Who We Are and What We Do

A learning laboratory where we come together as an exploration to connect through movement.

We are a group of dance practitioners and facilitators who have discovered that learning, exploring our thoughts and feelings, and making profound connections with others can be greatly enhanced through movement and dance. With the application of carefully chosen music and, sometimes, verbal guidance, we help facilitate an intelligence and understanding that can only be achieved through movement.

Many cultures across the globe and throughout time have prioritized music and movement to understand life and relationships with the world around them, and to connect in community in otherwise unattainable ways. We are inspired to restore these practices to modern life.

We have all been fortunate to learn from great movement teachers, especially from the traditions of 5rhythms and Open Floor International and, with their guidance and through formal training, we design workshops, class series, and weekly practices for anyone wishing to explore the wisdom of their own unique movement.

Our sessions are designed to be safe and welcoming to people of all ages. We do not teach “steps” or prescribed dance practices- rather, we invite participants to explore their own movement, and to learn by moving with others. The net result of our work is an outcome of openness and freedom.

There are no prerequisites to participating in DMC dances. Our commitment is to accommodate all people, regardless of movement experience or lack of confidence in their physical abilities.

Meet the Instructors

  • Michael Morse

    Michael Morse

    10 years ago, my wife Sandra hosted a 5Rhythms workshop in Tucson in 2013 after traveling to a number of sites during the prior year to find the best workshops available. Our event was facilitated by the amazing Kathy Altman, a senior 5Rhythms teacher, who suggested that we hold a weekly practice so people could stay in town, engage regularly with dance and music, and not have to travel to find dance practice or instruction. I got the job of bringing a weekly dance to Tucson.

    I studied the 5Rhythms form online, listened to some music associated with this brilliant protocol, solicited music from dance teachers and friends, and started in the late fall of 2013 with experimental weekly dance on Sunday mornings. This became our weekly Sunday Movement tradition.

  • Kristen Jackson Banister

    Kristen Jackson Banister is trained to guide people in movement and settling - inviting dancers to witness themselves and others in the process. An Open Floor International Teacher, certified Syzygy Outreach Facilitator, licensed somatic psychotherapist, Somatic Experiencing Practitioner and creator of Flagstaff Freemotion, she sees practices of embodiment through dance as a way of remembering the human connection to the natural world, to one another and as a path to knowing oneself with greater depth and clarity.

  • Lynn Fleischman

    Lynn Fleischman loves to integrate multiple art forms in her teaching and personal creative practice. She is a certified Open Floor conscious dance teacher (openfloor.org) and a longtime teaching artist at The Drawing Studio. She lives with dogs, chickens, and a newly converted landscape to harvest the rain and nurture native pollinator plants.

  • Sandra Morse

    For as long as I can remember I have been inspired to bring people together, to connect, to listen, to sate a basic human hunger of belonging. Discovering the 5rythtms and having Kathy Altman open the door to the profound understanding of movement has made a tremendous contribution to myself, my family and the dance community we engage with weekly.