Ecstatic/Conscious Dance Events in the Boston Area, December 2025
Welcome to another month of conscious movement! Today we enter the month of the winter solstice, the longest and coldest night of the year. Luckily this month also has so many chances to find human warmth, and our own internal fire, on the dance floor.
…anyways, onto the ecstatic/conscious dance events for December!
Short List
Detailed List
Tuesday, December 2nd: Biodanza in Jamaica Plain
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Biodanza is an invitation to connect with yourself, others, and the fullness of life, in a space of welcome and respect. Join us for a night of music, movement, restorative lay, gentle container, and community. These events will be held at JP Cohousing. Email biodanzajpboston@gmail.com for further details.
Tuesday, December 2nd: Contact Improv Jam in Cambridge
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Tuesday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Each week has a different facilitator and theme, with an opening circle and class for the first hour, followed by open dancing. It’s usually done to silence, but sometimes to live music.
Thursday, December 4th: FlowState 5Rhythms with Joel Stanley in Somerville
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Joel is an accredited teacher of 5Rhythms, a form of movement therapy that brings us on a wave through a wave of five different rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. This night is part of 6-week series with a special focus on each rhythm, culminating with an extra long 3 hour session on Dec 11th. This time, the focus will be on “stillness.” No need to attend all…each night will be it’s own independent experience!
Thursday, December 4th: Dance Lab in Cambridge
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Dance Lab is a weekly gathering where we explore what happens when our bodies lead. Carefully curated music and simple prompts help you find your way. We call it a lab because we’re all experimenting—discovering what movement does for our bodies, imaginations, and communities.
Thursday, December 4th: Contact Improv Jam in Jamaica Plain
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Thursday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Now held for new hours, at a beautiful space at Spontaneous Celebrations. This night, the JP jam will be having a holiday party with special offerings.
Saturday, December 6th: Embodied Flow: Aikido Principles in Contact Improv in Arlington
12:30 - 4:00 pm. Contact Improvisation has deep roots in Aikido. Steve Paxton, CI’s founder, was immersed in Aikido practice when he dreamed of an Aikido session with continuous flying—and CI was born. Early Contact Improvisation explored falling, rolling, flying, and not knowing where you would land. Aikido, the softer martial art, teaches power rather than forcing, redirection rather than resistance, expansion rather than contraction.
In this workshop, we’ll draw from both traditions as we work with the forces of gravity, expansion, and connection. Through partner exercises and improvisational play, we’ll explore falling, flying, blending, and effortless redirection. With our partners, we’ll move from our centers, discover a shared center, and surrender to the flow that carries us beyond control. Class will take place on a cushioned floor—an ideal space for exploring the meeting point of martial art and dance, of discipline and freedom.
Saturday, December 6th: Soul Dance in Cambridge
1:30 - 3:00 pm. Join us for Soul Dance, a guided improvisational movement practice that engages somatic awareness to facilitate personal growth, emotional well-being, and collective healing. Soul Dance was created by Allison Talis, a somatic therapist, yoga teacher, and trauma specialist with over 25 years of experience in the healing arts. The dance begins gently, followed by a deeper, more visceral exploration, and ends with relaxation. Understanding that the body holds our inherited epigenetic patterns and our present, we work with—and through—the body to release, untangle, and create new pathways towards integration. Soul Dance is an intuitive, non-verbal practice set to music, where you can expect to sweat, although you are always in control of your rhythm and pace.
Sunday, December 7th: The Shake in Arlington
12:30 - 2:00 pm. Join in on a unique somatic event- The Shake. What is The Shake, you ask? It is a durational practice where we will be shaking to music for around 45 minutes. Shaking can look all kinds of different ways. It can be vigorous, like jumping up and down, it can be gentle, like lying down, and just moving fingertips. It can look like dancing. Although we will be in the practice collectively in a room together, we will be focusing on our own personal experience throughout. This practice is ultimately about tuning into your body, and finding your way to stay with the experience- it’s worth it! There is the option to stay for the Restorative Yoga & Massage Workshop following, from 2:30 - 4:30 pm.
Tuesday, December 9th: Biodanza in Jamaica Plain
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Biodanza is an invitation to connect with yourself, others, and the fullness of life, in a space of welcome and respect. Join us for a night of music, movement, restorative lay, gentle container, and community. These events will be held at JP Cohousing. Email biodanzajpboston@gmail.com for further details.
Tuesday, December 9th: Contemplative Contact Improv Jam in Cambridge
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Tuesday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Each week has a different facilitator and theme, with an opening circle and class for the first hour, followed by open dancing. It’s usually done to silence, but sometimes to live music. This week will be a special “contemplative jam,” with an extra focus on dropping into our bodies without words.
Thursday, December 11th: FlowState 5Rhythms with Joel Stanley in Somerville
6:30 - 9:30 pm. Joel is an accredited teacher of 5Rhythms, a form of movement therapy that brings us on a wave through a wave of five different rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness. This night is part of 6-week series with a special focus on each rhythm, culminating with an extra long 3 hour session on Dec 11th.
Thursday, December 11th: Dance Lab in Cambridge
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Dance Lab is a weekly gathering where we explore what happens when our bodies lead. Carefully curated music and simple prompts help you find your way. We call it a lab because we’re all experimenting—discovering what movement does for our bodies, imaginations, and communities.
Thursday, December 11th: Contact Improv Jam in Jamaica Plain with Live Music
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Thursday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Now held for new hours, at a beautiful space at Spontaneous Celebrations.
