
	TESTIMONIALS
	Over the past several years I've received and filed the following words. My work with students, clients and dance partners is very individual. Each person receives according to his or her needs. I think these words give a sampling of what others have experienced while working and being with me. __________________________________________________________ Brett Weinstein from Berkeley, CA: The work I did with Harmony allowed me to take my dance/meditation practice to a much deeper level. Some of the elements that she helped me with include grounding, breath, reach, boundaries, presence, communication, surrender, control, flow, strength, stillness, etc. She is gentle and nonjudgmental, yet challenged me to seek what is true and authentic for myself. Whether for deep personal growth work or coaching in art of contact improve dance, I highly recommend spending some time with Harmony. ____________________ Taj from the Bay Area, CA: I went to Harmony to learn to dance, but what I learned is how to connect to my body and to have a spiritual and fun time. ______________________________ John Kottage from Marin, CA: Harmony has demonstrated both a long-term dedication to sensing the messages our bodies give us about how we are living and an advanced knowledge of how these messages can be used to aid our greater being. These body-messages are a key to transcending the often confusing and poorly founded messages originating from our old beliefs and the thoughts that emerge from these beliefs. In turn, this transcendent body-knowledge can be used to give us a healthier life and a greater sense of well-being. Her knowledge is unique. I have not found her particular depth of insight and talent anywhere else. Kudos to Harmony! "No one can leave you, Harmony. You change people's DNA"--Emmet Brady "I just want to eat you up!"--Geej "Dancing with you made me feel like a perfect dancer and a perfect person" After I danced for the first time with him at Dance Jam. It was his first time at Dance Jam. "You are a pleasure to move with" Douglas Freeman "You are so fun to dance with!" (I've heard this hundreds of times now.) "You've opened up a whole new world for me," Sheila Reuben , after our first session. I most certainly got everything that I hoped for in your class – practice on how to connect with others on the dance floor, while being conscious of my connection with myself, more consciousness in general in particular when moving, new ways to move, greater self-acceptance of myself and my body, fun, laughter, and a chance to meet people. I am so glad I met you and have gotten to know you better. Thank you for sharing with me. I would like to keep you in my life, and I know I’ll see you on the dance floor. Please keep me on your email list. --Elaine Miller, Shall We Dance student harmony, it means a lot to me to hear these things said by you. i appreciate your depth, your honesty, your sincerity and your constant willingness to give and to exchange (and to listen and hear). and your vulnerability. your midwifing is invaluable to me, your seeing me and your recognizing and appreciating). Sarah Spector 6-4-07 So I was sitting in the car this afternoon when Aiden woke up and he said "Harmony". I looked back at him and he looked a wee bit disappointed when he realized you were gone. And then he says, "I want Harmony back. When will she come back? --Onika Mann, mother of 3 yr. old Aiden Mann “harmony you're a good woman. You always keep me safe.” --3 1/2 yr. old Aiden Mann (I'm his nanny for 4 hours once a week) Harmony- I am very sorry to see you go. I will miss your bright smile and the unique perspective you brought to our class that sometimes was a sounding board for a few of Anat's lectures. You sometimes were a step ahead of us, and I appreciate that. I also appreciate that you had the courage to ask questions that others were perhaps thinking. Thank you. I also appreciate all the work you put into making it easy for us to partake in healthier food at lunch and dinner. Perhaps one day we will be sitting at your feet -learning to reap the rewards of engaging life head on with purpose, power, and passion! I hope that you keep in contact so we could continue a few steps together in the dance of life. Sincerely and with warm wishes back at you Barbara Christina Tuccilo called me a power dancer, and defined it as: a strong, creative, experienced, skilled dancer doesn't need a crowd to be motivated -- dances from the inside-out and can engage with whoever is there helps fill the room even if there are only a few others there Thank you for all your support, and loving connectedness, and The vitality that is so absolutely you.