SEPTEMBER 2024 – Over the past four years the Sacred Dance Guild’s “Legacy Project” has considered the many ways of continuing the “legacy” of this unique organization – started in 1958 – to present and future generations – while honoring the incredible past that has brought us to where we are today. One of the areas reviewed was the Sacred Dance Professional Facilitator Program. While the Program was initiated a number of years ago, the review indicated that the process and criteria did not adequately reflect the evolving philosophy of the Sacred Dance Guild in a meaningful way. Over the past two years our journey has resulted in the creation of an assessment criteria and process that focuses on the areas that the Sacred Dance Guild will apply to assess individuals being considered to be on the Sacred Dance Guild “approved” facilitator list . The FIVE areas are summarized below:
- CALLING – The story of the “calling” to dance as an expression of the sacred.
- HISTORY – The knowledge, studies, experience of the history of dance as sacred art in general and in the specific form (if appropriate).
- ART – The experience, existing teaching/facilitation of the movement/dance form, style and/or process.
- SCIENCE – The knowledge/studies/experience related to the body/mind/spirit connection and the attentiveness to the safety and experience of participants.
- MYSTERY – The ability to inspire/teach/educate others.
During the development process, it was noted that the resulting acronym is CHASM! “Chasm” – a deep fissure which can be seen as a portal connecting inner and outer world – a liminal space – a transition between two locations, or states of being; it is where earth opens to sky – a link between the worlds, it is an opening and therein lies the opportunity to explore and experience and to build bridges of connection between the “chasms” created over time and history by humans on the planet! Sacred Dance is all of these things! We also note that verbally the “H” is silent…. a reminder that we often forget to consider our History – H is most definitely included in the areas of assessment noted above and an important part of the “Legacy Project” of the Sacred Dance Guild. In the words of Rumi – “Dancing is not just getting up painlessly, like a leaf blown on the wind; dancing is when you tear your heart out and rise out of your body to hang suspended between the worlds“.
During the spring/summer of 2024 the assessment process has been piloted/tested with individuals who are part of the existing Facilitator’s group of Sacred Dance Guild members who have been “granded” in to this program honoring their enduring commitment and deep work in dance as an expression of the sacred. (Note – we recognize there may be individuals we have inadvertently “missed” when casting our gaze over existing members – in Year 1 we will continue that journey and others may be added to the list). We are now ready to formalize a process that reflects the beauty of our past while embracing the present and honoring the future.
Those individuals who have been “approved” by the Sacred Dance Guild as facilitators to date (listed below) and those who will be approved in the future (a maximum of five per year) continue a lineage of the amazing individuals who have honored the “sacred” and the “dance” at the highest levels in the past – Ted Shawn, Ruth St. Denis, Jess Meeker, Mary Anthony, Jean Erdman, Erika Thimey, Matteo, Arthur Hall, Forest Coggan, Anna Halprin. It also includes the Honorary members who are with us today – Carla DeSola, Carlynn Reed, Margie Gillis, Banafsheh Sayyad, Laura Shannon, Carola Stieber and David Taylor. We believe all of these individuals, and those who will be added to this list following the new assessment process, are profound and important gifts to the world of “sacred dance”. The individuals below and the “Honorary” members noted above are ALL “approved” by the Sacred Dance Guild Board of Directors and without hesitation we would recommend any of these individuals to any organization, group or individuals looking for a Sacred Dance Facilitator where there particular form/process is of interest. All of the individuals embrace the Sacred Dance Guild philosophy in this Living Document.
The new program was officially presented at the Sacred Dance Guild Annual General Meeting on September 22, 2024 as part of the “Weaving the World of Sacred Dance” virtual Mini Festival.
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If you or your organization are looking for someone to facilitate a workshop, give a lecture or presentation, dance at an event – the Sacred Dance Guild provides a global membership community of professional dancers, from diverse backgrounds and experience. This fellowship of spiritually diverse sacred dance presenters are passionate movement artists who embody the universal language of the soul, while furthering one’s connection to body, mind, spirit and heart. These facilitators provide an inclusive and rich sacred dance tapestry for promoting peace, harmony and justice through movement. This artistic kaleidoscope nurtures the synergy of dynamic exchange furthering the Sacred Dance Guild’s motto of “Dancing the Sacred, Moving the World”. It would be our pleasure to have one of our Sacred Dance Guild presenters work with you in whatever way we can.
