2026 Festival Workshops

Saturday, 12:30-1:00PM (Starbelly Stage)

Dr. Duncan Grady

Dr. Duncan Grady’s professional experience includes 14 years of post secondary education and 31 years of psychotherapy in addictions, trauma, death and dying. He has a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology and a Doctorate of Divinity specific to Creation Spirituality. He is an elder of the Circle of Indigenous Nations Society, West Kootenays, BC. He currently co-leads retreats, works with communities impacted by lateral violence and provides training and consultation using western and non-western approaches to health, well-being, spirituality, trauma, dying and death.

Nikita Rain

Nikita was born and raised in Nelson, BC. She is Secwépemc and a member of the Xat’sull First Nation. She also has Danish, Italian, Irish, French, and Scottish ancestry.

Nikita has been powwow dancing since the age of eight. She began as a Fancy Shawl dancer and has been dancing Jingle Dress for the past six years. The Jingle Dress Dance is a healing dance that originated with the Ojibwe people. According to tradition, it began with a vision in which a father dreamt of a special dress that would help heal his sick daughter. The metal cones on the dress, traditionally made from rolled tobacco can lids, create the distinctive jingling sound that gives the dance its name.

As the dancer moves, one foot remains close to the ground, maintaining a connection to the earth. The sound of the jingles is believed to carry prayers and healing energy through the air, reaching both the people present and the spirit world.

The Sweet Tuesday Singers

Led by Ellie Reynolds, The Sweet Tuesday Singers are a joyful community of women from all over the East Shore who gather to sing together (you guessed it, on a Tuesday!) From a small handful of friends who shared a desire to sing in harmony, we have grown and flourished over the past five years into a vibrant and caring community of singers.

Our Tuesday evenings are full of sisterhood, laughter, and sometimes tears. We learn our material mostly by ear, songs that help us feel less alone and more connected to each other and to the earth. Gradually and through popular demand, we have begun to share our voices, not just on Tuesday evenings, but at community events. From book launches to Celebrations of Life, craft fairs to birthday parties, our singing elevates any gathering.

We are completely thrilled to be adding our harmonies and hearts to help open Starbelly Jam this year.

Sunday 5:00-5:30PM

Led by Samba Lago Profundo, the East Shore’s vibrant community samba group founded by Ben Johnson in 2011. This isn’t just a parade—it’s an invitation to play! Let your imagination soar, tap into your inner artist, and be part of the magic.

MJ Armstrong is a lover of movement of all kinds, with over 20 years as a practicing yogi. Founder of Intuit Movement Studio on Baker Street, MJ delivers a lighthearted approach to yoga with a strong focus on alignment and injury prevention. When she’s not on her mat teaching yoga, you’ll find her dancing on a speaker or table nearby.

Beats + Breath Yoga Saturday 10 – 11 am (Community Corner)

This accessible yoga workshop is your ultimate “wake up call” to greet the day, blending invigorating movement with mindful breathing techniques. Get ready to leave feeling energized, centered, and fully prepared to dance the day away. No yoga experience necessary! This all-levels class is perfect for festival goers of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Bring your yoga mat.

Festival Recovery Flow Sunday 11am- noon (Community Corner)

Ready to recharge your dancing bod? This workshop is designed to give your legs, glutes, and core the TLC they deserve after a night of epic festival moves. We’ll guide you through a rejuvenating flow that combines deep stretches, gentle strengthening exercises, and mindful breathing.
No yoga experience necessary! This all-levels class is perfect for festival goers of all ages, shapes, and sizes. Leave feeling refreshed, revitalized, and ready to conquer the next set!

Sunday, 12:00-1:00PM (Starbelly Stage)

The square dance will be backed by an old-time dance band led by Ella Korth and friends. Come for upbeat fiddle music, and bring your friends and family!

Louis Bockner first learned to call square dances through osmosis during the monthly square dances held in the community hall of his hometown of Argenta, BC. Then, as the old time callers were dying out, he was brought into the fold with lessons in kitchens and living rooms where a square of eight dancers twirled between the dining chairs and the woodstove. Now he carries on the square dance calling tradition in Argenta and loves making the dances accessible and fun for everyone, believing they are a beautiful way to bring inter-generational joy to the world.

Alison Beaumont- Artist & Therapeutic Photography Practitioner
Saturday 3:30 pm to 4:30 (Community Corner)

Grab your phone, no fancy gear, no experience needed. Just curiosity.

We’ll walk the festival grounds and use photography as a way to mindfully slow down and notice what’s around us, discovering how light, structures and atmosphere create opportunities for joy, gratitude, wonder and awe. Your camera phone becomes a tool for mindfully seeing in extraordinary ways.
You’ll create and share photos with the group, we’ll take some time to reflect on your images with perspective, gratitude, and the wonder at Starbelly’s hidden festival delights. Pictures may be shared on Starbelly Socials*

Bring camera phone | No experience needed

*Opt out available

Saturday 1:30-2:30 pm (Community Corner)

Every plant is broadcasting. Root tips fire electrochemical signals. Leaves release terpene vocabularies into the air. Mycorrhizal networks carry chemical news across entire forests. The question is not whether plants communicate — they do — but whether we are willing to listen, and what we might make together when we do.

