Temenos Dance Collective Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Simonetta Alessandri is an Italian dance artist and a somatic educator based in London. She applies the Feldenkrais Method to dance and movement training and to performance-making. She teaches Contact Improvisation, Improvisation, Choreography and Contemporary Technique at Trinity Laban Conservatoire, London Contemporary Dance School, at Goldsmiths University and in other Universities in UK. She teaches internationally and has been a guest teacher in Germany, Colombia, UK, Norway, Israel, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Taiwan and India.  Her work is informed by more than 30 years of dancing, teaching and choreographing. As a choreographer, she has created pieces for dance companies, students, large scale opera, improvised performance and site-specific works.  She has also done movement direction for theatre. She taught for more than 20 years in Italy and kept Contact Improvisation alive in Roma for 10 years with her classes and jams. She was one of the few dance practitioners in Italy who began working with Contact Improvisation in the 90’s.  She obtained the Post Graduate Diploma at London Contemporary Dance School, she is a qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and she holds the Teacher Certificate of the Royal Academy of Dance. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She is one of the founders of CI@Goldsmiths, association of dance artists dedicated to the promotion and dissemination of Contact Improvisation in London and UK. Follow her on Instagram: alessandri_simo_ Follow her on Facebook: Simonetta Alessandri Check out the CI @ Goldsmiths website: https://www.cigoldsmiths.com/ Check out the London Contact Festival: https://www.cigoldsmiths.com/londoncontactfestival

 

Part 3 of a 3 Part Series. Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe with Christian de Sousa & Felix Oram. Part 3: Morning Medicine Join Christian and Felix as they discuss and share a selection of beautiful and inspirational tracks that have deeply touched their souls. If you enjoyed the podcast and would like to listen to the tracks featured in full please check out the Spotify playlist. This podcast emerged from the creative springs of a project titled Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe, which is happening on Saturday 7th June 2025 at the beautiful Amadeus Centre in west London (Warwick Ave tube). To join Christian and Felix for a very special 5-hour dancing journey into sound where they will be weaving together diverse musical lineages: leaning into conscious dance maps, underground subcultures and the time-honoured human ritual of communing in rhythm, melody and togetherness, please use the link below. All bodies welcome. To book your tickets hit the link below: https://www.temenosdance.com/event-details/music-is-the-healing-force-of-the-universe Bio: Christian de Sousa is a DJ, dancer, facilitator and artist He holds dance spaces in Devon, London, Internationally and Online.  He also offers a membership called The Home Dancing Project and broadcasts a monthly deep radio show called Transmission. Find all his work at www.glimpsesoflight.art Follow at:  https://www.instagram.com/_glimpses.of.light_/ https://www.facebook.com/polartaoist/ DJ FX10K (aka Felix Oram) has been DJing since the 1990s in clubs, conscious dances & underground scenes.. He worked in the music industry for many years, running a record label and working in Matthew Bushwhacka’s recording studio. He is the founder of Temenos Dance Collective, an innovative conscious movement project offering safe, wholesome and inspirational movement experiences in London.  To keep up to date follow Temenos on Instagram or join the WhatsApp group.

For this episode we sat down with Nico Allen. Nico is a certified 5Rhythms teacher based in New York City. He began his 5Rhythms journey back in 2016 and finished his training in 2021. He runs a weekly Monday night class in NYC called Body Werk and describes himself as a 'movement catalyst'. To connect with Nico check out his Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/bodyw_rk/

In this episode we sat down with Richard Batts, the co-founder of Ecstatic Dance UK, the organization responsible for hosting the legendary Sunday morning dances at the Baths in Hackney Wick, London as well as Evening Sessions on Wednesday nights, plus regular retreats and events. We talked about Richard's journey and discuss the state of the Ecstatic Dance scene in general. Here all Richard's links to check out his mixes, follow him on Insta or buy tickets to EDUK events: Instagram: @ecstaticlifer & @ecstaticdance.uk SoundCloud: Taoro Music EDUK: Linktree

In this episode I sat down with Julie Stuart from Atlanta, Georgia (USA) to talk about her work as a 5Rhythms teacher in the south east of America.

Julie has over two decades of experience as a facilitator supporting organizations and individuals to navigate complex change using deep dialogue, large-scale visual mapping and embodiment practices.

She is a certified teacher of the 5Rhythms and of the Non-linear Movement method created by Michaela Boehm

She designs and guides transformative workshops which explore the intersection of sensuality, intuition, art and movement and has been dancing the 5Rhythms since 2010.

