All of my online group offerings are being offered without a set fee to enable broader participation. I gratefully accept donations of any amount.If you are able to do so, please make a donation, through Venmo, PayPal or check (info included below)*
My Tween/Teen/Adult and my Tots+ classes will be continuing through June and I encourage you to take advantage of them. After-School Yoga will resume in September.
In addition to group classes, I am offering private sessions. I am a certified therapeutic yoga teacher with over three-decades of teaching experience. I am passionate in my love for yoga and dance and for making movement accessible and possible for all. I love designing personal practices that will enhance your quality of life. I would love for you to enjoy the experience of my yoga. My ideal clients are children, women and families for these private sessions. Please contact me at AdamAnt_Eve@gmail.com for private lesson rates.
Practitioners are welcome on a mat or in a chair. Rock, roll or stroll! .
Wishing you all love, peace and hope! Eve Costarelli
Eve Costarelli’s Online Offerings
All of my online offerings are being offered without a set fee to enable broader participation. I gratefully accept donations of any amount. If you are able to do so, please make a donation, through Venmo, PayPal or check (info included below)*
For Kids:
After-school Groove & Flow Yoga (on hold until September)
Groove & Flow Yoga for Tots+https://commonstreet.zoom.us/s/717933065Thurs. 10:00-10:45AM (EDT)
What: Classes are imaginative, playful and vary from very active to quietly meditative. Children will explore yoga poses and relaxation techniques through stories, games, books and songs which help to develop their confidence, awareness, focus and their interactions with peers within a safe, supportive environment. Fun for all!
For Tweens, Teens & Adults:
Groove & Flow Yoga & Dance Break https://commonstreet.zoom.us/j/953634210Mon. 5:00-6:00PM (EDT) Groove and Flow is a mix of yoga, dance and mindfulness that affords the participants the opportunity to explore and experience the joy of movement and freedom of expression within a supportive, creative environment, regardless of experience and/or abilities.
Groove & Flow Yoga https://commonstreet.zoom.us/s/781560765Thurs. 5:00-6:00PM (EDT)
Breathe, move, meditate then deeply relax. With a blend of styles, this yoga class aims to help you realize your true blissful self. This class designed to strengthen your body, mind, and spirit is balanced with relaxation and meditation. All levels welcomed for this one of a kind experience.
*I am holding space for everyone, with no expectations. I appreciate gratefully the donations of love I receive!*suggested donations $5-$20
**************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************Free fitness videos offered through the Natick Recreation & Parks YouTubechannel. Videos are posted every day Monday-Friday at 11:00AM (EDT) with an active fitness class that is fully accessible and inclusive . Classes are taught at a level for tweens/teens but it available to all to join.
Flamenco Monday taught by Eve Costarelli
Groove & Flow Yoga Wednesday taught by Eve Costarelli
(Fitness classes being offered Monday-Friday, please check them out!)
“Through their new referral service for dancers with disabilities, the Boston Dance Alliance strives to break down barriers to inclusion. I was thrilled to see their action become a reality when I received an interview for and then earned the position to teach a 5-week accessible youth flamenco class at the Cotting School in Lexington. This is a chance of a lifetime, affording me the opportunity to share my love of flamenco with this inclusive community. Thank you BDA for increasing cultural equity and access to dance for diverse communities!
~Eve Costarelli, owner and founder, Always Be Dancing Expressive Arts: Yoga and Flamenco for Every/body
Boston Dance Alliance is committed to opening doors to dance. Our free referrals for dancers with disabilities and those who want to work with them are only possible because of your generous support.
Every donation of $50 or more gets you the benefits of membership!
Share in the success of the organization honored this year as one of the four best small nonprofits in the state by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network.