In addition to our “Honorary Members” (Carla DeSola, Margie Gillis, Banafsheh Sayyad, Laura Shannon, Carola Stieber and David Taylor), the Sacred Dance Guild Board of Directors has approved the following members meeting the SDG criteria to be identified as Sacred Dance Guild Facilitators.
Click on the member name to find out more information about their background and what they can offer related to dance as an expression of the sacred. If you would like additional information, have questions about this program or would like to connect with any of these facilitators, please contact prog@sacreddanceguild.org.
Note: In addition to the SDG approved facilitators listed below, there are SDG members with specific expertise who joyfully volunteer their time and work in communities in various sacred dance activities (i.e. starting a dance choir, providing sacred dance awareness sessions/activities, dance at a community or worship event, mentor others in the Sacred Dance community in any variety of specifics, etc.). If you would like to connect with an SDG “expert” to work with you on your sacred dance journey – contact res@sacreddanceguild.org.
SACRED DANCE GUILD APPROVED FACILITATORS
Claire Elizabeth Barratt (Asheville, North Carolina, USA) – “Living Art” movement/dance/art installations, performances and workshops
Betsey Beckman (Seattle, Washington, USA) – to be updated
Sylvia Buck Bryant (Bethesda, Maryland, USA) – dance workshops, book readings, lectures, demonstrations
Dianne Eno (Marlow, New Hampshire, USA) – environmental dance artist: educator; certified Forest-Bathing Guide; Certified Reiki Master Practitioner, Meditation, Modern dance
Helena Froehlich (Boston, Massachusetts, USA) – prayer, meditation, energy awareness, choreography, ballet, modern, Pilates, yoga, EMF Balancing Technique, iPhoenix
Marilyn Green (New York, New York, USA) – To be updated
Marylee Hardenbergh (Minneapolis, Minesota, USA) – dance therapy, site-specific/environment dance, community based performance, movement choir
Vannia Ibarguen (Los Angeles, California, USA) – Creative movement, ballet, contemporary dance, Latin-American rhythms, improvisation, multimedia projects, reiki practitioner, Certified Movement Analyst, Yoga certified, Site Specific Dance, Environmental Dance.
Tricia mary Lee (Bussleton, Australia) – Weaving together experiences as a natural therapist, a Reflexologist, a dancer, teacher, healer and practitioner of Qigong, Tai Chi, body centered movement & dance therapy and a facilitator for Sacred Mystery women’s circle
Leah Mann (Seattle, Washington USA) – To be Updated
Melissa Michaels (Colorado, USA) – embodying life’s rhythms, the dance of birth, dancing on sacred soils of body and heart
Judith Rose (New York, USA) – founder of Vital Movement™, an educator, choreographer, poet, and movement artist with extensive training in a variety of movement arts and therapeutic modalities from around the globe.
Maria Sangiorgi (Melbourne, Australia) – combining skills in DMT, Body Psychotherapy, Somatic & Sensory Awareness, Authentic Movement, Alexander Technique, Continuum, Sacred Dance, Art, & other life skills & experiences making up her unique & personal healing modality
Hiie Saumaa (Paris, France) – inspiring people to discover the dancer, artist, healer in themselves – somatic dance and themed workshops using mindfulness, meditation, somatics, strength training, NIA, JourneyDance, etc.
Celeste Nazeli Snowber (Vancouver, BC, Canada) To be Updated
Carla Stalling Walter (Milledgeville, Georgia, USA) – Sacred Dance Meditation is known throughout all time and space, and the silent influencer of change and the spiraling path
Diana Turner-Forte (North Carolina), USA) – Transforming the human spirit through the art of movement.
John West (Los Angeles, California, USA) – To be Updated
Cynthia Winton-Henry (Bay Area, California, USA) – To be Updated
Leslie Zehr (Cairo, Egypt) – To be updated
These are just some of the workshop possibilities that these facilitators can present. If you would like to develop a workshop or event around another topic, discuss it with your facilitator or contact the SDG for suggestions.
