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First of all I'd like you to know that you are welcome.

The reason we are calling you is not just to dance. It's because of all that dancing brings.

It's to reclaim the qualities of life that are so precious, vital and easily missed in our day to day lives.

Our vibrant and often subtle life force can drain away as we grow older, through sitting in school, sitting at desks, in cars, sitting in our armchairs. Or through being shown what to think, what to feel, who to be, by people around us and constant advertising. So while we don't have to throw ourselves around like wild banshies (although that is welcome too), we move - and in doing so we begin to reclaim more and more of our own life-force, which never really disappeared, but sometimes gets buried.

There are no steps to learn, it's more natural than that.

Come and join us, and see if this is for you.

 

Sue Rickards

Learn more about Open Floor and 5Rhythms dance movement practices

What’s On Offer..

New Year’s Eve 2024/2025

This has become a long standing, long dancing tradition and you will be very welcome. There are two dances! Come to one or come to both :)

Click Here To Book Tickets for New Year’s Eve!

When: Tue 31 Dec 2024 / Wed 1 Jan 2025

Where: St Georges Church, Crayford Road, N7 0ND

Early Dance: click here to book

Time: 7.30 - 9.00pm (Please come on time if you can)

Cost: £20 (regular income) / 16 (low income) / 12 (concession/no income)

Late Dance: click here to book

Time: 9.30 - 12.20am (Please come on time if you can)

Cost: £35 (regular income) / 30 (low income) / 25 (concession/no income)

We're holding 2 dances; an earlier shorter one, and a later, longer one, through midnight. No-one has to pretend to be happier than they are on the night, no-one has to hold back on radiant happiness.

We'll have chairs for those whose legs won't dance all night.  Everyone, however we find ourselves, is truly welcome.

Christmas Day Dance 2024

Christmas Presence - an hour to dance together in the middle of the day, wherever, whoever and however we are.

When: Wed 25 Dec 2024

Time: 12.00-1.00pm

Where: Online (zoom code nearer time)

Cost: £10

All are welcome, whether you bring the whole family, or come solo :)

Saturday Live Pop-Up Classes

7.00 - 9.15pm - United Reformed Church

United Reformed Church, Pond Square N6 6BA Parking on the street

Not Weekly: Saturdays: Nov 16, 23. Dec 21 2024

Drop In - Pay On Door: £20 Entrance, £16 Concession, £12 Unwaged

15 Minutes walk from Highgate or Archway tube

Drop in dance; all welcome, however and whoever you are. No experience needed. These evenings are about allowing ourselves to be alive and real, however we feel. Come and give it a go

Click to join whatsapp for a reminder on the week when the dance is happening

An on-going closed dance group with Sue Rickards. Assisted by Angela Griffiths - in person & online

Each Term: 1 x Weekend SAT 11.00am - 6.00pm SUN 10.30am - 5.00pm + 5 x Thursday Evenings 7.00pm - 10.00pm

251 Hungerford Rd, London N7 9LD, UK

The next term starts with a weekend on 11/12 Jan 2025. The minimum commitment is 2 terms to allow time for new participants to arrive and to have a sense of continuity for the group.

And The Beat Goes On is an ongoing group intended to accompany us through our lives. We dance, we use words and other means of expression to explore our relationship with ourselves, with each other and in community, using movement as our bedrock. It is a closed group.  New comers are welcome and invited only at the beginning of each term. We're a movement based community of dancers who practice dancing and exploring deeply, playfully, and seriously, expanding our ability to be spontaneous, honest, responsible and real. 

To join or find out more information email Virginia: info@acalltodance.com

Tuesday & Saturday Classes On Zoom

7.00 - 8.30pm - Weekly

TUESDAY CLASS held by Richard Jerram

TUESDAY ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/970060735 payment link shared in class

SATURDAY CLASS held by Sue or Richard

SATURDAY ZOOM LINK: https://zoom.us/j/374997307

Please pay £10, or if you need to pay less in order for this to be accessible, pay what you can

PAYPAL: https://www.paypal.me/SueRickards

BANK TRANSFER: Ms S A Rickards, SC: 07-04-36, ACC: 43788875

EUROSWISE: BAN BE67 9671 0835 1487, Bank code (SWIFT / BIC) TRWIBEB1XXX, TransferWise Europe SA, Avenue Marnix 13-17, Brussels 1000 Belgium

Phoenix Dance

7.30 - 9.15pm - St Mary’s Primrose Hill, 2 Elsworthy Rd, NW3

Weekly on Tuesdays

Drop In And Pay On Door

Cost: Supporter Ticket £40 (one month of dancing at a discounted rate of £10 per week);

Generosity Rate £20 (makes it possible to offer sponsored rates to those that have less);

Fair Price £15 (what we need to make a living);

Sponsored Rate £5 (struggling financially but need to dance)

VILLAGE 2024

A year-long, monthly online moving village gathering to include losses as part of our vibrant living.

When: Mondays monthly online: 5-6.30pm;
22 April, 20 May, 24 June, 22 July, 19 Aug, 23 Sept, 21 Oct, 25 Nov, 16 Dec, 13 Jan, 17 Feb, 17 March

Where: online (zoom code sent near the start date once registered)

Time: 5-6.30pm (UK time)

Cost:  £140 (€165) for the year

£100 (€117) early bird until 19th March  


There are 2 places available at £40(€47) for people for whom the cost would otherwise be prohibitive

Info & Booking: susanrickards@blueyonder.co.uk

Holding ourselves, together

We need to be able to hold ourselves when grief and sorrow wash through our lives.  We also need a village, to acknowledge our grief and loss, the big and the small, so that it can colour, but not define our lives.  

For most of us this place and 'process' has been lost or ignored so that we are left in the cold of grief, rather than being alive to it.  The difference, the cost, is our vitality.  Which is a waste of our life while we have it.   As Elizabeth says in The Last Devil to Die  "I'm grieving, not dead".

So this group - 1.5 hours a month, is a village for our aliveness whilst acknowledging loss.  Holding ourselves, together, as we include what's true; that sorrow is a healthy response in our vibrant life.  It's not what we carry, but how. We'll dance, of course.  We'll laugh, maybe cry, we'll be delighted, we'll be together and that's healthy.

I have been training as a grief-tender with Frances Weller, author of The Wild Edge of Sorrow, who names a few gates of the grief that we all live with, and that are often unacknowledged.  This work will gently inform our times together.  

Already Alright

An annual retreat and gathering in Orval, Belgium

Room Spaces are becoming limited but there is still plenty of camping space :)

5 Days: 2025 (dates TBC)

Already Alright is an annual summer retreat and gathering. The week is both unique for each of us and also deeply supported by our coming together. We dance and create space to be curious, excited and surprised by what is actually ready to emerge and be included.  We don't need to know in advance what we need or what might happen.  This simple yet radical practice of exploring and being curious can change everything.

Connected to ourselves and to each other, we find ourselves much less interested in thinking there is something wrong with us, or anyone else.  We can stop fighting with the underlying fear that we are not truly ok and therefore we can relax and become available to delight and spaciousness. Freedom and freshness come through us, sometimes when we least expect it. 

Each year we build our confidence in what's ready to emerge. Fresh each year, and as a result of all our years of dancing together, this Annual Retreat and Gathering helps us to keep remembering the value of our unique contributions and our Alrightness. Oldtimers are as welcome as ever - we welcome each other!  And newcomers are always very welcome too.

Booking & Info: luc@owc.be www.owc.be

Annual Rituals & Celebrations

Annual Rituals & Celebrations

Annual Rituals & Celebrations

Lost Souls, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve Oct - Dec 2024

A chance to dance together however we feel