Pictured above from top left: Two students strike a pose, Hurley School, Boston; Eve Costarelli (AKA Eva Lorca); Students learning palmas at St. Stephens after-school program, Boston, MA; Visual representations of flamenco; Antonio Tiriti and Eve performing at the Natick Farmer’s Market; Students performing the story of Ferdinand The Bull; Eve teaching how braseo to students of St. Stephen’s after-school program, Boston, MA; Eve and some students. (Thank you to Celebrity Series and Robert Torres for the pictures of Eve and St. Stephen’s)
I am a flamenco dancer. Through this dance, I communicate my kinship to the gypsies, a group of wanderers/nomads/pilgrims who migrated from Northern India during the 8th and 9th centuries. One route that they took was through Saudi Arabia and Northern Africa, before arriving in Spain through the Straits of Gibraltar. These gypsies were comprised of expert metal workers, animal tenders and entertainers. They arrived in Spain when the country was controlled by the Moors (made up of Arabs, Syrians and Berbers). In Spain, the gypsies mixed freely amongst the veritable melting pot of cultures. In Andalucía, a region in Southern Spain known as the birth place of flamenco, the gypsies found a land that suited them and found a sense of connection with the people who lived there: the Jews, the Moors and the Spaniards. The gypsies absorbed the diverse cultures around them: the music of the Moors, the songs of the Sephardic Jews and the dances of the Spaniards and then coupled with their heritage from India, they transformed the music, song and dance into the art of flamenco.
My journey to become a flamenco dancer has been a deeply personal artistic pursuit. I have found that the greatest joy of flamenco is discovering my interpretation and style within the art form. As a flamenco dancer, I possess the capacity for self-controlled passion and emotional expression which becomes the underlying energy which motivates me to dance. This is my life force, my soul, my chi, my prana. Duende, the passion and inspiration within, is the heart of the flamenco artist. It is the transfer of emotions across space. It is the energetic imprint of the raw emotion released as a result of a performer’s intense emotional involvement with the music, song and dance. It is in the sum the energy the dancer takes from the earth, drawing it up through the soles of their feet. It travels through the body electrifying the the base, the core, the heart and shines forth through the crown of her head.
It is in this sensation filled space that I find the connection between flamenco and yoga. I speculate that the gypsies created the movements in flamenco directly in correlation to the yoga body. The energy centers, the chakras, directly speaking to the emotional output of the artist. I believe that the gypsies brought with them an underlying understanding of yoga and that this physical, emotional and spiritual connection to the body was then naturally incorporated into flamenco’s expression. It is fascinating to teach flamenco under the label of mindfulness. I incorporate it (plus a smattering of other rhythmic and contemplative movement forms) into all of my youth yoga classes. I find that flamenco is a perfect addition as its many benefits go hand-in-hand with the benefits of yoga.
Flamenco and Yoga both:
Stimulate memory, thinking and retention
Increase the ability to focus, listen, observe and absorb
Reduce Stress
Strengthen the heart muscle, both physically and emotionally
Increase positive energy
Develop balance, flexibility and coordination
Strengthen confidence, patience and risk taking skills
Build community
Deepen sense of self
Expand world view
Heighten happiness
Help you get in touch with your emotions and give you a safe outlet for their release
Cultivate accessibility, adaptability and inclusivity
“When you want to plant a flower, you first need to till the soil, nourish it, plant the seeds, water it, and then sit back and wait to see the blossom….now in relation to the flamenco body. If you imagine that the soil line is at the hips, so your legs and your feet are the roots below the surface. The roots grow down and ground the dance to the earth. From the waist up is the blossom, growing from the soil line (which is your hips). This is the blossom. With good, strong roots, you then use the upper body to create the shapes and lines true to flamenco, building out of the hips and allowing the legs and feet to move separately.”
My favorite part about teaching is sharing my love of movement and making both the arts of flamenco and yoga accessible. Yoga is not one tangible thing. It is not movement; it is not breath; it is not meditation. What it is, is all of these things. Each of these elements leaves an energetic imprint, a vibrational frequency on the person, and that is the yoga. I love both yoga and flamenco in my life and I live to share them. With each personal exploration of my own energy’s movement, I teach. Yoga and flamenco are deeply connected to my soul, and I am constantly evolving. I choreograph the dance between effort and surrender. I find such joy in these sensations. All I want to do is to share them with my students.
