SYZYGY DANCE PROJECT CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
We want to meet you on the dance floor – no matter your fitness level, age, size, or amount of experience!
5Rhythms Sweat Your Prayers™ ClassOn the 2nd Saturday of each month ... There's a 5Rhythms Sweat Your Prayers™ class, where you can be led on a journey of self-discovery as participants come together in community. The class is made up of two waves. The first wave is your time to arrive, let go of your day and settle into your body. During the second wave, we dance more deeply and explore a specific theme. The 5Rhythms™ is a simple movement practice designed to release the dancer that lives in every physical body regardless of shape, size, age, or experience. While the practice itself is simple, it has the power to catalyze deep healing and creative expression. The primary teaching of this work is: If you put your psyche in motion, it will heal itself. The five rhythms are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical, and Stillness. They come together to create a wave. There are no steps to follow. Each rhythm has a different energy and tempo in which we tap into the wisdom of our bodies, bring awareness to the patterns in ourselves and our lives, and find our own individual expression. Sweat Your Prayers™ is done with minimal guidance or silence. The class is meant as a moving meditation. SWEAT YOUR PRAYERS WITH JENNIFER BRUNER SATURDAY June 11, 2022 10:30 am - 12:00 pm PST Hidden City Ballroom 304 Washington Avenue (Point) Richmond, CA 94801 *Cost: $20 *Monthly SDP Members are free to attend New Year Sound Waves Benefit
Spend a peaceful and rejuvenating afternoon attuning to healing sounds and supporting Syzygy Dance Project's outreach programs*. Relax into this intimate experience as a diverse array of instruments resonate near your resting body, giving you a direct sense of vibrational healing. Sound has been utilized across cultures for thousands of years as a tool for healing -- promoting deep relaxation, meditative states, renewed energy, heightened awareness and heart-opening. Sound Waves sessions utilize indigenous instruments from Peru, crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, and Native American flutes, drums, and rain sticks. Afterwards, we'll enjoy treats and libations. ll proceeds from this event benefit Syzygy Dance Project's movement programs in Bay Area. POSTPONED*
*NOTE: We have made the difficult decision to postpone our Sound Waves Benefit at Hidden City Ballroom in Point Richmond, California on Saturday, January 22, 2022. Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic conditions, we believe this is the right decision to guarantee the safety of facilitators, volunteers, and class participants.
5Rhythms Dancing With Ancestors Series
2022 TBA - Coming to Teachable Join Sylvie Minot for a virtual 6-week 5Rhythms Ancestors series This series explores our often unconscious family/ancestral patterns with ways to shift and release them. Through dance, movement, voice/sound, and guided group exercises, we will use each of Gabrielle Roth’s 5Rhythms—flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness—to honor our past and create new pathways for healing. 5Rhythms Ancestors is accessible to anyone interested in transformation through movement and offers an opportunity to tap into the generations of wisdom that live deep within us. You can purchase the series at a discounted per class rate or join a single class during the 6-week series. For those patrons who participate in the SDP monthly membership program, you can participate for free. Find out more here. *Proceeds from our public classes and events help subsidize our many outreach programs for people in recovery, inmates, veterans and the elderly. Outreach Facilitator Training 2021 Brochure
Thursday [DATE TBA] 2022 - [DATE TBA] 2022 Times/location TBA In this intensive 4-day training, you will explore how dance and movement can be used as a powerful resource and tool in working with specific outreach populations (i.e., in jails, recovery centers, hospitals, elder care facilities, and schools). This work is a dynamic movement practice of being in the body that can catalyze deep healing, connection and creative expression. During this training you will begin in your own body, allowing yourself to move freely and exploring your innate movement patterns. You will learn movement exercises, and how to support body movement and energetic attunement with others. You will learn the practice of regulating and re-grounding while leading a group, integrating voice with authentic movement and exploring confident leadership. The group will also discuss specific outreach populations, and the challenge of bringing movement classes to groups resistant to or less comfortable with movement. Learn more here. Shamanic Journey Workshop
JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN 2022 TBA A Shamanic Journey workshop connecting the dream world, journeying, dancing, and writing. In this class, she will invite you to explore the world of dreams and angels and the magic it contains. Diving into the Shamanic Journey with the symbols of your dreams will bring you into the world of allies, guides, and power animals. Combining the two realms with the expression of your body through movement will allow you to tap deeper into the mystical world. The workshop begins with movement, inviting a specific dream that you would like to work with into your dance, then journey with the images of the dream. Coming out of the journey, you bring it into your dance once again. You will write after the dance. The second half of the workshop is spent dancing to each participant's dreams and journeys. This workshop is a ceremony to invite in the subconscious and spirit world. It will consist of a ritual to offer our gratitude and blessing. |
“I discovered the 5Rhythms movement practice in 2010. In the short years since, it has helped me to completely transform my life.” 
