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Class - Manuela-Blanchard

Earth- and waterdance - Contact Improvisation in Water    

Contact in Water could be described as a shared journey into a world made of playful spirals, soft embraces and suspended timelessness. Since no one is leading the dance, each of the movers engage deeply in a non verbal communication, which allows for something common to take over and guide them through space.

The warm water invites you to let go and to experiment an organic and fluid way of moving. You learn how to play with its resistance and dynamic, how to transition between following the waves and making soft and clear propositions. You go into aquatic and subaquatic explorations with your partners, experience effortless breathing and play with the balance between weight and weightlessness.

Moving from water to the dance studio will allow us to take the sensation of fluidity and the soft moving support into our dances on earth.

You can also book private Esalen® Massage Sessions with Manuela

Developed in the 1960s in California, the Esalen Massage® melds classical oil massage with slow, flowing long strokes on the whole body, often with pressure of the forearms. It uses a wide variety of stretches, joint mobilizing, rhythmic movements, conterbalance, deep tissue detail and energy work. The undressed client is covered by a sheet, with only the area being worked on exposed.
The practitioner works with the receiver, rather on him, responding to his/her breath, allowing him/her to change postures and to move during the massage, supporting the emotional process arising.
Principles behind Esalen Massage® involve resonance, intention, listening, breath, and innate body intelligence. Giving, as well as receiving, an Esalen Massage is a relaxing and regenerating experience.

Aquatic Bodywork:
The aquatic bodywork is a massage in warm water that combines gentle graceful movements, stretching, acupressure, mobilization of the joints in connection with breathing, conducted both on the surface (WATSU®) and underwater (Waterdance® ).
A session starts with a relaxation phase on the water surface, where your body is just floated, allowing you to relax and your breathing to deepen and flow naturally. Manuela will massage, rock, sway and swing you in a soft and effortless way. Harmonious playful movements alternate with energetical work.
When you are deeply relaxed and if you are open to it, the underwater phase begins. You'll receive a noseclip that keeps water from entering your nose while you are gently submerged. You enter the underwater 3-dimensional world while gravity disappears.
Manuela connects with your breathing, so that she can follow its natural flow and dive you on the outbreath and bring your face at the water surface just when you naturally want to breathe in. Waves, spirals, rolls, and twists vary with inversions and moments of complete stillness to integrate the healing energy of water.
The receiver often experience bliss, some intense sense of freedom or even go on a spiritual journey. It can sometimes lead to deeper emotional releases. At the end of the session you will have time to integrate the feelings which might have come up.