Friday, December 12th: JourneyDance in Cambridge
7:00 - 9:30 pm. Facilitated by Sandra Rose, this will be a movement journey into that liminal space where embodiment meets enchantment, and where your inner world is alive with new awareness, sensation, and delight. Whether you’re a seasoned ecstatic dancer or someone who finds structure and facilitated connection supports you, this night offers a grounded and playful container to explore the magic inside your body. Through guided visualizations, music-inspired movement, optional connective exercises, and plenty of free-form expression, we’ll move through a wave of inner landscapes that awaken curiosity and wonder.
Friday, December 12th: Dance Friday in Cambridge
8:00 - 10:00 pm. Join us for an immersive experience of Ecstatic Dance and Wellness at Dance Friday’s upcoming event. Dive deep into conscious movement, self-exploration, and healing through movement as we come together in a safe and supportive environment to explore the depths of our inner selves. Led by experienced facilitators, this Dance offers a unique blend of trance dance, energy healing, and self-empowerment practices.
Saturday, December 13th: Contact Improv Jam in Arlington
10:30 am - 12:00 pm. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. The Arlington Jam is held most Saturday mornings, with a gently facilitated class for the first 45 minutes, than 45 minutes of open dancing.
Saturday, December 13th: Biodanza in Arlington
3:00 - 5:00 pm. Biodanza is: movement, music, connection, restorative play, rest, revolution. Join for an afternoon practicing your own good medicine in community, and our collective good medicine together! In English and Spanish. This will be facilitated by Clara Rubin-Smith McKie.
Sunday, December 14th: Medicine Dance: The Journey in Cambridge
11:30 am - 2:00 pm. Welcome to our Monthly Journey. A curated experience that is a bit different each time, weaving sacred ritual, creative modalities, somatic awareness and movement. We begin with Soul Dance, and then move into a guided process created by Allison called Emotion in Motion- where the individual and the collective meet. We move and dance our ancestral and our now, our epigenetic inheritance the ones we want to keep and the ones we want to unhook from. We move and dance our grief and our joy, our uncertainty and what we know in our bones. We will land and anchor with meditation and visualization, followed by our closing circle.
Tuesday, December 16th: Biodanza in Jamaica Plain
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Biodanza is an invitation to connect with yourself, others, and the fullness of life, in a space of welcome and respect. Join us for a night of music, movement, restorative lay, gentle container, and community. These events will be held at JP Cohousing. Email biodanzajpboston@gmail.com for further details.
Tuesday, December 16th: Contact Improv Jam in Cambridge with Live Music
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Tuesday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Each week has a different facilitator and theme, with an opening circle and class for the first hour, followed by open dancing. It’s usually done to silence, but sometimes to live music. This week will be one of the those special ones with live music, provided by Nate Shaffer.
Thursday, December 18th: FlowState 5Rhythms with Joel Stanley in Somerville
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Joel is an accredited teacher of 5Rhythms, a form of movement therapy that brings us on a wave through a wave of five different rhythms: flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness.
Thursday, December 18th: Dance Lab in Cambridge
7:00 - 9:00 pm. Dance Lab is a weekly gathering where we explore what happens when our bodies lead. Carefully curated music and simple prompts help you find your way. We call it a lab because we’re all experimenting—discovering what movement does for our bodies, imaginations, and communities.
Thursday, December 18th: Contact Improv Jam in Jamaica Plain
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Thursday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Now held for new hours, at a beautiful space at Spontaneous Celebrations.
Friday, December 19th: Vortex Ecstatic Dance in Cambridge
7:00 - 10:00 pm. One of the biggest monthly ecstatic dances in the area. Each Vortex dance begins with a cacao ceremony and warm-up, before flowing into the main dance (with light show), and ending with a guided meditation or soundscape.
Saturday, December 20th: Contact Improv Jam in Arlington
10:30 am - 12:00 pm. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. The Arlington Jam is held most Saturday mornings, with a gently facilitated class for the first 45 minutes, than 45 minutes of open dancing.
Saturday, December 20th: Soul Dance in Cambridge
1:30 - 3:00 pm. Join us for Soul Dance, a guided improvisational movement practice that engages somatic awareness to facilitate personal growth, emotional well-being, and collective healing. Soul Dance was created by Allison Talis, a somatic therapist, yoga teacher, and trauma specialist with over 25 years of experience in the healing arts. The dance begins gently, followed by a deeper, more visceral exploration, and ends with relaxation. Understanding that the body holds our inherited epigenetic patterns and our present, we work with—and through—the body to release, untangle, and create new pathways towards integration. Soul Dance is an intuitive, non-verbal practice set to music, where you can expect to sweat, although you are always in control of your rhythm and pace.
Thursday, December 25th: Contact Improv Jam in Jamaica Plain
7:30 - 10:00 pm. Regularly every Thursday. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. Now held for new hours, at a beautiful space at Spontaneous Celebrations.
Saturday, December 27th: Contact Improv Jam in Arlington
10:30 am - 12:00 pm. Contact Improvisation is an open-ended exploration of the kinaesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through contact. The Arlington Jam is held most Saturday mornings, with a gently facilitated class for the first 45 minutes, than 45 minutes of open dancing.
Tuesday, December 30th: JourneyDance in Arlington
7:00 - 8:00 pm. JourneyDance is a portal to reclaiming your power, feeling what needs to be felt, expressing yourself and dropping into altered states for healing. This is a free event, offered in the Community Room of the Arlington Library. Facilitated prompts will invite you to move, and get in touch with your body and emotions.
Tuesday, December 30th: Ecstatic Dance with EIR in Gloucester
7:00 - 9:00 pm. With special guest musical artist and dj, EIR. Join a beautiful dancing community, in a space made for movement. We will have tea, a lounge area, and a collaborative altar. EIR will ignite the evening with sounds ranging from etheric downtempo to world beats and house and everything in between. Be swept up into a world of inspiration for a season of magic to rejuvenate your body, mind and soul. Come dressed to move, whether that’s in your most comfortable clothing, or festive-wear.