Guatemala Restorative Retreat-Movement is medicine!

 

Guatemala Restorative Retreat-Movement is medicine!

July 23 @ 9:00 am - July 30 @ 12:00 am

A week long restorative retreat upon the sacred lands of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala.

•Wake up to a daily slow flow yoga or a Qigong slow flow practice that can be done by anyone especially if you are new to either modality,
•Have time to journal beside and swim in the healing, sacred Lake Atitlan,
•Afternoon in the multitude of gorgeous spaces and learn about Ayurveda wellness with me in sessions,
•Consult in the Apothecary on site,
•Bliss out in daily evening Biodanza movement sessions (5 in all),
•let’s have a dance party?
•Learn Dance of the Phoenix Qigong form= gentle movement that will open blockages in body,
•Experience a yoga nidra class (the one where you deeply relax),
•Experience a restorative yoga class (the one where you relax in a pose on the floor and then move on to the next pose after a bit of time…yummy!)
•Experience an AromaDance class with essential oils = too much fun!,
•Eat nourishing and sustaining food grown from the land prepared by loving hands,
•Attend a Mayan Fire Ceremony,
•Attend an intro to Sweat Loge ceremony,
•Soak in the solar powered jacuzzi,
•Laze along side the pool…bring a suit!
•Receive a shamanic reading,
•Receive wellness treatments from the staff at Villa Sumaya
•A day trip into San Juan to visit a women owned textile Co-op and to check out the cute village offerings,
•gentle hike/walks along the lake trails….so glorious!
•And more and more and more….still cooking up the actual schedule!

 

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Dance First Spotlight on Sofiah Thom and Temple Body Arts!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features Sofiah Thom and Temple Body Arts!

Temple Body Priestess Initiation with Sofiah Thom
March 19-28th
Danyasa Eco-Retreat, Dominical, Costa Rica

For global leaders, artists, facilitators, and magical women healing the world’s wombs, hearts, and minds as we support the rise of the Divine Feminine.

Sister, this is an initiation into the path of a Temple Body Priestess. This way of BEING will shift and transform every cell in your body with how you move through the world and, more importantly, how you see yourself. You will heal through sacred sisterhood, reclaiming the power of your sovereign sensuality, embodying your sexual power with profound integrity. Leaning deeper into your unique artistry as you harness the gift of FOCUS and DEVOTION to your soul’s path of transformation in this world. Freeing yourself from chaotic business, burnout, and hyper-masculine dogmas of living so you can experience a grounded, rhythmic and sensual paradigm of regenerative wealth and sustainable transformation.

This is a rite of passage into a lineage that integrates the philosophies, beliefs, and practices of Tantric Living and Divine Feminine Embodiment. We recognize your body as an instrument of the divine, to be a clear channel and offer your gifts in service to humanity. Temple Body Arts® IS the bridge between your Spiritual, Sexual, and Creative energies, allowing you to integrate your Signature Soul Essence into your ministry fully.

The Temple Body Priestess Initiation is over 50 hours of ritual and training with Sofiah Thom c-founder of Danyasa Eco-Retreat and CEO of the Temple Body Arts Mystery School.

Sister, if you’re feeling the call to experience the magic of The Temple Body Priestess, I invite you to apply and join me at this year’s Initiation in Costa Rica, happening March 19-28, 2023.

This intimate Initiation is usually only open to women training inside Sofiah’s Mystery School online, however, Sofiah has opened up three spaces to the public for sisters who feel divinely aligned with the work and want to spend nine nights moving through the Initiation of a lifetime powerfully.

This is a $5,000 investment paid in full with payment plan options available that include the full 9-Night experience at Danyasa Eco resort, all farm-to-table meals, a 100+ page workbook and practices to support your process, and a group integration call after Initiation.

To apply click HERE or email sofiah@sofiahthom.com
https://www.sofiahthom.com/mysteryschool/

Want to be featured in our newsletter? Email

mark@consciousdancer.com!

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Monday Love to your Delightful Days

 

“ There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

 ~ William Barclay

What color is your day? For that matter, what’s the texture? The tone? Or even the flavor?

Think about it, every day starts out with a particular essence to it. Sometimes you start out all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, other times you find yourself getting out of the proverbial wrong side of the bed.

There’s no real rhyme or reason to it, the universe simply likes to provide us with variety.

Of course, there are steps you can take and ways to prepare yourself so that more of your days will swing up rather than down. Eating right, getting enough sleep, moving your body and getting your blood circulating, and making an effort to keep drama and turmoil to a minimum all contribute to greater well-being on a regular basis.

