Wednesday, April 8, 2015

“In the Temples of Aphrodite and Hera” - A “Mytho-therapeutic”, Transcendental Movement Journey Into the Archetypal Divide Between “Lover” and “Queen”

The telling and re-telling of the great myths has always been a powerful form of folk therapy.  “The story you are looking for is also looking for you,” wrote Dr. Robert Svoboda in The Greatness of Saturn – a Therapeutic Mythic, his recounting of the Vedic tale of the Father of Time and Limitations.  Like Joseph Campbell, he holds the myths to be living narratives who need us to engage them as much as we need their healing potential.  To interact with a myth is to participate in an egregore – a thought form whose power grows over the eons as countless individual stories weave into and out of them.

The legendary narratives of Greek mythology have handed down a rich cast of characters and archetypes that still live vibrantly in our imagination and culture.  Two Goddesses are in the great inner circle of Olympus. Both are beautiful and powerful, but in distinctly different ways.  Hera is the wife of Zeus, the Queen of Heaven and Earth.  Aphrodite is the Goddess of Love and Beauty, born of the Sea fully formed.  One is the regent of power and dominion, while the other embodies the primal forces of attraction and creativity.

To engage the myths is to embark upon a journey into the great Human Spirit, with the maps and symbols left behind by storytellers like Homer, Hesiod, or Eurypides.  In the ancient Greeks began a flowering of humanist western culture, with the gods cast as super-humans possessed of powerful traits both positive and negative.   To these archetypes generations of human consciousness have been aggregated in a timeless, undying dialogue which continues to teach us valuable lessons about the human spirit and its divine counterparts.  The truths of mythos are not literal so much as they are metaphorical; they carry echoes of universal qualities which inspire our cultures, arts, and values.  Aphrodite, for example, has been the most depicted, painted, sculpted, filmed, photographed, sung, sonneted, lamented woman of all time!  Hera, her regal counterpart (and mother-in-law in the soap opera of Olympus) is lesser-known but for how she was depicted by the (male) authors of Greek history.  In "The Temples of Aphrodite and Hera", we delve through history, myth, poetry, image, and dance to the cores of both of these potent emanations of the Divine Feminine.


There were various inspirations for this work, but one source has been essential, and that is the book The Goddess Within by Jennifer and Roger Woolger.  In it, the authors present their theory of modern feminine archetypal psychology through the six primary Greek goddess archetypes:  Athena (wisdom), Aphrodite (love), Artemis (nature), Demeter (mother), Hera (power) and Persephone (the unconscious).  All women carry aspects of these goddesses hard-wired into their psyches to varying degrees.  We identify with them much like zodiac signs or any other symbols; they are maps of consciousness that help us understand ourselves and our dramas in the light of their Universal principles.  The following website summarizes the book quite neatly, and is a good preparative read for the workshop:  www.goddess-power.com.

We are the Goddess and She is Us.  Between us is an unfolding dialogue that reveals us to ourselves more fully and to Her as reflections of Her Divinity.  Through ritual, movement, and conscious gesture, we journey to the Temples of Aphrodite and Hera within.  We commune with the Goddess consciousness and in the process encounter deeply-held beliefs, truths, illusions, and inspirations.  We have the opportunity to examine these and understand them in order to alchemize them – to deconstruct them and to separate the gold from the lead.

This workshop encourages women to “flip the script” and experiment with the creation of a new direction for the narrative that not only suggests that these two Godesses can get along, but that they can become a very powerful partnership – Love and Sovereignty, Passion and Duty, Attraction and Power working in service of the New Woman, the one envisioned by Isadora Duncan as being “the highest intelligence in the freest body.” Who doesn’t want both?  Doesn't it seem natural that we should embody both?  Doesn't it seem obvious that divided from each other and divided within ourselves we are easier to dominate?

How do they meet?  What are their gestures?  How can they help each other heal their wounds? In the Temples of Aphrodite and Hera, they meet in mythic time/space.  They dialogue.  They forgive.  Hera places the crown of legitimacy on Aphrodite's head, thereby healing her wound as the "outcast" object of suspicion, envy, and lust.  In return, Aphrodite opens Hera's heart - the often caged, cold, and lonely heart of the conquered Princess forced into a marriage of duty.  No Madonna/Whore complex can curtail the power unleashed by this mighty fusion!



More than ever, women are looking inward and starting to unpack the levels of cultural conditioning we’ve inherited and constructed.  We are looking across at each other and joining in the effort to grasp, define, and re-define our realities within the rapidly-spiraling chaos of our age.  There’s a lot of energy out there, and one way to navigate it is through these timeless ideas and thought-forms like the archetypes and the cosmic forces they represent.

We learn, among other things, that we are not so small and yet not so big as we once thought.  The big story is also the personal story, the Myth is the public dream, the dream the private Myth, as Joseph Campbell famously wrote. “As above, so below” begins to come into vivid focus as a tool of self-empowerment.  We discover that there isn’t a thing we’ve faced as women that the Goddess Herself hasn’t also conquered. She offers us the power of transformation - of transmutation, and Her therapeutic mythics are the paths to healing and integration, and to those versions of Self that have learned to turn our wounds into medals of honor.

What role do our bodies play?  They carry the imprint of everything we’ve been, done, said, or have experienced individually and collectively. The Body of Woman is the body of all women – its bones and curves and blood and claws – the giver of Life and the dark moon of all returns.  Womens’ sovereignty over their own bodies and their own potential for ecstatic pleasure, for example, is something only recently registered onto the topical radar of our time.  Can you imagine what a Hera/Aphrodite integrated woman could accomplish in that area? Many realizations burst forth when we begin to participate in the "therapeutic mythics" and begin to write our own stories. We find that creativity and sovereignty can co-exist, and that to follow our passion becomes the highest of duties.

