[Adta] Re: Adta Digest, Vol 16, Issue 29

[Pamela Lerman]

>Hi Connie , Barbara, and all,

       it is great to see interest renewed in some 
of the applications of dance and movement to 
other settings. I've been hesitant to jump in the 
discussion, because I am more involved in my 
clinical work these days.

       But in reading some of your notes, I 
thought I should at least add my voice...

     In the 1980's and 90's,  I was very involved 
in integrating dance and movement. with Judaism. 
My Masters in Dance Education from Temple 
University ( Before I became a dance/movement 
therapist) was in the use of Laban Movement 
principles to develop a curriculum for the 
Festival Cycles. This curriculum was used by 
several synagogues to teach children in religious 
school settings.  I also documented the work of 
Rabbi Zalman Schacter in the 1980's when he was 
beginning to more widely use movement to explore 
the Sefirot, and to use movement concepts to 
explore Simchat Torah. ( see "The Dance of Torah: 
A Documentation" , and "Dance/Movement and 
Judaism" published in New Menorah: Sparks of 
Jewish Renewal in the 1980's.

  I taught in many synagogues and conferences 
around the Northeast - a Movement and Prayer" 
lecture/demonstration./ workshop.   I also 
choreographed and performed with a company I 
founded and co- directed out of Philadelphia, 
called Bat Kol Judaic Modern Dance Ensemble.