But no matter how well you take care of yourself, no matter how perfectly your lifestyle is dialed in, and regardless of any external circumstances, each day arrives with his own energy in the air.

You might wake up with a specific song running through your head. You might’ve had a dream that you wish would continue. You could be so wrapped up in a project that your mind starts racing the minute your head leaves the pillow.

None of this is to say that your day can’t change along the way. In fact, the ability to flip the script and turn an unsettled morning into a great afternoon is a super power.

Sometimes you have to shake it loose. Other times you might need to slow down, take a step back, and switch up your routine. And once in a while, you might just need a nap after breakfast so you can wake up again and start from scratch.

Whenever I notice a distinct energy about a day, I think of a little known book by the great Dr. Seuss. In My Many Colored Days he poetically plays with the range of human emotions and keys them to different colors.

Some days are yellow.
Some are blue.
On different days I’m different too.
You’d be surprised how many ways
I change on Different Colored Days.

Written for little kids, and illustrated simply with swaths of color instead of his usual characters, it has a timeless message for the inner child in all of us.

Every day has its darkness and light. It’s our good fortune that we can reflect an infinite range of colors from within.

Keep shining my friends! Much love till next Monday!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

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The Calm After the Storm

 

Le calm after le storm

Where light and darkness meet and the rhythm of chaos and lyrical come together

Letting go of letting go

A day of 5Rhythms with Emma Leech where we’ll explore the energy of chaos and lyrical.

It takes courage to leave our comfort zone and surrender to the unknown, the mystery of life.

In dance we learn the practice of letting go until the dance catches us, just like a wave does with a surfer. Let’s trust his embrace, the dance is bigger than us, and let’s move beyond our resistance, in the brightness of being.

Let go of everything that weighs us down… Freedom awaits us on the other side of everything we know.

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Teacher Training Part I (in person)

 

Teacher Training Part I

To have a full certification to practice Dance Alchemy, you need to complete 3 parts of the training. Part I consists of 3 Modules. In will give you a solid foundation in inner alchemy, human energy centers and a deep transformational process for yourself.

Module 1 The Power of the Heart

You will:

• Learn the transforming power of the heart, which is the foundation for working with people and for living, and the basis of Dance Alchemy.
• Learn the essential elements of the alchemy of transformation.

Module 2 Dancing the Seven Chakras

You will:

• Learn how each of your seven chakras takes care of a different area of your life, and be able to start dissolving the limiting energy patterns, beliefs, and wounds you have in each of these areas, through Dance Alchemy.
• Receive not only mental knowledge, but an embodied understanding of Dance Alchemy as you go through the process.
• Receive an understanding of how issues are held in the body-mind system, and how Dance Alchemy can work energetically, physically, emotionally and mentally to unwind and dissolve these limiting patterns.

Module 3 Metaphysics, Energy Reading & Giving Sessions

You will:

• Learn the basics of a transformational individual session using Dance Alchemy, including practice sessions in energy reading, so you can feel confident to begin practicing with others.
• Learn to identify, describe and read energies, so you can be more aware of how the body speaks.
• Sharpen your intuition and awareness so you can relate more clearly, and see what is happening in yourself and others.

*You will receive a Certificate of Completion after Part I.

Between Part I and Part II, I will be supporting you through online meetings as you discover how the alchemy can work in daily life, and in practice sessions. These meetings will be included in the price of the training.

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Dancers Awakening Love Retreat | Kisslegg

 

Join Amara, Lei’Ohu and Maydeen for an amazing 4 day retreat exploring the theme of awakening love. This will be the first time this trio of souls collaborate to create a deep dive full of mystery and magic.

This will be the first time this trio of souls collaborate to create a 4 day dive into the waters of love. There is no one more experienced to do that than each of these beings.

Amara is a founder of Azul. She has been teaching movement as spiritual practice for 30+ years and is deeply committed to supporting embodied awakening.

Lei’Ohu and Maydeen are Hawaiian elders who are the Emissaries of Aloha. They are spiritual leaders, visionaries, healers and singer/songwriters. They live and breath aloha which at its essence is love.

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Truth

 

April 14 - April 16

Not abstract truth such as ‘Love is All’, nor the truth of stories about what we have lived through, but specific, personal, in-the-present truth such as ‘My heart is breaking’, or ‘I love you’, or ‘I am shy with you right now’.

This the kind of honesty we find when we dance. We get to see what’s really going on, within ourselves and each other, when we bear witness to the unfolding moment of the moving body.