To embody one’s knowledge and wisdom is a great challenge of our time.  So many of us are walking heads, caught in a world of work, strategy, traffic, stress, and deadlines.  We are cut off from our bodies and often at the mercy of relentless cultural messaging about them, which we absorb at all levels of consciousness. We are force-fed insidious lies about feminine power, bound by stereotypes that keep us tethered to the post of patriarchal privilege.    Where do we go for sustenance? 

More than ever, we need each other as women.  Our gender has broken many barriers within the last two centuries, and together with our “emancipation” has also come a certain erosion of community as we evolve our way through a male-dominated landscape.  Men are not the enemy.  It’s our ignorance of our own innate power that’s the enemy.  We have to continue to step beyond the boundaries as our foremothers did and cycle around to what is constant in the Divine Feminine Spirit:  Community.  We may no longer all bond over the canning, weaving, or child-rearing, but today we have the time, resources, and freedom of choice to bond on a new platform for unity and healing among women, and I believe that platform is the Dance.

“The Dance of the Future is the Dance of the Past and of all times” wrote Isadora Duncan, who affirmed to the New Woman that the art of the dance must be returned to its rightful place as a sacred art form. When we move through the Goddess, we re-enact Her mysteries and for a brief eternity, we become her.  When we move through the Goddesses in their complementary pairs, we encounter explosive potential for reconciliation, healing and integration of our deepest rifts that separate us from our fully authentic selves.  When we share these experiences with each other, we extend our personal healing into the greater community of women and become catalysts for the transformation of sisterhood.



This was an edition of the workshop for the WAMED festival in Australia.  The only space available for it was a church, so we did it in the community room of the church, and this was Hera's "throne".  When I saw this picture, I thought the white ball overhead was a light fixture.  It wasn't - it was an ORB, concentrated and hovering overhead, like a crown....

We used one of the church pews for Aphrodite's "divan", and although you can't see it, it was draped with her colours and scented pillows.  The orbs in this picture are all around, "embracing" everyone in contrast to the photo above.
Some reflections from women around the world who have experienced

 “In the Temples of Aphrodite and Hera”:

“The Aphrodite/Hera workshop was a personal revelation: I discovered that I was very uncomfortable with leadership roles - the Queen Hera position - yet my life had cast me for many such roles. Learning more about the Goddesses in a safe space penetrated my subconscious in a way that simply reading about them never could: it was a thoughtful and mind shifting experience, one that has impacted one in various spheres of my working and social life.” DR DARLENE MILLER, SENIOR LECTURER, SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN.

"Aphrodite the eternal lover & Hera the queen. Both with their wounds, both with their power, are incredible & often fundamental archetypes that impart upon the woman psyche. When I first heard of the workshop I was  particularly intrigued in the bringing together of two archetypes that often bring their opposing polarity.

The workshop provided a gentle way for bridging these two archetypes within myself, that I  feel has helped me develop a fuller expression of being a woman. A catalyst that brought me peace & understanding into what it means to be me. I experienced release & found courage in honoring my truth that my sovereignty lies in the following of my heart.

There have been many treasures from this workshop that still continue to unfold months later. For me I felt the workshop unlocked a beautiful process of realization & healing with shifts in many parts of my life. I am utterly grateful to have been part of the experience.

Paola holds the space with love, compassion & strength. I'd recommend it to any woman interested in deepening her connection to herself."

Vanessa Biddulph, Fusion Belly Dance Artist

"This incredible workshop opened my eyes to accepting the many wonderful qualities that I hold within myself.  Through Paola’s guidance, I was welcomed into the realms of Aphrodite and Hera, discovered the beauty and dignity of each goddess then learned how to embrace those qualities.  When I entered the Temples of these magnificent goddesses, I was uncertain what I would find but when I left I felt the sensuality, love and beauty of Aphrodite as well as the dignity, majestic independent qualities of Hera.  I returned home from the workshop as the sensual regal Queen of my own domain able to face the world with confidence.









