Avalon ... You Make Me Feel Dancing! :)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=d4KJbLY2owE
Whew! I feel so much better!
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Avalon ... You Make Me Feel Dancing! :)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=d4KJbLY2owE
Whew! I feel so much better!
love is a serious business
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mv8-wULQPOI
Lifesong..woo hoo!
I have been sitting reading through such sad posts on Avalon this morning.I saw your thread sitting there looking at me and had to go and read.It made me smile..start tapping my feet and brought laughter back into my day.Thanks:)
hi all hope this finds you smiling;)
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ik-RsDGPI5Y
love and respect
The time is to act. I think we agree on that. We need every angle, every perspective, every piece, every hand, to push this boulder over the hill.
In that spirit, I want to advocate for the importance, relevance, and power of Dancing. We have been very top heavy on our intellects and spirits. There is a whole other realm to being human. Our bodies, and kinesthetic awareness. A huge part of my life's path has been dance. For almost twenty years I have been studying various forms from Ballet, to Jazz, to Modern, Hip-Hop, Acrobatics, Tap, Flamenco, Contact Improvisation, Indonesian Dance, Capoeira, African, Sacred Dances around the world, Trance dance, etc.
If I were to claim a certain style as my specialty, I would say that first and foremost I am an improviser.
In my experience, dance awakens the intelligence of the body (like is mentioned in Bill's thread). When I look at the world, I see so much emphasis on intellect and meditation. Not a problem. I support those things.
But when I look at body awareness, that still seems to be such a subject of fear, contention, and marginalization. The changing trend of people rediscovering themselves as instruments of expression, rediscovering touch, and thoughtless communication, is all part of the continuous emergence of the Sacred Feminine. If you want to experience harmony, dance and music are incredible vehicles.
It creates community, trust, connection, intimacy, and play. Things we need in order to form strong communities. It can be a very powerful path for spiritual attunement and awakening. The body isn't separate from spirit.
When dance is used deliberately for the awakening of the soul and the expression of divinity, amazing things happen. People who are ill, or dying of terminal illnesses, get better. It feeds us. Dancing feeds us. We are not just consciousness aware of itself, reflecting on ourselves.
We are also unique individuals with bodies, in the thick of existence, irrationally experiencing ourselves. When that is expressed in a safe environment, incredible reservoirs of love and prophetic vision can be unlocked. I speak from experience.
We are carriers of creative genius. When we come together, and let go, allow rhythm and impulse to take us out of control, and share that space with integrity and mutual support, when we exercise the gift we were given, and just move our bodies without thinking or being self conscious, a deeper intelligence becomes unlocked. It might be called the kundalini, whatever. It is a sensual, nurturing, creative force that unlocks creative potential. It's raw, and runs the spectrum of every conceivable emotion. It can be sweet, intimate, tender, furious, intense, etc. It gives us a chance to empty ourselves of the incredible energy and creative force that's locked inside of us.
It doesn't have to be only through dance. Any form of expression channels that energy. But there is something about experiencing the body in that way. We need it.
Dance can also teach us so much about communication and relationship. About understanding people on instinctive levels. The work that Cesar Milan, the dog whisperer is doing, is absolutely revolutionary. He's teaching people that their dogs behavior is not a function of who they are, but a product of human beings not being aware of instinctual communication. That is to say, the study of communication outside of intellect, is vitally important.
In the very least I would say that there are people who are designed to express divinity through movement and dance. Now is the time to stop bastardizing that which is of the body.
I also believe that dance is playing a vital role in bridging the gaps, misunderstandings, and hurts between men and women.
I want to devote this thread to sharing my experiences, thoughts, and insights on why dance is such a vital piece of this movement.
Feel free to chime in, express your thoughts, feelings, ask questions, or just muse and express poetically what dance means to you.
See you out there...
There may be trouble ahead, so lets face the music and dance… (offering hand to Armen). I am not much of a dancer, but I will continue to do my thing and keep them off while you do your thing… Vive la differences, vive humanity…. N
Dancing unfettered and free creates an amazing energy, both within and without! It is primal and true and cathartic...tension, anger, negativity are released until only pure joy remains.
This thread makes me wish I hadn't changed my signature. It had been..." Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." -- George Carlin
Dance on, my kindred spirit!
Oh, I love to dance, especially improvised dance. Have learned flamenco, ballet. We also had African dance/drumming workshop in my woolshed,cool!! It a great way to express spirit in the body and move energy. To lose oneself in dance to loud music is just fantastic. I love getting people to dance. It is very freeing. You can always tell how uptight people are by how they move their bodies!! Great thread Armen.
My wife Rosaline is African / CameroonQuote:
Posted by Carmen
She says I dance OK for a white man.
I suppose being a bass guitarist helps.
