What is "Exploring Kinnection"?
"Exploring Kinnection" is an 8-hour program that's carefully designed to allow participants to experience deep connection to other humans, through movement and music; but always in a way that is safe, non-intimidating, and consent-based.
Keeping the sensitivities of individuals in mind, in the context of a conservative Asian culture, participants are guided through a series of interactive and fun exercises, to help them reconnect within, as well as understand their relationship to others through movement.
Join us on this journey of self-discovery. Learn about how you interact with other humans, both kinesthetically and mentally, and what your relationship with touch is. All partner exercises are conducted with a wonderful variety of songs that you can't help but move to. As consent is very important in building a safe environment, you will be asked for your permission, before any exercise involving touch commences.
P.S. Why the name "Exploring Kinnection"? "Kinnection" is a combination of the term "Kinetic" which means "with movement", and Connection. The possibility to connect deeply with anyone, through movement and music, was a discovery we made while dancing Brazilian Zouk (a partner dance from Brazil). It is a wonderful experience that we would love to share with anyone who wants to try. This is not a dance lesson; it is a immersion program to explore how we connect to other humans.
It was a deliciously sweet experience! Jean and Jasmin created a safe learning environment to explore more about myself and how touch and different types of touch is important to me. Learning about consent and boundaries through movement is refreshing. I have little dance experience and it wasn't a problem at all. I felt guided, safe and free! - F. P.
I learnt that there is power and beauty in letting go, moving freely and embracing touch. I have become more conscious of the different elements of touch and how each one feels. - Memta Jagtiani
I really enjoyed sharing the experience with my classmates as we learnt about the fundamentals of movement, touch and connection. I found that the exercises create just the right balance between comfort and challenge – and they are all so much fun! - Steve Parker
Day 1 - The Building Blocks
Tuning the body
We invite you to slow down from the busyness of this life, through a series of body-based exercises. Just like how we warm our bodies up before working out, these exercises will bring more awareness to our breathing, and prepare our spine, joints, and muscles for the day’s movement.
Consent & Boundaries
Diving into a topic that is essential but uncommon, we will introduce ways to open up continual conversation on navigating the requesting and giving of consent. We hope to empower participants, to own and express their boundaries with confidence while acknowledging those of others.
The Good Touch
Touch – another taboo topic, especially in this side of the world – is something that nourishes our minds and bodies. Think about how we feel when a loved one holds our hand, or gives us a hug: it is soothing, comforting, reassuring. In this module, we explore and breakdown the technicalities and intricacies of the touches we enjoy, and how touch can be separated from sexual connotations. We hope to empower participants to extend this practice into their various dance forms.
Day 2 - Bringing It All Together
Co-creation & Play
With new awareness and connection to ourselves, we invite you to extend this exploration beyond the self. Through a series of partnered exercises, you are invited to connect with your partner, through visual, energetic, and kinesthetic modalities.
Building trust within our bodies & with-out
Exploring our relationship with touch can sometimes be confronting. As we take steps towards understanding this territory, we invite you to lean into this vulnerability through a series of trust exercises. These exercises will encourage us to listen to our bodies, as well as develop a sensitivity to how others respond to us physically.
Surrendering to music
Music: just a mere combination of sounds and frequencies. Just like touch, it has the ability to release oxytocin and encourage social bonds. Our final module invites us to pair our new-founded connectedness to our bodies, and to others, with music. Through a series of scaffolded activities, we invite you to experience the joys of co-creating movement with your partner, and with music as our third collaborator.
Notes to participants
Experiential Explorations
Modules in this immersion are conducted in the following format. We invite participants to immerse themselves as deeply as they can to reap the benefits of this experience.
Reflection upon the experience
Participants will be given some time to collect their thoughts and/or pen their thoughts post-activity.
Sharing of the reflection
Participants will be invited to share their reflections either in pairs, small groups, or with the whole class. (Participants can choose not to share should they not feel up to it at that moment.)
Facilitators
Jean Goh
With a Masters in School Psychology, Jean has a deep interest in understanding how people learn. Since 2004, she has applied her knowledge and been a community leader in the Singapore Latin dance scene (Salsa, Bachata, Rueda, Brazilian Zouk).
After running a successful dance school for 12 years, she decided to focus on delving deeper into the art of Brazilian Zouk. It was through this dance that she discovered new ways of connecting with people, through movement and music, that resulted in a level of synergy and enjoyment that she had not experienced before.
Since 2018, Jean has been studying this phemonema of deep connection through the dance, seeking knowledge from other Brazilian Zouk artistes who practise a similar style. Her research has culminated in the 8-hour program known as "Beyond Zouk".
Since it's introduction, the Beyond Zouk program has met with great success, and participants have been astonished at the level of connection they could attain, with individuals that they had no pre-existing relationship with.
The next "Exploring Kinnection" immersion program has yet to be scheduled. The program usually takes place over a weekend, in 4-hour blocks, across 2 days. If you're interested in joining the next program, do register your interest.
Workshop fee is $270.