Santa Cruz Dance Circle – Your Healing Dance Community

Santa Cruz Dance Circle

Welcome to your healing dance!

Dance Circle is a DJ’d community improvisational dance jam, where healing and social change are danced.

Dance Circle meets at the Tannery studio A in Santa Cruz, California every Sunday morning 9-11am, with a sharing circle afterwards. Dance Medicine Circle meets at the same place every Tuesday evening 7-9pm, with a sharing circle afterwards.

Related to: ecstatic dance, five rhythms, contact improvisation dance, dance church.

We dance inside and outside at the Tannery.

Directions to Our Dance Space

We dance every Sunday morning 9-11am (with a circle afterward) at the Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center (TWDCC), in Tannery Center Studio A (aka Studio 110) in Santa Cruz, California.

We also dance every Tuesday evening 7-9pm (with circle afterwards) as Dance Medicine Circle, at the same place.

From the intersection of River Street and Hwy 1, turn north on River St. / Hwy 9. Pass the first Tannery entrance (on the right), then pass Encinal street (on the left), then make a right turn into the parking lot. Walk toward inner Tannery campus past sculptures. The dance studio will be off of the courtyard behind metal gates on the right.

For the Google Maps location, visit https://g.page/TWDCC?share . Do NOT park on the street! Continue north to the driveway, turn right and park in the parking lot.

Arrive any time between 9 and 10:55 am. Donations $5 – $25 suggested but no one is ever turned away due to lack of funds.

Dancers blissing together outside of the studio.

Are you new to Dance Circle?

Welcome! Those of us who come here regularly value the freedom and community in this place. Not that everybody is lovey-dovey with everyone else … we’re real people, after all. But we do find a deep acceptance here. Mutual respect is critical. While here, please:

  • Ask for what you want, and be willing to accept a “no” response without taking it personally.
  • Say “yes” to what you want, and “no” to what you don’t want, using body language or words.
  • Respect the wishes of others… and above all, respect yourself.

So if you want to dance alone, dance alone. If you want to dance with someone, extend an invitation. If someone wants to dance with you, say yes or no and mean it (you can always change your mind later, even during a dance). If you don’t like the way someone is dancing with you, tell them, or move away.

Again, welcome to what we’re co-creating here.

An altar is part of every Dance Circle session.

Stay Connected to Dance Circle.

Stay in touch by joining our email list at https://groups.google.com/g/santacruzdancecircle. You will need a Google account to join, using your email address (does not need to be gmail). Once you have joined, you may follow the same link to do some useful things:

  • Change your email delivery to digest, or off entirely
  • View past emails (particularly if you turned off delivery)
  • Send messages to the email list (your first post will be moderated)

We also post announcements to our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/321730619695266 , which also serves as forum for discussion.

Our Mission

Since 2001, a dance jam has occurred every Sunday morning from 9 to 11:30 AM in Santa Cruz, California. We are a volunteer-run and attended group of people who practice consent-based dance as a part of our community.

Our mission is to support a diverse body of dancers in creating safe containers that encourage physical and emotional healing, liberate individual expression, and uplift our community through dance.

Many people find healing during Dance Circle.

We believe that consent is central to our work. We believe that Black Lives Matter. We believe that LGBTQIA rights are human rights. We commit to making historically underrepresented people feel welcome in our dance space.

Our volunteers

Our volunteers are all different, with diverse lives, styles and backgrounds but what is consistent is that all of them are kind, committed and inspirational.

Some volunteers at lunch at the Tannery.

More Information

Dance Circle History

(Dance Circle tee shirts are no longer available, sorry…)

:~)