at Atlan Community
White Salmon, WA
THE DANCE OF CONNECTION
Using techniques from social partner dance as our common language, the aim of this training is to anchor foundational aspects of all partner dance into your body. Approaching partner dance from both a Fusion and Mindfulness lens, these aspects we’ll focus on are:
- Rhythm & Musicality
- Frame Connection / Attunement
- Tone & Situational Awareness (Change)
- Momentum & Inertia
- Floor Craft
- Rotation & Spirals
- Style & Play
Believing in life as a dance, Cocréa is a continually evolving holistic movement modality intended to bring individuals into strong, empowered, expressive relationships with their bodies and their communities.
**SATURDAY NIGHT NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!**
At its core Cocréa is a somatic methodology for recognizing patterns, embracing change and living our authentic Selves. The Cocréa ethos envisions this practice as service to cultivating nurturing community and harmony in all our relations.
We build resilience to change by offering new ideas, develop awareness and the confidence to say yes to invitations that serve liberation, or no to those that don’t, and hold a posture of curiosity and interest while diving into new experiences that guide us to grow.
In order to access these places of deeper somatic inquiry and live into them, Cocréa stikes a balance between discipline and lighthearted play that helps us embody technique without burning out.
When we work within our window of tolerance, we can focus our minds on what is unfolding relationally, collectively and energetically, while also remaining flexible to what needs refinement and deeper cultivation.
This training is a foundational deep-dive into the core principles and practices of Cocréa that prime us for generating reliably numenous experiences on the dance floor.
aka: MAGIC
In other words, you’re going to learn how to have amazing dances with anyone, to any music.
TRAINING DETAILS
As Cocréa is deeply informed by Wren’s early synthesis of American vernacular Jazz dance, Salsa and European Ballroom with contemporary music and rhythms from Hip-Hop, global bass & electronic music genres, there is a rich diversity of technique this training aims to integrate into the dancing body.
Though these techniques will be the primary focus of this training, attention will also be given to style and aesthetics in solo dance, as well as somatics that support and aid relational intelligence.In addition to the above foundational partner dance techniques, we will also cover:
- Understanding Attunement and How to Apply it within the Six Realms of Connection
- Practicing Good Consent and Why It’s Essential for Awesome Dances & Connection
- Processing Change: The Invitation Circle
- Exploration of Posture and its Effect on Our Dance
- Musicality and its Impact on Dance Connection
This training is a pre-requisite for anyone considering the Cocréa Facilitator Training.
HOWEVER… You do not NEED to be pursuing the facilitator path to enroll.
It is intended for ANYONE who desires to utilize concepts and techniques from partner dance to increase their connection skills both on and off the dance floor.
This is an excellent training for anyone seeking a practice & discipline to improve their embodied connection skills.
You do not need to be an experienced partner dancer to get something out of this training, however some movement experience is recommended.
WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH
- All of the above skills and experiencePLUS!
- Certificate of Completion of Cocréa Foundations
- Invitation to Enroll in the Cocréa Facilitator Training
These topics will be developed, explored and expanded for participants who desire to facilitate this work in the Cocréa Facilitator Training Level 1 (coming winter/spring 2026).
FORMAT
This 2.5-day training is designed for a more intensive schedule of classes and forums with less free time built in. Though we will be in a camping retreat setting, come prepared for a full engagement type of weekend.
Friday night will be a groundwork laying night with a dance.
There will be short breaks between sessions and a longer lunch break factored in each day.
SCHEDULE
Please see the email upon registration for exact times and details.
Arrival: Friday after 3pmFriday: 6pm – 9pm
Saturday: 9am – 9pm
Sunday: 10am – 3pm
Depart: 4pm
ACCOMMODATIONS & FOOD
This IS a RESIDENTIAL CAMPING STYLE event. Catering will be INCLUDED.
You are expected to bring your own gear to accommodate your comfort needs for two nights of woodland camping while dancing and learning.
If you need support sourcing gear or need to make other accommodations for your comfort or for medical reasons, please reach out after and we will work with you to help meet your needs.
You will be provided with dinner Fri & Sat, breakfast Sat & Sun, and lunch Sat & Sun.
If you have questions about whether this is a good fit for your level of experience, schedule a call with Wren to check it out.
MEET THE FACILITATOR
Wren LaFeet
Wren is an embodiment guide intent on living in right-relationship as a 21st century human. Wren shares body-based practices synthesized from social partner dance, mindfulness, Taoism, the Gene Keys, watersheds, neuroscience and psychology that support interpersonal connection and positive change. After initiating his own partner dance facilitation practice in 2011, Nomad Dance, Wren began the cultivation of partner dance as a vehicle for transformation through exploring mindful, consent based relational practice with Antje Schäfer. Cocréa was born in the fall of 2013.
Drawing from 2 decades in the theater being driven by the exploration of conflict, Wren wonders at the idea of all human problems being relational problems. Based on feedback from students and clients over the years, he hypothesizes that, if approached with honesty, vulnerability and courage, a dance encounter with another human can have as much healing capacity as talk therapy within a fraction of the time. The healing potential of the encounter seems dependent chiefly on the possession of three qualities in the practitioners: intention, integrity and presence. Thus informed, Wren creates brave spaces for humans struggling with disconnection and longing for a deeper sense of belonging to come home to themselves through the body.
Wren’s own many years of seeking have led him through theater and filmmaking, circus, nomadism, psychedelic-informed music culture, yoga, consent culture, decolonization work, permaculture, addiction recovery counseling and most presently breathwork.
Along his path, nature, community, relationship, humor, eros, movement and a sense of belonging to something far larger and more unknowable than this seemingly separate self are the consistent threads with which Wren braids meaning and purpose into life. He is a TEDx speaker, featured author in “ReInhabiting the Village”, certified Attunement Therapy practitioner, HeartMath certified trauma sensitive educator and is in training to be an official Gene Keys Guide.
Wren currently splits his time between the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver), and the still yet federally unrecognized Nisenan Nation (Nevada County, California). He has been dancing since 1998 and has been presenting to groups since he was 6 years old.