I had the ultimate pleasure of working again with the Maria Baldwin School in Cambridge for this year’s Dance In The Schools Month. I began forging a relationship with the second grade teacher’s 6 years ago and it only keeps getting better each year I go back. This year I had the extra enjoyment of bringing not only my yoga program but I also brought flamenco to the music classes. Together these two classes make up the basis for Always Be Dancing Mindful Movement. This opened up a whole new angle to me for bringing mindfulness into this school. Pairing me up with the music teacher only enriched my musical knowledge, so it was truly a win-win situation for all! The second graders received a veritable cornucopia of mindfulness through dancing, Yoga posing, breathing, and meditating.The positive responses I gathered from the students and the teachers were full of positive remarks and full of enjoyment.
Please comment on what worked regarding the content of this program, e.g., use of theme, connection of movement/dance to curriculum, etc. Did you or the Classroom Teacher notice any changes in any of the students’ behavior, focus, ability to do whatever you were teaching? Please describe if possible.
The kids were all so connected to learning-it is a great environment. The staff and kids are very engaged and even the few children who are on the spectrum or emotionally developing interact with the group and learn alongside their peers. I often work with special needs and other high risk populations and I have developed a compassionate and effective way of bringing what I am teaching to these groups. I appreciated that every student tried what I offered to them. The music students learned about the history of flamenco and the gypsies, styles of flamenco, the emotional content of flamenco, the art of clapping, singing, dancing rhythmically and also rhythmic footwork. In yoga, we used the basics of yoga, breath-work, poses and meditation, to reinforce emotional control. In the end, they students created a book for me which reinforced their engagement with both my yoga and flamenco classes.
Did you share any materials, resources, music, ideas, props with the Classroom Teacher so they could continue after your last session? If so, what?
MUSIC: I sent a musical link and we made a video of our dance. I also created a special document that gave the history of flamenco and wrote out a simplified version of the choreography for reference.
Describe the nature of your collaboration with your Classroom Teacher – before your sessions (interaction with teacher, co–planning of materials, other), during your sessions (co-teaching, assessing the process, altering plans), after you finished (examples of follow-up lessons created by you and/or the Classroom Teacher, other)
MUSIC: After reaching out to the music teacher, he sent me some ideas for how we could collaborate his music and my dance class, which really helped me to mold my program.
We worked with each throughout the classes, him adding in his teaching methodology (using the Takadimi system) which opened my eyes to new ways of being able to teach ideas and my own creative style of teaching which only enhanced his system.
YOGA:I was in contact with the two second grade teachers prior to my visit. They asked me to work with their students on Socio-Emotional learning and the executive functions, to enable a string and fruitful learning environment for all. I mapped out 4 programs that I would use as the basis of the 4 sessions.
Eve’s Awesome Yoga Day one was about using yoga to calm the body, mind and energy and playing with the differences between silence and non-silence, which can mean vocally, mentally and physically. Here I also taught about the brain and the concept of neuro-plasticity; Day two, healthy eating; Day three, Rhythm and movement; Day four, Cooperation.
Do you feel/think you were effective? Why/why not? What did you learn? What challenges did you face? (This is a food for thought question, not judging or criticizing you.
MUSIC: This was extremely effective. Every time I came into the room, the kids all brightened up and beamed, totally ready to dance/do yoga. I could see in their faces their joy! I loved learning about Takadimi as it brings in a Kathak element to my Flamenco teaching, as Kathak is seen as one of the roots of Flamenco.
YOGA: The kids learn in a very short amount of time about how they can control their brains, that brains change, how to be strong, focused and self-effective. How to work by themselves and cooperate in a group. How to be still and to move; to be quiet and loud; to be fast and slow. They learn about emotional control and how they can learn in a different environment than they are usually presented with.
Latin Grammy–winning Vicente Amigo is known as one of today’s most dazzling flamenco guitarists and a likely successor to Paco de Lucía. Hailing from Córdoba, Spain, Amigo is at the forefront of a new generation of flamenco performers, steeped in the classic style while constantly innovating within the tradition.
From the legendary Farruco dynasty, the first family of Gypsy flamenco dance, Farruquito is regarded as one of the most faithful representatives of flamenco puro. His new show, Improvisao, is a work of intimate, authentic, and visceral flamenco, which Farruquito calls “a return to my roots.” He will be accompanied by guest dancer Gema Moneo, four singers, two guitarists, and a percussionist.