-- Ishmael McIntosh Also, thank you for what you’ve taught Frank about hugging and physical affection. The other day when I said I liked the way his hands felt on me he said “Harmony taught me a lot about that”. E.M. Harmony, I love your enthusiasm and exciting ideas. I love your passion, and your vulnerability. Harmony, What I love about you is the wonderful way you embody WOMAN growing older! Harmony, I love your generosity, vulnerability, and deep commitment to taking care of people. And you are an inspiration to me on the dance floor! Harmony, I love your intention to live your name, and your intensity to get it right. Harmony, I love your willingness to touch and be touched, your willingness to do and get involved, your generosity, strength, and passion. Harmony, I love your humor, strength, and passion for NCDC. Harmony, What I love about you is you in your gentle generosity, and the way you dance. Harmony, I love that you choose to show up and make it happen. That you do so much for this community. I love your devotion and your generosity. Harmony, I love the courage you bring and the willingness to do what’s needed. Harmony, I love your desire for better communication and compassionate understanding on our planet, in our community, and in yourself. Harmony, You own it! I see you when dancing and I now see YOU taking that into the world. I love you for who you are. Thank you for showing up! Harmony, You are strong. Love it. I love your integrity. You are so good at keeping your word. I love your honesty. You are a Powerful woman with very unusual knowledge. You facilitated a postural change in me that transformed my whole self-image. You are on the cutting edge of the cutting edge. ---John Kottage Your energy is so pure when you touch. --Roz Harmony, working with you has helped me clearly identify: I DO want to be here. –Chris D. Harmony, I want you to know what a miracle it is for me that you were there with Bonnie and me at exactly that moment when she wanted to hold on to victimhood, as in, "I still don't feel safe with you". I've never ever in my life been able to convince anyone that their experience of me -- when I behave so patently "badly" -- is their business (part of why I started to throw a fit at that point). It was amazing to have you there, so clearly chiming in, "Yeah, I wouldn't be comfortable with you blaming me for how you feel, either". It just ended that little victimy thing. Done. Done. Done. Thank you so much. Love, Janna Thank you for all your support, and loving connectedness, and The vitality that is so absolutely you. I have been really happy to have you as a part of the RejuvenateEastBay group. Ishmael McIntosh Wow you came blasting through my day like a bush fire. You are incredible. So strong and finally I understood that place that you hold, growling and still smiling, so owning your process, so alive to this world. I love you I am so glad that I got to know you.—Yiam Redd Nobody embraces me as fully as Harmony It’s like trying to describe the taste of a mango to someone who has never tasted one” ---Billy Ray Boyd Harmony, I think you invented touch. It didn’t exist before you came along! Expressed by Claire Shields during a dance @ dance jam 2006 I thought the session was good--I don't know if pleasure would be the word I would use for it, because there was a lot of hard stuff that came up. But it felt like it cleared out some stuck places which was very helpful. I've definitely had more access to lighter places in myself since then. I felt like I was physical in a way that I'm not very much--in the pushing so hard against you, and your being able to follow, let me push you away but still be there, was somehow significant for me. ---Carrrie Perrin after 1^st session, April 2006 When you dance/move with me I feel acceptance and connection. You open a window for me, and when I step through it, I feel fully embodied. It feels like the relief of the dissolving of my individuality and the celebration of my full individuality simultaneously. The duality o self and other is dissolved, yet I am still very much Present and alive. Carrie Perrin –describing dancing with me You bridge a gap that creates a feeling of oneness. You close the gap of separateness that I feel between myself and another. I surrender and feel safe and more comfortable to pass that gift on to others. I want to share that with everyone. I have been afraid of being close to people in the physical. I feel connected in Spiritually, mentally and physically with others. You have helped me bring that feeling of connection and oneness into the body and into life. You bridge the gap of separateness to oneness through touch. --Leah Joy I have learned to ground during dance and movement. Before I would ‘ground’ through my imagination by sending roots into the earth and feeling solid. But I didn’t realize that id not ground kinesthetically. But the most powerful experience I have taken away from my sessions with you is learning to connect with others while remaining connected to myself. I have always equated connecting and loving with merging with another. I thought I had to give myself up in order to connect with and love another. But this would always result in me recoiling, resenting, and becoming cold to others. Through my work with you, I have found the balance of being contained within myself while remaining open with others. I am learning to feel myself