>Message: 3
>Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:50:31 -0500
>From: "Connie Smilowitz" <Connie_Smilowitz at antiochne.edu>
>Subject: [Adta] Re: Adta Digest, Vol 16, Issue 29
>To: adta at adta.org
>Cc: adta at adta.org
>Message-ID:
>	<fc.00757e2a036a50fe3b9aca0052a96066.36a515e at antiochne.edu>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>adta at adta.org on Sunday, February 11, 2007 at 12:49 PM -0500 wrote:
>>adta at adta.org
>
>
>Hi Leni, and Everyone interested in Spirituality and DMT,
>
>I am very interested in this subject... Kabbalah, the Sefirot and
>integrating dance/movement therapy into spirit/\.
>I would be very interested in meeting at the conference next October &
>also I would be really interested in the papers you mentioned, Leni.
>Please let me know how I can access them. I would love to share ideas with
>others.
>
>Connie Smilowitz
>
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>Message: 4
>Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2007 17:04:11 -0500
>From: sabatini75 at aol.com
>Subject: [Adta] Re: Adta Digest, Vol 16, Issue 27
>To: adta at adta.org
>Message-ID: <8C91C3FB198099F-1FA0-11FA at WEBMAIL-RA14.sysops.aol.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>I am happy to see the Dances of Universal Peace 
>message on the listserv.  I just recently 
>attended one in Providence and it is truly a 
>moving and spiritual experience.  (Though I had 
>attended one many years ago, I had forgotten the 
>power of it.)  I am hooked.
>
>Melissa Sabatini
>"Moving Matters"
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: adta-request at adta.org
>To: adta at adta.org
>Sent: Fri, 9 Feb 2007 8:58 PM
>Subject: Adta Digest, Vol 16, Issue 27
>
>
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>Today's Topics:
>
>
>    1. congrats to new ADTR NCCs (skdmt2)
>    2. Spiritual Dancing (Lisa Fladager)
>    3. Pat will be missed! (Christine Hopkins)
>
>Attached Message
>From:skdmt2 at bellsouth.net
>To:adta at adta.org
>Subject:[Adta] congrats to new ADTR NCCs
>Date:Fri, 9 Feb 2007 8:49 PM
>
>I’Äôd like to congratulate all the new ADTR NCCs 
>& also encourage you to let others on the 
>listserve know about your studying experiences. 
>It’Äôs about time for others to be considering 
>this for the Fall & I hope that many of you do.
>Thanks & again, congratulations!
>
>Susan Kleinman,MA, ADTR, NCC
>
>
>Attached Message
>From:mysticdancer at whidbey.com
>To:adta at adta.org
>Subject:[Adta] Spiritual Dancing
>Date:
>
>Hi Everyone,
>
>On the topic of DMT and spirituality / healing - 
>I too am happy to see spirituality being 
>addressed here in this forum. After all, we all 
>know the roots of dance, healing and 
>spirituality are deeply intertwined, and that it 
>is only in fairly recent western scientific 
>thought that they were separated. Thankfully, 
>this is now beginning to shift again, as 
>scientific advances are confirming what has been 
>intuitively known all along. (Hooray - 
>Conjunctio!  I see this as the marriage of 
>masculine and feminine, of matter and spirit, of 
>rational and ir-rational.
>
>In any case, because this topic has arisen 
>again, I'd like to highlight the incredibly 
>powerful work being done with the Dances of 
>Universal Peace (DUP), and encourage any DMTs 
>out there to take the opportunity to experience 
>them directly with an accomplished dance teacher 
>/ leader. The originator of these dances, Samuel 
>Lewis, studied deeply with dance pioneer Ruth 
>St. Denis, and the focus of their work was 
>"spiritual dance and walk". I have used these 
>dances in mental health settings, and have led 
>them both in modified versions as body prayers 
>in churches and as full-on circle dances 
>involving entire congregations. (We just circle 
>up and dance around the outside of the pews!) 
>Afterwards, many people come up to me and 
>express deep gratitude for bringing dance and 
>movement back into the churches. I've also 
>incorporated the DUP into community festivals 
>and rituals celebrating the cycles of the 
>seasons (as reflected in the Celtic wheel of the 
>year), sometimes with a hundred people. For
>
>Also, I highly encourage the closely related 
>work of Neil Douglas-Klotz. He is deeply studied 
>in somatic psychology and has been the 
>linguistic scholar responsible for spear-heading 
>the resurrection of the Aramaic language of 
>Jesus (the vernacular language of that place and 
>time, which most scholars believe was the 
>language Jesus actually spoke). Dr. 
>Douglas-Klotz has developed cycles of a danced 
>Lord's Prayer, Beatitudes, Old Testament sacred 
>phrases, and Dances attuning to ancient middle 
>eastern goddesses. All of these dances are meant 
>to be experienced by a group of people dancing 
>together and are sung and danced simultaneously 
>by participants in the traditional language. 
>He's also developed a plethora of other body 
>practices interweaving ancient middle eastern 
>spirituality with movement and breath practices. 
>He's published widely and his website is: 
>http://www.abwoon.com/ .
>
>The Sufis have a long tradition of movement and 
>dance as being an integral part of prayer and 
>direct experience of the spiritual realm. 
>Probably the most widely known example of this 
>is the whirling dervishes. Interestingly enough, 
>I myself "discovered" whirling, or turning, in 
>authentic movement long before I'd ever heard of 
>whirling dervishes (after all, the movement is 
>there in the collective field, known or 
>"unknown" to us on a conscious level; why not 
>discover it directly in authentic movement?). In 
>session after session of authentic movement, I'd 
>whirl and whirl until I'd fall down, then, in 
>the stillness, I'd feel like I went through a 
>doorway into other realms. Later, in my Sufi 
>studies, I learned that the word dervish meant 
>doorway! Hmmmm...
>
>I am currently experimenting with the interplay 
>of the form of the Dances of Universal Peace and 
>the formlessness of authentic movement. For 
>example, I'll do a particular dance and then let 
>myself be moved spontaneously by the energy that 
>the dance creates. The results have been very 
>rich. I am about to begin a seven week series 
>working with this theme here on Whidbey Island 
>in WA. We also host regularly scheduled DUP 
>retreats here on Whidbey, sponsoring dance 
>teachers from all over the world for entire 
>weekends of dancing. We'll begin a two year 
>training here in 2008 for those who are 
>interested in learning to lead and teach the 
>DUP. (As with any living tradition, the real 
>attunement to these dances is through direct 
>transmission from a teacher, therefore it is 
>important to experience them numerous times with 
>a live person before beginning to share them 
>with others.)
>
>And finally, in a similar genre, you might want 
>to check out the Sacred Dance Guild website. 
>They have a conference coming up in July in 
>Berkeley, CA: 
>http://www.sacreddanceguild.org/wiki/sacred_dance_guild/?FID=5192525&CFTOKEN=60970797&jsessionid=c2302994861171043867656
>
>To end, a fitting poem from the beloved Sufi poet, Jelaludin Rumi;
>
>Dance, when you're broden open,
>Dance, if you've torn the bandage off
>Dance in the middle of the fighting.
>Dance in your blood.
>Dance, when you're perfectly free.
>         (translation by Coleman Barks)
>
>Hope this is helpful. Happy dancing!
>
>Lisa Fladager, MCAT, LMHC, NCC, DTR, CMA
>PO Box 861
>Langley, WA 98260
>(360) 221-2677 Practice
>mysticdancer at whidbey.com
>
>"This music and dancing is to increase Joy,
>not awe toward another person,
>but Bliss in our own Self. 
>This is finding God within,
>through experience."
>    ~Samuel L. Lewis, founder, Dances of Universal Peace
>
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