[Adta] Video Clip - Invitation to the Dance

[Lisa Fladager]

Dear Members,
 
I hope this isn't off topic - it isn't "dance therapy", but it is dance
as powerful transformational practice...
 
Some of you may already be familiar with the Dances of Universal Peace.
Begun in the 1960's by Samuel Lewis (a maverick Zen master, scholar of
Kabala, and well known Sufi teacher) in the San Francisco bay area, his
dance teacher, Ruth St. Denis, taught him "how to draw spiritual dances
out of the cosmos". The Dances combine simple movements done in a circle
with sacred phrases from a wide range of world spiritual traditions.
They are taught quickly, "on the spot", to participants and are all sung
and danced to live music. Sam Lewis' philosophy behind the Dances of
Universal Peace was simply that if everyone could "eat, dance and pray
together", honoring the spiritual beliefs of each tradition, there would
be greater peace and understanding in the world. The movements and
dances themselves aren't culturally exact or said to be taken directly
from a particular spiritual tradition; they are instead simple, almost
pedestrian movements, and are quickly and easily accessible to most
people - or easily adaptable. The dances also include the live singing
of the participants themselves while they are dancing.   Although not
therapy per se, the dances are therapeutic by their very nature and are
being used in settings familiar to many dance therapists - jails,
schools, hospitals, clinics, community centers and in rituals and
festivals. There are currently over 500 dances in the Dance repertoire.
Training for dance teachers is rigorous (usually about three years of
study, or more) and includes accountability to a dance mentor as long as
one is a dance teacher. Besides learning the many dances, training
includes learning astrological and elemental walks, breath practices,
working with group energy, and more. 
 
Further information about the Dances can be found at
www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org  By the way, Peaceworks also publishes a
book which is a collection of writings by and about Ruth St. Denis,
called "Wisdom Comes Dancing" available via this site.
 
The video clip is 22 minutes long and was filmed last year at a dance
camp in Colorado: It includes a brief history of the Dances and
interviews with dance teachers and participants.
 
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6833697962068556486
<http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6833697962068556486&hl=en>
&hl=en
 
Enjoy!
 
Lisa Fladager, MCAT, LMHC, NCC, DTR, CMA
Certified teacher and supervisor of the Dances of Universal Peace
PO Box 861
Langley, WA 98260
(360) 221-7865 Home
mysticdancer at whidbey.org 
 
"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 of  the Dances of Universal Peace

 

 
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