Chris
Adore this dancer and this performance. Such power and passion!!https://youtube.com/watch?v=BdDD9JX-Tyg
I love to dance as it is the Universal Language.
Who cares what country or language -- hop skip or jump to the beat.
As a youngster I used to dance all over the furniture ---Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire my heroes.
Being flexible in body keeps you flexible in mind.
Having a bad day? push yourself to get up turn on the music and flow with it.
Music is the great healer -- every nation every culture has music and dance-- for sure it is the one thing that unites all.
Thanks for starting this thread Armen your opening post says it all.
Chris
Sometimes I wish we were not all so far apart physically!! We could have such a great party dancing and singing and just getting together. Bringing all our talents together. Your wife sounds wonderful greybeard. Last year I bought all my grandkids ukuleles and one a guitar, so now we have a monthly jam session in my woolshed (has a huge fire in it) Weve also attracted some really talented guitarists, so the quality of our jamming goes up and up.
I couldn't dance when I was a teenager, but having a girlfriend an being a musician myself, made me move my feet and feel the music, when you feel the music and understand it, you learn how to move your body according to it. Feels good to be honest I like it.
Welcome to P.A.Armen.
When I was a kid I remember going to a gathering with my parents. At some point there was some music that came on, and everybody started dancing. For some inexplicable reason something happened to me. The music carried me away as I started to move. Eventually it was like a switch got tripped and I lost all sense of myself. It was just my body and the music, intertwined, barreling through time and space. It didn't matter what I looked like, or what I was doing. There was absolutely no self consciousness. I could feel energy all around me. It was tangible. It came radiating out of my chest, and bounced off of other energy bands all around me. In that moment I went to another place. A place of pure abundance and ecstasy.
If there is such a thing as god, that was it for me. Pure love.
Later, when I was older, as a big surprise to myself, I chose to become a dancer in earnest. I had no idea I was about to go to war. It was the same war I had been fighting since my first day of school. I just didn't expect it to extend into this most inner sanctum of my bodily expression.
Even though I learned some very useful things in my education about how to be proficient with movement, it did not have a freeing affect. Quite the contrary. By the end of it I was totally stifled and self conscious. The difference between my experience as a kid, and my dance education, was that in my education it was about getting it right. You had to have a certain type of body. You had to have certain proportions. You had to learn how to place your body in just the right ways. And if you didn't, you didn't deserve to dance.
It took me years to rediscover that experience I had as a child. To understand the reason why I dance. To loose control. To forget myself, and experience myself instead. Like they say, "Loose your mind and come to your senses." I realized that I had a different measuring stick for beauty than my fellow dance colleagues.
Just like it seems absurd to me for anyone to have to justify their existence by having to make a living, it seems absurd to me for a person to have to justify their right to dance by being deemed beautiful or not beautiful. It creates human beings who are stifled, afraid, and utterly inhibited. I know from experience. Sure, there are certain folks who have a greater facility, or vocabulary than most, but good conversation isn't about the fancy words you can use. It's about what's exchanged. Even if you only speak two words, it's still possible to have a meaningful conversation if you put yourself into those two words. Dance is no different.
So for me, dance is about emulating real life. It's about flaunting and celebrating the diversity of human expression. To me, dance becomes truly beautiful when people loose themselves. That is the art. To let go. It doesn't matter what you're doing. When a dancer lets go, it's breath taking, because it's real life expressing itself in a totally unique way. Something that will never occur again quite like that again. And when you are with people who allow and celebrate this raw kind of expression, the energy just goes through the roof. Like others have referenced on this thread, it's cathartic.
There is a field that can be accessed, although it doesn't reside in time and space. It has a distinct location distinguished not by direction, but quality. It can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. Like the Sufis say, it is the flame that burns. We do have the capacity to set ourselves on fire. It is pure love. It can even hold hatred and sorrow. There's nothing it can't hold, in fact. When we loose our self consciousness, and enter into direct experience, we are there. To be in harmony with the currents of direct experience, in real time, without contemplation or self reflection, is to travel there. I call it the Sacred Feminine. But whatever it may be referred to, it is the reason I dance, and the reason I encourage others who might be curious to dance.
I know Armen, the difference between structured dance and free expression dance. I never spent very long learning structured dance. I mastered the technique and moves then incorporated the whole lot into my free expression dance. Much more fun with no rules. My sister was a ballet dancer then a ballet teacher all her life but she could never dance freely. She couldnt just let go and dance for her own enjoyment. Something is stifled if everything has to be correct and 'just so'. Actually the music dictates the dance, but the music doesnt care how we express it in dance!
