Newcastle Dance Collective

We’ve had to swap a few sessions around, so here’s the updated schedule.

http://www.dancecollective.org.uk/programme.html

Sessions are normally held at the Summerhill Pavilion & Gardens and start at 6pm and end at 8pm.

18 January Movement Medicine with Helen
25 January Barefoot Boogie with Bob

1 February Dance of life with Thomas
8 February 5Rhythms™ with Rachel Kurtz
15 February Live Rhythms
22 February Movement Medicine with Lynn

1 March Dance of life with Thomas
8 March 5Rhythms™ with Rachel Kurtz
15 March Movement Medicine with Lynn
22 March Barefoot Boogie with Bob
29 March Movement Medicine with Helen

Pre-booking and pre-payment for sessions is essential, as a limited number of places are available.

Price £15 - £5 on a sliding scale - please pay what you can afford via the link below.

Happy dancing!

The Newcastle Dance Collective

Revised Programme | Newcastle Dance Collective Pre-booking and pre-payment for sessions is essential, as a limited number of places are available. Price £15 - £5 on a sliding scale - please pay what you can afford via the link below.

Happy New Year!

I have some updated info on my Echoes and Visions course.

While coming to the whole thing is best, I am making a small number of places available to dancers unable to attend all five modules. If you can't make all 5, are willing to commit and participate as fully as you are able, and can attend at least three of the weekends, there may be space for you.

Prices for 3, 4 or 5 weekends are now available on the booking page, along with more details.

In addition, you can access a short (not very flattering!) video about my musings on creativity and the course here:
https://youtu.be/E0Iug6ASk9k?si=NpzrrbAi06ZgI3Kr

And this is the link to book:
https://app.workshop-angel.com/form.php?h=1&t=0&e=a9746940de426294

Please feel free to pass this information on to anyone you think might be interested and do get in touch if you have any questions.

With love and appreciation,

Rachel

Echoes and visions: a closed group for 5Rhythms® and creativity Echoes and Visions : a closed group for 5Rhythms® and creativity

Happy New Year!

I hope you are entering 2026 with some valuable wisdom and nourishment from what was, for many of us, a challenging year. Personally, with my PhD complete, I have a sense of stepping more intensely into the unknown than ever before, but with so many changes in the wider world I think I'm not alone in feeling this.

When the way ahead is unknowable, the 5Rhythms can prepare us to deal with a variety of terrains and notice the patterns that can help us navigate. Just as in the material world we might look downhill for water, energetically, we can recognise, anticipate and work with each of the rhythms. Repetition and conscious practice then, support us to lean into this embodied wisdom in the moments when we most need to stay in choice rather than habit. For example, the map of the emotions and the shadow help us see when we are in fear or lethargy and use the positives of flowing to awaken our senses and get grounded.

This Sunday's class
This Sunday I will be leading a basic 5Rhythms wave, dropping in a little about the shadow of each rhythm. It will be just a taste - teaching the shadow in depth requires much more time than a single evening class - but it may help you recognise when your shadow is trying to run the show and support you with physical strategies for shifting your energy.

I developed my own way of working with the 5Rhythms shadow map with my 2024 ongoing group - Connection - and am hoping to run a weekend workshop on this later this year. If you're interested in that weekend, Sunday's class will give you a flavour of what to expect. Details are the same as usual (see below).

Dancing in Cumbria
I may be covering for Liz Collier in Mungrisedale in Cumbria on Friday 16 January (tbc) and in February I am teaching a Friday evening followed by a Saturday whole day with live music on 20th & 21st in Threlkeld. It is possible to sleep in the hall after dancing for a very reasonable price, making this a great way to satisfy your dancing and wilderness needs in a single trip, but the classes often fill up with locals, so don't delay booking. The Cumbria live band is evolving and increasingly includes musicians local to the area who are also regular dancers, many of them multi-instrumentalists and all highly accomplished. You can find more details about these and other Cumbria classes via the link below.

Intentions from the Solstice session
Those of you who took part in the ritual setting intentions for the coming year should be burning your final piece of paper today. This will leave you with one intention to focus on for 2026. You might want to put this in a prominent place so you see it every day, or spend some time working with it creatively - journaling, dreaming, collaging. Follow your intuition and I'm sure you'll find something juicy.

Echoes and Visions
See the link below for details about my upcoming course themed around creativity. I will be emailing separately with new info. about this soon, as I am working on an affordable way to open it up to dancers who are unable to attend all the sessions without losing the solidity of the group.

Wishing you the very best for 2026 and looking forward to dancing with you again in the coming weeks and months!

Rachel
x

Sunday at Summerhill
18:00 – class intro
20:00 – finish

Summerhill Bowling Club, Wi******er Terrace, NE4 6EH
£15 - £5 sliding scale
Feel free to arrive from 17:45 so we can start promptly
Ticket link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1979451707342?aff=oddtdtcreator

Cumbria Wavedance events:
https://www.cumbriawave.dance/dates

Echoes and Visions:
https://app.workshop-angel.com/form.php?h=1&t=0&e=a9746940de426294

As the New Year flies in, it brings new opportunities to dance together. Hope to see you on the dance floor soon!

http://www.dancecollective.org.uk/programme.html

Solstice Dancing this Sunday!

Just a few spaces left!

We’ve had a number of cancellations due to illness, so there are a few spaces available for this Sunday’s dances.

Booking links are below . . .

Dance, snacks and social, dance, with the schedule as follows:

4pm - 6pm - Movement Medicine with Lynn, followed by Helen
6pm - 6.30pm - Snacks: soup, samosas, satsumas & seeds
6.30 - 9pm - Barefoot Boogie followed by closing ceremony with Rachel

Snacks are substantial and are included in the price.