Biographies
Claire Elizabeth Barratt (Asheville, North Carolina, USA)
Claire Elizabeth Barratt (artist moniker CillaVee) is a British interdisciplinary performing artist based in the USA. She is the director of international arts organization Cilla Vee Life Arts, established Bronx NY 2002 and runs The Center for Connection + Collaboration from her home in Asheville, NC. She has received a number of awards, including project sponsorship from JP Morgan Chase, NYSCA and the NEA. She served an apprenticeship with the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation and holds an MFA in Creative Practice from the Transart Institute for Creative Research with Plymouth University where she developed the Living Art performance pedagogy. During the decade of the 1990s he was a Co-Founder and Director for Circle Modern Dance and a Choreographer for the Knoxville Opera Company in Tennessee. Claire has presented work through organizations such as Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bronx Council on the Arts, Black Mountain College Museum + Art Center and Art Basel Miami – as well as continuing as a member and facilitator with the international Sacred Dance Guild since 1997. She has performed and taught throughout the USA and in Canada, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.
Social Media: cillavee.com; livingartcvla.blogspot.com; instagram.com/cillaveelifearts/; facebook.com/CillaVeeLifeArts
Workshop/Performance Possibilities: Living Art performance pedagogy – including Body Tuning, Creative Response and Motion Sculpture movement meditations. Living Art is a method developed by Claire Elizabeth Barratt via the Transart Institute for Creative Practice and accredited by Plymouth University. It addresses the Self as “raw material” from which to create.
Betsey Beckman (Seattle, Washington)
Betsey Beckman, MM is nationally acclaimed as a spirited dancer, storyteller, teacher of SpiritPlay and dancing Spiritual Director. With her extensive repertory of sacred storydances, she is regularly featured as artist/presenter at national conventions as well as local churches. She earned her Masters in Ministry degree from Seattle University, her certificate in Movement Therapy from the Institute for Transformational Movement, and is a certified InterPlay leader. As dancer, choreographer, author, mother, wife, teacher and spiritual director, she is passionate about living life fully and fostering creativity in all those with whom she shares life and ministry. Betsey’s publications include books (she is co-author of Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction), recordings – including producing the Abbey of the Arts CD collections, and The Dancing Word series of DVDs on embodied prayer, many of which companion the Abbey CDs. She offers the gift of playful improvisation.
See additional details on Betsey’s sacred dance journey About – The Dancing Word
Website: The Dancing Word – Embodying the Sacred in Liturgy and life
Workshop Possibilities: To be updated
Sylvia Buck Bryant (Bethesda, Maryland, USA)
Sylvia is an accomplished dancer, teacher, and choreographer specializing in sacred and contemporary dance. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Tuskegee University and a master of science degree from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Bryant attended the American Dance Festival at the Connecticut College of Dance in New London, Connecticut, where she introduced to and studied with Martha Graham, Rod Rogers, Jose’ Limon’, and Charles Weidman, all pioneers of contemporary dance. Bryant studied at the Alvin Ailey American Theater and Margaret Fisk Taylor-Doane a pioneer in the area of sacred dance, and put Sacred Dance on the map. In addition to choreographing, teaching, and performing Liturgical dance in churches ministered by her husband, the late Revered Fletcher Juan Bryant, for over 30 years. Mrs. Bryant directed the dance program at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, and at Philander Smith College in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has performed exhibitions in New York, Baltimore, and London. One of the highlights of her dance career took place at Wesley’s Chapel in London. Presenter at numerous Festivals sponsored by the Sacred Dance Guild and presenter at a number of Fellowship of Music and the other Arts sponsored by the United Methodist Church. Bryant’s first’s published book on sacred dance, Dancing Through The Christian Calendar (Cokesbury, 1996), established her as a preeminent liturgical choreographer. In 2013, she was invited to participate in a community piece choreographed by Ronald K. Brown, of Evidence, A Dance Company, at BRIC House in Brooklyn, That same year, she traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, where she was featured in a tribute performance for Dr. Maya Angelou at the Paa Ya Paa Arts Centre, founded by Phillida and Elimo Njau.
Website: http://www.sylviabbryant.com – Dancing the Spirituals….An Amazing Grace
Emailing: contact@sylviabbryant.com – (Sylvia Buck Bryant)
Workshop possibilities: dance workshops, book readings and lecture demonstrations.
