Dance Connection

“I have been participating in Dance Connection workshops for 3 years and have known Jewell for over 10 years. The Dance Connections pathways have been portals into a deep sense of aliveness, joy, harmony and community. I feel a sense of wholeness that I rarely feel in everyday life. I work as a GP and I find that the dances facilitated by Jewell are the perfect antidote to my often overly stimulated, information processing mind. I can immediately drop attention into my body and feel in tune with its needs, inclinations and living wisdom. The harmony that occurs during some of the group dances is awe inspiring and very moving. If you want to discover a new outlet that will promote health and happiness more than you can ever imagine, I would thoroughly recommend trying Dance Connection.”

 

Bryan, Doctor, Ireland

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"Dance Connection opens up the spaces within and between us. It allows expression of the instinctive and emotional parts that we - I - don’t often allow to surface in the everyday. I have found increasing freedom in my movements and a letting go of self-consciousness in the Dance Connection sessions, enjoying the movement and embodied expression for its own sake in the moment. The act of being present to ourselves and each other, can ‘speak’ truly of what and who we are in a way that is liberating and refreshingly free of analysis.  Action and receptivity to the flow of unfolding that Julia’s sensitively chosen music creates, when combined with individual suggestions for movement, enables moments of genuine beauty and transcendence to come into being."

 

Stuart M, Dorset

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"Why I love Dance Connection -

 At the risk of stating the obvious Dance Connection is about dancing in connection with both myself and others. Dancing in this way allows me to express myself both physically and emotionally, to move my body freely as I feel the music directs me. That freedom might result in a light playful experience or the outcome might be the release of strong emotions that need to be expressed or there again it can even lead the way to a profound sacred place. No matter what the nature of the experience I feel safe to enter into it fully knowing that I am supported both by Jewel who expertly facilitates the dance and by my fellow dancers as we support and uphold each with respect and care. So Dance Connection provides me with a safe and supportive environment to be myself fully and authentically in the company of others who also have that desire to move and express their true selves. This is a rare gift for any of us, and perhaps especially so for men in a society and culture where we are so often restricted in our freedom to be vulnerable and open in the presence of others."

 

David G, Dorset

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"What I experience from Dance Connection - Stimulation. Joy. Confidence. Physical agility. Musical sensitivity. Increased body confidence, balance, and coordination.

 I am developing a wider vocabulary of movement in my dance and in my everyday life. I am learning to move confidently to any music and through any emotion.

Dance Connection has taught me to dance with an open heart."

 

Lucy, Emeritus Professor, Cornwall

 

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"Just over a year ago, I joined Jewell’s Dance Connection group in Bridport. I was 63 years old Physically, not in great shape with painful knees and hips but willing to try something new. I last danced about 20 years ago when I first met my wife and we used to meet at salsa classes, great fun but very prescriptive. I went to Dance Connection with an open mind, not knowing what to expect; from the start, I was hooked. Everything about it is amazing; the sense of belonging, the range of beautiful and interesting music Jewell puts together each week, the freedom to express myself through movement- inspired by that music- safe in the knowledge that no one is judging me, no one laughing at me. I may feel like an old grumpy bloke when I leave home on dance nights but an hour and a half later, I leave Dance Connection feeling joyful, refreshed and revitalised."

 

Mark Dicker, Retailer and "generally a good sort"

 

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"Dance Connection puts me in touch with my inner world and is the most profound act of self-love I have ever experienced. It enables me to connect with myself and others in a loving, authentic, and playful way. For me it is medicine for the mind, body and soul and it's also great fun!"

 

Clare Love - Menopause Coach

 

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"Final share and time to go home.  

Feeling changed, realigned, a different me?   For sure! 

Each invitation to “connect” this evening was accompanied by an inspired choice of track to promote “my connection to me”.  My response a privilege, uniquely personal, sharing the generosity of the group which holds each of us.  Freedom.  Letting go my mind. Moving, alone, together, sharing, and being me.

 I don’t need words."

 

Don, Retired Engineer

 

 

"Dance Connection always feels like everything you ever wanted from a party and rarely experienced. At the end of the session, I am usually feeling enlivened, joyful and connected.

The wonderful music and carefully structured movement pathways facilitate a journey through the emotional layers to arrive in a deeper, freer, more open hearted self. 

 

Together way we play, laugh, mess about, experiment with our physicality and express through our bodies what words often can’t. To be with and witness other adults in this way is, I realise, extraordinary. To see our shared vulnerability and courage, pain, grace and beauty I find so very uplifting and affirming. "

 

Nichola, Therapist, Bridport, Dorset.

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