by 
I want to share with you about a really unique and wonderful healing experience which is going to be happening at the end of November in Gauteng.
It is called the Dance for the One. This is a way of bringing ‘whole being’ healing to yourself and your relations. (Not just ‘whole body’ but including emotional and spiritual dimensions as well, thus ‘whole being’ healing!) The dance creates a loving, held and supported space for you to go as deeply into your store of experiences as you are willing to go and get all the stuck stuff moving . Many dancers have reported receiving powerful visions for themselves and their healing and their life choices during the dance. The blessings of the new energy can only be felt if you move the old energy. If your hands are full you can’t carry anything else! What are you carrying that you don’t need to be carrying?
The dance uses four main elements. One, fasting – fasting takes you out of your normal eating habits and rhythms and makes you focus on what you have to heal, where your blockages are, where your pain is. Two, dancing – you are given a piece of ground within a large circular space to define dance in whatever way you would like to. Dance may be defined as any time you move any part of your body. No judgements or feelings of having to be correct or ‘right’ in any way. Dance frees up the body energy. Three, singing – singing is a scary concept to many. The kind of singing that is required emphasises making a sound, and then putting your emotion into that sound. After a while the emotion and the sound become one thing. From grunting, to screaming, to chanting, to lovely melodies, to chanting, Рit is all good. Four, supported space – the space is circular and blessed many times by many powerful healers. There are normally at least as many crew members as dancers, so that the space is held as a sacred and reverent place for the process of catharsis to happen in, for the dancer to feel supported in a loving way.
There are other dynamics which contribute to the process as well but the above four are to me the main ones. Others include the fact that the dance starts on Friday afternoon, dancers are shown to their places which are specially chosen for them in the dance arbour and then experience a sweat lodge to warm up into the ceremonial space. The dance then continues until Sunday morning, with additional sweats to start the day off on Sat and Sunday mornings. Dancers sleep at night from sunset till dawn in their specially prepared personal spaces in the arbour. Dancing happens in rounds whose lengths are determined by the energy of the group as a whole and the needs of individuals as well. Dancers are supported by a group of live drummers playing a very simple rhythm to give a sound space structure for inspiring movement and vocalisations. The crew attend to the dancers 24 hrs a day and the sacred fire, which is lit on Friday is not allowed to go out until Sunday after the dance has finished. Dancers are treated to a beautiful feast to break their fast on Sunday late morning and then a gift giving and sharing circle is held.
When I first heard about the dance I didn’t understand the subtle and profound technology which goes into it. The crew have roles to play and are directed by the chiefs of the dance who themselves are consulting when necessary with the elders and through prayer with the spirit. Those of us who have been involved with the dance for a while know that the process is guided by a divine hand. Those who are the crew are ‘serving’. To serve is a great honour and a gift to give to people. The dance awakens memories of how we can be together on this planet in a good way. It feels to me like we have not forgotten this but it gets pushed deeper and deeper into the background while we fascinate about our problems and get more and more isolated from other people who we need in order to feel really human. It is so wonderful to be in a space which is made to uphold the qualities of love and respect for all life and to actually practice filling our ability to be good to ourselves and others in the highest way possible.
The dance started a few years ago and has been happening internationally in the USA, Europe and Africa. It has attracted healers from many nations to work together. The message of the dance is about unity in all things. As I understand it – when we have a negative emotional experience we tend to want to move away and separate ourselves from it. However by creating a wall or a barrier between ourselves and the experience we create a separation which actually locks that emotion into our memories and into the cellular memory of our bodies which may later become the site of a pain or an illness. Similarly we may also create separations between ourselves and others around emotionally intense experiences. Some of these experiences are on a personal level, but others are felt more collectively such as the trauma that has been inherited by descendants of Africans who suffered during apardheid, for example. Many people feel a collective trauma and stress for the radical negative effect that humans are having on nature. Many humans are very out of touch with, separated, from nature. Their insensitive actions pollute and abuse our natural resources. This dishonouring of nature is a constant pain for those who see, feel and understand the wonderful dance of influence between all things in creation.
The time of separation is over on the planet! We as lovers of this dance and of ancient healing technologies are creating this healing space so that not only may each dancer be able to remember their internal unity and feel whole, but may also work on their sense of unity with their world, their place, their space and , as the Native Americans say,”with all our relations”. In South Africa displacement is a serious illness. Many people have been moved from their land, have been told to live elsewhere, have been told they are not allowed to live here and must go away. This displacement has affected all the racial groups. Unity consciousness brings emplacement, a love of the self and the place which one exists in.
I invite you to listen to the inner urgings of your Self and hear clearly if you feel you are called to participate in this dance either as a dancer or as a crew member. It is best when you feel that you have a need which you feel this dance will be able to address. We would love to share your dance, hear your voice and hold a space for clearing away all the unnecessary stuff which you may be carrying around. We all need this regularly and although there are other ways to achieve catharsis, like going for a massage, or attending a sweat lodge, or going to a spa, an opportunity like this, which combines many modalities, many healers and a dedicated healing dance space, happens only once a year in South Africa. The dance site at midrand has been given a lot of attention in preparation for its use in ceremony and includes a labyrinth, organic vegetable gardens, meeting room, sound chamber, the dance arbour itself, sweat lodge and beautiful accommodation.
This year I will be chiefing together with my amazing sangoma sister, Teresa from the US.
If you feel called please contact me and I can send you more information.
Love
Geoffrey, gogo Hugh, Tracey
082 565 9697
011 665 4350
g.tracey@ru.ac.za