" - Kelly Garland, Melbourne, AUS




Saturday, April 4, 2015

Descent and Return - Dancing through the Ancient Myths of Transformation



The mythologies of the ancient Near Eastern cultures are an endless source of fascination and inspiration.  The mysteries of the pyramids and ancient Egyptian arts hold symbols, images, and narratives that take us deep into the psyche of a desert/river civilization imbued with cosmic consciousness.  Their myth cycle mirrors the cyclical nature of a river civilization, with the Nile’s yearly flood season bringing fertility and abundance to the people. 
The goddess Isis represents this cycle through the narrative of her descent to the underworld to rescue her consort, Osiris, who dies and is reborn every year, just like the seasons.  In the Isis myth, we find a rich source of inspiration for our art, but when we dig deeper into the archetype, we realize we are looking into the great ancient depths of the Divine Feminine Soul. 
The Egyptian Isis was the heiress of the earlier Babylonian Ishtar, which was the heiress of the still earlier Sumerian Inanna.  These goddesses were all powerful Queens – sovereigns of fertility, love, and magic.  Their legends intertwine, revealing likenesses in patterns and themes whose echoes reverberate strongly in our modern concept of the heroic feminine.
They were goddesses of descent, transformation, and ascent, choosing to journey into the mythic underworld on sacred missions. The primordial Inanna descended in order to willingly sacrifice herself to her Dark Twin, Ereshkigal, a struggle from which she emerges reformed and re-empowered.  Ishtar and Isis both descend in order to rescue their beloved consorts. All three myths are symbolic of the life/death/life cycle of fertility and the agricultural year, and remind us of the sacrifices necessary in order to propagate the cycles of productivity and abundance.
For modern women, these narratives ring true on an even deeper level. They remind us of our need to transform and transmute as human beings.  We “sacrifice” old selves, old lives or out-dated paradigms in order to emerge into more evolved versions of ourselves.  But like all heroic quests, we must journey into our own depths to find the power to rebuild the new Self.  In those descents to our personal underworld, we encounter repressed parts of ourselves and face our Shadows, those Dark Twins who hold the keys to our transformations.  We find strength we never knew we had and the courage to pass tests, face our fears, and emerge newly integrated into the light of the new realities we create.  We return stronger, more creative, more intuitive, and empowered with our new discoveries.  Just like the goddess.
The field of archetypal psychology works in exactly that way – by showing us that our stories are the stories of the goddess – and that even great goddesses were obliged to descend and pass the tests of the underworld in order to deepen their magic and integrate the powers of the Self.  When we realize that these transformations come in cycles, we gain courage and hope as we engage the processes of self-evolution.  As above, so below – our journeys mirror the great journey of the goddess, and by discovering this journey, we discover that her powers can also be ours.
A wonderful book that has informed my approach to dancing the Descent/Return Cycle is Descent to the Goddess by Silvia Pereira.  The book vividly interprets the myth in light of the Jungian map of the psyche and presents a clear case for its therapeutic value for modern women by revealing the hidden likenesses between our interior processes and the eternal processes of the Divine Feminine.
As dancers, we often confront fear and insecurity as we engage our art form.  When we delve deeper into our art, we delve deeper into ourselves, and come up against barriers to our evolution – be they physical issues, creative blocks, or the fear of being seen and judged by our peers.  We need to find ways to engage our inner reality in safe and inspiring ways that put us into contact with our authentic, creative Selves.  Dancing the great myths is a wonderful way to do this.  When we dance in mytho-poetic reality, the movement of our bodies transmits the unfolding story of our heroic soul and its changes.
One way to dance our way through this myth is by aligning its narrative stages with a movement cycle musically engineered to place the dancer in an affective landscape that evokes the emotions of each stage of the story. 
 1) the Goddess awakens to the need to embark on the Journey
 2) The Descent through the seven gates of the Underworld
 3) the Dance with the Shadow
 4) the Symbolic Death and Disintegration 
 5) The Re-integration 
 6) The Return. 

In preparation for this mythopoetic Dance Shamanism experience, each woman is invited to consider what and how she most needs to transform at that given moment.  Through reading and analyzing the myth, guided meditations, creative journaling, and a ceremonial opening, the mind and psyche are aligned to the work at hand. 
The symbolic nature of the story becomes more personal and real when we consider that the actual Descent through the Seven Gates is a gradual divestiture of worldly attributes.  Women are encouraged to reflect upon what they need to shed on this journey to the ground zero of the Self.  What illusions, habits, or attachments impede our personal evolution? 
In facing our Dark Twins, what virtues are revealed in surrender?  Can we embrace this split-off part of ourselves?  Can we heal her even as we allow her to heal us?  Is the meeting a struggle, a dance, or both?  When we enter the dark stillness, how do we empty ourselves in order to fill back up with hope and new potential?  These are powerful issues for women that can be integrated on various levels and that reach deeper into the subconscious when they are danced ceremonially.  They transform through creative expression, which heals and integrates on a much more immediate level.  The result of the transformation is embodied - like the soul inscribing itself onto the physical canvas of the body.



The dance cycle is structured to allow spontaneity and improvisation to bring authentic expression to the forefront.  Creative imagery is offered as a guide, as well as evocative suggestions and passages from the epic poem.  The musical soundtrack is a powerful stimulus which is carefully constructed to promote immersion into the myth.  
At the end of the dance cycle, women are encouraged to crystallize the results of their journeys by creating and incorporating statue figures that reflect their new states of being.  The experience is wrapped up with a ceremonial closure and talking circle.  There are usually many hugs, tears of joy and realization, and an amazing sense of lightness.  
Participants tell me of how they change in the wake of the experience, that they find new courage and strength, renewed creativity, and deeper insight.
I can’t help but reflect on the significance of these essential therapeutic myths on a day like today - the Saturday before Easter, the Christian adaptation of the ancient mythic of descent and return.  Easter  is a Great Renewal after the character-test of Lent.  Tomorrow, there will be feasting and celebration, a great release from the period of testing which carries so much weight in the collective consciousness. 
The mythologies of descent and return reach to us throughout the eons and across multiple cultural expressions. They ring true for all of us, because we all have to die little deaths in order to resurrect to newer, nobler versions of Being. It’s the life/death/life cycle of evolution, and as cyclical creatures, women are keenly attuned to its rhythms.

