Art Out Side Opening Party
July 21, 2025
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Gentle Glory by Rachel and Ben Helten
Gentle Glory is a solo dance work by Rachel Helten that explores themes of gentleness, empathy, and interconnectedness with nature. This deeply personal work reflects on her experience navigating C-PTSD and how attunement to Mother Earth fosters ease and nervous system regulation amidst a chaotic world. Through contemporary dance, music, and poetry, she investigates themes of adaptation, evolution, and sentient intelligence, drawing parallels between human healing and the wisdom of the natural world. Collaborating with her long-time creative partner, musician Ben Helten, Rachel intends to develop the work as a site-responsive piece that invites audiences into an immersive experience of movement and reflection. This site-specific performance is designed for outdoor and alternative spaces, integrating movement with the natural environment to create an immersive audience experience. The outdoor environment will serve as an active collaborator, shaping the physicality of the work and enhancing the sensory experience for audiences. The natural landscape—its pathways, textures, and elements—will become integral to the performance, reinforcing the themes of grounding and interconnectedness central to Gentle Glory. With extensive experience performing in non-traditional spaces such as forests, parks, and plazas, Rachel is adept at adapting movement to varied terrains, ensuring both safety and artistic integrity.
About the Artist:
Rachel Helten is an interdisciplinary artist, dancer, choreographer, teacher, writer, singer, and actor based on the unceded land of the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish),Stóō (Stolo), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. With a BFA in Dance from Simon Fraser University, Rachel's work emphasizes deep listening, collaboration, interdisciplinary methods, and storytelling through movement. Her practice explores interactions with real and imagined worlds, focusing on how vulnerability can lead to transformation and liberation. She has collaborated with many heart-led, inspiring artists, presenting her original works locally and internationally. Dance has taken her to create, train, and teach in cities such as Quito, Florence, Buenos Aires, Cascais, Brooklyn, Barcelona, and Berlin.
In Fall 2023, soma anima arts, formerly known as Kinesis Dance, began a leadership transition as founder Paras Terezakis moved on to new ventures in Greece. In April 2024, Rachel Helten became the artistic director. soma anima arts cultivates an environment for exploring physical, emotional, and creative potential through education, community engagement, outreach, cultural exchange, research, creation, and production. The organization fosters creative dialogue across cultural boundaries, presenting original works in diverse venues to engage communities. Our vision is to create a world where everyone can access and be nurtured by the transformative and healing power of art.
Alongside her creative work, she is a certified Jungian Life Coach, Sound Healing Practitioner, Breathwork Facilitator, and Meditation Teacher. Rooted in care, her approach fosters curiosity, presence, and compassion. Rachel is also dedicated to decolonizing consciousness and practices, advocating for a more just, loving, and equitable world that honors the interconnectedness of all.
Follow Rachel:
Website: rachelhelten.com and kinesisdance.org
Instagram: @rachelhelten
Facebook: KDsomatheatro
Spoken Word by Gynette Mercier
It is thanks to my cultural and cinematographic references as well as my mother and her slideshow projection evenings that my eyes filled with color and admiration for the energy and audacity of such projects. Light and animation fascinate me, which made me follow different lessons about the art of cinema and video production. I launched in 2006 my first solo architectural photography exhibition. In 2011, I received a professional artist award from Quebec Arts and Letters Council, in Banff Centre, Alberta, emphasizing the video creation of my poem “L’Échiquier”, with an outdoor installation and opening.
“The francophone environment is a vital cultural resource. We live in a sound world and the visual composition is often rhythmically guided by a voice, a speech, which makes us vibrate, activating our synapses! We must shine the light on ourselves so that it reflects. It is during exploration that is created the intense moment that imprints from myself to you, from you to me, this exchange, this dialogue!”
- Gynette Mercier
Learn more Gynette's work:
realisatrices-equitables.com/dames-des-vues/films/une-femme-animee/
Phantom Jungle
Phantom Jungle is a duo band formed in Vancouver, Canada, consisting of Alfredo Mangherini (guitar, synth, vocal) and Nicholas Lagasse (bass, loop-beat, flute, vocal). Their collaboration began in 2023 when Alfredo was busking on the streets of Vancouver, playing cumbia rhythms. Nick, biking by, was immediately drawn to the lively cumbia notes and jingles. This chance encounter sparked a unique partnership built on a shared passion for rhythm, trippy sounds, groove, and experimentation. Together, they formed Phantom of the Jungle, a name that reflects their fusion of styles, from Latin rhythms to psychedelic funk/rock. Alfredo brings over 20 years of music experience performing with the bands Delef, Duo Orchestra +1 and Solo performances, specializing in fingerstyle folk, Latin, and surf rhythms. Nick has been playing in various Vancouver bands since 2002, including long-running Latin American fusion ensemble MNGWA since 2013. He also has collaborated with musicians worldwide on the Beyond Music platform, including Michael League and Bill Laurance of Snarky Puppy. Nick’s cross cultural approach brings a wide range of colour to his bass guitar playing, drawing on funk, prog rock, cumbia and electronic sounds. In January 2025, the band made their debut collaboration with the live improv Soap Opera "Sin Peaks," creating themes, jingles, and live background music, showcasing their new sound. With their energetic and innovative approach, Phantom Jungle continues to evolve, pushing musical boundaries. Their performances and recordings offer a fresh, hypnotic experience that combines vibrant rhythms with experimental textures, captivating audiences with their looping sound.
Follow Phantom Jungle's Instagram: @phantom_jungle_band
