The Sacred Dance Guild organizes sacred dance festivals that include master classes, workshops, performances and other experiences of dance as a sacred art. Representing many dance styles as well as different spiritual and cultural backgrounds, festival faculty and workshop leaders are among the finest teachers and performers in sacred dance and mind/body practices. Festivals are open to dancers of all levels, ages, abilities and backgrounds – all are welcome to experience movement as meditation, healing, prayer, activism and fun.
In Person “Mini” Festival – July 27-30, 2023 – Space Harmony: Portal to the Sacred – 65th Anniversary Celebration!
In celebration of our 65 revolutions around the sun – we are gathering once again IN PERSON at Connecticut College and at Jacob’s Pillow. See details HERE!
Past Festivals (On Line and In Person)
Online “Mini” Festival – March 24 & 25, 2023 – Yesterday, Now, Always
As our first celebration of our 65 revolutions around the sun we explored “Yesterday, Now and Always” with SIX of the Sacred Dance Guild’s Honorary Members (Carlynn Reed, David Taylor, Carol Paramjyoti Stieber, Laura Shannon, Banafsheh Sayyad and Carla DeSola) and TWO new SDG members (Smile Garcia and Gizelle Salome) in an adventure that honored the past, danced in the present and leapt high into the future! SEE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION HERE!
Online “Mini” Festival – February 26 – 27, 2022
In celebration of our 64 years in existence over SEVEN decades – we had SEVEN SUPERB SAGES enjoying SEVEN SUPERB STAGES of life to connect and create. In celebration of our diverse and “intergenderational” community each of these presenters celebrated a different one of the SEVEN decades that we have been Dancing the Sacred, Moving the World! So – for this on line experience – we had a leader celebrating life in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s to embrace and enjoy! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!
Online “Mini” Festival – February 19 – 21, 2021
For this on line “mini” festival we traveled from Hong Kong to California and explored how we can weave webs of light around the planet! Starting in Hong Kong with David Leung and moving to California with Daria Halprin, daughter of SDG Honorary member Anna Halprin, and co-founder of the Tamalpa Institute, and ending with a live performance concert of “The Doors” by the expanded Trinity Movement Choir with dancers from two continents! CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS!
Online Festival – July 31st – August 3rd, 2020 (The FIRST!)
Our first ONLINE Festival for the Sacred Dance Guild OPEN around the globe to all to join in one collective dance! During the time of the Global Covid Pandemic our doors were opened to be socially present while physically distant!. From the “Opening Celebration” on Friday July 31st to the “Concert and Closing Celebration” on August 2nd and continuing with a “post weekend” FILM FESTIVAL this was a journey of discovery through the world of the many ways we experience dance as an expression of the sacred. With 20+ faculty from seven countries there were Classes, Sharing Dance Time, Social Time, a “Not So Silent” auction, a Concert, Video showings with talkback and a Living Legacy Interview! Registrants were encouraged to come and go as they feel called with no need to register for individual classes or events! We were all surprised and overjoyed at the others we met (old and new!) as we opened the “Screen Door” for each session! See the Festival Highlights video and the Festival Concert “Way of the Phoenix” both on the SDG Youtube channel.
PAST IN PERSON FESTIVALS!
Dancing on….. The Sacred Dance Guild’s 60th Anniversary Event
June 15-17, 2018
New London, Connecticut, USA
Celebrating 60 Years of Dancing the Sacred
1958-2018
SIXTY people – celebrating the Sacred Dance Guild’s 60 years – came together at a celebration at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut – the home of the 2005, 2008 (50th Anniversary) and 2010 weeklong Festivals as well as a number of “mini” Festivals. It is an historic dance venue and we were thrilled to have this space for our 60th anniversary time together.
Dancing on Waves of Grace
July 24 to 29, 2015
Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Faculty included Ronya-Lee Anderson, Deborah Mauldin, Stella Matsuda, Kim Vetter and Barbara Supovitz.
Photo Album | Poster | Program (17 MB) | Concert Poster | Concert Program | Webpage | Synopsis
Dance a World of Hope
July 24 to 29, 2012
Holland, Michigan, USA
Faculty included Jason Warley, Shahrzad Khorsandi, Denise Damon Wade, Dianne Eno, Kathryn Mihelick and Andrea Shearer.
Photo Album | Poster
Simply Soaring
July 26 to 31, 2010
New London, Connecticut, USA
Faculty included Kathy Harty-Gray, David Taylor, Kathryn Sparks and Jane Wellford.
Video | Photo Album | Poster
Moving Mysteries
Celebrating 50 years of the SDG
July 20 to 25, 2008
New London, Connecticut, USA
Faculty included Wesley Yarber, Judith Rock, Leah Mann, Ruth Douthwright, Carla DeSola, Katharine Harts, Carlynn Reed, Mary Jane Wolbers, Karen Josephson, Cynthia Winton-Henry and Phil Porter.
Video | Photo Album | Poster
Many Faiths, Many Forms… Dancing the Sacred Together
July 17 to 22, 2007
Berkeley, California, USA
Faculty included Mahea Uchiyama, Albirda Rose Eberhardt and AXIS Dance Company.
Dancing Our Roots… Stretching New Branches
July 21 to 26, 2005
New London, Connecticut, USA
Faculty included Mary Anthony, Ernestine Stodelle, Maxine Steinman, Judith Rose, Jeanne Bresciani, Alesh DuCarmo, Mary Christine O’Connor and Chen-Yu Exuei.
Paths of Radiance
July 17 to 22, 2003
Claremont, California, USA
Faculty included Carla DeSola, Cynthia Winton-Henry, John Pennington, Prajwal, and John West.
Tell It on the Mountain
July 12 to 17, 2002
Rindge, New Hampshire, USA
Faculty included Kathryn Mihelick and Andrea Shearer, Doug Victor, Daphne Lowell, Dianne Eno, Gloria Castono and Sylvia Bryant.
Dancing Pacific Winds
July 22 to 29, 2001
Kamuela, Hawai’i, USA
Faculty included Katharine Harts, Kara Esposito, Pekelo Day, Cheryl Flaherty and Leila Beh.
Weaving Webs of Light
August 6 to 11, 2000
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Faculty included Margie Gillis, Anjali, Alexandra Caverly-Lowery, Zab Maboungou and Antonio Francesco.
… and many others stretching back to the first festivals, held at Jacob’s Pillow — the world-renowned dance center, school and performance space — from 1958 to 1961, with modern dance pioneers Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, Jess Meeker, Mary Anthony and Margaret Fisk Taylor, among others.