Jason Cohen: Building & Closing the Container
Jason will be leading the creation of the fire circle and the digging of the root fire.
Be part of the ritual creation and closing. Elemental Altars, an Ancestor Altar and sometimes other altars are co-created. Break down and the closing of the space happens on Sunday. Please bring items for the altars, offerings of herbs, incense and song.
The model of the fire circle itself is attuned to hold us throughout our journey. The more care we pour into the space, the more care we pour into ourselves and each other.
Jason “Many Hats” Cohen is the producer and lead wizard/rattle shaker of the ceremonial fire circle gatherings known as Forestdance. He is the Executive Director of the HeARTbeat Collective Inc, and has produced and held musical space for 100’s of healing and expressive arts rituals. He has a deep knowledge and level of experience, with sensitivity and training as a ritual facilitator, and has walked and danced with a lifelong pursuit of making music that connects people with nature, Spirit and one another around the fire. Jason was one of the founders and chaired the Board of Managers of Camp Timber Trails, LLC, until he became the Camp Coordinator.
Jason’s latest efforts is as the Director for the historic Montague Retreat Center, a gorgeous 34 acre venue with a geo-thermal Great Hall and a deep and fantastic progressive legacy.
Jason is a community organizer deeply committed to creating spaces where people can become empowered and inspired. He is a musician, composer and songwriter and sings and plays keys, accordion and percussion with his project Incus.
Jason is a proud and loving father, and takes much of his inspiration from his humble and direct connections to nature and his ancestors.
Gina Schvartsman: Root Fire, Plant Walk and Attunement with
Gina is an Earth lover, often dappled in dirt or plant matter. She finds joy in the depth of connection offered to us through radical relationality with one another, our more than human kin, and this beautiful planet we call home. Guided by the seasonal rhythms and the breath and pulse of the Earth, Gina is inspired to be part of the re-membering of our human animal ways and that we are nature. She is a farmer/homesteader, community herbalist, shiatsu bodyworker, songstress, wild crafter and the culinary and herbal-artist of Radical Rose Botanicals. Her lifeways prioritize reclaiming our agency and vitality by being in direct connection with that which nourishes and provides our basic needs, and opening our eyes to the abundance all around us and within us.
Returning to hold the Root Fire for the second time, Gina is excited to invite everyone to explore our individual and collective relationship to the quieter, more receptive, yin side of life. Surrounded by a predominately outward, active, yang culture, most of us are still learning how to truly rest. The Root Fire is a place to stop, pause, and notice, to rest and look inward through a lens of silence and stillness; to explore the messages that arise in the space between. How can we reconnect to our innate capacity to listen deeply? How can we rewrite our stories and grow our capacity for vulnerability, care, curiosity, compassion, and trust? Remembering that each of us is power-full in a way that is a gift to the self and the whole, that reminds us of our path and what we were born to be and do. Together we weave this tapestry of life.
Ult Mundane: Music and Service around the Fire
Ult Mundane invites us to explore principles of drumming together, to help us bring confidence and sensitivity to our service at the sacred fire. Ult loves to blend the high energy of traditional African rhythms with the dynamic conversational elements of group improvisation. We will experiment with adding our voices to the group in the spirit of service. Together we can deepen our ability to support establishing a rhythm, use call and response to hear and be heard, and add some fireworks when the energy is on its way up.
Ult has been studying traditional West African drumming for over fifteen years, playing djembe and dunduns. He has learned from world-renowned teachers such as Famoudou Konate and Mamady Keita. Since 2010 he has been studying with Namory Keita, a master drummer from Guinea. Ult currently teaches a weekly class where he lives in Southern New Hampshire and leads the drumming for a dance class in Keene, NH. Ult is the president of the HeARTbeat Collective, Inc., a non-profit art and cultural organization.
Kjersten Hallin
Kjersten Hallin (She/They) @kj_creatrix Beauty Activist, Earth Lover, Eco-Edutainer, Song Carrier, Wasterument Maker, Grief Tender, Ritualist, Mother and Co-Creatrix of Cascadia Song Rise, Gathering sharing CommUnity BlesSings song weaving on Kalapuyan land throughout Willamette Valley. Kjersten offers gifts of song as ritual communion with the living world, with an alive sense of wonder and deep appreciation for the beauty and complexity of this time and space we inhabit together. kjerstenhallin.bandcamp
Vocal Voyages and Song Seeds
with Glenn Smith
There are many ways to bring our voices into the fire circle. We can offer or support a song, we can let a little melody flow through us, or begin a rhythmic phrase for others to build on…
Let’s explore different ways of using our voices to express and explore together, from spontaneous creations to songs known and unknown. Our voice is our most primal and personal instrument, let’s use it!
Facilitated by Glenn Smith, who’s led vocal improv circles and song circles in Massachusetts, California, and Costa Rica over the last few decades. More info and music at www.soundseeds.com
Seraphine: Fire Tending
Nick Mikita: Registrar
Nick first attended Forestdance in the wake of a beautiful experience with the HeARTbeat Collective’s Unifier Festival. The intimate, intentional, ceremonial character of Forestdance inspired Nick to volunteer for the organization, and eventually join the HBC Board of Directors. “Serving as Registrar for Forestdance, I am honored by the opportunity to welcome and accommodate all who join us.”