Here are some of our facilitators! Click here for support team.
Kato Wittich
Kato has had the joy of nurturing others in their journeys toward deeper presence and embodiment for thirty years as a somatic therapist practicing Rosen Method Bodywork and Family Constellations. Her Family Constellations work was recently featured on Netflix as the center of episode 5 of the documentary series Sex, Love & Goop.
Kato is the original founder of Friday Night FUNk which developed out of her need for funkier, more organic grounded music than is common in most conscious dance practices. It is her great delight to create a lightly facilitated musical landscape to sweep you into the art of being fiercely present in this delicious moment, whatever it is!
Melissa Faith
Melissa is an avid lover of dance and a constant explorer of the heart. She is our youngest facilitator of Friday Night FUNk, but brings her “old soul” to every playlist she creates. Melissa was dancing in the womb long before she was born! She loves incorporating old-school bluesy funk, classical tunes, and even a pinch of Jerry Garcia within her offerings. She is a marriage and family therapist in training by day, and coaches other DJs on ways to create a safe container for all dancers by night. She considers herself to be a lifelong student who is forever practicing the art of embodying what is through movement, touch, and listening, and she’s looking forward to welcoming you to the dance.
Nyah Phoenix
Nyah Phoenix is a registered Yoga teacher. She was summoned to conscious dance through her self-healing journey. She believes in the power of the mind body connection and is passionate about building a bridge through embodied movement. She invites you to “Find your gifts in the darkness.”
Mary Frances Spencer
Mary Frances is a Yoga and Movement teacher and long time ecstatic dancer.
She blends a mix of old school funk
and rock, alternative, tribal, latin
and eclectic music into a sweaty blast
of fun.
Susan Biddlecomb
Susan came to dance through Kundalini yoga, and she sustains the freedom of dance at Friday Night Funk. Her background in music leads her to seek out a variety of musical textures for her playlists, as well as referencing the music she heard growing up in the Crenshaw district. She has been known to develop playlists to take dancers through experiencing emotions related to a story relevant to current events or a moment in time.
Solomon Salim Moore
Salim is a visual artist and curator currently living in Claremont, CA. His work focuses on the ways fantasy becomes reality. He started dancing as a kid, but was invited into the intuitive and conscious dance community in Altadena after leaving a note on the car of Kevin Howe.
Guest Dj Jo Cobbett
Jo has been facilitating transformational journeys for decades starting with 5Rhythms and adding a variety of embodied explorations through her fascination. Diverse playful explorations with space to attune to self and enough energy release the gunk you’ll find a wide range of invitations to be moved through. Her nature is towards the light, and includes meeting the entire path of experience to truly find harmony of being inside each moment. go to movinground.com for more info, + hundreds of recorded sessions.
Guest DJ Brett Fleisher
A life long pursuer of the expressive arts and authentic expression, Brett has traveled down many paths; as an actor, writer, musician, filmmaker, youth mentor, reiki practitioner, tea ceremonialist and dance facilitator.
After many years of feeling out of balance physically, emotionally and mentally, Brett discovered the power of somatic release and began to heal through old traumas that were causing him lifelong pain and discomfort. He instantly resonated with this approach to integrating the mind, body, and emotions and began studying the techniques of PyschoNueroEnergetics with his beloved teachers Catalina Ureta and Judith Johnson.
He founded The Yummy Heart in the fall of 2018 and has been guiding people back into their bodies ever since.
Brett joined the Friday Night Funk Collective in 2019 and started to bring his knowledge of the body and movement onto the dance floor. He has fallen in love with this sweet community of body-shakers and is delighted to return as a DJ post pandemic.
Detlef Issel
Music has been a lifelong companion for Detlef, resonating with many others, he believes. From dancing in his childhood bedroom, pretending to be a rockstar, to experiencing the vibrant club scenes of Europe, India and Los Angeles, music has always moved him. In LA, he discovered a dance scene emphasizing the spiritual connection found in free movement—an echo of our ancestral heritage. Over two decades, he's been fortunate to learn from incredible dance teachers, integrating diverse cultural influences into his DJ playlists. Join him at Friday Night Funk, where he'll be sharing this journey with you. As Faithless once proclaimed, "GOD IS A DJ - This is my church." Additionally, Detlef excels in the startup world and serves as a life coach, specializing in fitness and transitional challenges.
Maria Brunner Ventura
Maria relishes the transformational power of art, movement, and music. She was first introduced to dancing through her mother’s record collection—mostly Música Criolla from Perú and 60s Bossa Nova.
Before stepping into her first ecstatic dance in the mid 2000s, Maria was unaware that there were other people (professional dancers or not) also passionate about intuitive movement. Dancing helps Maria to remember who she is.
Maria’s mixes are loving integrations of her favorite sounds…particularly World Music, Latin, R & B, Rock, Jazz, Indigenous, and music with deep bass and tribal drumbeats—all deliciously inviting our hips and hearts to sink in.
Dyn Dowling Ashby
Pulling inspiration from around the globe and across genres, Dyn shares a mix that is a little unexpected with a nitty gritty blend of earthy, yet playful music that’s always rooted with strong bass rhythms. Such musical juxtapositions are at the core of FUNk, which help us both simultaneously loosen up and feel grounded while we dance.
