Getting Into Our Groove

Dance Medicine is off to a good start as we continue to adjust according to our own sensibilities and your invaluable feedback, both verbal and on our feedback page.

Our creative intention is to provide a ritual space where we step over a threshold, leaving ordinary day-to-day reality, to enter an extraordinary situation, opening the mind and heart to something universal. Our wisdom becomes more present to us as we become more present to ourselves through the dance, opening into a relationship with something beyond the self. We have two full hours of non-stop dance in order to practice this, and the first Thursday of the month we have either Soul Motion or 5Rhythms dance practices to help us lock in the theory. These “Teaching Thursdays” have a short break between the warm up and the 1.5 hr. dance wave in order to anchor the respective teaching.

So far, with their beautiful and skilled musical sensibilities, Zora, Geej, Christina, DJ Heartbeat and Pangea, have created a soulful palette for our individual and collective expressions. We have appreciated their mindful efforts and they have been wonderful to work with. We look forward to bringing in other guest Conscious Dance DJs and teachers as we progress along. We pass on your feedback to the DJs, the most recent being that you are asking for more of a polyrhythmic crescendo at the peak of the dance wave, which was duly noted.

We are very grateful to Saša Benčina who will be teaching a 5Rhythms Sweat Your Prayers on March 5th, the second of our “First Thursdays” offerings. We are monitoring these teaching Thursdays in order to gauge the interest. We know that some of you would prefer no opening circle ever, and that there are others who appreciate the teaching that these First Thursdays provide. The beauty of having creative freedom is that we can change it up according to our own desires and popular demand.

During our Medicine Circles we bond in community, recognize that our wisdom arises from within and send our blessings out into the world to end the evening. These circles last no more than about 10 minutes.

We are so pleased to be able to accommodate so many Tribe members’ creative offerings. The people designing and assembling the altars every week tell us how much they appreciate the opportunity to create these beautiful pieces of art that contribute to the formation of our safe and sacred container. If you are interested in taking a regular turn at creating the altar, please speak to Sandra. You would receive two free classes for every altar you assemble. Likewise, if you would like to crew before and after the dance for free classes, please speak to Sandra or Dan.

After the dance, Key Tea is served, allowing for more creative output by our Tribe member and tea blender, See Cristian Ellauri, for the benefit of our physical and social health. It is so satisfying after dancing in silence to deepen our connections over a delicious cup of hot, nourishing herbal tea.

In line with our goal to deliver a nurturing environment, we provide chairs just inside the periphery of the dance floor for dancers wanting to stay engaged while taking care of their physical capacities, as well as a large floor mat for stretching to encourage self-care.

Mark your calendars for these upcoming special events: Vernal Equinox recognition on Thursday, March 19th; Community Potluck at Dan and Sandra’s San Geronimo home from 2-6pm on Sunday May 17th; Fifth Annual Summer Solstice, Ritual, Dance and Potluck on Thursday June 18th; and the 5th Anniversary of San Geronimo Conscious Dance on July 9th.
As we continue to settle into our groove, we want to express our gratitude to all of you for being an integral part of our transformation. We love hearing and implementing some of your creative ideas so that Dance Medicine can grow into a one-of-a-kind supportive, conscious dance community. Thank you.