through the connection with others; to ground through other people rather than get lost in them. –Patrick Numair 2006. Harmony meets us where we're at and gently and easily steers us toward the intended learning goal. We learn to listen to each others' movement, and to choose conscious responses to it. Her classes have us progress in our learning in a steady, congruent manner. My partner, who is in much pain every day from old shrapnel, is opening to his body and a new dimension of being in his body gently and in cooperation as opposed to his old approach of pushing his body harshly beyond its zone of genuine well-feeling. I see Harmony's work as integrating a positive body awareness into the psycho-spiritual health of the human being. Her work also helps us to get and stay in touch with our bodies' natural tendency for well-being, and integrates the body's pleasure in a way that's easy to accept despite our cultural heritage of pleasure-phobia. "This work can save you many years of therapy - and on top of that, it's pleasurable. It really exemplifies the new thought that healing and wholeness are one and the same thing." --Nora Hoffman `````````````````````````` Having experienced a lot of bodywork over the years of being a professional dancer and instructor, I have never felt so nurtured, so cared for and deeply touched as I did during my work with Harmony Gates. Her ability to hold space physically and energetically is honest, vulnerable and revealing, as well as healing. By being allowed to enter total receptivity, I was able to receive myself in new ways, to meet myself in those places I push away from or hide from. Being able to stay at the edge of my own pain (physical, emotional) gave me the opportunity to release, expand and be nurtured. At times I struggled. At times I cried. At times I allowed myself to be cradled as if I was a fragile baby. The freedom that emerged is still integrating into my everyday life now and I am sure it will continue as my work with her continues. “Harmony has a true gift of allowing one to feel completely vulnerable and completely safe at the same time. Melinda Deamon Dance Alive Instructor, Santa Monica, CA "Harmony brings you into her world of movement and connection in this amazingly strong, gentle way. She uses her whole body to cradle you, roll you, stretch you and challenge you. Her groundedness and relaxation are contagious." --Ingrid Good ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````` “It’s Luscious” --Laura Centorrino; intuitive body-worker, transformational healer ___________________ it was sorely need, much appreciated, and that you seemed to have a very slow, deliberate, unique way of working knots and muscle groups that I responded to very well. You seemed like a natural ;-} Shawn Swanson – regarding my deep tissue table body-work ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “I’ve never received that gift from a woman before. The gift is: mutual touch with no agenda.” “It’s an hour in Paradise” “I haven’t experienced anything like it anywhere else—and I’ve been getting massaged for 25 years.” “Amazing.” “The gift is: the fact that I could touch and be touched without there being a sexual agenda. I was free from ‘performance’ pressure. There was no pressure. It was an invitation to be physically present to another human being. I noticed during the hour that I could touch you anywhere, and you could touch me anywhere. I felt accepted…physically accepted. You didn’t shame me at any time during that hour. I felt Safe. It was good to be here. About your work: A lot of people would enjoy it and benefit from it. Non-threatening. Non shaming. “ “Delightful. It’s a meditation You leave your mind and get into your physical space with another person. Being ‘in the groove’ with them physically.” Dan ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````` “ Your hands are magic. I won’t go to anyone else now. “ --Don Don had exploratory abdominal surgery 20 years before and had had bowel problems ever since. He was overweight and was experiencing intense back pain. I worked on his back and belly for about 45 minutes. I called him the next morning and asked how he felt. He said: “ I feel great! I had a big BM last night. I walked several miles last night with no pain. I had a big BM this morning. I woke up free of back pain. I feel really great! You are my therapist March 13, 2004 ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Harmony! I wanted to tell you that I had a whole new experience in my body last night following the amazing bodywork session you provided me. I have been dealing chronically with a pelvis that is stuck, weak and creates limitations in my daily life. Our session opened up the ligaments, connective tissue and musculature of my pelvic (hips, thighs, belly and gluts). I also had a full awareness when I was dancing later that evening of how much more strength and freedom I had to move and play. With so much driving and sitting all the time, I limit my range of motion. Even yoga and stretching I