance as a tool to invoke and express emotion. Drawing on various genres and improvisational techniques, dancers will engage with six universal emotions: anger, fear, disgust, surprise, sadness, and joy.
Those new to dance can expect a supportive environment to uncover the relationship between movement and emotion, while more seasoned dancers will have the opportunity to finesse their emotional expression. All are welcome as we (literally) move through our feelings together.
WHAT IS ECSTATIC DANCE? Ecstatic Dance is a free-flowing and non-judgmental space where music and movement merge to unlock creativity, release emotions, and connect with yourself and others. There are no steps to follow, just let your body respond to the rhythm and explore the freedom of self-expression. It’s a celebration of presence, community, and pure joy. Join us for an uplifting and transformative journey through the power of dance.
Arrive on time so we can begin together. We open and close in silence – enter quietly, settle in, and sync with the space.
This Ecstatic Dance event repeats every two weeks until December 21 2025.
Open to all, all ages; no experience needed.
✨ Intuitive Belly dance workshop ✨
Join us for a unique Sacred Flow: Belly Dance Workshop, where movement becomes a gateway to deeper connection, release, and joy.
🤲Expect moments of dancing in circle, mirroring each other’s energy, and following inspired movement led by the facilitator — creating a space where the body speaks, emotions move, and connection unfolds naturally. 🫁We’ll close in circle, returning to stillness through breath, reflection, and a final gentle sharing moment — leaving you rooted, open, and more in tune with your inner rhythm. 🔥This is a space for self-expression, emotional freedom, connection with others, and the celebration of the body. 🌟No Experience Needed
This workshop invites you to explore movement as medicine. Dance as a therapy. Through guided activities, you’ll have the opportunity to express emotions, connect with others, and experience the joy of movement in a supportive environment.
This is not a technical class in Belly dance. Rather than focusing on specific steps, the workshop offers an opportunity to explore movement as a form of expression and emotional release, emphasizing personal connection, creativity, and community.
✨You are warmly encouraged to participate fully and authentically.
Intuitive Belly Dance is a transformative practice that blends the expressive movements of traditional belly dance with the freedom and self-awareness of intuitive movement. Unlike structured choreography, this approach encourages dancers to listen deeply to their bodies and emotions, allowing spontaneous movement to emerge in response to inner sensations and feelings.
Next Intuitive Belly Dance Workshops: September 28, October 12&26, November 2&30, December 7&23
We welcome you to our Dances of Universal Peace.
We will dance at the First United Church in the Westboro neighborhood of Ottawa on the first Friday of each month. You are invited to dance for peace – bring a friend! The Dances of Universal Peace are a 40 year old tradition of dancing to simple chants from a variety of the world’s religions in a simple and peaceful moving meditation. Newcomers are happily welcomed. No previous experience or dance partner needed. All dances and movements are learned on the spot. A donation will be requested (Suggested $10.) No one will be turned away for lack of funds. Our leaders and musicians team includes Marlene Neufeld, Bob Neufeld, Pat Kerr and Yves St-Pierre.
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
Come to our free CI Basics class and dance jam, open to everyone, on
Saturday October 4 at 11:15am.
Invite your CI-curious friends! All Welcome! No experience necessary!
We teach you everything!
Please arrive on time (11:15am) for the consent talk.
The next CI Basics class will be the first Saturday in November.
The accessible, community-run Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improvisation Dance classes and jams run a free all-welcome CI Basics class and dance jam at 11:15am on Saturday October 4 open to everyone, especially people new to CI dance. Follow this link for details on time, location, and what to wear: Contact Improv Dance Basics. Please arrive on time (11:15am) for the consent talk.
The next free CI Basics course will be held on November 1 at the same time and venue.
CI dancers who have already taken a CI Basics class in Ottawa are welcome to attend any of our weekly CI jams running mostly weekly (check the schedule!) for ten months on Saturday at 11:5am until June 27 2026 and then resuming weekly again in September 2026.
The ODD/CDC studio is fully accessible, with a large accessible washroom on
the same floor as the dance space.
Unfortunately, the various Ottawa dance organizers don’t cooperate and list their events on one site, or even on each other’s sites, so you have to watch a half-dozen different places to know what’s going on. Many events don’t have public web pages, so you have to sell your soul to The Facebook to access their information. We’ve included links to some of the dance events we know about, below.
Except for the community-owned, community-run Ottawa/Gatineau Contact Improvisation Dance group, all dances are privately run.
Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to some of the above dance events.
The Falling into Autumn Jam is an annual weekend jam that aims to be a dance-focused exploration of Contact Improvisation featuring classes, workshops, and open jams. We work to welcome as many types of bodies, identities, and levels of experience in this wheelchair-friendly and access-focused space.
We welcome dancers from Toronto and the surrounding areas to join us from October 11 to 12, 2025, at the National Ballet School to celebrate and practise Contact Improvisation. The festival includes two days of dance jamming, workshops, a BIPOC affinity dance jam, a disability-led access-focused dance jam, and an evening film screening and performance followed by an ecstatic dance.
This event is wheelchair accessible and barrier-free. No one gets turned away due to a lack of funds.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Details to be announced. https://contactimpro.org/?Festival-ACI-2025
Details to be announced. https://contactimpro.org/?Festival-ACI-2025
Le Jam annuel de Montréal! Details to be announced. https://contactimpro.org/?Festival-ACI-2025
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Contact Ian Allen about car pooling from Ottawa to this event.
