Bend Ecstatic Dance

The Dance

DANCE and all that is not Love falls away.

Crossing hemispheres, slipping into a deeper, older, wiser part of our Being. True nature revealed, attuning to the frequencies of Earth and Stars.

Source streaming through, awakening the Temple that we are.

Childlike freedom and joy overflows… grounding, sensing, connecting…

The Soul’s desire to create is instinctual, primal, and authentic.

Connections spontaneously form and dissolve dancing a common Unity. Transcending beliefs, age, race, and origins dancing for Self, dancing for our World. Hearts bursting open, we dance ecstasy.

The Progression

Warm up

Gently warm up your body connecting to Earth, breath, and Self in your own unique way. Stretch, twist, crawl, dance, practice yoga, tai chi, meditation… whatever your body is calling for to open and prepare you for the Dance.

Circle Gathering

Come together to connect as Community in a short guided movement exploration.

Dance Journey

Free form movement and dance to a rich sound scape spanning time periods and cultures, traveling through peaks and valleys varying in tempo, texture, and mood. A creative and fun, deeply evocative meditation tapping you in to the well spring of your own unique expression. Dancing with Self, dancing with others, dancing with Source. All in all, a total Blast!

Still Point

Empty into the Earth allowing for a deep integration in stillness, gently guided inward and back by your facilitator.

Closing Circle

Come full circle to share experiences, epiphanies, and insights we have been given in the Dance.

You may come and go as you please during the Dance. We ask that you respect your fellow dancers and keep all conversation and commotion quietly away from the sacred dance space.

When & Where

Tuesdays 7 – 8:45pm

Dances held at the Masonic Center

1036 NE 8th St, Bend, Oregon 97701

$10-$15 Sliding Scale

Facilitators

Paige Robinson

As a kid, infused by the rich and soulful tunes of my parents’ vast vinyl collection, it was early impressed upon me that music is the language of the Soul’s expression. Studying Anthropology and English in New Orleans, I was further steeped in music, folklore, storytelling, and mystery. Traveling extensively through South East Asia, I discovered Tai Chi, yoga, and meditation and set out on a lifelong inquiry exploring how consciousness, sound, and creative movement shape our physiology.

Facilitating Ecstatic Dance for me is a super-fun, artistic celebration of 2 decades uniting a deeply devoted movement practice with my cultivated skills as a nationally, and internationally acclaimed bodyworker and Somatic Educator. Incorporating the archetypal languages of mythology, astrology, and tarot into the waves of my practice has given me a fluency in different states of consciousness, and a keen awareness of multi-dimensional expression.

I am most intrigued by dance that happens, rather than the kind where you count out the steps, I have never been able to do that. Dance that transcends pattern and form. Dance that purifies, undulates, creates, cries, laughs, and plays, igniting the Soul to animate this magnificent temple that is the human form.

While every dance I offer is unique, I weave common threads through rich tapestries of sound that encourage you to tap into your innate frequencies of love and happiness, tune into the unique-NESS of your individual expression, turn on to the innate creativity within you, and bring this forth into your relationships and our community to be shared.

Joanna Cashman

The wild grace and passionate fun of free form dancing changed my life.
Dancing free led me to explore inner landscapes of creative, psychological and sacred experience as I journeyed through the territory of major grief and loss.

Now, nothing excites me more than supporting others in discovering the deep wellsprings of healing and creativity that restore the whole person, body, mind, emotions and spirit. How could I not share this with others? As an elder teacher of the dancing path, I have facilitated ecstatic and conscious dance events, across the country, for over 30 years.

Bringing the healing benefits of creative dance to prisons, hospitals, mental health centers, cancer survivorship programs, retreat centers, universities and substance abuse centers has been my greatest joy.

I love learning and my deepening commitment to investigating dance/movement and somatic studies led me to a Master of Fine Arts degree in Dance from Arizona State University, a certification in the Bill Evans, Laban-Bartenieff, approach to dance, and study with remarkable teachers including Anna Halprin, Barbara Mettler, Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, and many others. Coming to dance very late in life, I had no idea that I’d end up teaching and performing in Russia, Ukraine, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, and Hawaii.

All these rich experiences have deepened my devotion to the exploration of creativity and its transpersonal and interpersonal dimensions. I think that’s why I love teaching. It’s a conduit for empowering others. My facilitations are based on the notion that expressive body movement is a basic human need and I offer classes, workshops, trainings and retreats in Integrative Brain Dance, Chakra Dance, Radiant Health Yoga®, and Holistic Dance Improvisation. 
For More information visit www.JoannaCashman.com

Willow Serenko

I believe that the true dance, the dance that is inside each of us, is about surrendering to the music, about getting out of the way of ‘Self’ and letting the music dance us, whether it is an audible form of music or the soft still sound of nature.

Growing up in a place where my early friendships were with people of color and various ethnic backgrounds I learned the beauty of dancing from the soul. Weened as a kid on the sounds of Motown and Mexican music I felt the music dance me from the very start. I was the “White Boy who had it” as my friends would say. And over the past many decades since those ‘record hop days’ (earliest forms of ecstatic dance) I have moved through so many variations of dance in my life by means of my Taoist/Buddhist tantric arts training, my days following the “Dead,” the sacred music festival scene, my shamanic medicine song work, and dancing with my shadow under a full moon in some meadow.

While in Boise some friends and I started the first ecstatic dance scene and watched it grow over the years into a place where community came together and danced their prayers, where all hearts would beat as one, and love filled the dance floor.

My offerings as a facilitator are really about opening up the void, taking the participant on a shamanistic journey of the body, heart, and Spirit, The music I share is a blend of world beat, electronica, and medicine songs. All of this music is from my personal collection and many of the artists whose music I play are dear and close friends of mine. My passion and joy is in the sharing of a music/dance journey that takes the participant into the beauty of their inner light and opens ones heart space so that not only will they feel the kiss of the Beloved during the dance, but take that sweetness out into the world and radiate that love in their day to day dance with life.

Frequent Questions & Agreements

Welcome to Bend Ecstatic Dance

…where all approaches to dance and movement are honored! We draw no arbitrary lines of separation between dance as therapy, art, recreation, or contemplation, all is welcome here. There is no method, formula, map, or guru for you to follow. We invite you to follow your own Self, cultivate your creative imagination, access your inner life, and allow yourself to be danced from the inside out!

Please arrive with your Whole Self, substance and fragrance-free.

We hold a sacred and safe dance space free from conversation and distraction. Please no talking or chit chat. Body vocals such as oms, whoops, trills, and tribal yells are welcome!

Please bring your open mind and heart. We ask that you take care of yourself in the dance, and respect the individual expression of others.

We recommend dancing in bare feet to connect with the Earth and to enjoy a safe, grounded traction on the beautiful wood floor.

Please wear comfortable, loose fitting clothing that allows for full freedom of expression.

Be sure to bring PLENTY of water to drink, the Dance is a fantastic workout!

Please bring your payment in the form of cash or a check. Feel free to inquire about trade options.

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