Ecstatic & Conscious Dance

 

People have been dancing into ecstasy since the dawn of humankind. We danced to connect, to heal, to transcend, and to celebrate.  All over the world, people created sacred spaces where they danced to the beat of a drum. These dance journeys gave birth to art, theatre, healing, and religion. Trance and ecstasy are core to our human experience. Yet, in the west, this part of our human nature has long been suppressed. Dance became a sin and was stripped from its sacred dimensions. Ecstasy, however, has a way of finding us through the cracks of our civilization. In the last century, pioneers like Isadora Duncan, Gabrielle Roth, and Anna Halprin have been paving the way for a growing Ecstatic and Conscious Dance revival. Once more people are dancing under a full moon, reinventing rituals and ceremonies for these chaotic times. We are reclaiming our place as human animals among the community of life, and rediscovering the body as a temple for divine energies.

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Our mission at Heart of the Dance is to support the re-awakening of Ecstatic and Conscious Dance. In our rapidly changing world, Conscious Dance has the ability to ground us, break barriers, and build communities. We know, because dance has done all these things for us.

As the ecstatic fire is  rekindled in our midst, it is still vulnerable to being blown out. With its rising popularity, the essence of Ecstatic Dance is sometimes watered down. What once was a transformational dance journey now looks like a spiritual clubbing event.

We therefore feel moved to share what lies at the heart of the dance: its deep roots; the guiding principles; the creation of a sacred and brave space; and the art and craft of facilitating a dance journey, both in movement and music. We share this know-how as longtime teachers, DJ's, and, most of all, as students of the field.