Dianne Eno (Marlow, New Hampshire, USA)
Dianne Eno s an international artist, environmental educator, performer, scholar and artistic director of Dianne Eno/Environmental DanceWorks, known for annual performances on the summit of Mt. Monadnock, the world’s second-most climbed mountain. Designing and implementing numerous programs for children /adults, her accomplishments include integrating dance, Native American Sign Language and natural environments; artist-in-residence at Acadia National Park; founder/director of the Satori Center for Nature and Forest Therapy; certified forest-bathing guide and Usui Reiki Master; a PhD in Environmental/Dance studies.
Facebook: The Satori Center for Nature and Forest Therapy | Facebook
Workshop possibilities: environmental dance artist; educator; certified Forest-Bathing Guide; Certified Reiki Master Practitioner, meditation, modern
Helena Froehlich (Massachusetts, USA)
Helena Froehlich is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, and energy practitioner. She has lived and danced in France, Germany and the USA. Along the way she has studied dance and movement forms, mostly ballet and modern dance, and received several scholarships and grants for her dance and choreographic endeavors. Since 1978, she has been dancing, teaching or choreographing in many companies and schools including: École municipal de danse Strasbourg, Opera du Rhin, Centre National de Danse Contemporaine, Association & Compagnie CreationDance (France), Stadt Theater Biberach, Tanz! (Germany),and the American Repertory Ballet, Princeton. She is currently teaching at the Boston Ballet School. Helena is the artistic director of CreationDance, in residence at the First Unitarian Society Newton, dancing in churches and performances around the Boston area. She loves dance, spirituality and exploring human nature. She creates dance pieces that help people to enjoy and share more of who they are. She believes that sacred dance is a wonderful way to develop, experience and share wholeness, inviting the spirit, mind and emotions to connect, heal and move our bodies. She believes that human beings are like musical instruments, and that they tune and raise their energy as they dance, resonating with everyone around them and with the planet. Helena encourages her dancers to experience dance as a moving prayer and meditation, as a daily practice indoors or in nature. In performance, she creates and shares dance in many ways so that everyone can participate. She studies several energy modalities and is a certified practitioner of the EMF Balancing Technique.
Workshop possibilities: moving prayer and meditation, energetically aware dancing, meaningful choreography, ballet and modern dance, Pilates, yoga, EMF Balancing Technique energy work, the iPhoenix, any combination of the above
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Marilyn Green (New York City, USA)
Marilyn is Director of the Trinity Movement Choir, as well as a choreographer and interdisciplinary artist. Her work in dance, music, and visual arts/film animation have earned her extensive recognition, from a Millay Colony Award to a Ford Foundation Fellowship and grants in the arts and humanities for projects in several disciplines. Her technical work in dance centers on Rudolf Laban, both in terms of movement analysis and his philosophy of creating set choreography with room for personal expression, and on Butoh’s focus on the transformation of the dancer and audience in performance. Her content draws on Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and her own spiritual experience.
Social Media:
Workshop possibilities:
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Marylee Hardenbergh (Minneapolis, USA)
Marylee is known for her outdoor site-specific choreographies that she has created for over 30 years. She is a Founding member/original Artistic Director of the Global Water Dances and Artistic Director of Global Site Performances. She has received numerous awards and grants, including fellowships for choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts in the USA and the Soros and McKnight Foundations. She has led many movement choirs and also has practiced as a dance movement therapist for over 40 years. She is a Certified Movement Analyst trained under Irmgard Bartenieff and Penny Lewis Berstein, loves to use Space Harmony in her work, and brings in a therapeutic sensitivity to all of her choreography. Marylee says “The space surrounding our body (our kinesphere), which can be mapped out into the space crystals (sacred geometric forms) as taught by Rudolph Laban, can be used as a portal to the sacred. Space Harmony teaches us the importance of spatial intention; we can use the different characteristics of space to deepen our spiritual experience and prayer life. The clearer we are about the space outside our body, the deeper we can tap into our internal roots.” Marylee co-facilitated the Sacred Dance Guild’s 2022 Sacred Dance Retreat to Bali, the 2023 Sacred Dance Guild’s Summer Mini Festival at Connecticut College and Jacob’s Pillow and the 2024 Sacred Dance Retreat to Peru.