do on my own hasn't opened me up as much as I did, embraced by your precise, guided, initiative, innovative approach! The work you are doing is a beautiful cross pollination of contact dance, compressive massage, joint mobilization, stretching, nurturance and gentle guided movement to facilitate release of the most deeply held physical tension in my body. I loved the intuition you have developed that allowed the pace of the session to be slow and the moments of pause that you brought while we were engaged in a movement so that subtle shifts occurred naturally. I also love the contact with you and your body. I felt completed held in that sacred way that I experience when someone is being fully present with me. The floor was our third partner in this unique dance massage. Through my contact with it, I felt massaged from nearly a 360 degree perspective! My exposure to contact dance has been very limited, so I am clear that even if I knew nothing about contact dance, as long as am open to a much fuller body contact with a therapist, I would have received the same degree of benefit. I look forward to sharing with you in more detail how your work can be realized fully by you and out in the world. I imagine that what I have written is a lot to chew on and digest! I want to honor the safety you need to embrace yourself and this work so that you can open and receive it/give it. Blessings and illuminations, linda gaylan, ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Liquid Contact: I thought your intro to the land contact improv was great. I'm a feeler and flower and enjoy being guided through movement. You have a natural gift for it. It is good to see you in your power. Then the water part was even more amazing. Especially when we got to take our clothes off. You had absolutely no hesitation about that which was great. It made all that easier to flow into it. –Patrick Pigeonhawk `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Bruce Terrell Oct, 03—Brilliant Contact Both the land and water contact dance experiences you led us through were perhaps the deepest experiences of the whole weekend for me. I loved having the opportunity to go to places I had never been before. I loved such an immersion in fluid space. As for the land contact, I liked the slower pace at the beginning with introductory moves, but most enjoyed, by far, the fluid, freely flowing group space when we had blindfolds on. I was ready for that space even sooner. I found your specific suggestions, like us moving more from our torsos and less with our hands, very helpful. By the time we entered in the water, I already felt so fluid and melty. I felt held back by our step by step warm up exercises in the water. I just wanted to Move, Move , Move and let the magic happen. Again, I found your feedback and suggestions during our free water movement very helpful and expanding. Both on land and at sea, I appreciated how you were closely watching us and noticing what was going on. For me, your capacity to watch closely is one of your strengths as a teacher. One time where I think this watching could be particularly useful was during the blindfold part of the land contact. I experienced one of the beings I encountered to be quite rough. A suggestion to the group about remembering liquidity and receptivity could have been useful, for me, at that point. ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Harmony - speaking just for me, I want to tell you how very happy it made me to be on the receiving end of someone so obviously doing what she was meant to.  It's a real pleasure to feel you there Art ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Thought you were wonderfully patient with this novice Contact Improvisationer. I know I can do it if I just "keep doin it." --Geoffrey Bruce ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` a poem written of me by a fellow dancer: CONTACT She enters as a guest of God (her joyful obligation!) touched and held by touch itself like gypsy-hearted joy. My heart says ‘Yes!’ to something new (her body’s steady pressure guiding me, providing me her skin – like jazz – on mine). The rush (its roar) a river ever changing like the way she moves and slips away returning once again. The riverbed (I am) and then I merge into our center (partnered in a dream that seems more real than my life) © Copyright 1999 by Daniel B. Dilks I'm very grateful for our connection and for the inspiration that you are. The words/energy in 'Contact' only hint at who you really are and at how much you give... You are a blessing! you are a gifted teacher (being a great dancer goes without saying). Your understanding and ability to isolate a particular movement (or lack thereof) and communicate it clearly are a blessing. --D Dilks `````````````````````````````````````````````````````` You give the group such wonderful energy and I'm so glad you are part of it. Koko ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Thank you for the love you shared with me as well. The time at Harbin was truly magic for