freedomDANCE
freedomDANCE is a school of dance meditation and conscious movement, founded in 2009 by Alex Svoboda. The practice combines free-form dance, structured movement inquiry, and awareness training to support embodiment, emotional integration, and personal growth.
The freedomDANCE school includes approximately 25 core teachers and trainees and offers regular classes, workshops, and trainings in multiple countries, including Austria, Belarus, Greece, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom, as well as in online formats.
freedomDANCE is organised around a repeating movement arc known as the freedomDANCE Cycle — Opening → Transformation → Freedom. This structure provides a consistent container for improvisation, while avoiding fixed choreography or prescribed steps.
Mission
The mission of freedomDANCE is:
- To make the practice of dance meditation and conscious movement widely accessible, opening opportunities for personal growth and realisation of human potential.
- To accumulate and refine international best practices in teaching conscious movement, serving as a centre for professional training, development, and mutual support of teachers.
Values
freedomDANCE articulates the following core values:
- Commitment to quality — in professional training standards, ethics, and collaborative processes, aligned with international best practices.
- Respect for individuality — honouring the unique contribution of each dancer and teacher, and acknowledging both lineage and future generations.
- Partnership and shared responsibility — the school is collectively owned and managed; teachers do not work under hierarchical authority structures, nor do they place others under them.
Practice
freedomDANCE is designed as an accessible entry point into embodied awareness and movement-based meditation.
Each session follows a freedomDANCE Cycle:
- Opening — warming up, sensing the body, and gradually building intensity.
- Transformation — sustained activation, exploration of intensity, and change.
- Freedom — settling, integration, and returning to a calmer, more spacious state.
While the structure supports the journey, there is no choreography and no set steps to learn. Movement is spontaneous, guided by sensation, attention, imagery, music, and relational awareness.
The practice emphasises movement as a direct pathway beyond habitual thinking. Physical activation is understood as a means to quiet mental activity, access embodied intelligence, and cultivate presence.
Sessions are generally open to all, regardless of age, body type, or prior experience in dance or meditation. Longer workshops and advanced formats may require prerequisites, which are specified in individual event descriptions.
Curriculum
The freedomDANCE curriculum is organised into three progressive levels, each containing several thematic categories.
Level 1
Level 1 establishes the physical and structural foundation of the practice. Participants learn the freedomDANCE Cycle and ways to refine and detail it.
Core components include:
- freedomDANCE Cycle
- Body Map
- Polarities Map
- Elements Map
Level 2
Level 2 extends the practice into longer formats such as ongoing groups and workshops. These events remain open to the public but typically require deeper engagement and continuity.
Key themes include:
- Unity — exploring levels of relationship through movement.
- Life Lessons from the Dance Floor — integrating insights from practice into everyday life.
- Synthesis — combining freedomDANCE with other disciplines, practices, and personal interests.
Level 3
Level 3 works with more sensitive themes and requires a higher level of trust within the group. Workshops are typically longer (three days or more) and have prerequisites.
Themes include:
- Open Hearts — emotional work, including fear, love, vulnerability, and being witnessed.
- Life Line — exploring personal history through movement.
- Juice — sexuality, relationships, and creativity.
Participation in Here I Am workshops and completion of specific Level 1 curriculum elements are prerequisites for entry into Start Level Teacher Training.
Teacher training and accreditation
freedomDANCE has offered teacher training programmes since 2014.
The school is a full member of the International Conscious Movement Teachers Association (ICMTA). freedomDANCE teacher training programmes are fully accredited by ICMTA, and teachers and trainees are individual members who adhere to the ICMTA Code of Ethics.
Teacher training follows the same three-stage logic as the practice itself:
- Opening (foundational teaching skills)
- Transformation (working with complexity and intensity)
- Freedom (integration, leadership, and professional maturity)
Founded by: Alex Svoboda
Website: https://freedom-dance.com/
