A community-oriented exploration of Shadow through movement, mask-making, & creative expression.
DAY 1: Saturday, April 8th - 11:30am to 3:30pm (4 hours)
We will come together to move, play, and create a mask.
DAY 2: Sunday, April 9th: 2pm - 4pm (2 hours)
We will gather and reflect on our experiences and how this work be most
relevant for our communities in the present moment.
I request that all participants commit to both days of the workshop. Sliding scale: $25-$125, nobody turned away for lack of funds. We will meet at Waterline Studio in NE PDX, spots limited to 12 people, all materials provided.
If this is your first time in a Shadow Tender workshop, please scroll down to read the full workshop details below. If you would like to attend but the pricing is prohibitive for any reason, I am offering a limited number of free tickets and work-trade arrangements. Please contact me directly for more information.
The past several years have confronted us with Shadow - both personal and collective - on an unprecedented scale. We have donned and shed masks over and over again amid conflict and profound uncertainty. We have been faced with things we could have never imagined, and faced them back with aspects of self we never knew were there.
Shadow Tender workshops are a lovingly constructed container to
guide you as you build your own Shadow mask
They are a structure within which you can make and un-make the courageous
face with which you confront the world.
They are space to encounter Shadow and step into relationship with
the wisdom, resilience, and joy contained within.
ABOUT SHADOW TENDER
Shadow Tender is a creative project and a school of thought that invites you to dance with your demons through mask-making and creative expression. Unlike a traditional therapeutic or coaching environment, which encourages verbal exchange, the focus of Shadow Tender workshops is on creative play, and embodied self-expression and discovery.
Borne of many years of collaboration, formal study, underground art experiments, old-growth wilderness, loss, grief, and joy, Shadow Tender is my path towards bone-deep knowledge that there are always ways to heal and re-member, and that our inner monsters can hold the keys to our brightest light.
I believe that shadow work is a living process, a wild process, a dance - an unfolding of the self that has power to repair the very foundations of our beings. I believe that shadow work is a physical, social, creative act - stitch by stitch, gesture by gesture, story by story…embodied poetry carving a path forward to deeper connection through and beyond the self.
In a world that profits from leading us further and further away from ourselves and each other, it is my greatest honor to continue to share this work with you.
You can read more about the story of Shadow Tender here.
“Shadow Tender was a game changer for me in how I approached shadow work on my healing journey. By engaging me intellectually, somatically, creatively, and emotionally - no aspect of self was neglected in what had been an historically painful process of “processing”. Natalya is a gifted artist, mystic, thinker, and community leader. This delicate work is in compassionate, master-level hands with the Shadow Tender Team. Post workshop, I had a dramatically more accurate view of myself, and a tenderness and love for my hidden aspects that is priceless. This workshop was a tipping point on my path.”
— Lindsey Bruno
THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU
IF YOU ARE…
Craving to move through things that cannot be explained or put into words
Curious to discover your Shadow’s face and dive deeper into the Shadow archetype
Wanting to learn more about mask-making and create your own Shadow mask
Hungry to to dance, play, and remember your inner strength and deep, unwavering light
Searching for an intentional container in which your body and your breath can unwind in community with others
WHAT YOU WILL GET
OUT OF THIS WORKSHOP
Tools and exercises for nervous system resilience, integration, and creative expression
A chance to slow down and reconnect with your body and your deeper self
A multidimensional understanding of the Shadow archetype on individual and collective levels
An opportunity to create and explore your own Shadow mask
A facilitated space to ask questions, dialogue, integrate and create in community with others
STRUCTURE & DATES
This is a very special workshop for me: our world and our hearts have undergone tremendous change over the last few years, and I am curious to see how Shadow Tender can best serve and support the kind of healing we are all craving at this time. For this reason, this 2-day workshop has a particular format that differs from how I’ve offered it in the past:
+ DAY 1: Saturday, April 8th: 11:30am to 3:30pm (4 hours)
We will come together to move, play, and create a mask.
+ DAY 2: Sunday, April 9th: 2pm - 4pm (2 hours)
We will gather and reflect on our experiences and how this work be most relevant for our communities in the present moment.
To make sure there is plenty of space and attention to go around, this workshop will be capped at 12 participants. For this reason, I am requesting that everybody who wants to attend commits in advance, and is able to participate in both days.
The primary language in this workshop will be English - with support in Russian available upon request. All crafting materials will be provided. Please wear something you can move in and bring a journal, water bottle, and something to write with. All levels of makers, movers, and monsters are welcome.
Questions? Please check out our FAQ page or write to me directly.
“I can’t believe this Shadow Tender workshop exists in the world. It’s like alchemy, healing, performance all rolled up into one. During this workshop, I relearned that healing takes place on levels we don’t even realize. Maybe it takes place when we can take off just one mask, for a little while, and put on another one. Thanks to Natalya, I regained a sense of wonder - and realized that the greatest secret is to have one, and not know what it is.”
