TRANCE DANCE

I'm running a TRANCE DANCE on Sun 26th March, 2pm, Jubilee Hall, Chagford, Devon, UK.

Cost: £10 Contact: BWGoddard1@aol.co.uk Tel 01647 253241 Facebook: Dartmoor Trance Dance

Since the late 90s, Trance Dance has been my strongest and most natural way of connecting to what one might call the Spirit World. And I'm mobile: if you're in the UK and you hire a hall, I can come and run a dance. And/or do some astrology readings.

And this is what Trance Dance is about, at least how I see it:

People have been dancing to rhythmic music for thousands of years. The dance acts as a gateway to ‘non-ordinary’ consciousness: to the Spirit world, the Otherworld, the Unconscious…. There are many ways of framing it. In this sense it is a ritual, a ceremony.

We are much more than our everyday ‘rational’ selves. This understanding was basic to early peoples. It is a perspective, a way of being in the world, that has been largely lost in the modern West. And with it, a source of deep nourishment and guidance.

Trance dance helps us re-establish that relationship with the larger self, which knows no boundaries, that connects us to the whole of life. At the same time, the dance journey is personal and practical: we can bring those ‘close-to’ places that trouble us, or a desire for guidance, or prayers for others. Whatever we bring, the Spirit world has a way of addressing it, of helping it move on.

There is no defined form to the dance. ‘Movement’ might be a more accurate word: we go where the music, and the spirit, takes us, and that can range from a still contemplative space to something very vigorous. And it is not a performance, because no-one is watching or judging. Along with the rhythmic music, we wear a blindfold, a further prop to moving our attention inwards. (As facilitator, it is my job to keep an eye to ensure you don’t bump into anyone or anything!)

Trance dance can be like a shamanic journey, or like a big dream. We are taken somewhere else, and it can have a profound effect on our daily life. Everyone’s relationship to this other world is personal to them, there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ experiences. And it takes time afterwards to reflect on and absorb what has happened. Like dreams, the implications can sometimes take years to unfold.

The dance itself lasts about an hour. We are in ceremonial time, so it can seem much shorter or longer. And there is plenty of space around it: beforehand, to quietly gather ourselves and find our intentions (if any) for the dance; and afterwards, to slowly make the transition back to this reality.