Sacred
Dance is as ancient as creation it’s self. We
can trace the origins of this Dance back to the High
Priestesses of Dendara Temple near Luxor, in Egypt, although its
original origins date back to the beginning of time. As with most esoteric
knowledge, being shrouded in a playful or entertaining way has
preserved the knowledge. What remains of this type of dance
can be seen today in modern day Middle Eastern or Belly
Dancing. What
differs is that Sacred Dance is danced for expression rather
than performance.
Dance is a very natural part of our lives. Children dance
spontaneously.
Hearing music they are almost compelled to move and
dance. The human
body is a standing wave.
Hearing or feeling other waves around us causes us to
resonate with them.
As
we know time
doesn't exist (it is created by man) but rhythm (earth time)
does. Music is
created by tapping into the different rhythms of the
earth. Musicians,
especially drummers, are tapping into this same pulse. Different instruments
resonate with the different rhythms emitted from the
earth. Basically what we are doing, when we dance, is
connecting to the earth’s rhythm. The same pulse the
musicians are playing on their instruments is passing through
our bodies. The
piece of music creates the form in which to express these
rhythms, like a guide on a journey. The rhythm is
channelled from the earth but we use the music to bring the
different rhythms together and synchronize ourselves with
others.
Different instruments pick up different
pulses. These
pulses resonate with different parts of our body. Drums
in the hips, lighter instruments in the upper body, electric
guitar up the spine! Basically we can play a piece of
music through our bodies, using different parts of our bodies
to represent the different instruments.
All dance is like this to a certain extent. What makes Sacred
Dance different is our intention. We are intending to
make this connection with the Divine and directly to the
earth. From a
healing perspective this makes all the difference in the
world. We can
channel healing energy and discharging unhealthy energy
through the earth.
Through the Dance the intention is conscious, which
intensifies the experience even more!
The
Dance not only works on the physical level but on the
energetic or spiritual level as well. The benefits are
numerous; it is playful, fun, and creative as well as
healing.
Participants have commented on the physical benefits
such as relief from back pain; as well as emotional
release.
This all sounds very complicated, but in fact it
is not. The
movements are very basic to our nature anyone can learn
them. You need
not be a dancer or have any dance experience. By connecting to the
earth’s rhythm the movements flow naturally. Sacred Dance is taught
in an interactive workshop for women, teaching them how to
reconnect with the earth’s rhythm. In the workshop,
called The Alchemy of Dance, various methods such as
visualization, kinetics and transmission are used to achieve
this connection.
Because we are focusing on the sacral chakra, our
center of pleasure and joy, healing takes place in a joyful
creative way. We
are dancing for expression rather than performance. By reconnecting us to
our bodies, the dance also aids in developing our perfect body
type, not only due to the physical activity but also because
of the balancing and energizing nature of the
dance.
Once the basic movements are learned and
integrated we can move to a place of complete connection. This involves
connecting in both direction, to the earth and the
cosmos/universe, a practice also common in Martial Arts. In this state we reach
the point of ‘no-mind’.
We become one with the music, the earth’s rhythm and
everything around us.
We create in the moment, completely in the
‘present’. Like a
moving meditation synchronized to music moving from within and
without. It is at
this point where we can recognize the sacredness of the dance
and feel the complete connection, the point fusion, of the
Universal Dancer. It is at this point that the Dance
becomes a Spiritual practice.