To these rhythms is set the spiralling Dance of Life, twirling, unfolding and mirroring to us the universally therapeutic truth that our own cycles are the cycles of Nature, Goddess, and Cosmos.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

The Divine Spark: Inspiration as Sacred Quest



Inspiration is one of life’s profound mysteries, a capricious force that may be courted, but never coerced or commanded.  
Sometimes it’s a spontaneous eruption, sometimes it trickles in, and sometimes it floods the senses and overwhelms us.  Like the finger of God sparking life into Adam, the force of inspiration is an activation - an affirmative, catalytic transformation.  We are never the same after an idea bursts forth.  For a brief eternity, the veils of the Cosmos are drawn aside and the overwhelming poetry of existence is revealed. 
When Isadora Duncan journeyed to Europe, she accessed a deep well of inspiration in classical, renaissance, and neo-classical art that was based on classical Greek mythology. Paintings and sculptures such as Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” or the “Winged Victory of Samothrace” capture moments of mythic resonance that exist beyond time and space. 
They transported Isadora and transport us to the sources of our deepest dreams and ideals.  “Dreams are private myths.  Myths are public dreams,” wrote the great mythologist Joseph Campbell.  The great mythologies are the narratives which root our world cultures in deeper meaning and connect us to those versions of ourselves that exist in the realm of ideals, dreams, and epic visions.
The “Winged Victory”
inspires us to activate the power of the solar plexus, to imagine the arms as wings, and to FLY to mythic heights of heroism

In the mythic tales of the Greeks lie the foundations of Western Civilization – heroic quests, tragedies and victories that carry on the values of humanism which made Greek culture a fulcrum of evolution in the ancient world.
They were the first ancient culture in the west to recast the gods in human image.  Prior to the Greeks, the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Sumerians worshiped “composite” gods.  With animal heads, human bodies, tails, and such combinations, their deities were more primal, closer to nature and the raw and often frightening realities of earthly existence. Their powers were composite – in the pre-Greek cultures we see an aggregation of powers in one deity that the Greeks later separated into full personifications of the great forces that rule human existence. Love, Wisdom, Sovereignty, Justice, War, Nature, Fertility, the Ocean, and the Underworld were all represented by gods and goddesses who were the great Übermenschen of the epic sagas that shaped the Greek collective consciousness and inspired centuries of great art and thought.
Mythology is an exciting inspiration for the art of the dance. Myths give us images, text, meaning, and what choreographer Twyla Tharp called "spine" for dance-making.  They are narratives we can use to inspire us to add character and story to our choreographies.  But instead of simply telling someone else’s story, in mytho-poetically inspired dance we connect to the deeper reality of the myth and its power to tell our story as well. We are all heroes on journeys and quests, and the mythic heroes and heroines that inspire us are the epic heroes of legend AND the surging hero within.  We identify with them on a deep, unconscious level.  They permeate the cultures we swim in, flowing in from a deep ancestral well of soul-substance.
Through the study of Dance in an interdisciplinary setting, we can reveal and strengthen its dialogues with history, the sciences, and the arts. 
We can reveal the hidden likenesses between the art of the dance and the mysteries of the universe, and from these moments of recognition reclaim the mysteries of our sacred bodies while returning the dance to its rightful place as a sacred form of expression.
Through this interconnectedness, we can discover and reveal a more personal and authentic intention for dancing.
Together, we can co-create an experience whereby Life becomes Art and Art becomes Life, and through this union engender a deep transformation in ourselves, each other,  and our audience. 

THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US

“I see dance being used as communication between body and soul, to express what is too deep to find for words.” - Ruth St. Denis

“The Dancer of the Future will be one whose body and soul have grown so harmoniously together, that the natural language of that soul will have become the movement of the body.” 
Isadora Duncan,  The Art of the Dance

The way my soul took flight when I first walked through the Louvre, when I first saw the Parthenon and the Great Pyramids of Giza, when I heard a Bach sonata, or when I first saw a Duncan Dance - that is the state of being that I want to contact, work, and transmit to others.  I yearn for increased creative dialogue between myself and the version of me that lives in that realm, closer to the Sources, the Mysteries, and the Forces of the Universe.  That part of me that knows its own divinity and knows the pathways between sacred body and sacred soul.

Both Isadora Duncan and Ruth St Denis believed that the Dance is a sacred art form, and sought inspiration for their work in sacred sources.  Ms. Ruth danced the Goddesses and mythic figures from the East, like Isis, Radha, and Kuan Yin. Isadora danced the forces of nature and inspiration, looking to the great mystical line of discovery that connects all great art back to the Universal laws ruling all of existence.  I hold both of these great Masters in the utmost of reverence - re-reading their books and studying their images and dances over and over.  Every time they spring into my consciousness fresh and new, igniting my soul and pulling me ever closer to my conviction that the force of inspiration is sacred - that it emanates from the Gods and contacts us through our sacred souls, and that every time we engage in its activities, we must do so with a deep reverence.  

PRAYER FOR ARTISTS 
 Adapted from the original by Ruth St. Denis

O, Divine Father and Mother, 
Makers of heaven and earth, 
Supreme artists of creation, 

I, your humble instrument, kneel here at your feet.

I listen for your inward word 
and I wait to behold your inward vision.

Cleanse me 
from all sin and self-righteousness; 
from all illusions of prided vanity and fear. 


Make me sensitive to your sounds, 
to your vision, and to your rhythms.


Let me express beauty, 
the wonders of your universe 
and the immortality of my own soul which you have given me. 



Allow me to enter that temple not made with hands 
wherein I may express the beauty of love and the majesty of truth.


In humble and surrendered gratitude - 
For life, for love and for wisdom 
I offer 
again and yet again to You, my heart, my body and my mind.
 - Ruth St. Denis, Wisdom Comes Dancing 



ENGLISH AND PORTUGUESE "The Dancers of the Future Are We - How Isadora Duncan Restored Dance as a Spiritual Art Form. "As Dançarinas do Futuro Somos Nos" - Como Isadora Duncan Restaurou A Dança Como Forma de Arte Espiritual"

Isadora Duncan, the mother of contemporary dance, was a pioneering American woman and free spirit, an artist of soul and being ahead of her time.  In her short life from 1877 to 1927, she revolutionized dance during an era when Victorian morals and aesthetics left little space for movement arts beyond the rarified, stiff ballet, ballroom dance, or the “common” vaudevillian confections of State Fairs or urban playhouses.