Recurring Events outside the local Ottawa/Gatineau/Wakefield/Lanark/CarletonPlace Region
Some of these events changed during the pandemic. If the listing below seems out-of-date, please contact the organizers.
facebook: Groove Tonic PEC hosts a weekly barefoot, free-form movement and dance event in Picton (Prince Edward County).
For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact the organizer.
Dear contact dancers (or those who want to do contact improvisation!), Suzanne and Opal are continuing to host Contact dance Jams in Peterborough, after a summer hiatus. Details are below. Please feel free to share widely! Contact Improvisation is movement inspired by the spontaneous interaction between two people playing with weight, momentum and gravity. Beginners welcome! Contact Dance Jam is hosted 4-5pm on the 4th Sunday of the month (with some exceptions - see below).
Fueled by Public Energy!
This location is wheelchair accessible with an accessible washroom.
For other Peterborough dance events, e.g. Ecstatic Dance, see Dance Your Bones
OnDanse Val-David est un collectif soutenant la pratique de la danse extatique. Offert hebdomadairement, la danse suit une courbe musicale particulière pour induire un contact à soi à travers l’expression corporelle et une exploration personnelle dans le mouvement. Une rencontre entre le festif et le sacré!
A monthly therapeutic conscious dance journey, where we express ourselves and all of our big feelings by moving freely in community without judgment.
Our mission: to invite pure, unabashed self-expression through movement, in a warm, permissive, nonjudgmental space. NOTE: the capacity of our space is limited to 65 people; therefore, please register ahead so that you can ensure you have a spot.
This is a dance intended for all bodies, and St. Peter’s Church is an accessible space with an elevator. There are no “moves” or “steps,” but rather just an invitation to do what feels right. This kind of dance can look like anything – it can be big, small, upright, or lying down. As long as you are moving and breathing, you are doing it right.
Dance and celebrate – Danser, se rassembler, célébrer, s’émerveiller …
Classes in Biodanza and Authentic Movement in and near Montréal and Val David with Catherine Fabiola Lessard
Currently (August 2025) only the French pages are up-to-date. The English pages still date from 2021. Use the French pages.
I recall always dancing. A tiny, faded 3×3 photograph of me in traditional garb with hair in plaits doubled over, age 4, in my village in India, shows me dancing (and caught self-consciously!). I’ve tried many forms of movement and 5Rhythms® is my home-coming. 5Rhythms® is free-form movement meditation, in every class we dance through the five energies/rhythms of Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness®. There is a vast ever-changing inner landscape of our bodies and psyches for us to be fascinated by and navigate with curiosity. Certified at the Waves level of this practice, philosophy, and perspective, you can find out about my classes here. As an accredited 5Rhythms® teacher, all class and workshop hours with me count towards teacher training prerequisites.
I produce workshops where I invite teachers to Montreal/Ottawa to share their wisdom, experience, perspective, and learnings. Upcoming workshops can be found here.
Freeing the Creative Spirit Teaching people to experience the pulsating sensual energy inside them and awakening their connection to flowing breath, rooted feet and a centered alive pelvis – reach up, root down, live in the heart center. Visit https://www.erik.iversen.ca/ or https://www.5rhythms.com/teachers/Erik+Iversen or contact Erik Iversen for more information. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Erik.)
Lynne Adams runs 5 Rhythms classes in and near Montréal. (For wheelchair and washroom accessibility information, contact Lynne.)
facebook: Contact Improvisation Bas-Saint-Laurent
Groupe pour faciliter l’épanouissement de la communauté de contact impro dans la région. Cours, jams, covoiturage vers des activités ailleurs au Québec, etc.
Bienvenue à tous. Les jams de Contact improvisation seront annoncés dans le groupe par le biais d’évènements. Consultez la publication épinglée pour plus d’information.
Classes are facilitated in French (with possible English translation on request): Biodanza Sherbrooke: français and Sherbrook Biodanza: English (The English pages may not be updated; use the French pages!)
Shake! Mornings, afternoons, and evenings
facebook: ~bioLUMINosity®~ Edge of Trance dance, meditation, playground.
Dancing is not just getting up painlessly,
like a leaf blown on the wind;
dancing is when you tear your heart out
and rise out of your body
to hang suspended between the worlds.
We have come to be danced
not the pretty dance
not the pretty pretty, pick me, pick me dance
but the claw our way back into the belly
of the sacred, sensual animal dance
the unhinged, unplugged, cat is out of its box dance
the holding the precious moment in the palms
of our hands and feet dance
[…]
If people ask me how to Contact Improvise, I simply say, “Start small” or, “Start small for a long time.”
After fifty years of all this, I realize I should have said,
“Go beyond small to the place where no message is being given. Start there. Let small be the first of the pleasures to come.”
Accept the first perturbation of that emptiness as the focus of the next moments. It is not a dance about you, or your partner. It is a dance about its movement.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others.
[…]
At the still point of the turning world.
Neither flesh or fleshless;
Neither from nor towards;
at the still point, there the dance is,
But neither arrest nor movement.
And do not call it fixity,
Where past and future are gathered.
Neither movement from nor towards,
Neither ascent nor decline.
Except for the point, the still point,
There would be no dance,
and there is only the dance.
I can only say, there we have been: but I cannot say where.
And I cannot say, how long, for that is to place it in time.
[…]
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
[…]
Dancers who pursue graceful movement must practice being aware of their bodies and being aware of wordless communication. These skills are particularly important today, when we spend so much time sitting and in virtual realities. Our way of life has taken us further from our own physical experiences and the understanding of the wordless emotional messages of others. For example, contact improvisation makes the dancers listen attentively to the body of their partner. Touch is known to reduce pain, fear and anxiety.