ROCÍO MOLINA
Performing the Boston premiere of Danzaora & Vinática
Rocío Molina is at the forefront of modern flamenco and has been awarded many of Spain’s top accolades, including National Dancer of the Year. Considered “one of the finest soloists in the world today” (The New York Times), she performs the Boston premiere of Danzaora & Vinática, a thrilling work with live musical accompaniment.
The Qasida project is an extraordinary musical encounter between the young Spanish singer Rosario “La Tremendita” and her Iranian peer Mohammad Motamedi. Renowned for accompanying flamenco dancers Belén Maya, Rocío Molina, Rafaela Carrasco, and many others, “La Tremendita” explores the roots of flamenco in the richly varied poetic songs and improvisations of Motamedi, the young rising star of Persian classical music. They will be accompanied by six musicians on guitar, Iranian kemanche (a bowed string instrument), percussion, and palmas (hand clapping).
Today was the final day of Dance In The Schools 2015 at the Baldwin School, Cambridge. My classes were based on the life cycle of the butterfly (current with the 2nd grade science curriculum) and the concepts of senses we know (touch, sight, smell, hearing and taste) and then the ones we don’t know as much about (proprioception= an awareness of our bodies in space and the vestibular system=balance, gravity and movement information though our inner ear).
The best thing about yoga is that it allows for a sensory experience in a safe/non-competitive environment. You can manipulate your body in space, using poses, breath and meditation to clear pathways to achieve balance.
Breathing Sticks (once again, I noted to them to practice their breathing once they got their sticks)
Sa-Ta-Na-Ma meditation
What is the Butterfly Life Cycle?
Egg (usually laid on a leaf)
Larva/Caterpillar (eats leaves to grow)
Pupa/Chrysalis/Cocoon
Adult butterfly/moth
What is metamorphosis?
Interesting facts:
Butterflies are active during the day feeding on flowers. They suck up the sweet nectar with their long, curly tongues. That is because butterflies cannot bite or chew.
There are about 150,000 kinds of butterflies and they and their caterpillars come in all sorts of colors and sizes.
Butterflies Like all insects, they have six jointed legs, 3 body parts, a pair of antennae, compound eyes, and an exoskeleton. The three body parts are the head, thorax (the chest), and abdomen (the tail end). Most have four wings. The wings of butterflies are covered with tiny scales that seem to shimmer in the daylight. Some of them are brightly colored. Others have bold patterns or scary eye-spots. When a butterfly flashes its wings at its enemies, it confuses them, and gives itself time to escape the danger that they might be in.
Butterflies and moth belong to the order Lepidoptera. Lepidos is Greek for “scales” and ptera means “wing”.
Waiting for Wings by Lois Ehlert
Out in the fields, eggs are hidden from view. Child’s pose
clinging to leaves with butterfly glue. Stretching child’s pose. Fingers crawl to the left and right to stretch sides.
Soon caterpillars hatch. They creep and they chew. Creep forward into inchworm.
Each one knows what it must do. Press up to cobra. Add hissing and snaking back up and down.
Find a place where winds don;t blow, Locust.
then make a case in which to grow. Bow.
Caterpillar changes now begin– Rock and roll on belly, release. Rise up to standing position.
body and wings take shape within. Tapping.
When it’s time, each case is torn– Willow tree and joy breath.
wings unfold; new butterflies are born! Star Pose.
They pump their wings, get ready to fly, Add cross body kicks.
then hungry butterflies head for the sky. Yoga Jumping Jacks.
Looking for flowers with nectar to eat, Standing flower pose (tree)
they catch a whiff of something sweet.: Join a partner for partner tree/or group tree
They follow that fragrant scent of perfume, Melt to the floor. breathing in and smelling the delicious odor of fresh flowers 3x.
until they find our garden bloom.: Seated flower
We’ve been waiting for wings! Seated bat (opening flower)
We watch them circle, land on their feet, Lay on back and hug knees to chest. Legs up towards ceiling, as if walking on ceiling. Foot circles, both directions. Point and flex and then walk on ceiling and then bicycle.
unroll their tongues, and begin to eat.: Rock and roll. Grab feet, happy baby.