Website: Global Site Performance
Workshop possibilities: Learn about overlapping concepts of sacred dance, dance therapy, and site-specific dance; learn about the healing effects on the community, including inclusivity, shared purpose, a reconnection to something larger, and seeing oneself in a new way; learn how to direct a community-based performance or Movement Choir.
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Vannia Ibarguen (Los Angeles, California USA)
Vannia Ibarguen is a Peruvian facilitator, performer, choreographer, dance instructor, and Artistic Director of VIDA – Vannia Ibarguen Dance Arts. Her research is focused on the interaction between dance and technology, and also the relationship between classical, contemporary, and folk dance styles. Vannia earned her MFA in Dance at the University of Maryland and has received awards for her choreography in the United States, Peru, Argentina, Cuba, and Colombia. She is also the Artistic Director of Global Water Dances, a biennial event where more than 100 cities around the world create outdoor dances to create awareness about water issues in the local and global community. Vannia is on the faculty at the Cerritos College’s Dance Department, Board member of the California Dance Education Association, Professional Fellow at the Arts Council for Long Beach, California, and was one of the facilitator’s at the Sacred Dance Guild’s Journey to Peru in 2024.
Website: https://www.vanniaibarguen.com/
Workshop possibilities: In person or online – Creative movement, ballet, contemporary dance, Latin-American rhythms, improvisation, Certified Movement Analyst, Yoga certified, Site Specific Dance, Environmental Dance.
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Tricia mary Lee (Busselton, Australia)
Tricia mary Lee is a lifelong lover of dance and has travelled widely from her Celtic and European roots to learn and also share her passion with others, Moving to Australia in 1992 she was introduced to Indigenous and Sacred song and dance and there commenced her personal Sacred Dance quest. Discovering The Sacred Dance Guild in 2003 she attended festival as a scholarship dancer in Connecticut in 2008 and is now Co Vice President on the Board of the Guild. Organising the Bali Sacred Dance Retreats in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2022 she opens the door for women to cherish themselves in fragrance and beauty and to explore their personal journey in Sacred Dance as well as creating a sense of community and communion. She also holds regular Sacred dance workshops weaving her many strands of experience together from circle dances to Qigong, Oriental belly dance to Sacred Earth dances and contributes to Women’s retreats in her local area of South West Australia. She has formal qualifications in Education and Training, Reflexology and Reiki, natural health and healing, Palliative Care and Sacred Dying, as well as Body Centred Movement Therapy and Dance Therapy. “Come Dance, Be Barefoot, Blessed and Beautiful” . Tricia also led the Sacred Dance Guild 8 week on line “Moving Through Grief” program (March – May 2022).
Workshop possibilities: Weaving together experiences as a natural therapist, a Reflexologist, a dancer, teacher, healer and practitioner of Qigong, Tai Chi, body centred movement & dance therapy and a facilitator for Sacred Mystery women’s circle
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Leah Mann (Seattle, Washington, USA)
Leah’s work focuses on embodiment and somatic understanding for integrity and transformation. As a former competitive gymnast and with her degree in Health, Physical Education and Dance, she has utilized her kinetic, tactile and spacial learning style to reintegrate whole body practices into all her art actions – performing, teaching youth, facilitating social justice events, facilitating personal development workshops and producing events. Her work focuses on the common denominators of the human experience, the formation of community and healthy ecosystems, micro and macro. In addition to being Co-Founder of Lelavision, Leah is the Director Emeritus and Co-Founder of the award-winning company, Moving in the Spirit – a dance, urban outreach , mentorship program in Atlanta, which has been thriving since 1987 and named one of the top 10 youth development organizations in the natioN
Workshop Possibilities: To be updated
Website: https://kintsugisomaticart.wordpress.com/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/share/1A8uKj9s1C/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Instagram@kintsugi_somatic_art
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Melissa Michaels (Colorado, USA)
Melissa Michaels, EdD, is the founder and director of Surfing the Creative International Rites of Passage Programs, Golden Bride and Wild Life Productions. She is a social artist and dancer dedicated to our collective renewal through the liberation of the creative spirit. She creates dance-based educational opportunities, focusing on consciousness and embodiment for people in all of life’s cycles. Mapping the journey from trauma to dynamic well being, her work utilizes the expressive arts to establish body and heart as resources for living. Her movement-based programs serve individuals and communities around the world navigating their way through major life thresholds.
