Where I End & We Begin | Oakland at – Oakland, CA

Don’t miss this upcoming event in Oakland, CA Happening on Saturday, December 7, 2024 at . Doors open at 10:00 PM.

Exploring the space between us where the magic happens. 
In exploring the boundaries of self, and the encountering of two or more other bodies in space, we engage the intersection of body and spirit that is always actually alive and breathing; inseparable and intrinsic to being human. 

Bringing together all of the threads of wisdom both Wren and Odessa weave, this day-long workshop will unite us in play. Through exploring the intersection of our unique experiences, we invite curiosity about what happens when we choose to step beyond becoming an individual. 

Expect to roll on the floor, on each other, to spin and twirl in joy, to learn how to harness physics with another body, and to place attention on relationship in service to liberation.

Coming home to our wholeness. 

In understanding somatically the wild spaces at the borders between our two knowings, we welcome in the fullness of experience in the creation of a third thing that is greater than the sum its parts.

Odyssey Healing interweaves trauma-informed psychology with dance, somatics and social justice frameworks to facilitate whole-body healing. Relying on principles of non-violence, right-relationship and inclusion, we explore how our traumas, our families, and our cultures have shaped us, and recruit the body’s wisdom to heal, grow, and thrive in our humanness. We know that when we begin to heal our relationship with ourselves and others, we build the foundation for stronger community and a more heart-centered world.

Cocréa is a continually evolving holistic movement modality that blends the connected, structural integrity of social partner dance, with the organic, blissful expression found in free dance. Intended to bring individuals into strong, empowered, expressive relationships with their bodies and their communities, participants learn to listen and respond in every moment to co-create spontaneously and practice presence moving together as one. Weaving the threads of collaboration, cross-pollination and consciousness, Cocréa focuses on how dance can enhance and expand relationships into a deeply connected, honest and powerful tool for personal, interpersonal and collective transformation.

Together, facilitators Odessa and Wren blend their collected bodies of somatic education to create a space for connection and healing through connected movement. 

LOCATION
BANDALOOP Studios

1601 18th Street
Oakland, CA 94607

SCHEDULE
Dec 7th
10:00am-12:30pm (west studio)
LUNCH & Studio Switch
1:30pm-4pm (east studio)

Dec 8th
1:30pm-6pm (east studio)

EXPERIENCE LEVEL
This workshop is open to movers looking to expand and deepen their practice. 
Beginning movers may find it a bit overwhelming. You are however most welcome to attend. 
Please don’t hestiate to reach out if you have any questions as to whether this is the right fit for you.

ACCESS
Cocréa and Odyssey Healing believe in providing low income access to those in need. 
Please only choose the NOTAFLOF option if paying the full price would constitute a significant financial burden. Thank you!

ILLNESS POLICY
All are welcome. Wearing masks is absolutely welcome but not required.
If you’re not feeling well, even a little, please don’t come! 
Please be in the mindset of care and do your best to be mindful of who you interact with leading up to this event. 

WHAT TO BRING
* Comfortable clothes to move in. 
* Two pairs of socks. 
* A water bottle. 
* A snack/lunch to stay nourished. 

FACILITATORS
WREN LAFEET
Wren is an embodiment guide intent on living in right-relationship as a 21st century human. Wren shares body-based practices synthesized from social partner dance, mindfulness, Taoism, the Gene Keys, watersheds, neuroscience and psychology that support interpersonal connection and positive change. In 2013, Wren co-founded Cocréa with Antje Schäfer as a vehicle for exploring mindful, consent based relational practice through movement and dance. 

Drawing from 2 decades in the theater driven by the exploration and understanding of human conflict, Wren creates brave spaces for humans struggling with disconnection and longing for a deeper sense of belonging to come home to themselves through the body. Wren’s own many years of seeking led him through theater and filmmaking, circus, nomadism, psychedelic-informed music culture, yoga, consent culture, decolonization work, permaculture, addiction recovery counseling and breathwork practice. Along his path, nature, community, relationship, humor, movement and a sense of belonging to something far larger and more unknowable than this seemingly separate self are the consistent threads with which Wren braids meaning and purpose into life.

Wren is a TEDx speaker, featured author in “ReInhabiting the Village”, certified Attunement Therapy practitioner and HeartMath certified trauma sensitive educator. He holds a BA in Drama and Dance and began dancing in 1998 at the height of the swing dance revival, immediately starting to fuse dance styles, particularly swing, hip hop and contemporary. He began performing on stage when he was 6 years old. 

Wren recently completed working with Embodied Recovery as a substance use disorder counselor in Los Gatos, CA. 

Wren currently abides on the traditional unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver, BC). 

Wren currently abides on the traditional unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver, BC). 

ODESSA AVIANNA PEREZ
Odessa Avianna Perez, MA, LMFT, is a trauma-informed somatic psychotherapist, embodiment and social justice educator who helps individuals and groups heal from fragmentation and remember agency, magic, and belonging. She holds a masters in Somatic Psychology from California Institute of Integral Studies and triple bachelor degrees in Dance, Theater Arts, and Sociology from Rutgers University. 

Odessa has been guiding movement-based groups into deeper self-knowing and embodiment for over 20 years, starting first as a choreographer and director of an interdisciplinary dance company dedicated to emergent, improvisational, and self-revelatory performance. Coming from a dance performance background, Odessa’s interest started to shift towards mindful, authentic and explorative movement methodology when she stumbled into her first Contact Improv dance at a jam in New York City. She has been practicing and teaching Contact Improvisation as a form of self inquiry and relationship alchemy since 2010.

Odessa is deeply curious about the intersection of personal and collective trauma, collective nervous system states and expression, and how we can use somatics and dance to integrate our trauma for better relationship, community and planet.  She has facilitated workshops at dozens of retreats and festivals throughout California and internationally, using somatics, movement, and contact improvisation as the platform through which to explore safety, relationship, building capacity for discomfort, interdependence and inclusion.

In her psychotherapeutic private practice, she weaves somatics, movement, interpersonal neurobiology, polyvagal theory, attachment work, and social and racial justice frameworks into her work with individuals and couples. She is the Inclusion and Belonging lead for SoulPlay festivals and currently resides in Tongva/Kizh territory – aka Los Angeles, CA.

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