To find out more about Julie's work visit her website - www.juliestuart5rhythms.com

Dominik Schnell is the founder and developer of the HeartWave, a practice that supports us to connect to the deepest parts of ourselves through dance. Each session taps in to our collective wisdom as we journey in and out of relating, in and out of shadow, in and out of our fear. Above all HeartWave is a deeply liberating exploration of our inert yearning for belonging, connection and togetherness. Dominik has been passionately engaged in dance for two decades, exploring performance, contemporary, contact dance as well as many forms of expressive dance workshop styles. He draws from his experience as a facilitator, combining dance, tantra and process work. It was a pleasure to sit down with him and learn more about his process and his work. Dom is based in Forest Row, East Sussex and holds monthly HeartWave sessions there. To find out more when they are happening you can join the WhatsApp group - https://chat.whatsapp.com/HVAn4y7geSWHRdP1wHJKSn

or visit the Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/HeartWaveDance/

In this, the second interview with Christian de Sousa, we take a deep dive into the core 5Rhythms and Movement Medicine teachings. A rare opportunity to go further into the philosophy and foundational principles of both practices. Christian is one of the most recognised names on the UK conscious dance scene. His Sweaty Thursdays night at St Peter's in Vauxhall ran for 14 years and is widely acknowledged as one of the most important dance spaces, touching the lives of thousands of dancers across the capital. It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with him to discuss his life, his journey and his current creative endeavours. This interview is part 1 of a 2 part series. In the next interview we will go deeper into Christian's work and explore the teachings and philosophies that he utilises. All Christian's work can be accessed through his website: https://glimpsesoflight.art/   Current Invitations:    The Way of the Dancer (new programme of movement teaching 2024) https://glimpsesoflight.art/cat-movement/wayofthedancer2024/   The Dancefloor Jedi Project (membership service offering resources for dancers)  https://glimpsesoflight.art/dancefloorjedi/    Transmission (free monthly deep radio) https://glimpsesoflight.art/transmission/ (1st Thursday of the month)   Bio here: https://glimpsesoflight.art/bio/    A Short Film about Glimpses of Light is a 6min film exploring the essence of my work: https://glimpsesoflight.art/image/video/

An interview with Alyssa Jurewicz- Johns from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Alyssa is a somatic therapist, and embodied arts therapist and is about to graduate as a 5R teacher. We talked about her journey into movement, her experience dancing in the USA, her creative projects and much more. Check out her website to learn more https://b3productions.com/

Or connect with her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/b3_breathbodybeats/ https://linktr.ee/b3.productions

Emma Leech has been dancing the 5Rhythms movement meditation practice for over 30 years. After diving into the practice for her own self healing from trauma of grief she took the path as a teacher of the practice and trained with Gabrielle Roth, qualifying in 2001.

Since 2001, Emma has travelled to different parts of the globe (and London’s suburbs) taking the dance to disadvantaged communities in prison, addiction recovery centres and even children living in the slums in Kolkata, India. Working with such a disparate range of communities has helped her to expand her teaching skills and insight into all walks of life, keeping her plugged into a reality of human survival where the dance can be of real service.

Emma is recognised for her theatre work, not only working with actors and companies to help deepen their connection to themselves, but also through classes and retreats. She is honoured to be one of just three teachers in the world who are an apprentice to teach Gabrielle Roth's 'God Sex and the Body' map.

It is the diversity of the 5 Rhythms practice that holds her passion and she is still excited to be working with a movement language that heals and transforms human suffering into moving art.​ It was an absolute pleasure to sit down with Emma to discuss her journey and her work. https://www.emmadance.co/ https://www.instagram.com/emmakristinared/

For this episode we sat down with Ajay Rajani. Ajay is an accredited teacher of the 5Rhythms who trained with Jonathan Horan, son of Gabrielle Roth, in 2014. He was born in Africa with Indian roots and grew up in London, England where he thrives in a diverse, multicultural community speaking five international languages. His spiritual journey began over 20 years ago with a strong practice of seated meditation and this continues to inform his 5Rhythms teaching where he inspires embodying the moment and allowing your body to be your greatest teacher.     Ajay hosts a weekly 5Rhythms class at Colet House in west London every Thursday and regular workshops throughout the year.  For more details and information visit: https://www.5rhythms.com/teachers/Ajay+Rajani https://www.colethouse.org/5rhythmslondon