Website: GoldenBridge.org
Workshop possibilities: embodying life’s rhythms, the dance of birth, dancing on sacred soils of body and heart
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Judith Rose (Nyack, New York, USA)
Judith Rose, founder of Vital Movement™, is an experienced educator, choreographer, poet, and movement artist. She has extensive training in a variety of movement arts and therapeutic modalities from around the globe. Insights drawn from her rich background in Jungian Studies, Literature, and World Mysticism, are seamlessly integrated into her offerings. Judith is a certified practitioner of Otiyot Hayyot, a Kabbalistic mindfulness practice developed by Dr. Yehudit Goldfarb. She studied and trained with David Leventhal, the director of the Mark Morris Dance for Parkinson’s Disease program, which has inspired her to create a unique eldercare program. Judith is known for her distinct choreographic vision that is at the heart of her original workshops and movement journeys which have travelled to studios in many universities, cultural institutions, and dance centers. She often serves as presenter for her beloved Sacred Dance Guild and also collaborates with other artists to create inter-disciplinary works of distinction. Judith’s work is a passionate devotion that is deeply grounded in the belief that the arts provide a medium for personal and communal healing, joy, and transformation.
Vision: My professional vision brings us back to the organic patterns we used when we lived in intimate connection with the earth. These kinesthetic motifs were filled with beauty and were innate to a life that once placed an ear close to the ground and lifted eyes toward heaven to read the signs and signals of nature. The body longs to return to this kind of pure, essential, joyous movement. These understandings lie at the root of the movement sessions, classes, rituals, and workshops that I design. The student is my collaborator and together we listen, learn, and teach.
Website: www.judithroseVM.com
Workshop Possibilities: Beautiful Poses, EMET- The Movement of Truth, Listening to the Inner Dance of Yoga , NESHAMAH – The Soul’s Journey, Shekinah/Shakti, The Alchemy of Healing, The Unexpected, Through My Flesh I See, Vital Movement for Conscious Eldering, Vital Movement/Vital Words, The Jung Salon , Surrender to the Unknown
Maria Sangiorgi (Melbourne, Australia)
Maria Sangiorgi is a Visual and performing Artist, Dance Movement Therapist, Body Centred Psychotherapist, Massage Therapist, Humanitarian & Teacher. As a Dance Movement Therapist she works with a vast cross section of the community in a number of countries. Including folks with physical & intellectual disabilities, all levels of mental health including schizophrenia, addiction, substance abuse, depression, eating disorders & body image.Maria’s life work in Raqs Sharqi (Egyptian) dance lead to the creation of Embodied Bellydance & Sacred Somatic Dance. She brings elements of this dance into her Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) practice. Maria combines her skills in DMT, Body Psychotherapy, Somatic & Sensory Awareness, Authentic Movement, Alexander Technique, Continuum, Sacred Dance, Art, & other life skills & experiences making up her unique & personal healing modality. She lives in Melbourne Australia, and also works in Italy, Japan & Bali.
Website: www.dancingisis.comwww.dancemovementtherapy.com.au
Workshop possibilities: In person or on line –
Hiie Saumaa (Paris, France)
Hiie Saumaa, PhD, is a somatic movement educator and a dance writer/scholar. She’s from Estonia and currently based in Paris. She writes about movement and health, dance history, and the artistic process. She teaches Nia dance, BodyLogos Strength Training (somatic approach to conditioning and stretching), and JourneyDance (inspirational free dance practice, a movement ritual). She loves to inspire people to enjoy the energy, healing, and aliveness that dancing, and movement can give us. Hiie will be facilitating the Sacred Dance Guild 6-week on line program “Our Sacred Dance, Our Sacred Space) in June/July 2022.
Website: https://www.hiiesaumaa.com/
Workshop possibilities: In person or on line – Somatic Dance, Somatic Strength Training, Themed Workshops.
