In late 2013 the edance spirit coalesced in a Bend living room. Paige Robinson, Joanna Cashman and Aaron Pyne started a nameless monthly house gathering with a few friends and experimental playlists.
By spring of 2014 there was enough momentum to rent a little art studio named the armature and start a weekly ecstatic dance offering called Pulse Alchemy. The dance space was a bit larger than a hallway with attractive hardwood floors and a gleeful crew of body explorers. The vessel would feel crowded on big nights when 10 or 11 people would come. The facilitation team remained Joanna Cashman and Paige Robinson while Aaron had moved on and Kjerstin Starr stepped in as the third. The three of them took turns creating a 50 minute iTunes playlist for the weekly dance. The energetics and direction of Pulse Alchemy kept closely knit with the therapeutic values of dance as a tool of insight and liberation, honoring the ceremonial depth of what a deep, embodied practice can elucidate. At this time the dance was closer in nature to the 5-rhythms practice than the burgeoning, ultra-modern and Dj driven EDM-centric ecstatic dances that were growing in popularity and influence around the world. A playlist at Pulse Alchemy wasn't shy to contain a classical piano piece alongside 70's rock and roll and 40's jazz blended into a newly released EDM banger.
2015 The dance community was growing and thirsty for expansion. A terrific venue was located, the historic and elegant, Old Stone Church in downtown Bend. Many times larger than the armature with brand new wooden floors, the majesty of stained glass windows, marvelous acoustics and an imbued reverence. Here the dance could be as many as 25 people on a full night. The additional amplitude evolved and embellished the offering, the dance and the dancers got bigger in their expression. Here at the Old Stone Church, Bend Ecstatic Dance was born, by name and demeanor. Kjerstin Starr migrated to other endeavors while the maverick Willow Seronko merged and completed a triad with Joanna and Paige.
2016 the dance already needed a new home as the Old Stone Church in all it’s glory was only ephemerally available. Not without some sense of moody loss did the search for the next home begin. Soon an auspicious and enigmatic new hub was revealed, The Masonic Lodge. Mysterious and awe-pervaded, only a little smaller than the church and more tightly sealed as an energetic vessel, it was a surprising gift with its hallowed essence and idiosyncratic characters. Graciously housing us from 2016-2022 (with some ridiculous interruptions and exciting new venues sprinkled in during the Covid debacle) this is where Bend Ecstatic Dance underwent its most dramatic transformations and developed most towards where it has landed today.
2017 Ryza Re joined the facilitation team in anticipation of Joanna and Paige handing off the torch as they both moved out of Bend to pursue new dreams. Ryza had been a weekly devotee to the dance since its days at the armature while also cultivating his own flavor of ecstatic dance offerings in Bend since 2015. Most notably, a monthly nano-festival ecstatic dance called Lucid at Tula Movement Arts. An immersive and comprehensive dance offering replete with two live dj's, vendors, tea and tarot lounges plus costume themes.
Ryza's profound enthusiasm for ecstatic dance, along with his visions for the container's transformation were gratefully received and his personal touches quickly permeated the new dance feel. Playlists were extended from 50 to 75 mins in length and later to 90. Live Dj's became a common occurrence and the dancers themselves, not just the facilitators, became the playlist makers. Fabric decor, tapestries, attention to lighting and sophisticated sound equipment evolved the offering towards a more modern ecstatic dance expression. The weekly attendance rose dramatically as younger generations were newly attracted. Ryza felt fortunate to have studied the wisdom and heart of the founding facilitators, learning to not lose the therapeutic depths while adding modernity's charisma.
2018 Brought the immaculate gift of Puma to our facilitation team. Instantly absorbed and devoted into the magic, her resplendent talents added infinite breadth to the emerging culture that was freshly burgeoning as our dance spread its new wings.
2020-2022 The great Willow, with his irreplaceable atmosphere of unity and zealous commitment to soulful sorcery as well as his enormous generosity and charity retired from bxd in 2020 leaving Ryza and Puma as teammates during the exhilarating and dramatic covid era. Our dance went on a pilgrimage, succumbing to fates and following destinies as our wider community helped intuit and source our dance lands. Summer of 2020 brought us the extraordinary Phoenix Farm near the Bend Airport, where the gracious Philip Price donated his Burning Man camp supplies, allowing us to dance inside a giant, round circus tent outdoors in a natural amphitheater depression in the earth. We had great sound equipment, art instillations that spat fire and nearly 100 people coming every week. In the winter of 2021 we were back indoors at the masonic, then danced afresh at Buddy's Slackline Compound with Philip's equipment for summer 2021. Back into the providential masonic for much of 2022, but alas the final lease was signed with them as their new Head Master decided to make their space more exclusive.
Autumn 2022 thru Autumn 2023, gifted us Tula Movement Arts studio. An absolutely exquisite venue with a wild mix of 1/2 the room in sprung wooden flooring and the other 1/2 swimming in firm and brilliantly soft gymnastic mats. With its excellent lighting and vibration of fun we had a glorious year in the place where Ryza's Lucid dances were born. However the fun ended quick and we were tossed into an abrupt, spasmodic scrambled to locate a new venue as Tula rashly became unavailable. Tula's end was cosmically aligned with Puma realizing her passions had shifted and she retired from our dance as we exited Tula.
Autumn 2023-Nov 2023 Ryza, now the sole facilitator knows that when the dance must migrate, it needs to go somewhere better, there can't be a feeling of ehhh this place isn't as good. Many options that felt like compromises presented themselves and because the dance must go on, we took a short term chance on a MASSIVE gym called Bend Hoops. It was 2 full length basketball courts in a warehouse with ceilings 50 feet tall. It was a outlandish and absurd, we somehow liked it as an oddity but was obviously not the fit.
Nov 2023-Present The RightSmackInTheMiddleOfDowntown, Boys and Girls Club basketball court appeared like a divine drip of pure and perfect fit. A 100 year old building with tasteful and venerable architecture. Yes a basketball court, but one that we are able to successfully re-imagine into The Glow Pad every week with a team of decorators and visionaries. This has become our greatest home, twice as big as any long-term venue we've ever had. Allowing for us to make our dreams and aims giant in their realizations.
Bend Ecstatic Dance continues to transform while remaining a solid pillar for community health. Every peoples need a freedom portal inside of which they are safe to roam with their authentic self-expression.