Roots, Signals & Stars brings the cutting edge of plant neurobiology, electroacoustic art, and celestial medicine into a single, living encounter. Drawing on forty-five years of clinical and contemplative practice, William Morris demonstrates how plants transduce environmental signals into bioelectric events that can be amplified, sonified, and woven into real-time music. Participants will handle plant sensors, experiment with signal-to-sound translation, and explore how planetary cycles and lunar timing influence plant bioelectric output — the ancient doctrine of celestial signatures meeting contemporary biophysics.

This is not an observation. It is a conversation.

Saturday 11pm – 1am (Community Corner)

A late-night round table of hot club jazz, country swing, & jump blues featuring an all-star cast of Starbelly Jam artists.

Sunday 1:00-2:00PM (Community Corner)

Lisi Sommer is a dynamic vocalist and improvisation leader with roots in jazz, folk, blues, and Balkan music. A long-time member of The GADJO Collective and Edmonton’s V.I.N.E Choir, she brings warmth and joy to her workshops, guiding participants to explore their voices and the freedom of vocal improvisation.

Saturday 5-6 pm (Community Corner)

Party smarter by learning simple ways to support and regulate your nervous system. Designed especially for festival-goers, this fun, interactive workshop offers practical tools you can use right away — both at the festival and in everyday life.

Discover easy techniques, “resets,” and healing practices inspired by Brain Gym®, Chinese medicine, and other wellness modalities. Learn how to work with your brain and nervous system to stay balanced, grounded, energized, and resilient in the exciting — and sometimes overwhelming — environment of a music festival.

Participants will explore simple, effective ways to reduce stress, adapt more easily, and keep feeling good no matter what comes their way. Best of all, these techniques are easy to share with friends so everyone can PARTY ON together.

Drop in for 10 minutes or stay for the full session — you’re guaranteed to leave with something useful.

Saturday, 6:00–7:00 PM (Workshop Tent)

Hosted by Charles Reynolds

Back for its fourth year! Have something to say in three minutes or less? Share your original poetry, spoken word, lyrics, or other creative expression. All styles are welcome. Prizes awarded and performances judged by fellow poets and lyricists. Freestyle session to follow. For ages 16+

Saturday & Sunday 10am-noon (Under the cedar tree by the Community Corner)

Hosted by David Kayle, with special guest co-host Andromeda Drake

Join us on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon for the Ukulele Circle, a fun and welcoming community jam session. Participants can choose songs from the SBJ Ukulele Songbooks, featuring mostly easy-to-play tunes, and enjoy making music together. Players are also welcome to perform a solo song or share a favourite tune with the group. If you’d like everyone to play along, please bring about six copies of the music.

Beginners are encouraged to arrive early and will be supported by the rhythm and encouragement of the group. Don’t have a ukulele with you, or interested in trying a different one? Several spare instruments will be available.

The Ukulele Circle takes place at the “Cross Roads – Rendez Vous,” under the big cedar tree near the corner of the tennis courts.

Sunday 3:30-4:30 (Community Corner)

Drumming is unity, unity is power. Come step into your rhythmic power with this lively, interactive trash instrument making and trash orchestra rhythm workshop!
Come craft your own percussion toy from discarded items, post consumer waste – literally from trash!

Using these “new” percussion toys made from reclaimed objects we will create a musical composition that lifts our spirits and fills our hearts. We will work in harmony with one another as we combine varied rhythmic parts to form one unified voice. Then we can join the Starbelly Parade!!

Facilitators are Marilyn Hatfield and Troy Falck assisted by members of RhythmDance Orchestra

Marilyn Hatfield
The city of Nelson’s Cultural Ambassador for 2020, Marilyn Hatfield is a multidisciplinary performing artist, choreographer, and global drumming and dance arts instructor. As the Band Leader and Director of Nelson’s Moving Mosaic Samba Band and RhythmDance Orchestra, her work is deeply rooted in the transformative power of rhythm. Marilyn shares Rhythm Arts in varied forms— professional performances, group drumming facilitation, weekly classes, ensemble direction, special workshops, and innovative “trash orchestras”—to invite people of all skill levels to experience the magic and joy of drumming, percussion, and dance.

Troy Falck
Troy Falck’s artistic practice is a celebration of transformation—an offering of rhythm, art, and play— that reminds us of the beauty hidden in the overlooked and that there is joy waiting to be discovered in the everyday. As a guitarist, percussionist, lyricist, and wearable art designer, Troy pursues rhythm and creativity across disciplines. Through workshops in trash arts and trash orchestra music, he invites others to reimagine what is possible and tap into unity through rhythm. Member of Moving Mosaic Samba Band and RhyhmDance Orchestra.