Celeste Nazeli Snowber (Vancouver, BC, Canada)
Celeste Nazeli Snowber, PhD is a dancer, poet, writer and award-winning educator. Her opus of multidisciplinary works has developed and instituted the importance of embodied forms of inquiry; the presence of the body within arts-based research, and its implications for writing, being, creating, teaching and living. The foundation of her research lies in the integration between body and mind, physicality and spirituality, with emphasis on connecting the personal and universal. The essence of her performative work centres around site specific performance and complete one-woman-shows that integrate comedy, contemporary dance and improvisation and how one lives a juicy life amidst complexities and wonder. As a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, Celeste is a sought-after mentor and has recently expanded her reach to write, speak and perform to wider audiences who long for the connections between authentic living, discovering voice, and exploring artistic expression in the midst of difficult times. Celeste’s publications include books, collections of poetry, as well as chapters and articles in scholarly books and journals. She has performed and spoken internationally for concert venues, galleries, museums, conferences, and in various outdoor spaces. Celeste’s SFU Faculty Website can be found HERE.
Website: HOME | CELESTE SNOWBER – AUTHOR, PERFORMER, SPEAKER
Workshop Possibilities:
Diana Turner-Forte (North Carolina, USA)
DIANA is a sacred dancer, holistic health practitioner, and writer. Her interest in sacred and liturgical dance, ritual and celebration of the sacredness of the body as a vehicle for prayer spans most of her life. She conducts private, small group classes, and workshops that enable participants to explore the synergistic wholeness of body, mind, and soul through dance and to discover their innate healing power. This has led to further explorations of the Divine Feminine and awakened interest in exploring long-forgotten aspects of the sacred feminine creative experience throughout history. Her blog Wonderfully Human is a collection of reflections on the intersection between spirit, the human form, and nature. Ms. Turner-Forte’s essays have been published in Stance on Dance, Universal Life Magazine, Kosmos Journal, and other periodicals. Her most recent contribution, “God’s in Me, Too!” was published in Experiencing God: Faith Narratives of Episcopalians. She’s professed in the Third Order Society of St. Francis (TSSF) and resides in North Carolina.
Website: www.dianaturnerforte.com; dianaturnerforte.substack.com
Workshop Possibilities: The Divine Feminine w/ focus on Mary; Theology of the Body; Embodied Prayers and Meditations; Sacred Body 8’s Movement Practice
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Carla Stalling Walter (Milledgeville, Georgia, USA)
All through her life, Carla’s love of dance leads her. Dance is a wonderful physical exercise. But it has psychological influences, and power to transform lives. Her numerous articles and books amplify dance’s powers as healing, meditative, and influential. Her most recent publication, Sacred Dance Meditations: 365 Globally Inspired Movement Practices Enhancing Awakening, Clarity and Connection (2020, Penguin Random House, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/625264/sacred-dance-meditations-by-carla-stalling-walter/) is an inspirational daily reader drawing on dance’s powers. Most recently, Carla served as the Martha Daniel Newell Visiting Scholar at Georgia College and State University. Prior to that she held tenured faculty positions, and served in leadership roles, from dean to chancellor, at public and private universities and colleges. With a doctorate in Dance History and Theory from the University of California, Riverside, USA, and certification in Somatic Movement from Antioch University, she amplifies the practice of sacred dance meditation as a nondiscursive method connecting to wellbeing.
Website: www.cswalter.org
Workshop Possibilities: Carla is available to facilitate sacred dance meditation workshops and seminars virtually, and physically in geographic locations, for groups and organizations.
John West (California, USA)
As a child studied dance at the Lester Horton School of Dance, and as a teen studied tap under Willie Covan. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in dance and theatre from Macalester College, he returned to Los Angeles and began a career of teaching and administrating at his alma mater, Mount Carmel High School. Continuing his professional education, Mr. West earned a M.Ed. from Loyola-Marymount University and a M.A. degree in Folklore and Mythology from UCLA with an emphasis in biblical literature and dance. Later, he began a long and varied career in the independent schools of Los Angeles, starting at Harvard/Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City. Throughout his teaching career he has taught not only in academic areas but also directed plays, taught dance and choreographed musicals. He has been a dancer and choreographer in the field of sacred and liturgical dance since 1967, when he assisted in the creation of an experimental liturgy in a parish church in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the administrative level Mr. West has served as Asst. Head of Harvard-Westlake’s Upper School, Headmaster of Mirman School for the Gifted, and President of Nardin Academy in Buffalo, NY. At the state level he served as the Vice President and Chair of the Elementary Board of Standards on the Board of Directors for the California Association of Independent Schools. Nationally, he was a member of the NAIS Call To Action for the National Association of Independent Schools V. P. of Equity and Justice Initiatives from 2000-2015. His work as Artistic Director of the Valyermo Dancers continues to be complemented by his roles as Sacred & Liturgical Dance Workshop Leader and Clinician and as Independent Educational Consultant on Equity and Social Justice. In 2013 he received the honor of “Man of Valor” from the NAACP. He lends his expertise to schools and organizational boards in Southern California. John says ”So much of what we practitioners of sacred dance face nests in the misperception that what we do has no roots in one country or tradition or the other; that the sacred/divine have no comity or intersection with one another. The Guild controverts that; it provides ongoing proof that “We are!” It provides our art a level sustainability for all those who have come before and for all who will follow. I am proud to contribute to that end.”