They dip and sip, Feet down. Simple lying twist.
then fly away, back home to the fields… Full body stretch-like a gingerbread man.
They have eggs to lay.: Savasana
Song (sung to the tune of Pop Goes The Weasel)…I tried!
I spin and spin my chrysalis
I stay inside to rest
When I come out….Metamorphosis!
Pop! Goes the butterfly.
Of course we then did a rousing version of Yogini Went to Seaand then the Downward Dog Crawl Tunnel. Not taking into account the size of the room, proved to be a stumper for a moment. But I offered up the challenge to the class and we were able to create a circle, which worked very well! I so appreciated the first groups problem solving ability!
Last night, I attended Ainoa performance in her school’s International Night event. I am so impressed with this event. First of all, it is a night solely represented by dancing-boys and girls alike and there are dances representing at least 12 different countries such as India, Mexico, Iran, Ireland, China and Peru. Ainoa’s dancing has reached a new level. She has found her self within the music, knowing the choreography, understanding the rhythms. We can call this the comfort zone. So now we attack the emotional content and how to express it to the audience.
Seated yoga sequence to balance the chakras
Muladhara Chakra- root chakra- color red
Easy pose (habitual cross leg first-both of us chose right over left). Feel sit bones. Show on skeleton model, where the sit bones are (Remind of the wrap of the psoas muscle and the Nerf ball.) Recross to non-habitual side and feel sit bones.
Svadhistana Chakra- sacral chakra- color orange
Upavishta Konasana, with legs only as wide as the mat (short ways), with bolster under knees. Just resting arms on upper legs and letting head drop forward.
Butterfly pose.
Manipura Chakra- solar plexus chakra- color yellow
Easy seated twist. Right leg in front, right hand holds left knee. Recross. Left leg in front, left hand holds right knee.
Anahata Chakra- heart chakra- color green
Bolster under shoulders and then moves after 3 breaths down the spine. Stopping and always taking at least three breathes in each spot. End with bolster under hips and do knees into chest. I pointed out to her that this is a back bend too. At first she did not believe e as she sees wheel as the only back bend, but I had her close her eyes and I told her to imagine she was standing on the edge of a pool and by leaning back, she was going to be able to dive in backwards. I could just tell from her energy shift that she was getting it.
Vishudda Chakra: throat chakra- color blue
Ocean breath, in constructive breath, on in breath still holding, knees go out and on out breath pull knees back in towards chest, like a bellows.
Ajna Chakra: Third-eye chakra- color purple
Release legs and let them rise to the ceiling (Make your body into an “L” shape-do not do shoulder stand). Make ankle circles in and out. Point and flex feet. Re-hug legs into chest.
Sahasrara Chakra: Crown of the head chakra- color white light/ glimmering diamond
Emotion Cards: How to Dance With Heart (or how to access your emotional body)
I started to create a deck of cards that have emotions and energies written on them.
I chose words that I felt were evoked during flamenco dance and by listening to flamenco music:
Adoration, Anger, Despair, Determined, Energized, Fatigued, Fury, Grief, Happy, Sad
These cards jump started Ainoa and she started to create her own deck, where she then proceeded to create her own definitions and how they could relate to dance (they key words are underlined):
Angry: scrunched up face; angry eyes; eyebrows narrowing; eyes on fire
Calm:laying on the couch and watching TV.
Clumsy:bumping into things.
Curious:wanting to uncover something.
Determined:refusing to quit.
Happy: smiling, jumping, breathing fast.
Funny: you can make people laugh or other people can make you laugh.
Mysterious: lifting up one eyebrow; skulking; looking everywhere
Nervous: you have to perform in front of 3,000,000 people.
Pushed:feeling forced to do something
Sad: someone died; crying; eyes drooping; looking down; not really moving; dancing energy in down
Scared: you see a monster.
Suspicious:not believing what someone is telling you.
Identify flamenco emotions. Choose three or four emotion cards
sic
I Am Uniquely Eve 