“I have a found a kindred community on Sylvie’s dance floor.” 
“Sylvie's classes are a wonderful dance experience, integrating movement, fun, self-expression and deep connection (if you wish to) with others in a language we forget to use - physical movement/dance. You definitely don't have to be a good dancer to do this; it's a safe, total acceptance environment. I've been going religiously for 5 years. Sometimes it's the highlight of my week!" 
“In sound we are born, in sound we are healed” |
Partnership Workshops
SENIORS IN MOTION
Syzygy Dance Project is committed to improving the overall well-being of seniors in the communities we serve.
The SDP Seniors in Motion program is a class designed to help seniors connect with their bodies, let go of muscle stiffness and allow fluid movement to emerge.
Seniors In Motion is not just a great physical activity for seniors—it’s also a chance for them to socialize while moving their bodies to music.
This class helps seniors to be more relaxed, alert, and connected to the community.
The oldest Seniors in Motion participant is 108, and she is a testament to our belief that if we get our bodies moving, no matter our limitations, we can experience the positive benefits of dance.
During every class we see participants’ energy levels rise, smiles return to their faces, and many remark that they experience less pain.
As part of our service to seniors, Syzygy Dance Project provides Senior in Motion classes at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. We have also provided services at the Sausalito Village and the Jewish Home of San Francisco.
The Benefits of Dance for Seniors
The New England Journal of Medicine conducted a 21-year study of senior citizens (aged 75 and older) that monitored the rates of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, in the participants.
NewBridge teams with Syzygy Dance Project and Life Center Stage to create the Seniors In Motion program gather virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seniors in Motion is part of Tame the Pain, a NewBridge initiative that helps older adults understand the risks of prescription opioids and learn alternative pain management options. It’s funded by a state Department of Human Services grant.
“When we join together in movement and dance, it lifts our spirits, relieves stress, and leads to a deep sense of joy while also improving circulation and strengthening muscle function,” Life Center Stage owner Vicky Mulligan.
“I think it’s great! It gives me something to look forward to on Thursdays,” said 89-year-old Margaret McHugh of Sparta. “I never was a dancer, but it’s very satisfying to move to music I like,” McHugh said. Due to poor balance, McHugh keeps her walker within reach and modifies some of the movements. “It’s a pleasant hour, and I can’t say enough about the women who run it: they are so friendly and welcoming.”
Jan M., another participant, “I enjoy it a lot. It helps me get my body moving a little easier.”
NewBridge Services Director of Community Response and Education Beth Jacobson said the program is suitable for all seniors, including those with chronic pain and disabilities, because the movements can be adapted. “I have received nothing but positive feedback from participants,” said Jacobson, adding that seniors are requesting class play lists so they can do the movements between sessions.
NewBridge’s Tame the Pain will be offering additional upcoming programs. Seniors can contact Jacobson at ejacobson@newbridge.org or 973-686-2242 for more information.
Seniors in Motion is part of Tame the Pain, a NewBridge initiative that helps older adults understand the risks of prescription opioids and learn alternative pain management options. It’s funded by a state Department of Human Services grant.
“When we join together in movement and dance, it lifts our spirits, relieves stress, and leads to a deep sense of joy while also improving circulation and strengthening muscle function,” Life Center Stage owner Vicky Mulligan.
“I think it’s great! It gives me something to look forward to on Thursdays,” said 89-year-old Margaret McHugh of Sparta. “I never was a dancer, but it’s very satisfying to move to music I like,” McHugh said. Due to poor balance, McHugh keeps her walker within reach and modifies some of the movements. “It’s a pleasant hour, and I can’t say enough about the women who run it: they are so friendly and welcoming.”
Jan M., another participant, “I enjoy it a lot. It helps me get my body moving a little easier.”
NewBridge Services Director of Community Response and Education Beth Jacobson said the program is suitable for all seniors, including those with chronic pain and disabilities, because the movements can be adapted. “I have received nothing but positive feedback from participants,” said Jacobson, adding that seniors are requesting class play lists so they can do the movements between sessions.
NewBridge’s Tame the Pain will be offering additional upcoming programs. Seniors can contact Jacobson at ejacobson@newbridge.org or 973-686-2242 for more information.