Workshop possibilities: To be Updated
Cynthia Winton-Henry (Bay Area, California, USA)
Cynthia Winton-Henry, MDiv cofounded InterPlay, an international movement and leadership program that uses creativity to unlock the wisdom of the body. She writes, teaches, speaks, and offers spiritual coaching through Hidden Monastery Online Dance Chapels and Art of Ensoulment Courses. A life-long advocate of sacred dance, she writes at The Dancing Center on Substack. Her books include Art of Ensoulment: A Playbook on How to Create from Body and Soul, What the Body Wants, Chasing the Dance of Life, Dance: A Sacred Art: Discovering the Joy of Movement as Spiritual Practice.
Website: Cynthia-Winton-Henry.com
Workshop Possibilities: To be Updated
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Leslie Zehr (Cairo, Egypt)
A sacred arts teacher, workshop leader, mentor, and author, who, for more than 30 years, has supported women to reconnect to the Divine Feminine within through the mysteries of ancient Egypt. A trained hypnotherapist, reiki master, astrologer, aromatherapist, and homeopath, Leslie is the author of two books –The Alchemy of Dance: Sacred Dance as a Path to the Universal Dancer, which has been translated into Spanish; and The Al-chemia Remedies: Vibrational Essences from Egyptian Flowers and Sacred Sites – as well as a CD entitled “Navel Portal Activation and Guided Visualizations.” Born in Lima, Perú, and educated in the United States, Leslie grew up in the theater and was exposed to performance arts from early childhood. Leslie also studied many forms of dance and has an extensive background in the theater arts; her first stage performance was at the age of six. In her youth, she was also drawn to alternative therapies and the occult sciences, such as tarot and astrology. She followed a calling to “return” to Egypt in 1986 to learn about and experience the ancient mysteries. In Cairo, Leslie founded and ran The Centre for Health and Well-being, which later became The Centre for Sacred Arts (1995-2015), a modern-day temple for learning and creativity honoring the Goddess Hat-Hor. In 2002, after an initiation experience at Dendera Temple in Luxor, she received and developed the Universal Dancer, a simple but profound method of Sacred Dance that works with sacred geometry, primordial energies, waves, and the chakras to unlock intuition, vitality, and creativity. Through dance, Lesl ie retells archetypal stories that take women back through time to the essence of their being, unlocking the esoteric wisdom buried deep within their psyche. Leslie’s lectures, workshops, and retreats in Sacred Dance and the Al-chemia Remedies have been attended by thousands of women of different nationalities and have taken her from Cairo, ancient Egyptian temples and archaeological sites along the Nile River, to studios and centers in New York, Maine, Maryland, Arizona, Washington, and Puerto Rico. As a prominent aromatherapist in Cairo, in 2006 Leslie presented a talk to the doctors at the National Research Center of Egypt as a way to introduce aromatherapy to the Department of Complementary Therapies. She has also been a consultant for companies in the emerging aromatherapy market in Egypt. Currently, Leslie offers courses through her online school, Universal Dancer Temple of the Sacred Arts, and she is the Host and Producer of The Universal Dancer Podcast. Leslie holds a B.S. in psychology from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where she also majored in biochemistry. She also has international diplomas in homeopathy and hypnotherapy. Leslie is currently at work on a third book about dance as a spiritual practice. She continues to live in Cairo, with her children and grandchildren.
Website: https://universaldancer.com/
Workshop possibilities: To be Updated