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Instinct

 

June 2 - June 4

ZeroOne movement practice workshop with Adam Barley

YES! — we are wild creatures deep down — with an instinct for survival, but more than that — for connection, co-operation and creative expression. We have an instinctive love of beauty, and an aversion to bullshit; a longing for home and a zest for adventure.
All of this is rooted in the body, and our pathway is to turn our attention there, down into the mysterious wisdom bestowed upon us from billions of years of evolution, using yet another instinct we are born with: DANCE!

In this workshop, you will learn how to:
Access your body’s wisdom, to help you with decisions
Move your way through relationship issues
Trust that ‘mistakes’ are actually new ways to grow
This leaves our minds free to LEARN, and our hearts free to LOVE

READY??

Read More Here

 

Dance First Spotlight on The Bay Philharmonic’s – The Kings of Soul & Swing!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight features the Bay Philharmonics – The Kings of Swing!

Bay Philharmonic Presents
The Kings of Soul & Swing

on March 4 and 5 in Union City
Featuring Hamilton star Julius Thomas lll and
Glenn Miller Band Vocalist Mark Kopitzke

Fremont, CA – Bay Philharmonic (formerly Fremont Symphony) is thrilled to present The Kings of Soul & Swing on March 4 and 5 in Union City. The evening will feature Hamilton: The Musical star Julius Thomas lll and Glenn Miller Band lead vocalist Mark Kopitzke as they join forces to showcase popular hits from Broadway’s Hamilton, Michael Bublé, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, Tom Jones, and more. Thomas III and Kopitzke will also share inspiring stories, from growing up with hopeful dreams, to reaching the top of the musical world. These two iconic, one-of-a-kind voices will be accompanied by the world-class Bay Philharmonic and conducted by Jung-Ho Pak. Tickets ($35-$67) and full program information are available on the new Bay Philharmonic website, bayphil.org. 

Julius Thomas III is an NAACP Theatre award-nominated actor from Gary, IN. He starred as Alexander Hamilton in the smash hit musical, Hamilton, and as Berry Gordy in the mega box office hit, Motown: The Musical. His resume boasts four Broadway shows, six Broadway national tours, a host of regional theatre roles, and TV appearances on Modern Family, Sesame Street, and more. For the past nine years, Mark Kopitzke reverently evoked 1940s nostalgia with his honey-toned vocals and charismatic stage charm as a soloist and occasional frontman with the Glenn Miller Orchestra’s international contingent. Kopitzke experienced the worldwide love of this timeless music performing in over 200 shows throughout Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, the Philippines, and more.

Under the leadership of newly appointed Executive Director Barett Hoover and Artistic Director Jung-Ho Pak, the Bay Philharmonic begins a new era of arts and entertainment experiences for all audiences. Executive Director Hoover joined the organization in July of 2022. Before his work with the Bay Philharmonic, Hoover held a leadership position as General Manager with Chamber Music Hawaii, and with the Leeward Theatre and Hawaii Opera Theatre.

Hoover’s appointment coincided with the announcement that Jung-Ho Pak would take a larger leadership role as Artistic Director and Conductor to elevate the organization’s mission and impact in the community. Pak joined the organization in 2018 and helped navigate its artistic direction through the COVID-19 pandemic. Pak has also held the same title with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra in Massachusetts since 2007. With this new role, Pak will elevate Bay Philharmonic into an exciting new era.

“Our name reflects that we belong to the entire Bay Area and beyond. Our community gives us the energy to captivate millions to its shores to live, work and dream. Its beauty inspires us to create high-quality music and theatrical experiences. The word Philharmonic means the “love of harmony, ” meaning we are a source of beautiful sounds and diverse co-existence. We invite you to see for yourself just how the Bay Philharmonic creates an experience built for you,” said Barett Hoover. “With much beauty and joy, our goal is to present the most imaginative and extraordinary shows. We believe that our audience is the primary reason we exist, and we want to exceed their expectations at every performance,” continued Jung-Ho Pak.

Catch a glimpse of the Bay Philharmonics in Full Swing here!

Want to be featured in our newsletter? Email

mark@consciousdancer.com!

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Tuesday Love to your Natural Intelligence

 

“ I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word of what I am saying.”

 ~ Oscar Wilde

Just what the heck is intelligence anyway? It’s one thing to recognize intelligence, it’s another to spot when it’s fake. Is there more than one kind of intelligence? Well, that would seem to be logical, (and I suppose logic is one form of intelligence!).

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock or successfully staying put on a desert island, you surely haven’t avoided the latest buzzwords making the rounds, that is, all the hype about “Artificial Intelligence” or A.I. as the vernacular goes.

For all of its bells and whistles, it points to a basic fact of human nature — we love to anthropomorphize practically everything, especially the latest gadget to come along.

