1996

Bridget and Gina meet, and begin to co-develop NVC training designs, methods and tools.

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1997

We regularly share feedback and ideas with each other about training methods that worked, and those that didn't. We begin to co-lead some trainings. 

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1998

We experiment with colour-coded 'Observation, Feelings, Needs, Requests' cards, and introduce a 'Because' card and a 'So Right Now' card. We try out spatial markers for the steps of NVC, e.g. chairs to move between.

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1999

We discover that putting the cards on the floor in various layouts creates a very effective way of learning and teaching NVC.
 

We coin the term “Dance Floors” to indicate the space where we learn to dance, linking to the metaphor Marshall Rosenberg used about NVC being a 'dance of communication'.

2000

We develop several 'dances' - each focusing on a different aspect of Marshall Rosenberg's teaching. 
We share early versions of these Dance Floors with NVC trainers from around the world at the international 'Giraffe Convention' in Sweden. Lots of interest!

2001

We have created 7 Dances, and find they cover all NVC processes. It is a kind of arrival point. 
Growing interest from colleagues leads to a decision to write a Facilitator's Handbook.

2002

Continue to write the Handbook.
To prepare for publication, we create a printing and distribution system with an online shop.​​​​​

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​2003

Celebration time! We launch our first publications at the international NVC ‘Giraffe Convention’ in Munich, Germany - the 7 original Dance Floors, and the Facilitator's Handbook, in English. 

Immediate offers to translate into German lead to a fast learning curve - how to set up collaborative and clear translation agreements.

2004

We hear discouraging feedback, and realise that just putting the Dance Floor cards on the floor does not necessarily bring good experiences! It is how the facilitator introduces and supports the work that makes it powerful, subtle and valuable.
We begin travelling to teach NVC trainers and practice group leaders how to use the Dance Floors. This leads to more translation requests and offers.

We revise, improve and extend the Facilitator's Handbook to better convey how to use the Dance Floors.  

2005

Publish 2nd Edition of the Facilitator's Handbook

Publish in German (7 Dances and Facilitator's Handbook)
Publish in French (7 Dances)
Our ‘Connect with Respect’ project with inner city teens leads to an adaptation of the 13 Step Dance, to create the 'Connect with Respect' Dance, suitable for certain beginner groups.

2006

Publish the 'Connect with Respect' multi-media project including handbook, a 25 minute film, and PDF files of all the exercises developed in the project. 

Publish the 'Connect with Respect' Dance (in English)
Publish in Danish (7 Dances and Facilitator's Handbook)
 

2007
Publish in Dutch and Swedish (7 Dances)

2008

Publish in Norwegian (7 Dances)
Write and publish 'How To’ Guidelines - basic information on how to use each of the 7 Dances, for end users.

Translations of the 'How to' guidelines begin. 

2009

Publish the 9th (and final!) Dance (in 4 languages), in collaboration with Robert Gonzales and Susan Skye: the ‘Transforming the Pain of Unmet Needs to the Beauty of Needs’ Dance, which lays out the process they developed in a Dance Floor format. 

2010

Ruud Baanders joins the team and helps us reorganise and re-structure. Bridget becomes publisher of the Dance Floors through her business name Life Resources. 

2011

The filming project gets under way, initiated and supported by Elkie Deadman and her network of creative professionals in the Netherlands. 

Works begins on an app for smart phones with NVC trainer Martijn Ceelen.

First explorations of an online coaching tool with Pauline Dirksen.
Publish 13 Step Dance in Korean

Publish 'How To' guidelines for using our Jackal Language cards, to share how we use these to raise awareness of judgmental thinking, and thereby be better at transforming judgment, blame and criticism into needs-based awareness. We set up the new Jackal Language Set as a free download.

2012
Co-publish with Martijn Ceelen the ‘NVC Dialogue’ App for smart phones based on the 13 Step Dance
Publish translations of the two newer Dances so all 9 Dances are now in 6 languages.

2013

Publish in Spanish (9 Dances) after five years dedicated work by a team. This project ran with care for spoken Spanish variations across continents. (All our translations have been made by people who wanted to make our materials available in their language, and volunteered to translate them.)
Fill in gaps so that all our products, except the handbook, are in 6 languages: English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Swedish.

Publish in Norwegian (3 Dances)

Publish the 13 Step Dance, Anger Dance and Self Empathy Dance in Korean in collaboration with the NVC Korea Centre. 

2014 – A Big Year!
To meet the continuous growth of interest in the Dance Floors globally we launch new and updated products, new websites, and a new distribution system.

New products

• 12 minute video on YouTube, to inform, inspire, and reach out.

• 3 DVDs with six hours of film, to show the Dance Floors in action, in depth. 

• 3rd edition of Facilitator's Handbook - includes the 2 newer Dances and the Intention Frame.

New home-printing options, and high quality hard copy

• User Licence system for home printing, to suit a wider range of users.

• On-demand printing of Dance Floor sets.

New Dance Floor website
• Contemporary look suitable for phones and tablets.
• Dance Floor intro document to download and share (in 8 languages).

New online shop website
• Pages and payment gateway in many languages
• Digital (downloadable) items, as well as tangible goods.

New affiliate programme
• Anyone can promote Dance Floor products and benefit financially from sales.

2015

Publish in Norwegian (6 more dances and Jackal Language making the full set)

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2016

Publish in Italian (3 Dances)

2017

Publish in Japanese (9 Dances) after a multi-year translation project by a team of 12 people! 

2018

Launch the ‘Self-Led Translation Agreement’ to make it easier to say 'Yes' to offers to translate into new languages

2019

Publish Facilitator’s Handbook in French
Publish in Arabic (9 Dances)

Publish in Turkish (9 Dances)
Ongoing support for translation teams in Simplified Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Romanian.

2020

Publish in Finnish (9 Dances)
Support translation teams in Greek and Hungarian.

2021

Publish in Polish (9 Dances)
Publish in Russian (3 Dances)

2022

Launch streaming option for viewing our videos on Vimeo.

Publish in Romanian (9 Dances)
Publish Yes/No Dance in Italian (the 4th Dance in Italian).
Publish in Greek (3 Dances)

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2023

All 9 Dances and the Handbook in Simplified Chinese, published and distributed by Liu Yi (NVC Chinese Net)

2024

Developing a ‘Learning Pathway’ with 8 modules to guide people who want to learn the Dance Floors with a group of friends or colleagues, or even on their own. 

Developing a new website, integrating the online shop, and updating all pages.