Can't wait to dance with you!

The Newcastle Dance Collective

Booking links:

4pm EARLY SESSION
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977380689873?aff=oddtdtcreator

6pm LATE SESSION
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977519321524?aff=oddtdtcreator

If booking to come to both sessions, use the promotional code 'Both' for a 20% discount.

Dear Dancer,

We are very excited to share information about next week's Winter Solstice Celebrations.

We will follow the usual format - dance, snacks and social, dance, with the schedule as follows:

4pm - 6pm - Movement Medicine with Lynn, followed by Helen

6pm - 6.30pm - Snacks: soup, samosas, satsumas & seeds

6.30 - 9pm - Barefoot Boogie followed by closing ceremony with Rachel

Tickets will be released for sale at 9pm this evening (10 December).

You will need to book the two sessions separately so we can keep within the maximum number, but anyone coming to both sessions qualifies for a 20% discount off both sessions (see below). Snacks are substantial and are included in the price.

Can't wait to dance with you!

Rachel (on behalf of the Newcastle Dance Collective)

Booking links:

4pm EARLY SESSION
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977380689873?aff=oddtdtcreator

6pm LATE SESSION
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977519321524?aff=oddtdtcreator
When booking to come to both sessions, use the promotional code 'Both' for a 20% discount.

Dear Dancer,

December can feel challenging! For some it can be packed to overwhelm with obligations, while for others it heightens the heavy ache of emptiness, loss or longing... all amidst an expectation of joy and celebration. In the dance we have an opportunity to be real without judgement, even when the world around us seems to insist on only one right way of being.

This Sunday I will be offering a 5Rhythms® class to help bring embodied consciousness to what we engage with and how. Within the structure of the 5Rhythms® wave, we will explore specific skills to build our resources and enable more choice around our experience of the festive season. I will be sharing practical, embodied tools that can help support you, whether you’re anticipating bumpy family dynamics, or lots of alone time in the coming weeks.

There is space for you just as you are.

I hope you can come!

Rachel

X

18:00 – opening circle and class intro
20:00 – finish

Summerhill Bowling Club, Wi******er Terrace, NE4 6EH
£15 - £5 sliding scale
Feel free to arrive from 17:45 so we can start promptly

Eventbrite booking link:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1966948498909?aff=oddtdtcreator

Dear Dancer,

It was snowy in Durham today, so this Sunday I will be offering 5Rhythms on the theme of wintering. We will move between settling our attention inside, coming together in the warmth of companionship and community, and merging with the quiet, vastness of winter, seeking the richness of rest and respite that the season can bring.

Whether you detest the cold, dark months or treasure the vast winter vistas and quiet, cosy nights, there is treasure to be found in wintering.

18:00 – opening circle and class intro
20:00 – finish

Summerhill Bowling Club, Wi******er Terrace, NE4 6EH
£15 - £5 sliding scale

Feel free to arrive from 17:45 so we can start promptly

Ticket link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/newcastle-dance-collective-5rhythms-conscious-movement-and-dance-tickets-1966943460840?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

What if creative ideas do not originate from us, but arrive through us? The ancients believed muses whispered inspiration to those open enough to receive it - positioning us as conduits rather than owners of our art. This shifts our focus from product to process, from control to curiosity.

Still, we add our own flavour to the idea. In these moments of merging with something bigger, each co-creation holds echoes of our past experience and seeds of future potential. In the creative process we can transform both our reality and our sense of self.

In this five-weekend closed group, we will use the 5Rhythms® movement practice as our foundation, letting the wave carry us through creative doorways: movement, writing, visual art, and sound. Each weekend focuses on a different art form. Saturdays we dance and experiment; Sunday mornings we venture into nature in search of the muses; Sunday afternoons we weave our discoveries back onto the dance floor.

We may find inspiration. We may not. We may love what we make - or not. Either way, we will savour the privilege of the journey.

31 Jan & 1 Feb
28 Feb & 1 Mar
28 & 29 Mar
2 & 3 May
6 & 7 June

Saturdays 10am - 6pm, Sundays 10am - 4pm

Brancepeth is a 15 minute drive from Durham train station, and lifts can be arranged.

For the 5Rhythms teacher training prerequisites, this course counts as 5 x weekend workshops (75 hours) at Waves level.

To book visit:
https://app.workshop-angel.com/form.php?h=1&t=0&e=a9746940de426294

Hello again,
I have been having a wonderful time researching and planning for tonight's 5Rhythms class. We will be using the trees' process of releasing leaves as a metaphor to help open up soul space and settle our energy. I have been fascinated to learn about the hormonal process involved and will use this to frame our dancing.
Expect opportunities for reflective appreciation, wild release, and self-compassion and nurturing.
I hope you can join me!
Love,
Rachel

18:00 – arrivals, opening circle and class intro
20:00 – finish
Summerhill Bowling Club, Wi******er Terrace, NE4 6EH£15 - £5 sliding scale

Ticket link:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1966945011478?aff=oddtdtcreator

Sunday dancing in Newcastle anyone?

Dear Dancer,
I will be covering for Helen this Sunday with a 5Rhythms session inspired by the shedding of autumn leaves. We will be dancing to release and settle old energy, opening up space for clear vision. This theme is echoed in these strange and chaotic times as the structures that longer serve us seem set to self-destruct. This can be painful to witness. Dancing provides an opportunity to grieve what is being lost, rebalance, and look toward the future with a steady heart.
I hope you can join me!
Love,
Rachel

18:00 – arrivals, opening circle and class intro
20:00 – finish
Summerhill Bowling Club, Wi******er Terrace, NE4 6EH
£15 - £5 sliding scale

Ticket link:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1966945011478?aff=oddtdtcreator