 Hers was a bold vision of a New Dance and a New Woman – the Dance and Dancer of the Future.  She wrote that the “Dance of the Future” would have to reclaim its place as a sacred art form, the way it was with the ancient Greeks.  The dancer dances not to astonish, but to raise consciousness and act as a channel for universal energies.  In many ways, the motivation for dance goes full circle to its primal roots – the sacred communion of body, mind, spirit, and community.  Only now, the community is the whole of humanity in its cosmic context.

The “Dancer of the Future”, according to Isadora, would be “one whose body and soul have grown so harmoniously together, that the natural language of that soul will have become the movement of the body. The dancer will not belong to any nation, but to all humanity.  She will dance not in the form of nymph, nor fairy, nor coquette, but in the form of woman in her greatest and purest expression.  She will realize the mission of woman’s body and the holiness of its parts.  She will dance the changing life of nature….From all parts of her body shall shine radiant intelligence, bringing to the world the message of the thoughts and aspirations of thousands of women.  She shall dance the freedom of woman.”  - from her magnus opus, The Art of the Dance.

All throughout Duncan’s writings, we find references to the “future”, and what the Dance and Dancer of the Future will be like.  Isadora was a prophetess, knowing that the freedom of body, mind, and spirit that she personified had still not found their optimal historical moment; that there would come a time in the future when Modern Woman was ready for her message, and the stage set for the Dance of the Future to unfold.  I believe that time is now.

What is Isadora Duncan’s message for modern-day dancers within this vision of the Dancer of the Future?  What discoveries did this revolutionary artist and feminist make that set the stage for dance to evolve as a sacred, universal art form?  She brings us a richness of approach to the art of the dance - transformational in motivation, inspiration, and technique of expression. 

Yes, expression can be taught and learned; it is not necessarily innate as many claim – “You either have it or you don’t.” Duncan revealed a methodology of expression that has become a cornerstone in modern dance forms and performing arts – there is literally no expressive art that cannot be improved by the application of this technique.  It centers on the sequential articulation of motivation – involving first the eyes, or the intelligent perception of stimuli.  Secondly comes the solar plexus, or the emotional intention, and thirdly, the actual gesture of the body.  A great example is the act of falling in love.  We “see” the loved one first (how often do we say, “love at first sight”?) After we see the person, our hearts stir and we are emotionally drawn to them – we cast them in the light of our solar plexus as we turn our hearts in their direction.  And thirdly comes our gesture, whether we walk toward them, reach out our hands, or open our arms.  The expression sequence makes sense on so many levels because it is natural and follows the natural order of things, which Isadora held dear in her philosophies on dance and life.

Nature was her first muse.  She studied the lines, shapes, and movements of the elements and the universe and located the human body as a central figure in the grand pageant of the natural Universe.  She wrote (AOTD):

 If we seek the real source of the dance, if we go to nature, we find that the dance of the future is the dance of the past, the dance of eternity, and has been and will always be the same. The movement of waves, of winds, of the earth is ever the same lasting harmony. We do not stand on the beach and inquire of the ocean what was its movement in the past and what will be its movement in the future..

Since each one of us is part of the universe, we are subject to the same laws of movement and gravitation that govern the universe, and Isadora envisioned our dance as a “human translation of the gravitation of the universe.”  Each movement propagates the next in endless cycles of movement, like the waves and winds and atoms and galaxies.

Now, more than ever, we are rediscovering the sacredness of Mother Earth and reconnecting to her rhythms in our spirituality.  Eco-feminist philosophies and practices are making their way to the center stage of world culture and women are reconnecting to their birthright as priestesses of the natural world.  We bring the dance to the beaches, mountaintops and deserts, connecting to the currents of the Earth and Sky through their rhythms, shapes, and movements. When we dance in tune with Nature, we open ourselves to its innumerous beauties – we breathe fresh air, lift our faces to the sun like flowers, sway with the waves and trees, and fall to the Earth in the poetry of form and repose.  “As above, so below” – the ancient edict rings truer than ever as we, the Dancers of the Future, stand barefoot on the Earth and reach our arms and spirits to the heights of the Universe; the lines of our bodies transmitting universal energies in vital, endless cycles.  As Isadora said, Woman must be a “link in the chain, and her movement must be one with the great movement which runs through the universe.”

She distilled the nobility of the classic Greek body line, made so famous in sculpture and painting, and applied its universal quality to the body of modern woman – relaxed, natural, and balanced; its form and lines channeling forces greater than the self. In AOTD, she wrote of her fascination with the Greek humanist aesthetic and its connection to nature:

 “The Greeks in all their (arts) evolved their movements from the movements of nature, as we plainly see expressed in all representations of the Greek gods, who, being no other than the representatives of natural forces are always designed in a pose expressing the concentrations and evolution of these forces.  This is why Greek art is not national or characteristic but has been and will be the art of all humanity for all time.  Therefore dancing naked upon the earth I naturally fall into Greek positions, for Greek positions are only earth positions.”
"Apollo and the Nine Muses"

Not, as she put it, in defiance of natural law like she saw in ballet, which strives to defeat the gravitational pull of the Earth, and which places the center of the dancer in the small of the back.  There had to be another center, another wellspring from which true movement emanated.  Her instincts led her on a search for this source, and she found it in the middle of her chest.

