Our Dance Facilitators
Embodydance Music Stream
Our facilitators chose some of their favorite music. Have a listen!
Tracy Collins|Co-Founder
Transformation Through Dance
A life-long dancer and explorer of heart-centered, nature-based wisdom, Tracy’s around-the-world journey culminated in the realization of a long-held vision: the co-founding of Embodydance Santa Fe in 2000. Her professional show-dance career as both a performer and choreographer ended with a year immersed in the sacred world of Bali where she was chosen to apprentice with an indigenous high priestess in ceremonies and earth-based rituals and to interact with the energetic forces of nature. This life-changing experience, in her words, “turned her inside out.” She gained an understanding that harmonious community (beginning from within) is essential and knew it was her dharma to return to America to promote this consciousness of inter-connectedness. Transformational dance pioneer Gabrielle Roth’s work was a map uniquely suited for embodying this consciousness and Tracy deeply immersed herself in the exploration and study of the 5Rhythms™ with Chris Werner & later with Gabrielle Roth.
Renovating an old church in Taos, NM, Tracy founded the “Dance of Life” Center and was the Artistic Director until 1995. During the next four years, she taught dance as a transformative path in Taos and also at the Railyard Performance Center in Santa Fe. In 1999 Austin Body Choir approached Tracy to co-found a branch of their organization in Santa Fe. This eventually grew into the community-owned and operated non-profit organization of today’s Embodydance Santa Fe. Serving as a Core-Facilitator since the inception of Embodydance Santa Fe, she was key in forming its mission statement as well as defining the roles of Facilitators and Coordinators, training new facilitators and planning and leading annual retreats. It was during this time period that Tracy conceived of the name & concept Embodydance: Dancing your Journey from the Inside Out.
Tracy pioneered many of the creative concepts that have made Embodydance Santa Fe more than an intentional dance, bringing the ideas of exercises, visualizations, ceremonies, rituals, elaborate altars, workshops and presentations to the growing community. As a co-sponsor she has produced 5Rhythms® weekend workshops with teachers Jonathan Horan, Kathi Altman, Amara Pagano and Sara Pagano. In 2009 and part of 2010 Tracy served as Embodydance's Creative Director, helping it transition to a new governing structure that she was instrumental in birthing. Her passionate spirit, energy, humor and compassion for the human condition helps her alchemically blend experiences to create transformational journeys through dance. Tracy holds a B.A. in Dance Production, Mills College ’82.
Kathleen Fallon | Facilitator
Kathleen has always been passionate about dance, music, and how they feed spirit and nourish our lives. She has been making music mixes since her teens, and dancing since childhood. She has written poetry since she could write. For much of her life, Kathleen continued to explore writing, dance, music, and spiritual growth, and never quite “got” the connections.
She spent 20 years as a trial attorney, and pursued her passion for dance and music in her living room. After moving to New Mexico, big life changes spurred Kathleen to explore how her passions could inform and transform her everyday life.
As she approached her 50th birthday (it’s NEVER too late!), she found Embodydance Santa Fe, and the earth shook. Embodydance sparked Kathleen to remember parts of herself that had been lost for way too long, and she realized that facilitating a sacred container where anyone could dance their way to presence was her true desire.
Kathleen trained to facilitate with Tracy Collins, Mishra Suloway, and Mariana Marachlian, has attended 5Rhythms™ workshops with Gabrielle Roth, Jonathan Horan, Sara Pagano and Amara Pagano, and has been facilitating at Embodydance Santa Fe since 2005. She seeks to bring radical inclusiveness, generosity and compassion to each and every soul, both through her facilitation and her life, which also includes three fabulous children and a lot of laundry.
Gay Rathman | Facilitator
Gay began her journey in a very musical family: a grandmother who sang in New York, a mother who had classical piano concerts under her belt by the age of 20, and eight siblings who all played instruments and/or sang. Gay played classical piano for 10 years, clarinet for eight, bass guitar for two, and sang w/ a band for two years in college.
Her first big purchase (in the 6th grade) was a stereo. She delighted in coming home from school and dancing alone in her room, a practice she still loves! Gay became a DJ for the junior high/ high school dances, went on to seven years as a radio DJ in college and now has over 30 years of experience in playing music for others to move/dance with!
Gay first came across the 5Rhythms™ in Seattle during 2000. She was instantly hooked, and spent 3 years taking weekly classes and in-depth workshops with the masterful teacher Christine Havens. She has continued to work with the 5Rhythms™ ever since, developing personal processes and taking additional workshops.
In 2005, Gay moved to Santa Fe, but it was almost a year before she discovered Embodydance Santa Fe. After dancing with the group for a year and a half, she began training to become a facilitator. She drew on her background of teaching and worked hard to further develop her space-holding skills for the dance. She has been a facilitator for three years now and shares her love of music and the rhythms through the programs she creates.
Alec Walling | Facilitator
Alec always liked to move to music as a child, but did not like to follow instructions so he never learned to “dance.” Then in the summer of 1977 at the Rainbow Gathering in the Gila Wilderness in his native New Mexico, at night around a fire-lit drum session, he realized that he could dance his way and that it was fine.
He danced as often as possible to live music by himself or with others and enjoyed the feelings and the mental states he arrived at. Then about five or six years ago some close friends and dance buddies took him to Embodydance Santa Fe. It was a perfect match. Basically an introvert at heart, he shyly danced on his own, slowly opening up to the very open community of dancers, and he also started training with the facilitators on retreats and workshops to learn how to take his love of music and movement and start to create sets of music that fit the Embodydance format. He is still learning and thanks Tracy, Mishra, Kathleen, Gay, Roses, and Marianna for sharing their knowledge with him.