About M4 (Music • Movement • Mountains • …Magic!)
M4 provides experiential opportunities through the cultural arts to develop skills, expand creative expression, and model collaborative community. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and are affiliated with other cultural arts organizations.
M4—Music, Movement, Mountains… Magic! This year is our FIRST year! M4 combines DAILY workshop MUSIC, DANCE and ARTS classes led by experienced professional teaching artists:
M4 is a creative gathering in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, inspired by the exploratory learning model of the historic Black Mountain College, whose ancestral site was also in the Appalachians, not far from us. M4 brings adults and youth across ages and experience levels together for a week of collaborative music, dance, movement, and expressive arts in a beautiful community setting.
MUSIC / Instrumental Class workshop sessions:
- Keyboards, Tune writing, Guitar, Banjo, Fiddle, Folk Cello, and African drumming
DANCE / Movement Genres Class workshop sessions:
- Reuda de Casino (Latin style contra dance), African Dance & Drumming, Contact Improvisation, Interplay (Movement with Storytelling), Intermediate Contra Flourishes, Waltzes, Contra Basics.
ARTS / Daily visual arts workshops
- Art journaling, Zentangling, Watercolor & Alcohol markers, Watercolor pencils
AFTERNOONS:
- Open time – Recreation – Hiking, Biking, and Creek Swimming in plentiful supply nearby
- Additional workshops (Music, Dance, and Arts)
- Jamming – Dance and Music
EVENINGS
- Songcircles by the Campfire
- Music Jams,
- Evening Dances – contras and more!
Delicious Food! Three meals a day provided by HoneyBee Eats, a local catering business right in Mountain City. Every meal will feature vegetarian and vegan options, and you are encouraged to share your preferences in the registration.
Our mission
M4 provides experiential opportunities through the cultural arts to develop skills, expand creative expression, and model collaborative community. We are a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and are affiliated with other cultural arts organizations.
What you’ll find at M4
- Skill-building classes and workshops led by outstanding teaching artists across music, dance/movement, and expressive arts
- A welcoming environment that supports both beginners and experienced participants
- A community-centered week where learning and creativity are shared, not competitive
Join Us!
If you’re looking for a week that’s equal parts learning, play, and community—set in the mountains—M4 is for you. Explore the program schedule, meet the teaching artists, and register!
Your organizers and co-conspirators of M4 are dancers and vocational musicians Sarah Speir and Terry Doyle. Sarah has been an avid contra and modern dancer since the age of 3, when she began her movement journey running in circles to drums and Brazilian rhythms in Rio de Janeiro. Terry has been dancing, calling and fiddling for at least 25 years, and travels the world to share her expertise!