Isadora Duncan was the first dancer to identify the Solar Plexus as the source of all expressive movement.  She wrote in AOTD:

Isadora Duncan photographed in the Parthenon by Edward Steichen
 ...I spent long days and nights in the studio seeking that dance which might be the divine expression of the human spirit through the medium of the body's movement. For hours I would stand quite still, my two hands folded between my breasts, covering the solar plexus...I was seeking and finally discovered the central spring of all movement, the crater of motor power, the unity from which all diversities of movement are born, the mirror of vision for the creation of the dance."

The solar plexus is the seat of emotional intention – the crossroads of the body’s axes from which emanate the expressive servants of the heart – the arms.  Her discoveries in connection to the solar plexus have enriched every dance form, opening the door for developments by famous dancers like Martha Graham. Its powerful techniques apply to diverse movement, theater, and dance arts, all who benefit from an activated center.  Posture, bearing, expression, equilibrium, dynamics, reach, lines, and stage presence all emanate from a harmonized solar plexus.  Its dynamics harmonize perfectly with the expansion and contraction of the diaphragm in breathing, so that the two work together and not against each other.  It’s the motor of it all.

To discover and activate one’s solar plexus is to tap into a whole new source of personal emotive power, with the heart and solar plexus chakras together forming an energetic sphere sitting atop the diaphragm.  The solar plexus radiates courage, effervescence, joy, and desire.  To expand its light outward is to project those emotions, while contracting it inward is to express solitude, introspection, loss, pain, and grief.  Through working with the solar plexus, we gain fuller access to the vast spectrum of human emotion, and we begin to sense that its expression has profound therapeutic qualities.  When we move the body, we move the soul, and both can heal themselves through this movement.  Learning to release, direct and transform the emotional energies stored in the solar plexus are remarkable steps on the paths of self-discovery that modern women seek today.  It is the internal “Sun” that shines forth its radiant brilliance, illuminating every part of the body of the Dancer of the Future.

Like so many visions and dreams at the dawning of the modern age, the Dancer of the Future has become a reality.  More and more we are seeing spiritual qualities returning to dance. More and more we are becoming aware that there are higher motives to engaging in this art form, motives more universal and humanistic in nature.  The Dancer of the Future spoke through Isadora and her contemporaries like Ruth St. Denis, who wrote that there will come a day when “we shall dance to heal and bless” instead of to merely “astonish”.  

Of all the bounty Isadora Duncan dance brings to the modern dance community -  expressive technique, the alignment with Nature and its forces, and the power of the solar plexus, I think that the most important gift she gave us is a new motivation for the dance.  A new reason to dance that is a lot like the ancient reason our ancestors danced – for community, for connection to natural forces, to release Self in favor of a more noble Self, to invoke new realities and to reach for something bigger and higher than ourselves.  Isadora speaks of evolving motivations for dance in AOTD: 

“There are likewise three kinds of dancers: first, those who consider dancing as a sort of gymnastic drill, made up of impersonal and graceful arabesques; second, those who, by concentrating their minds, lead the body into the rhythm of a desired emotion, expressing a remembered feeling or experience.  And finally, there are those who convert the body into a luminous fluidity, surrendering it to the inspiration of the soul.”

The Dancer of the Future lives within this luminous fluidity.  This is the alchemical elixir that the dance can and should seek – beyond ego, costumes, and stage makeup.  Beyond choreography, musicality and performativity.  These are all ingredients in the mix, but the elixir comes from the process, the rituals and ceremonies of the Dance of the Future, the eventual change of attitude about dance and realization of higher purposes for it.  To dance becomes a quest for enlightenment.

 “Listen to the music with your soul,” she tells us. “Do you not feel you are moving toward the light?”

To view the dance in this way is to view the self as a work in progress – a vessel ever evolving in its capacity to attract, transmit, and repose in this luminous fluidity. 

“Imagine then a dancer who, after long study, prayer and inspiration has attainted such a degree of understanding that his body is simply the luminous manifestation of his soul; whose body dances in accordance with a music heard inwardly, in an expression of….another, profounder world.  This is the truly creative dancer, natural but not imitative, speaking in movement out of himself and out of something greater than all selves.”

To connect to something greater than ourselves – the Dance of the Future is the dance of the past and of all times.  Its cycle has come round and I can see it – I see us dancing united in the spirit of universal beauty  - natural, every one of us “worthy enough” to join.  I can see dancing from the soul as a way of healing ourselves, our tribes, our communities, and our planet.  I can feel competitiveness replaced by a shared joy, and I can sense that ego can give way to the oceanic feeling of connection as we open our channels to the rhythms of the universe.  The future is here, and we are the Dancers of the Future.

"Portal to the Future" - photograph of me taken by Thomas Goebel Praça


VERSÃO PORTUGESA: "As Dancarinas do Futuro Somos Nos - O que Isadora Duncan deu para o mundo de dança." 

Isadora Duncan, a mãe da dança contemporânea, foi uma mulher pioneira americana e espírito livre, um artista de alma e ser à frente de seu tempo. Em sua curta vida de 1877-1927, ela revolucionou a dança durante uma época em que a moralidade e estética vitoriana deixou pouco espaço para as artes do movimento além do balé, dança de salão, ou os confecções ordinários “Vaudeville” de Feiras do Estado ou teatros urbanos.