me, and I can't wait to experience it again. You really provided some keys for me, to locks long-unopened. And just your acceptance of me in my state of flux was a great gift. I enjoy your company and the love with which you resonate so magnificently. David Randall ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Thank you once again for your encouragement and kindness. That was one of the most heartwarming messages I think I have ever received. David Randall `````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` I really enjoy your energy, presence, self-disclosure, and your sincere desire to raise the consciousness around you (including mine). I feel quite safe and connected with you, and I look forward to continued group grokking. Robert Rodriguez ``````````````````````````````````` You are sunshine-- Lottie ````````````````````````````````````````````` You embody what you teach. –Gina Perez-Baron ````````````````````````````````````````````````` “I was in body bliss at the end of your class”. (touching forehead to forehead with me @ end of my spontaneous CI class) @ Harbin --Rainah ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` Namaste, Harmony: you're a gift to us all and thanks to the Cosmos for bringing you to this planet. Brent Wexler ```````````````````````````````````````````````````` "do you just go around getting people hot with your unashamed and fully present affections?" Grace ```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` …I was again reminded of your soul generosity: to take a risk, to reach out and share your love, passion, and the fruits of your rapier self-scrutiny. Each and every experience I had with you is like a living stone, tossed in the pond of my beingness, sending ripples of light through my life. Each and every day I make different choices with how I connect to the earth, carry my body, and how I engage with my thought process. I carry you in the cells of my body and I relish with anticipation when we can connect again. Richard Corvin…9-21-02 ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Stu Phillips Thanks for some wonderful fun dancing with you in trio energy, it was fun, inspiring, and I'm always thankful to dance with you and your vibrant love. Stu, from Oregon. I love you, appreciate your energy, it's vibrant. Thanks so much for your energy, I appreciate. Good luck on land with your vehicle forever. Stu. x Thanks for your energy, I appreciate, good to dance with you and others, very vibrant, fun, inspiring. You're not Dead. Thank-you! ever so much. Good luck. Stuie. x I love you. x me. Yeah, thank you;. I do receive, good you know, yeah olivia is exuberant, and you are fire on earth, no doubt, sometimes very mental with your process, but who cares, your energy is hilarious and inspirational. As always, once we had a nice slow jam at that studio in SF, Keriac's, was different than the rest, no doubt, you are strong and exuberant, thanks for intruding and playing, very inspirational, as always, fun. thank-you. Stu stay well. me. x x ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` You are a great contact teacher and I hope you do some classes again that I can make it to. Only samantha beers is in your league. Wishing you all the best in your journey. Blessings, Craig Cherney August 20, 2004 ````````````````````````````````````````````````````` kristen: Harmony and I were warming up to prepare for several hours of dancing at Sweat Your Prayers with some contact improvisation. I felt a muscle start to spasm in my lower back and realized I was irritating an old injury. I told Harmony I was nervous I'd hurt myself and she treated me to some of her bodywork. Mixing full body massage and contact improv, Harmony slowly applied pressure to the painful spot in my back, and later added pressure and massage to the opposite shoulder when tension builded there. She didn't work with me for more than five minutes, but when she was done, I felt a sense of complete release throughout my torso, and was able to dance fully and without any pain. If you're suffering from any buildup of physical or emotional tension, and looking for thorough release with complete support, I fully recommend a session with Harmony. I have thought a lot about the liquid contact my body has integrated it and in retrospect I understand more what you were trying to enlighten me with in the water you are a wondrous teacher I might add more power to you it is most apparent you are a powerful woman one who honestly I thought I could only connect to with awkwardness and power clashes but part of what you reminded me is that awkward connections are not necessarily inherent but rather a reflection of what is still yet awkward with in our selves too appropriate that you were teaching the third degree black belt a deepening into yielded power that isn't a tumble weed or "floating by" You also taught me on a cellular level what I knew intellectually and that is that I am sensual by nature and withholding that so as not to make others uncomfortable is not serving