Sacred Circle Dance: Meditation in Motion

Workshop # 34
Joan Rawles-Davis

Simple dances to glorious music from many cultures. Lively or meditational, all are done in a spirit of worship. The simple steps allow us to give ourselves over to the spirit created by dancing with others to beautiful music. Dances are interspersed with time for meditation or journaling.

Percentage of time:
Worship/worship-sharing 25; Lecture 0; Discussion 0; Experiential 75

Open to all

Over the course of the week, participants will be offered a wide variety of dances, both lively and meditative.  But whether the dance is exuberant or contemplative, the atmosphere is one of worship.

Dancing together over an extended period of time provides the opportunity for the connecting, centering and deepening available from this kind of dance.  My overall goal is to provide an experience in which people can learn ( or expand their capacity) to move comfortably in their bodies to music, and experience  how movement and music can enrich their lives.

Typically, we will dance for 30 – 45 minutes, then I will read something and we will meditate ( or journal or sketch, as people choose) for about ten minutes, and then we will dance again.  Most mornings, there will be one longer break when we will sit with a query related to our work. ( sample:  What are your prior experiences or associations with  and attitudes toward dance? How do you respond to the possibility of dance as a form of worship?)

Here is a sample dance session:

• As One: a dance for the earth to native American music

• Quatros Elementos: a dance for the four elements to music from Peru

• Going to the Well: a Bach Flower Essence dance for spiritual cleansing

• Spring Dance: a joyful childrens’dance from France to celebrate spring

• Kwaheri: a dance to a lively African song of farewell

• Confitimini Domino: a meditational dance to Taize music

• Ong Namo: a chant from India honoring the divine wisdom within