Shifting Ground: The Art of Decline
Free Sampler #1
Hanna BarnShifting Ground: The Art of Decline
Saturday, June 20
10am-4pm
Lunch provided
Vashon Artists Confront Aging and Mortality through Movement and Dialogue in "The Art of Decline"
Longtime island movement mentors Joan Hanna and Karen Nelson invite the community into a full-day immersion of somatic practice and vital conversation. Shifting Ground: The Art of Decline confronts the natural arc of the human body with candor, grace, and collective inquiry.
The day is designed as a physical and conversational progression, reversing the traditional workshop model by grounding participants in their bodies before entering deep dialogue.
“We open our morning in motion, practicing Tai Chi in Relationship, and Tenderness + Gravity, exploring touch and movement awareness as sources of support and dignity. By grounding ourselves in our bodies first, we break the silence around aging and death, honoring these transitions as sacred, active thresholds to be navigated with collective strength.
After an unhurried ninety-minute lunch and land break to breathe with the garden, the group will gather for a two-hour open dialogue on decline and mortality. The session aims to create a safe, horizontal space where participants can come exactly as they are to discuss the subjects society often hides.
About the Facilitators
Joan Hanna and Karen Nelson share a decades-long teaching lineage rooted in Vashon Island and beyond, spanning from the Diverse Dance Research Retreat in the 1990s to today's movement labs at the Hanna Barn. As facilitators, mentors, and lifelong movers, they hold space in a way that is consent-based, horizontal, and deeply collaborative—welcoming every body and mind exactly as they are. Together, they cultivate a rigorous, playful laboratory for somatic inquiry, guiding participants to explore presence, choice, and collective care while trusting the profound wisdom of their own shifting boundaries.
Light lunch provided
It’s FREE but please still REGISTER —