Well said Carmen. Well said. This particular thread is incredibly important in my own life. Dance is certainly a way to God for me. The word God doesn't have a negative connotation or charge for me. It certainly isn't a bearded man sitting on a cloud. You might call it spirit, or source, or divinity. The label isn't that important to me. What I do know is that there is a field where I can experience being totally unified and at one. There is a field where I feel love emanating from every poor of me. I have a distinct experience of dwelling in the sacred. Sacred, not as in "do not touch". Sacred in the sense of standing in the thick of it saying, "I see you, you see me, we have significance, and we are celebrated and loved".Quote:
Posted by Carmen
For me dancing is a place of worship. It's my church. Again, I do not have any fears or traumas associated with these words. Worship to me isn't a blind and mindless relinquishing of my own autonomy. Just the opposite. It is the conscious act of adoring and willingly giving myself away, because it is healing and cleansing. I once participated in a foot washing ceremony. We sat in a circle and took turns washing each others feet. Yeah. That's worship. That's adoration. Really, it's just throwing love at something or someone. It is showering with loving, conscious attention. It's simply acknowledging significance.
To love Love, is to love God. That's how I see it. Anyway, this doesn't have to turn into a theological debate. My point, is that church for me is a designated place of acknowledging the divine by adoring it through the giving of my own self expression. That kind of worship honors me, and it honors the object of my worship. Wherever that occurs, that is my church. When I dance, I am worshiping. I am journeying. I am moving energy.
I can feel people's soul signatures, and move their awareness into non-ordinary reality by grabbing their assemblage points. People have the power to journey to other realms without the aid of power plants ( I totally support those practices by the way). Dance and music is another way of breaking through the veil. While there are many places where that can happen implicitly, I am exceptionally interested in created autonomous zones where that is the explicit purpose for gathering.
I once saw a film about a married woman who decided on a whim to go on a road trip with a couple of younger men (boys). The film chronicles their experiences together. It seems that she is searching for something. In the end she finds it in a little beach town in Mexico, and dies shortly after. You find out at the end that she knew she was dying of cancer. I suppose she was looking for meaning and substance. At the end of the film you see the waves careening into the beach over and over again as you hear her words. "You have to give yourself away like the sea". Those words have always stayed with me. They burned themselves into my heart. Don't we secretly all want to give ourselves away? I certainly do. I want to give myself away without being punished for it, neglected, betrayed, or killed. I want to give myself away and know that in doing just that, I will be replenished by a loving community. a loving universe. That, to me, is divinity. If I can't give myself away, then I can't be me. How sad it is that I have to hold myself back.
When I am on the dance floor, I become wild again. I become a force of nature. I can be the thunder and the rain. I can be a hurricane. I can be a babbling brook. I can be a hungry coyote, stalking its prey. I can be an avalanche. I can be a hawk, barreling at terminal velocities through the air, beckoning death, and always evading it. I can ride the razors edge of pure annihilation, without being annihilated. I can obliterate myself. The prison that binds me. I become truly unbridled, unfettered, and free, while still maintaining my body.
Dance is truly a religious experience for me.
A bunch of us are dancing in our local city park this weekend.......
Hi Armen.
Wow,,,you and I would get along pretty well.
I used to love to use dancing as a tool to turn off the internal dialogue. I'm 38 now, a tad too old to be out clubbing anymore, but god,,,during the 90s I used to go to Rave parties 3-4 times a week. People have a negative association with those parties and assume everyone was on drugs all the time.
I wouldn't claim to be puritanical here. But I never ever needed to do drugs in order to dance into a trance and experience vehicler body awareness.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=YekEPQl7HqI
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https://youtube.com/watch?v=-jjpk_WyRwk&feature=BFa&list=PLA592BE72DBAD336D&index=21
Well, DNA's post certainly reminded me of my life a few years ago too! (man I loved dance parties!) I am too shy to dance in front of other people, even though I love music so much, and feel moved to dance by it.
The music that really gets right into my soul is any kind of Latin american, (so does reggae for that matter) So here is a song that means an awful to to me, it represents a really happy and formative time in my life. It has an instant emotional effect on me whenever I listen to it, even if I listen to it over and over again. If only I could dance beautifully!!! :p
Compay Segundo (Buena Vista Social Club and composer of Chan Chan) said he never composed it, he dreamed it!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=6rRJP8rVg-4&feature=related
(I had to post lower quality video as best one would not embed, sorry)
Armen I am so happy that dance is an important expression of all that you are it is for me as well... Dance for me kinderagrten thru 3rd grade ballet but also early sixties pop & rock as you can see by my age (55) I was about 8 or 9 when the Beatles &Rolling Stones became popular. loved those dances too.. I have three older siblings & two younger & we would all dance in the livingroom so cute ..we are only 8 years apart total oldest to youngest.Then 7th grade thru 12 th and beyond i studied 2 styles of martial arts one soft circular, one hard linear.. I loved the soft. then after high school I found my favorite style of dance... Polynesian, Hawaiian hula. Tahitian, Maori etc. I even learned the poi balls (balls attached to a 3 ft rope and twirled and fire coconuts. I live in Las Vegas and I trained with a professional polynesian dance troop and we would perform in major hotel lounges and regularly at the Nellis AFB officers club (they had lots of luaus). this was mid to late 1970s.. Even today this style of dance is a big part of my life .. I dance by myself my husband doesnt dance.. ever..i rarely did the discos of the 1970s or the nightclubs of 1980s too many strobes, drunken, drugged people touching & bumping into me not to mention bad sound systems at too high of a decibal level. Dance/soft martial arts feed my soul.Thank you for this thread that brings back the memories.