Let’s face it, computers are just fancy gadgets. They’ve gone from simple adding machines to clever accounting mechanisms to the wonderful wizard inside your phone who can look things up for you and answer in your preferred accent. (I have Siri trained to speak in the manner of a proper London native.)

Automatons that can perform clever parlor tricks have long been in fashion. Anyone who has been to Disneyland and taken the “It’s a Small World” excursion or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ can vouch for that.

The story of Magnus Eisengrim’s early years animating the interior of Abdullah the card playing curiosity in Robertson Davies’ epic novel World of Wonders is particularly insightful into this phenomenon.

As he says: “Abdullah pulled in the rubes because people cannot resist automata. There is something in humanity that is repelled and entranced by a machine that seems to have more than human powers. Look at the fuss nowadays about computers; however, deft they may be they can’t do anything a man isn’t doing, through them; but you hear people giving themselves delicious shivers about a computer-dominated world.”

Written nearly 50 years ago, his words ring true today. So when you hear today’s techno-evangelists rhapsodizing about the ‘singularity’ and the glories of ChatGPT, (which, by the way, translates into “the cat has flatulence” in French), remember the words of Eisengrim and balance the hype with the laws of human nature.

I guess the more salient question is whether an LLM. (Large Language Model) can have gut feelings. We humans have something called body intelligence that’s bound to remain out of reach of any automata for the foreseeable future. The ineffable element of intuition remains ours and ours alone.

Amphetamine-addled science-fiction writer Philip K Dick asked the question in the title of one of his books — “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” (which later became the movie Blade Runner). One hopes that it’s safe to say that the ability to dream may be our saving grace in this Brave New World.

Much love until next week, keep that body moving and listen to what it has to say!

M+

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine

 

Surrendering Into Mystery

 

June 23 - June 25

“ The need for mystery is greater then the need for an answer ”

— Ken Kesey

As (western) humans we were taught to seek answers. We were taught to seek meaning in this human life. Which often results in wanting to control, wanting to understand everything. Although this can be very useful at times, when we get stuck in wanting to control we start to lose our sense of wonder, our ability to be in awe. We miss the magical moments that are happening continuously throughout our lives. 

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Staccato: Strength & Vulnerability

 

June 24

5Rhythms®: Staccato, Strength & Vulnerability

June 24, 2023

​

In Gabrielle Roth’s own words, “We are the strongest, when we are the most vulnerable.” Join us as we dance into the power of our individual Staccato nature. It is this powerful space that allows us to touch into the strength of our inner vulnerability.`

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Encounter – Deepening Your Unbroken Connection with Life

 

March 6 @ 5:00 pm - March 12 @ 1:30 pm

We all have an Inner Shaman inside us and all of us are capable of accessing shamanic states. With practice, we can learn to connect to the resources we are made from. This gives us the ground to be able to work with these states more readily. We can then utilise them to support us in all areas of our lives.

 

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Phoenix Rising

 

March 16 @ 8:00 am - April 16 @ 5:00 pm

A FIVE WEEK EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY FOR THE EMBODIED SOUL

The Online Version

We have discovered that doing the Phoenix work online as a 5-week workshop has many advantages. We work on Thursdays from 15.00-18.00 (+ the Phoenix Rising ceremony on Sunday April 9th 15.00-19.30) and on Fridays, you are part of a weekly 90-minute study group Listening Circle, held by a trained Movement Medicine professional. You will also be assigned a Study Buddy – or if you have someone you want to do this with, why not sign up together.

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Dance First Spotlight on Susannah Darling Khan & Movement Medicine!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight is from Susannah Darling Khan & Movement Medicine!

Susannah Darling Khan

or, The Movement Medicine Woman as she is often known, is Co-Director of The School of Movement Medicine alongside her husband Ya’Acov Darling Khan. They are co-authors of Movement Medicine (Hay House 2007). Susannah has studied in many contexts, including: an 18-year apprenticeship with 5Rhythms Founder, Gabrielle Roth, studies in Anthropology (University College London BA Hons 1st Class), Gestalt Psychotherapy (Gestalt Centre London) and Family Constellations. Her teaching marries ancient wisdom with neuro-science and intellect to profound effect.

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Monday Love to your Process and Progres

 

“ Happiness is not a goal… it’s a by-product of a life well lived.”

 ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

Everybody has goals, right? What is a goal anyway? Boil it down to its essence and you have something that you want to make happen in the future.

It could be an object or position you were hoping to on. It could be some sort of improvement on your health, your environment, or your well-being.

