Core Team
(click a team member’s image below to scroll to their bio)
Jazmin Snider
Jaz is passionate about community building and movement as a means of awakening and authentic expression. As a co-founder, organizer and facilitator of Dance Temple Victoria, she has been facilitating & producing ecstatic dance events for nearly 12 years. She loves cultivating community and is awed by the power, connection and transformation that shared conscious dance settings foster.
Jaz uses her intuition and skills as a dance facilitator and music curator to create playful, uplifting atmospheres in which dancers can connect and express their wild, free selves.
She is honoured and excited to be part of the Dance Temple Gathering executive team and to be coordinating meadow programming for the event.
Lila Spencer
A long time dancer and community weaver, music is the pulse that guides Lila’s life.
She has been deeply steeped in the dance temple community since 2013, as a co-founder of Dance Temple Victoria, and a core member of Dance Temple Salt Spring Island.
Lila draws from her experience as a Kundalini Dance Facilitator and Trainer, sharing dance as medicine and ceremony for the past 19 years locally and internationally. Dance is her place of joy and a way to cultivate and nurture community and create connection.
In 2022 she co-founded, Dance Weavers ~ Conscious Dance Training with her dear friend and colleague Naomi Jason and an experienced team to mentor and support others on their path of becoming Ecstatic Dance DJ’s, Facilitators and Leaders in their communities.
Lila is honoured to be part of the executive team co- creating the framework and foundations for this first ever offering, as well as curating the main stage programming and weaving artist relations.
She will be offering some magic on the main stage Saturday night sharing cacao and a heart weaving for our night of celebration plus supporting other collaborative offerings throughout the weekend. You can also find her at the main stage behind the scenes assisting in the smooth running of the festival!
Naomi Jason
As a core collaborator for the inaugural Dance Temple Gathering, Naomi draws on 15 years of leadership experience in the Dance Temple movement since the establishment of the original Dance Temple on Salt Spring Island in 2010. She is honoured to co-create a comprehensive event that honours the depth of Dance Temple’s journey.
Her role in this gathering encompasses three key areas:
- Ritual Coordination: Curating meaningful ritual throughout the gathering and ensuring authentic indigenous voices and practices are integrated respectfully;
- Content Curation and Program Development:, co-crafting the event’s flow and schedule to balance structure with emergent experiences;
- Executive Leadership: providing strategic guidance that honors Dance Temple’s roots while celebrating its diverse evolution across many communities.
- Naomi will also be guiding a Qigong practice at the gathering on Saturday morning.
Her unique position as a founder of the movement gives her the perspective to create a gathering that both commemorates this milestone anniversary and sets the stage for the movement’s continued growth.
Mark Edwin Berge
Production Manager
Mark Edwin Berge brings a deep passion for dance and community to The Dance Temple Gathering. As a dedicated facilitator and steward of the Comox Valley dance community for nearly four years, he has been instrumental in creating spaces that foster movement, connection, and shared expression.
With a strong background in event development and production, Mark plays a key role in bringing events to life. He serves as the Production Manager for the Woodstove Music & Arts Festival and Nautical Days, while also lending his expertise to numerous other nonprofit events. His commitment to crafting meaningful, immersive experiences is at the heart of his work.
“It is a great honor to be trusted with this role, and I am committed to doing all I can to make this gathering as beautiful, connective, and profound as possible.”
Alex King-Harris
Executive Producer
With 25 years woven into the fabric of transformational events, Alex stands as co-founder and guardian of Dance Temple Gathering’s inaugural journey—financing its birth while nurturing a vision of sustainability, inclusion, and diversity rooted in Dance Temple and Ecstatic Dance traditions.
Over the years his path has flowed from production coordinator of high-budget hip-hop videos to being an organizer at the heart of conscious events like Earthdance, Gathering of the Tribes, Mystic Garden Party and Beloved Festival, where Alex expanded the yoga, wellness, and sound healing landscapes for many seasons.
As a Six Degrees Recording Artist, Alex’s music has echoed across global stages. His artistic pilgrimage includes celebrated, long time collaborations with Desert Dwellers, Liquid Bloom, and Shaman’s Dream, where he helped shape their distinctive sonic identities and experimental fusion of electronic and world music traditions.
Before Ecstatic Dance bloomed worldwide, Alex danced with Moontribe Collective, seeding what would become a movement. He’s since created sonic journeys across vibrant communities—from the tropical sanctuary of Kalani on Hawaii’s Big Island to the urban pulse of San Francisco, Oakland, Portland and Los Angeles; from the conscious hubs of Fairfax, Sedona, Nevada City, and Ashland to the mountain energy of Salt Lake City and across the Atlantic to London’s thriving dance floors. For the past 10 years after a long sojourn around the world Alex returned home and began pouring his love into the magical place he calls home – Vancouver Island and the surrounding Gulf Islands. Since then he’s been producing and facilitating Dance Temple’s vibrant expressions in Victoria, Saltspring, Cowichan, Nanaimo, Comox, Vancouver and beyond!
Through mentorship and creative fire, Alex wishes to cultivate a gathering that honours Ecstatic Dance’s essence—empowering our circle and crafting a legacy where connection thrives and community flourishes.
Gathering Contributors
We’re delighted to be supported by so many people!
The gathering aims to curate and honour a group of presenters that represent the Dance Temple keepers of the various well rooted dances as well as including practices that feel complimentary to the event.
Some contributors we would like to acknowledge: Cedar Mathias, Shauna Devlin, Cat Wilson, River Helen Pattison, Aaron Hanford, Patty Rooney, Ali Genevieve, Chris Bertin, Christy Greenwood, Chantel Foss, Jennifer Eve, Ivy Valentine, Connie Quayle, Leif Jason – Marketing, Bee & Lindy – Decor, Mel & Monty – Kids Camp, Sarah Etherington – Volunteer Coordinator – and many more – check back as we will update this as we can!