— Mazarine Treyz
COST
Tickets are between $25 and $125 per person, depending on financial need.
Space is limited to 12 people, so I recommend reserving your spot in advance.
I am requesting that everybody who wants to attend commits to attending both days.
My aim is to make this workshop as accessible as possible to all who wish to be a part of it. If you would like to participate in this workshop, but pricing is prohibitive for any reason, you can request a free ticket by contacting me directly.
“My joy returned to me (mic drop). I loved every moment of how you structured our time...from opening, to the slowness of the exercises that helped me embody my body again, to identifying my grief and putting it into the mask. I don’t tend to be creative in that way and you gave me permission to create whatever wanted to come forth. You gave me options on how I want to express myself through movement and intimacy with the others. I appreciated your intentionality and care for details. I was amazed by the alchemy of acknowledging my grief as myself as a child and releasing a part of my bullshit programming that my child was carrying for so long so that I can feel joyful and free again in the present. I was frankly surprised by the return of joy and play thanks to the ceremony, mask making, and being in community. This work and play are vital for the world to heal right now. Please don’t ever stop teaching Natalya!”
— Sophia Treyger
COVID PRECATIONS
Masks are optional. I will be providing hand sanitizer and masks to all individuals who wish to use them. I also advise anybody who feels ill to stay at home and not participate in group activities to help keep everybody safe.
MEET YOUR INSTRUCTOR
My name is Natalya Kolosowsky (she/her.) I am an artist, facilitator, and educator. I am the founder and director of Shadow Tender - an interdicsplinary project and school of thought that invites you to dance with your demons through mask-making and creative expression.
I was born in Siberia but grew up in the Sonoran desert, which created a life-long interest in bridging worlds that normally remain invisible to each other and navigating realities polarized by a history of antagonism and fear. Drawing on the experiences of being suspended between languages and cultures, I am fascinated by the construction of social and individual “otherness.” I work across multiple media, focusing on visual and motion-based storytelling through costume, performance, and illustration.
I received my classical ballet training under Kee-Juan Han from the School of Ballet Arizona and went on to study and perform in circus arts, butoh, physical theater and puppetry throughout the West Coast of the United States. In 2010, I founded the Anatomia Dance Collective - a performance project focused on the psychological transformation of space through movement and costume. My consequent projects have included collaborations with San Francisco’s City Circus, Flam Chen Pyrotechnic Theater, the Salzburg State Theatre, Michael Curry Design, Degenerate Art Ensemble, and many others.
I hold a BS in Psychology and a BFA in Visual Communication from the University of Arizona, as well as a MFA in Costume Design from the University of Oregon. I am also currently becoming a certified Buteyko breathwork instructor via Patrick McKeown’s Buteyko Clinic International. My work has been presented in universities, conferences, museums, and theaters around the world.
I am fluent in English and Russian, and offer 1:1 work, teaching, and group facilitation in both languages.
HONOR YOUR TEACHERS
RESPECT YOUR ANCESTORS
This work was developed across a variety of spaces - intellectually, temporally, and geographically - which is itself an enormous privilege.
No teacher, no ancestor is perfect or without flaw, yet a constellation of teachers can begin to weave clearer and clearer paths for inquiry shaped by integrity, curiosity, and greater self-awareness. As such - both here, and throughout my workshops - I openly credit and honor those whose work has become a foundation for this project and teaching methodology:
Shadow Tender collaborators and co-teachers: Maria Thomas, Magdalena Kaczmarska, and Adam Cooper-Terán
Eastern European folk dance traditions, especially from Russia, Poland, and Ukraine as taught by Nadia Zubkov and others
Eastern European and Central Asian folklore and fairytales as passed through oral and written traditions
The teaching methodology, academic guidance, and insights of La Donna Forsgren, Les Gray, Theresa May, and Alexandra Bonds
The research of Spee Kosloff, Jeff Greenberg, and other scholars of Terror Management Theory
The writings and scholarly research of Judika Illes
The breathing methodologies of Konstantin Buteyko as taught by Patrick McKeown
The teachings of butoh artists Diego Piñon, Hiroko & Koichi Tamano, Yumiko Yoshioka, and others
The communication strategies taught by Kasia Urbaniak and Ruben Flores Montenegro
The teachings & writings of Marshall Rosenberg and his theory of Nonviolent Communication
The psychodramatic approaches of Alejandro Jodorowsky
The research of Peter Levine and Somatic Experiencing
The original writings and theories of Carl G. Jung
The Shadow Tender project stands in deep reverence and solidarity with the occupied lands and its indigenous communities on which this teaching curriculum has been developed over the years: Chinook, Kalapuya, O’Odham, Pima, and Lenape.