any of us except to deeper forms of bondage You taught me that I can explore the expansion of my sensuality and desire with out being obliged to be outright sexual that each moment is a choice to show up and I can show up with yes maybe not now and any combination and or rearranged and changed choice Grace—(we shared 2 days together @ Harbin in Nov. 2003) I felt drawn to you because it seemed you were some one who would want to dance without.... there needing to be any meaning behind the moment and two human beings expressing themselves through it --Grace, again __________________________________ Body-2-Body Rolling feedback and description from Peter Kirby Here are some comments on last Friday's massage. As I said at the time, it was an awesome hour, one of the best sessions of bodywork I have ever had. I was passive during this rolling massage, where I did not initiate movement with Harmony but let her do all the work during the session. During our previous session, I had been very active, initiating moves while Harmony met and supported my moving, offering precise points of pressure with her hands, arms, legs and feet, and strategically using her torso and body-weight. This first session was fun and challenging and gave me a deep isometric workout.   I am a big guy -- 6'3" and 220 pounds. I like strenuous exercise -- running, backpacking and weightlifting -- so I get fatigue and soreness deep in my body and my muscles. I have always found strong pressure necessary for the release of this tension, whether I am on the table or the floor.   Harmony's use of her body-weight and stretching is a wonderful combination. Here are some of the methods I really liked: (This is an incomplete list since I tranced out through much of the session; I wished many of the positions could have been photographed so I'd remember more.)    * Back-to-back. Harmony rolled her torso up and down my back from pelvis, to neck, to ankles and back to pelvis. Then she rolled her back directly on mine, up and down, spine-to-spine. It was a super way to start because it warmed me up and released all the back muscles for more detailed work on my shoulders and mid-back. Harmony stayed on my back, like riding a horse, to do the detailed work with her strong hands through my clothes. She finished up by sliding her body up and down my back using her feet as anchors to further promote circulation and mellow out all the muscles.   * Rolling on the front and side of the torso. Harmony did extensive rolling across my torso after turning me over. She rolled my body as well as she over me with hers. This worked my rib cage and stomach from all kinds of angles. She was able to use her feet and hands to keep moving so the body-weight was never too heavy. In fact, the pressure released tensions so I was able to breathe very deeply and felt energized.   * Cradling. She did a wide variety of creative and satisfying stretches. Some of them involved her hipbone in places of great tension like the small of the back and the back of the neck; these were comforting and releasing at the same time. She would also extend the arms up and out for great angles on the lateral muscles and shoulders while supporting and bending the hips up.    * Legs. She was able to stretch and angle the legs so that her detailed strokes on my hamstrings and quads were very effective in relaxing these chronically sore body-parts. Despite the complexity of the positions Harmony was able to repeat for each leg.    * Centering. To finish up she gently but deeply worked in trebly with one hand while giving deep pressure to the back muscles directly below. It was powerful and calming energy work as well as soothing muscle release. Peter Kirby __________________________________ - There is a spark of passion in you, and it's not a naively directed one, but a sharp one born of maybe some searching and experimenting, maybe some toughness. I respect the difficulty of that travel, and the mind underneath it attracts me immensely as I get to know it -- what little I have seen of it. It's not deterred, it's not discouraged, it retains its direction. - I enjoy your ease with yourself, and your knowledge of yourself, and the way you communicate and demonstrate that with others. The playful caring I've seen you sharing with others, and me, and the self that still shines through in that process. I've come to trust it. - The ambition you show, the courageous leap in the direction you're going. - There is something else, that I cannot articulate, it is an electricity in your touch that I felt in dancing with you, from the contact. - Physically, you excite me, I thirst for you. And also, you challenge me in a way that no one else ever has. Some of it is a patient nurturing, I think. You're not letting me fool you, I can fool most people, not in the sense that I have some dishonest intention, but in the sense that I know they are missing some meanings that I have hidden, some small bit of paper in the cookie I hand them, you haven't missed any of those yet. Steve E. Sept. 2002