Dance is a somatic experience and community ritual. Dance is an art and a mating display. Dance is small private moments and exaggerated musical numbers. Dance is strict discipline and a child’s first movements to rhythmic sound. Dance is grounding and transcendental. Dance is cultural expression and reaches beyond language barriers. Dance is secular, spiritual, human, and divine. Dance is a gift from the God and Goddess, from our ancestors and to our descendants.
Dance is a lifelong gift of joy
Growing up I loved spinning, hand clapping games, skipping rope songs, cheers and dancing with my sister and our friends. The first community dance I remember was a circle dance at a public park with Atlanta Hare Krishnas. At 7 years old, knew I would be dancing forever after. Not only was the physical experience joyful and fun but I felt such a spiritual connection that I had never found with prayer or in a church.
Pagan festivals usually include a bonfire for the community to dance, drum, sing, chant, and flow around. There are usually musical acts invited to play with many people dancing along with the music. As a musician I love to see people dancing while our band, Spiral Rhythm, sings. It is such a great energetic connection. I have a hard time sitting still while listening to and performing music.
World of Dance: Cultural Appreciation and being aware of Appropriation.
India has a rich history of dancers embodying gods and goddess, telling their stories. Indian Classical dance is a very strict codified storytelling style using mudras (hand gestures) as part of the dance. These mudras are used Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Hand Yoga is often used for healing as well. There are mudras to represent specific deities and used by deities in paintings and statuary to symbolize actions and states of being.
I use sacred and secular world dances for inspiration when I create dances for performance with Spiral Rhythm, in my personal spiritual practice and for staged performances at dance events. At times when using traditions from other cultures you can unintentionally do harm, misappropriate, or disrespect others’ beliefs. Below are examples of things I am comfortable using and why. I am always open to discussion on the topic of appropriation.
Mudras are taught by dance instructors in classical Indian dance, secular Indian dance such as Bollywood, as well as used in Yoga. Using Mudras with respect and as intended is something I feel enhances a dance with deeper meaning as well as activating acupressure points to increase the efficacy of intention in dance and spiritual practice.
Like Classical Indian dance styles are to Bollywood dance, there are secular forms of many dances that also have Sacred counterparts. Hula has secular and traditional spiritual forms. Haka of New Zealand and the Guedra of North Africa are examples of ceremonial dances that also have performative dances. Whenever I am not sure and cannot find information, I choose to err on the side of caution.
The Guedra is a blessing ceremony that was taught to me by Morrocco from NY, that uses very similar flicking movements as a blessing dance from Uzbekistan taught at the Silk Road Dance Co in DC. Both dances used a flicking motion to disperse blessings to the attendees during the ceremonial dance. I have seen it used in other dance traditions, so I feel comfortable respectfully using this form of blessing in rituals, ceremonies, and dances as it is more than a single culture or people’s sacred tradition.
Pagan Sacred Dance that Invokes the Elements and Embodies the Devine.
I have always been interested in learning about the world. When starting to belly dance, I was very interested in the history and culture that the dances came from. Many dance moves used in belly dance came from traditional and folk dances of the Middle East and North Africa. Tribal and traditional dances for rituals and important life events are still danced through to this day.
I was intrigued by the music and dance when I was in Thailand. The country festival dances and the classical dance done for tourists. I spent many hours copying the moves I saw and asking questions. It’s not surprising the first dance I choreographed to a Spiral Rhythm song was in Thai style dance to Life Circle. After performing this dance, dancing with fire fans to Pele Rising and poi to Father Fill Me Spiral Rhythm figured out I could play a drum, too, and I officially joined the band. I began adding new dances to songs like Dance My Children, Dance and I Summon Her.
I Summon Her is a great song and chant for use in ritual. Dancing, or even just adding mudras to a ritual, doing things smoothly and in sync with others in a rite adds majesty and a connectedness that I find wonderful to experience. Like a tea ceremony, a ritual can be enhanced with how movements are expressed.
I Summon Her summoning dance choreography by Kira Lang:
By the air I summon her breath (deep breath, raise arms to side)
I draw her into my lungs (move arms like wings opening lungs)
By the Fire I summon her spirit (bring hands up from solar plexus with double helix motion)
I draw her into my soul (place palms together and bring down to namaste)
By the water I summon her blood (sway side to side with water arms)
I draw her into my veins (sweep arms like gathering water and bring to heart)
By the earth I summon her body (feet planted, touch earth or reach palms down to earth)
I draw her into my flesh (bring hands up pulling strength from earth and up body into star pose)
I am (arms out), she is (goddess pose), we are together (lower folded arms and draw down body)
*Alternate with he for all above
I am (arms out), he is (stag pose), we are together (lower folded arms and draw down body)
*Also I have used
I am, They are, we are together
Dancing the Spiral, Circle of Community, and The Mandala Dance.
As it was my first spiritual dance experience, I love circle dances. I often feel great joy looking across the circle of people singing, holding hands and moving in unison. Labyrinth style dances and line dances have the same feel for me and are also great fun! Besides dancing with the Dances of Universal Peace occasionally, I studied with the Tara Dance Sangha of Atlanta, dancing the Golden Spiral offering of the 21 praises of Tara.
The first circle dance I shared with others was to a Spiral Rhythm song Bringing Change on Rise Up. The second is a tambourine circle dance to Come to the Dance, by Arthur Hinds. I asked Arthur’s permission for Spiral Rhythm to perform it so I could share the dance at events, and we eventually released it on Thinkin’ of You.
Bringing Change circle dance
The main group walks a clockwise circle with a center circle walking counter. Six to twenty people, with 1/3 on the inner circle, are best for the double circle. If there are enough people a third circle going counterclockwise can be made around the first two.
Bringing Change circle dance steps:
See the wheel turning round
– Walk the circle in time.
Spiral in spiral out
– The inner circle reaches out with their right hand and switches places with the person they clasp hands with.
See the wheel turning round
– Walk the circle in time.
Changing as it goes
– (If there is a third circle) the middle/second circle reaches out with their left hand and switches places with the person in the outer circle they clasp hands with.
The full lyrics can be found on Bandcamp.
The smaller number of people in the inner circle extends the hand to the larger circle to take. Dancers don’t have to change places at every turn, if you feel like you need to stay in the direction you are going, that’s OK tool. It may take a few tries but if you start slowly and keep your eye out towards the inner circle for extended hands it will come together. The Bringing Change Circle Dance is simple enough that most people can pick it up easily but complicated enough that its fun and looks interesting.
Dance is a living art; it builds on tradition but must evolve to remain relevant into the future.
I touched on a few of the dances that I have personal experience with but there are so many more types of dance that connect with the divine. Trance dance, moving meditation and flow, like poi and contact juggling can facilitate a heightened or altered state of consciousness. Here is another blog post about sacred dance by another of our bloggers. With all the resources: photos, videos, academic papers, historical documents, and the ability to connect with others, it is a great time to find the way you best connect with the divine.
Lead photo is of Kira dancing with the Tara Dance Sangha of Atlanta, Dancing the 21 Praises of Tara
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