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Dancing Freedom Soul Quest & Facilitator Training

 

July 8 @ 1:00 pm - July 23 @ 3:00 pm

Join us in July, 2023 on the Pacific Coast of Mexico for our next flight into the Dancing Freedom mysteries of Body, Heart and Soul.
We are currently accepting applications for you to join us for our 16 DAY LIVE RESIDENTIAL RETREAT + 3 MONTH ONLINE TRAINING MODULE (to commence after the live portion of this training).

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The Alchemy of Healing

 

March 17 - March 19

The Alchemy of Healing empowers each of us to remember the power of our own welcoming hearts together with our own curious, explorative, wild, free and tender natures. It is the nature of all that lives to grow with the seasons, to learn, to heal and to support and be supported. And this nature is yours too, once you have the “energetic nutrients” available to be in your nature.

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The 9 Gateways to the Soul

 

April 22 @ 10:00 am - April 23 @ 5:00 pm

AN INVITATION TO STAND UP, GROW UP & PLAY YOUR ROLE

The 9 Gateways are part of the Movement Medicine™ mandala. They map the landscape in which the human soul develops and evolves throughout life. Each gateway invites an ongoing enquiry that grounds us in what’s true and invites us to reach for what is emergent

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Encounter Part 3 (Live)

 

May 4 @ 3:00 pm - June 4 @ 6:00 pm

Response-Ability & The Inner Shaman’s Harvest:

Power, Presence & Purpose at the Core of Who You Are

This is advanced notice for your diaries that the 3rd and final part of Ya’Acov’s classic Encountering Your Inner Shaman series will take place online, beginning Thursday May 4th (15.00-18.00 UK). The modules all take place live online with Ya’Acov and his team of trained Movement Medicine Professionals. The workshop is only open to those who have taken Encounter Part 1 & 2 which is now available as a self-study version here.

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The Infinite Well

 

June 7 @ 5:00 pm - June 8 @ 12:30 pm

Exploring and Deepening Your Relationship to Source

‘Ya’Acov leads very powerful workshops and ceremonies that transform thousands of people helping them to deal with their suffering and answer their most important questions. He is a great healer who has helped me in my shamanic spiritual growth.’

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Summer Long Dance 2023

 

A NOT FOR PROFIT FUND-RAISING EVENT

We learned a lot in 2022. A LOT! We are super grateful to everyone who was there last year – we know that many of you had a hard time having to leave in difficult circumstances and we will be taking steps in 2023 to make better provisions for any emergencies. WE’RE GOING AGAIN IN 2023 AND WE HOPE YOU’LL JOIN US!

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THE SPACE BETWEEN US: Forging Understanding, Communication & Kinship

 

THE SPACE BETWEEN US: Forging Understanding, Communication & Kinship

October 14

A Space for Couples who wish to Deepen Love, Intimacy, and Sexual Fulfilment

In this workshop, Ya’Acov and Susannah Darling Khan, Co-Founders of Movement Medicine, will share the fundamentals of what makes their relationship so inspiring. After 37 years together

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Connection In Motion LA – with Odessa & Wren

 

Connection in Motion: Partner Dance, Contact Improv and Embodied Relationship

This day-long workshop is all about learning how to dance in partnership. Wren and Odessa bring their decades-deep experience in contact improv and partner dance to this connection-based learning space. Deep listening, relational intelligence building and energetic attunement skills will be emphasized. We’ll use techniques from an array of dance styles as a vehicle for exploring subtle energies, and having a blissfully good time moving together.

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Dance First Insight from Turning the Wheel!

 

This week’s Monday Love Insight is from Turning the Wheel! 

Every Body Dances, Every Story Shines!

By Lulu Delphine

Oftentimes, non-profit organizations cater to survival needs, such as food, shelter and healthcare. From a functional perspective, this makes sense, because one’s survival needs must be taken care of before anything else can evolve. However, we also need people and organizations that are asking the question, How can people THRIVE? When we are asking this question, we
are looking at long term resilience and the possibility for new emerging paradigms.

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Monday Love to your Friendly Fluency

 

“ A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.”

 ~ William Arthur Ward

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where the best you can do is simply smile and nod?

Maybe it’s a conversation about something highly technical or scientific that’s way over your head.

Perhaps it’s a situation where your safest bet is to remain noncommittal and not get involved.

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Dance of Oneness®: Poetry in Motion, Dance the Revolution

 

February 26 @ 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

| $30

Monthly Live Online Workshop
Sunday, February 26 @10am-12pm PT | 6-8pm UTC

Dance mystical poetry into motion for healing yourself and our collective, for creating an inner and outer revolution. Dance to harmonize with the Earth through a full-bodied, robust dancing that makes you fully ALIVE and activates the sacred in your body and in your relationships in this tremendously challenging and creative time to be alive.

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