This week’s Dance First Member Spotlight is from Banafsheh, creator of Dance of Oneness!
Dear dancers,
Despite all the tragedies and losses, the pandemic has simultaneously brought a new level of expansiveness and intimacy with self and others. It has also given us a new appreciation for the power of dance.
Our dancing communities are reaching people world-wide thanks to Zoom. No longer limited by barriers of finance, time, and space, dancers from all over the globe can join our Dance of Oneness community – as well as the other dance communities facilitators have been so liberally sharing with us in Monday Love emails. As we expand our reach, our world feels smaller, more intimate, and within our grasp. We can’t touch each other in person, but we are touching one another across space in ways that truly transform us. I am blown away again and again by the level of intimacy and depth we are able to reach on Zoom. Like many, I would have never believed this pre-pandemic. All my teaching was in person before April 2020.
Our crisis has forced us to come face to face with ourselves and with death. Many of us have become much more intimate with ourselves and, therefore, more able to share deeply and intimately with others. We have learned to be vulnerable, to be receptive, and to trust.
I love reading in the Monday Love emails how we’ve all put to use the gifts of dance with remarkable resiliency and adaptability – not only to survive, but to thrive and to help our communities move through this global dark night. For so many, dance has been the saving grace, a beacon of light in the darkness. I feel the pandemic has shown us the power and importance of dance and placed it at the forefront of coping and survival mechanisms. I regularly hear from my community that they simply could not have survived these times without our dance. And I know this to be true of all the other dance communities that went online. The dancing spirit can never be defeated, never overcome!
I’m curious about how the future will unfold for us. I really love what we’ve been able to create in the virtual world. I’ve been teaching live online courses pretty regularly since April 2020 and have created video versions of the live classes that many can access and download to follow again and again according to their own flow. So many have been able to join me, and we’ve covered so much ground with zero carbon footprint. But I REALLY miss our in-person gatherings in beautiful locations like Esalen, a little town sitting on natural hot springs in Turkey, Chartres, the Swiss Alps…
I feel most of us will blend online with in person as we usher in a new way of being with one another as responsible stewards and guardians of our precious planet home. This change will make us stronger – even if it doesn’t feel like it yet.
In the meantime, we keep dancing. I’m excited about Radiant Embodiment, the new series I’m starting on March 9th. Radiant explores embodiment through sacred dance and conscious movement, tuning into the wisdom of the body, sacred feminine archetypes, mystical teachings, and quantum physics. You can register for the whole 8-month series or join monthly. Check out Dance of Oneness: Radiant Embodiment.
See you on your dance floor!
Love,
Banafsheh