Ela tinha uma visão ousada de uma nova dança e uma nova mulher - a dança e dançarina do Futuro. Ela escreveu que a "Dança do Futuro" teria que recuperar seu lugar como uma forma de arte sacra, do jeito que era com os gregos antigos. A dançarina não dança para surpreender, mas para aumentar a consciência e agir como um canal de energias universais. Em muitos aspectos, a motivação para a dança voltou às suas raízes antigas - a comunhão sagrada do corpo, mente, espírito e comunidade. Só agora, a comunidade virou a humanidade inteira em seu contexto cósmico.

A "Dançarina do Futuro", de acordo com Isadora, seria

 "uma em que corpo e alma têm crescido tão harmoniosamente, que a linguagem natural da alma se tornará o movimento do corpo. A dançarina não pertence a nenhuma nação, mas a toda humanidade. Ela vai dançar não na forma de ninfa, nem fada, nem coquette, mas em forma de mulher na sua expressão maior e mais puro. Ela vai perceber a missão do corpo feminino e da santidade de suas partes. Ela vai dançar os ciclos da natureza .... De todas as partes de seu corpo vai brilhar inteligência radiante, trazendo para o mundo a mensagem dos pensamentos e aspirações de milhares de mulheres. Ela vai dançar a liberdade da mulher " - De seu Magnus opus, A Arte da Dança.

Nos escritos de Duncan, encontramos referências freqüentes ao "futuro", e como será a dança e dançarina do futuro. Isadora foi uma profetisa, sabendo que a liberdade do corpo, mente, espírito e que ela personificou ainda não tinha encontrado o seu melhor momento histórico, que chegaria um momento no futuro, quando a Mulher Moderna estava pronta para a sua mensagem, e o espaço para a dança do futuro a se abrir. Eu acredito que o tempo é agora.

Qual é a mensagem de Isadora Duncan para dançarinas modernas dentro desta visão da dançarina do futuro? Quais descobertas fez este artista revolucionário e feminista fazer que preparou a cena para a dança evoluir como uma forma de arte sagrada e universal? Ela nos traz uma riqueza de abordagem para a arte da dança - transformacional na motivação, inspiração e técnica de expressão.

Sim, a expressão pode ser ensinado e aprendido, - " Ou você tem ou você não tem" -  não é necessariamente inato como muitos afirmam. Duncan revelou uma metodologia de expressão que se tornou essencial para formas de dança moderna e artes cênicas - há literalmente nenhuma arte expressiva que não pode ser melhorado através da aplicação desta técnica. Centra-se na articulação seqüencial de motivação - envolvendo primeiro os olhos, ou a percepção inteligente de estímulos. Em segundo lugar vem o plexo solar, ou a intenção emocional, e em terceiro lugar, o gesto real do corpo. Um grande exemplo é o ato de se apaixonar. Nós "vemos" o amado primeiro (quantas vezes nós dizemos, "amor à primeira vista"?) Depois de ver a pessoa, nosso coração se mexe e estamos emocionalmente atraído por eles – lançando à luz do nosso plexo solar e coração em sua direção. E em terceiro lugar vem o nosso gesto, se andarmos na direção deles, estender nossas mãos, ou abrir os braços. A seqüência de expressão faz sentido em muitos níveis, porque é natural e segue a ordem natural das coisas, que Isadora reverenciava em suas filosofias de dança e de vida.

A natureza era sua primeira musa. Ela estudou as linhas, formas e movimentos dos elementos e do universo, localizando o corpo humano como figura central na grande cena do Universo natural. Ela escreveu (AOTD):

 "Se procurarmos a verdadeira fonte da dança, se formos a natureza, vemos que a dança do futuro é a dança do passado, a dança da eternidade, e tem sido e será sempre o mesmo. O movimento das ondas, dos ventos, da terra é sempre a mesma harmonia duradoura. Nós não ficamos na praia perguntando o oceano o que foi o movimento no passado e qual será o seu movimento no futuro .. "
Como cada um de nós é parte do universo, estamos sujeitos às mesmas leis do movimento e gravitação que governam ele, e Isadora imaginou nossa dança como uma "tradução humana da gravitação do universo."

Cada movimento propaga o próximo em ciclos intermináveis de movimento, como as ondas e os ventos e átomos e galáxias.

Agora, mais do que nunca, estamos redescobrindo a sacralidade da Mãe Terra e re-conectando com seus ritmos em nossa espiritualidade. Filosofias e praticas ecos-feministas estão entrando no centro do palco da cultura do mundo e as mulheres estão se re-conectando a seu destino como sacerdotisas do mundo natural. Nós trazemos a dança para as praias, montanhas e desertos, em conexão com as correntes da Terra e do Céu através de seus ritmos, formas e movimentos. Quando dançamos em sintonia com a natureza, nos abrimos para suas belezas inúmeros - respiramos ar puro, levantamos os rostos para o sol como flores, balançamos com as ondas e árvores, e caímos para a Terra na poesia de forma e repouso. "Como em cima, assim é embaixo" - o antigo decreto soa mais verdadeiro que nunca, e nós, as Dançarinas do Futuro, pisamos descalças na terra e levantamos nossos braços e espíritos para as alturas do Universo, as linhas de nossos corpos transmitindo energias universais em ciclos intermináveis.

Como disse Isadora, a mulher deve ser um "elo da cadeia, e seu movimento deve ser um com o grande movimento que atravessa o universo."

