LADP PRESENTS: I CARE ABOUT YOUR BODY | A WORKSHOP WITH STEPHANIE ZALETEL
L.A. Dance Project
2245 E Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90021
Friday, March 29, 4pm-8pm
Saturday, March 30, 2pm-6pm
Sunday, March 31, 2pm-6pm w/ vocal sound meditation facilitated by Odeya Nini (must attend all 3 sessions to attend on this day)
$250 Full Workshop (Early Bird*)
$200 LADP Friend Membership Level
$100 Single Day (March 29th or 30th only)
*Price will increase to $275 after March 15th!
Please complete the application to begin the registration process.
I CARE ABOUT YOUR BODY is a workshop and a life-style. Just saying the sentence out loud brings a wave of calm, a softening, a more empathetic approach to whatever, or whoever might be in front of you.
ICAYB – the workshop, in practice offers gentle, somatic and creative movement rituals that harmonize and co-regulate our collective nervous systems and awaken our imaginations. The research is rooted in neuroscience and grounded by spiritual bodies, and is developed to be accessible to most moving bodies. I strongly encourage caregivers, nurses, therapists, educators, nannies, as well as anyone who could use some restoration and resonates with the material below to join us in the space.
A Note from the Facilitator
“This offering was dreamed up during a very slow and sweet season of my life – collaborating with my mother in caregiving for my 90 year old grandmother during her final year earth-side. This period of patient care while her conscious mind grew more and more dim taught me so much about the deep importance of trust between bodies as well as the vital practice of self-care, patience, and somatic attunement when in positions of service.
Care is radical. Care is mandatory.
In this slow learning season of my life , I also had the time and space to read and educate myself at a pace that felt embodied. ICAYB’s ethos is humbly influenced by the teachings of somatic abolitionist Resmaa Menakem, trauma informed physician Gabor Mate, consent educator Mia Schacter, and Buddhist monk Pema Chodron, among many more authors, educators, and activists (full list of resources will be provided to workshop participants) and how their teachings intersected with my own discoveries in a long sweet year of pausing my life as I had known it and taking care of someone’s body.
As a lifelong dance artist, the natural progression of the past several years has led me to expand on these practices in a way that felt like dance. Intention plus movement, community co-regulation, empathy building, and simplicity. I believe dancers harness the embodied intuitive power that will transform the world. Let’s carve some time to nourish and be nourished, repattern harmful narratives or behaviors, and place care in the priority position. Say it with me, I care about your body.”
Stephanie Zaletel Bio
STEPHANIE ZALETEL (they/she) is a choreographer, dance artist, trauma- aware movement facilitator, educator, dream-tender, caregiver, environmentalist, and somatic based mental health advocate based in Los Angeles.
They create captivating, collaborative, and voyeuristic dance centered works, pairing with musicians, filmmakers, theater and opera companies. In 2015 they founded SZALT, a feminist dance project which brought their performance based offerings to prestigious venues nationally and internationally including Ford Amphitheater, REDCAT, SYD Fest, Kayenta Center for the Arts, and The Harvey Theater at BAM as well as beloved independent communities in Los Angeles such as Pieter Space, The Handbag Factory, Floating Residency, and LAX Festival.
Stephanie is currently dancing in projects for Rosanna Gamson // World Wide and offering movement direction for multiple operas under Beth Morrison Projects while also building out their independent evening length touring performance project, vagus. As a movement facilitator and educator they work from a place of cultivating empowerment, emphasizing autonomy, and intuition for varying levels, ages, abilities, and backgrounds of mover. They are co-founder of WIP LA with Kate Wallich – an artist-run monthly series that supports dance works in development with residency space, a well attended public showing, and moderated audience discourse.
They have a BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from California Institute of the Arts, and a CE Certificate in Somatics and Psychotherapy Practices from Antioch University.
Testimonials
“Most workshops I’ve experienced felt so structured and not in tune with the collective experience of the group and what we needed at any given moment. This is the first workshop that felt really interconnected and empathetic.”
“I woke up in the middle of the night and while trying to fall back asleep I was reminded of the song we learned with Odeya. I repeated it in my head until I fell back asleep, and now I feel so grateful for this new little ritual I was gifted from the workshop to relax my thoughts.”
“This type of work is truly radical and vital for all to fight the (exhausting) effects of capitalism, disconnection from nature and community.”
“This workshop was one of the most interconnected spaces I’ve ever been in. It felt like collective healing. Not just in the room but beyond.”
Statistics
In its first year, I CARE ABOUT YOUR BODY has served over 60 participants ranging in age from 19-50 years old. Participants are dancers, psychologists, visual artists, mothers, physical therapy coaches, musicians, climbers, yoga instructors, body workers, and more.