Coming up on March 18th from 12pm-4pm @ El Sereno Community Garden!
Join us on March 18th from 12-4pm at El Sereno Garden for our first Community Care Clinic of the year! Critical Mass Dance Company invites you to celebrate this Spring Equinox with us by embracing the abundance of our collective wellspring!
Come to our free community offering to gather & share the abundance of community resources that support our collective care on the path to liberation
Come to our free community offering to gather & share the abundance of community resources that support our collective care on the path to liberation
Our Mission
CMDC supports the well-being, joy and resilience of women and gender non-conforming individuals through the transformative act of dance and movement. We center the wellness of Black, Indigenous, women of color; immigrants (documented and undocumented); and LGBTQIA+ individuals. We aspire to co-create brave movement spaces where all bodies can dance freely from all expressions, abilities, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We welcome the full participation of gender beyond the binary, sexuality as a galaxy and a collaborative creation of a healthy, diverse and inclusive community through dance.
CMDC is committed to providing community programs that are accessible and inclusive. We work with other nonprofit organizations who uphold our values of equity and liberation to provide free and low-cost classes online and in-person (when possible) in English and Spanish to ensure accessibility regardless of language, economic or ability.
CMDC is committed to providing community programs that are accessible and inclusive. We work with other nonprofit organizations who uphold our values of equity and liberation to provide free and low-cost classes online and in-person (when possible) in English and Spanish to ensure accessibility regardless of language, economic or ability.
What is Dance from the Heart?
CMDC teaches a trauma-informed, community-based embodiment practice called Dance from the Heart:
Check out this short Dance from the Heart demonstration from WeRise Walk for Wellness May, 2021!
- Dance From The Heart helps us to envision and embody our greatest visions for our lives and world
- As we embody these visions with movement, we help create the personal and social transformation we wish to see
- Dance from the Heart cultivates resilience, supports mental health, builds community care and contributes to a system that promotes wellbeing of mind, body and spirit
Check out this short Dance from the Heart demonstration from WeRise Walk for Wellness May, 2021!
Our Vision
We envision a world where:
- Humanity is rooted in living & leading from the heart, creating change from the inside out
- All people have access to dance & other holistic embodiment practices that help them connect to their heart
- We embody an intersectional approach to unity and collaboration that celebrates the diverse human experience
- Heart-centered movement contributes to the well-being of humanity and our stewardship of the planet earth
Our Values
Dance is healing: Supporting holistic health and wellness on the physical, emotional, spiritual and mental levels with dance
Full creative expression of all people: Providing an environment that encourages all bodies to move and express freely
Respecting the inherent value in all: Appreciating that everyone has something important to contribute.
Creating community: Building strong, lasting relationships that lifts up the well-being of all
Transformation from within: Shifting our inner world (thoughts, feelings, etc) to make change in the external world
Heart-centered organizing: Embodying an organizing principle of heart-led leadership for inclusion, equity and collective action
Catalyzing social change: Raising consciousness to inspire peace and justice through healing movement
Full creative expression of all people: Providing an environment that encourages all bodies to move and express freely
Respecting the inherent value in all: Appreciating that everyone has something important to contribute.
