* copyright-free image from Pixabay.com.
31 Oct 2020, "Sacred Rhythm" Traditions of the World dance movement & art online retreat. It was awesome. The drumbeats and percussion music curated from Indigenous, African, Zen, Sufi, Jewish and more, was so evocative. I was so glad for the experience and so were the participants.
Brain science supports the idea that playing or listening to rhythms can shift a person into neural networks that help to stay in the present moment. We did more than that. From moving to regular comfortable beats, we explored hyper, hypo and chaotic multi-rhythms through dance movement in the space. Authentic movements and metaphors that came up were of interest and subsequently deepened.
As always, it was curiously intriguing what came up for each one in the holding space. There was some unseen magic going on. Someone delightfully received a spontaneous song, which is the second time this happened with the group, the first was during "Sacred Art." I wonder if this was because there was a wonderful songbird in our midst and her energies helped gift the space. She was flowing in her own song which she sang for us, to our delight. Spontaneous songs with each individual's unique rhythm signature seems to be a creativity of the universe that well, simply flows.
Another synchronicity witnessed was how two participants ended up with the same body gesture at the end of one dance. I urged them to look at each other's bodily positions in the Zoom screens because different dancers distilling the dance into a same gesture is possible but uncommon. The gesture however was interpreted differently by each dancer. So it is totally possible for different people to pick up the same movement thread in the exploratory space.
Ending the session with a final dance to a rousing soundtrack of Japanese Taiko drums left flushed happy faces and bouncy moods. Sigh ... I would do it all over again!
I was sent a delightful video of Christine Stevens playing her flute to a creative rhythm of raindrops on metal bowls, This clip in a way symbolises what our sacred dances thus far have been exploring. Where are the rhythms of life? What and how do they show up and how have I been showing up in life? Is there an authentic tune I prefer to play in dancing with what comes, rather than panting in response to every natural drop of sound? The smashing ending reminds me of Covid-19. It leaves me wondering what happened? Were we not doing alright? What do you make of it (laugh)? Enjoy this video metaphor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ADaUQqLnr0&feature=youtu.be.