Quote:
Posted by DNA
Wow,,,,I've come back and watched this video quite a bit since I posted it.
I went through like 40 youtube videos before I found this one.
This one spoke to me.
I used to do martial arts. Wing chun and tai chi primarily.
When I could'nt get my trance turned on, ussually when I first got to the club/rave, I would focus on one area in my aura and I would imagine a ball there.
I know folks do the imaginary ball in their hands while dancing a lot,,,but I would move this ball through my aura until I found the blockage.
When I found the blockage I would then rest my awareness there while moving the ball until it was gone, and then bingo, I would be in a trance.
Kind of like this young man.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2pbrcBWau1g&playnext=1&list=PL27FA2CAF332E8CBB.
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http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...vlc9u_CIXRbF_q
When my trance was full on I would occasionally finger dance like the young lady in the first video.
While I was doing it, I would feel like I was finger plucking filiments in my aura.
My fingers could feel tactile sensations, like moving through a thick liquid.
I felt like I was energizing memories in my aura of a former life as a belly dancer,,, and in this life, plucking energetic filiments in my field like a Harp player would her instrument.
Very cool. It's nice to see this young lady and kind of relive that experience. :)
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...cAKlwm0tAdRhhJ
Exploration of Park Güell in Barcelona through DANCE
https://youtube.com/watch?v=DicEyLpAZCQ&feature=share
Dancing is fun with the right music, here is mixed Turk/Kurd music.
This is the best dancing I've ever seen, originally for military training of Yemenite Yahudi tribs. Turned into peaceful dancing.
Mongolian traditional dance about trading and bartering.
Hey Armen... Great call my brother.
I was lucky to be born into a musical family and brought up
in the 80s.. I am a break dancer from the old school.
Love pooping and locking and pulling out the old windmill here and there
Thats if the old hips and wrists can bear it.
BREAKDANCE.....ELECTRIC BOOGIE..WOHOO brings back my child hood.
Hi Armen, I absolutely agree with everything you said. In what i have seen, people who seem to be aware of their bodies and what to do with it, also happen to have more awareness of the invisible layers of ourselves.
I did ballet for ten years then stopped never realizing what a great impact that had on so many features of my life (posture, acceptable social behaviors, understanding of other people and cultures) until later in life. you know like noticing the rhythm of a situation and following rather than doing the opposite.
I now think you can read so many books and talk to people and not know much about them, then just learn about there dance or watch how a person dances (for an individual) and a whole part of the picture is unlocked in front of you in seconds.
also agree that for dance to do its purpose it shouldn't be so structured. I went to one of them "ballroom tango" classes once when traveling and could not stand it as everyone was doing the same, and i felt it killed the "soul" of what tango is.
on the other hand I found a milonga in Buenos Aires away from the tourist areas, and in it people (of all ages) were improvising and doing there own thing, and it was some of the most amazing Tango dancing i've seen my whole life. Everyone's spirit seemed so free, like it should be. I wish everyone here would visit that place if they ever go to south america!
Dancing does free the self!
While I am also a white musician (well "musically oriented" to be accurate), I was told once I danced like I was being electrocuted - but I was at a rave, so I think that worked .. not sure ... Had fun anyways ;)Quote:
Posted by greybeard
Wow, guys, thank you so much for all these wonderful posts. I will be chewing on these videos for a while.
Watch me dance.....my way!!
https://youtube.com/watch?v=nFvASjWaF3I
This guy here stole my style!! LOL
TM
Svetlana Zakharova - Revelation
I know nothing about Svetlana Zakharova but she's an exquisite dancer. It's haunting in its beauty and its sadness. I feel privileged to have seen this.
c'est beau, impressionant et incroyable!
They got rhythm.
Let's Dance
Riverdance Show 19 - Starring Jean Butler and Colin Dunne
Excelente Derbake Ambar
How do belly dancers keep their skirts up?
No one can dance and sing like Earth, Wind and Fire. Check them out and see for yourself.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=DbQrq...reply_received
Beautiful Snowbird :thumb:
Much more uplifting than squabbles over "proof" and "channeling" eh???
Don't protest! Dance!
I was there!
Now the ladies' turn...really beautiful.