Creating community: Building strong, lasting relationships that lifts up the well-being of all
Transformation from within: Shifting our inner world (thoughts, feelings, etc) to make change in the external world
Heart-centered organizing: Embodying an organizing principle of heart-led leadership for inclusion, equity and collective action
Catalyzing social change: Raising consciousness to inspire peace and justice through healing movement
Who We Are
Elena Sophia Kozak
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Elena Sophia Kozak (She/her/ella) founded Critical Mass Dance Company (CMDC) in 2010 with a dynamic group of activist women envisioning a space for self/collective care through dance and movement. Critical Mass Dance Company (CMDC) brings together her background and passions for social justice, holistic healing arts and dance/movement to support personal and social transformation. As a Latinx organizer and artist, Sophia works to build bridges that connect us more deeply ourselves and each other through her work. Sophia's 10-year career as a community organizer and personal journey to recover from burnout, is part of what inspired her to the healing movement practice called Dance from the Heart that is taught at CMDC. Sophia holds a B.A. from UCLA and M.A. degrees in Spiritual Psychology (Counseling) and Nonprofit Management. |
Misha Agunos
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Misha Agunos (she/her) leads all of CMDC's online communications and social media, as well as offers project management and administrative/logistical support to all programs. by building and optimizing systems and structures for greater ease and flow. Misha is focused on creating trauma-informed learning spaces and embodied movement practices using CMDC's Dance from the Heart framework and principles to create community spaces for grounding, nourishing, and return to self. As a long-time social dancer, performer, and pole dancer, she is fascinated with how spaces of connection and leisure/pleasure can create community cultures that instill their members with liberatory values and move them to meaningful action. |
Rosalie Tucker
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Rosalie Tucker (she/her/hers) offers support to CMDC's team as a grant writer. She is an Arts Administrator, Educator, Grant Writer and Advocate who uses her platform to support access to and engagement with artistic and creative experiences for all. She works as a freelance grant writer and the Managing Director of B. Dunn Movement, a performance art company that creates work revealing the universal spirit of our shared humanity. She is also the Director of Operations at The Gro House, a hub for mutual-aid, catering, food services, and community resources for other the Queer/Trans Black, Indigenous and POC communities of Los Angeles. |
Johanna Iraheta
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Johanna Iraheta (she/her) leads the development of CMDC's Community Care Clinics and other public programs. She is a multidisciplinary program designer whose mission is to provide participants with somatic and creative experiences that cultivate intergenerational empowerment, healing and community resilience. Johanna is an ingenious artivist who aims to uphold marginalized communities' intellect, identity and ancestral knowledge through art, movement, dance, theater and storytelling. The healing arts and equity movements rooted in earth connections binds her to experiential and non-conventional pedagogical practice throughout Los Angeles cityscape, incorporating tools such as pop-up activations, community wellness events, and community skill sharing. Johanna holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Southern California and a B.A. from California State Northridge. |
Azucena Ortiz
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Azucena Ortiz (Ella/she/her) teaches Dance from the Heart for staff and participants at nonprofits in and around Los Angeles through CMDC's community programs. She brings 17 years of experience in personal growth/healing, supporting diverse communities of families and individuals; facilitating non-violent parenting classes, retreats, trauma-informed workshops interweaving connecting communication, embodied listening, healing-centered modalities, trauma-informed care, and embodiment practices. Her desire for her children to grow in a better world ignited her passion for healing and social justice which then became her work and life journey. Her journey has led her to discover the complexity of relationships, intersectionality, and the impact of bigger systems. For the last 4 years, she’s worked as an independent consultant and co-founded Cambio Colectivo::Collective Change and The People’s Resource Center. Azucena joined CMDC as a dance student in 2016, developing a passion for healing through movement. In 2017 she became a board member and facilitator of the Women’s Empowerment program. She is currently in the process of completing her B.A. in Organizational Studies. Maria del Rosario Franco-Rahman, also teaches Dance from the Heart for staff and participants at nonprofits in and around Los Angeles through CMDC's community programs. Additionally to being a Dance from the Heart facilitator, Maria has lovingly been part of the gender based violence movement for over fifteen years centering the healing and liberation of Black, Indigenous, Women of Color survivors, advocates, activists and our fellow communities on the margins. Maria has led sessions at healing retreats and conferences in Florida, Massachusetts, Ecuador and across Southern California as well as co-led virtual series across the nation and sovereign territories. She is the founder of Con Todo Corazon where she offers heart-centered holistic healing services designed to support personal and social transformation. |
CMDC Wisdom Circle - Board of Directors
Wisdom Circle Members support the growth of CMDC with their love, time, energy and expertise.
We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their service!
We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their service!
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♥️
Betina Steiger, Board Chair Shirley Vilca, Board Treasurer Misha Agunos, Board Secretary Aloha Cerit, Board Member Thelma Orellana, Board Member ♥️ |
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