Ela destilou a nobreza da linha de corpo grego clássico, tornado famoso em escultura e pintura, e aplicou sua qualidade universal para o corpo da mulher moderna - descontraído, natural e equilibrado; sua forma e linhas canalizando uma força maior do que a si mesmo. Em AOTD, ela descreveu sua fascinação com a estética grega humanista e sua conexão com a natureza:

 "Os gregos em todas suas (artes) evoluíram seus movimentos a partir dos movimentos da natureza, como claramente se expressa em todas as representações dos deuses gregos, que, sendo representantes das forças naturais são sempre projetados em uma pose que expressa a concentração e evolução dessas forças. É por isso que a arte grega não é nacional ou característica, mas tem sido e será a arte de toda a humanidade de todos os tempos. Portanto dançando nu sobre a terra, eu naturalmente caio em posições gregas, por que as posições gregas são apenas posições da terra."
"Apollo e as Nove Musas"


Não em desafio da lei natural, como ela viu no balé, que se esforça para superar a atração gravitacional da Terra, e que localizou o centro da dançarina na região lombar. Tinha que haver um outro centro, outra fonte da qual emana movimento verdadeiro. Seus instintos a levaram buscando esta fonte, e ela a encontrou no meio do peito.

Isadora Duncan foi a primeira dançarina a identificar o plexo solar como a fonte de todo movimento expressivo. Ela escreveu em AOTD:

 "... Eu passei longos dias e noites no estúdio buscando a dança que podia ser a expressão divina do espírito humano por meio do movimento do corpo. Ficava por horas com minhas duas mãos cruzadas entre os meus seios, cobrindo o plexo solar ... eu estava buscando e, finalmente, descobri o motor central de todo o movimento, a cratera de potência, a unidade a partir da qual todas as diversidades de movimento nascem, o espelho da visão para a criação da dança."
Isadora fotografada por Edward Steichen, no templo Parthenon

O plexo solar é a sede da intenção emocional - o cruzamento dos eixos do corpo a partir do qual emanam os servos expressivos do coração - os braços. Suas descobertas em relação ao plexo solar enriqueceram cada forma de dança, abrindo a porta a desenvolvimento por dançarinas famosas como Martha Graham. Presença, postura, expressão, equilíbrio, dinâmica, alcance, e linhas emanam todos de um plexo ativado. Sua dinâmica harmoniza perfeitamente com a expansão e contração do diafragma na respiração, alinhando o movimento automático da respiração com a técnica de expressão.

Descobrir e ativar o plexo solar é acessar uma nova fonte de energia emotiva pessoal, com o coração e do plexo solar juntos formando uma esfera energética sentada em cima do diafragma. O plexo solar irradia coragem, efervescência, alegria e desejo. Expandir sua luz para o externo é projetar essas emoções, enquanto contraí-la para dentro é a expressão de solidão, introspecção, perda, dor e tristeza. Através do trabalho com o plexo solar, ganhamos acesso mais completo acesso a alcance vasta  de emoções humanas, e  começamos a sentir que a sua expressão tem profundas qualidades terapêuticas. Quando movimentamos o corpo, movimentamos a alma, e ambos podem se curar através deste movimento. Aprender a liberar, dirigir e transformar as energias emocionais armazenadas no plexo solar são passos notáveis sobre os caminhos de auto-conhecimento que as mulheres modernas procuram hoje. É o "Sol" interno que resplandece o seu brilho radiante, iluminando cada parte do corpo da dançarina do futuro.

Como tantas visões e sonhos no alvorecer da era moderna, a dançarina do futuro se tornou uma realidade. Cada vez mais estamos vendo qualidades espirituais retornando para a dança. Cada vez mais estamos nos tornando conscientes de que existem motivos mais elevados para esta forma de arte, motivos mais universais e humanistas. A dançarina do futuro falou através de Isadora e seus contemporâneos como Ruth St. Denis, que escreveu que vai chegar um dia em que "vamos dançar para curar e abençoar" em vez de apenas "surpreender".

De toda a generosidade da Isadora Duncan dança traz para a comunidade de dança moderna - técnica expressiva, o alinhamento com a Natureza e suas forças, e o poder do plexo solar, eu acho que o dom mais importante que ela nos deu é uma nova motivação para a dança . Um novo motivo para dançar, que é muito parecido com os motivos antigos dos nossos antepassados  - para a comunidade, para a conexão com as forças naturais, para liberar o Eu em favor de um Eu mais nobre, para invocar novas realidades e para alcançar algo maior e superior a nós mesmos. Isadora falou da evolução motivações para a dança no AOTD:

"Há três tipos de dançarinos: primeiro, aqueles que consideram a dança como uma espécie de ginástica, composta de arabescos impessoais e graciosos, em segundo lugar, aqueles que, ao concentrar suas mentes, levam o corpo ao ritmo de uma emoção desejada , expressando um sentimento ou experiência lembrada. E, finalmente, há aqueles que convertem o corpo em uma fluidez luminosa, entregando-o para a inspiração da alma."

A dançarina do futuro vive dentro dessa fluidez luminosa. Essa é o elixir alquímico que a dança pode e deve procurar - além do ego, figurino, maquiagem e palco. Além de musicalidade, coreografia e performatividade. Estes são todos ingredientes na mistura, mas o elixir vem do processo e a vivencia, os rituais e cerimônias da Dança do Futuro, a eventual mudança de atitude sobre a dança e realização de fins mais elevados para ela. Dançar se tornou uma busca de iluminação.

"Ouça a música com a sua alma", ela nos diz. "Você não sente que esta se movendo em direção à luz?"

Enxergar a dança dessa forma é ver o Eu mesmo como um trabalho em progresso – uma ânfora sempre em evolução na sua capacidade de atrair, transmitir e repousar neste fluidez luminosa.

"Imagine então uma dançarina que, após longo estudo, oração e inspiração alcançou um grau de entendimento em que seu corpo é simplesmente a manifestação luminosa da sua alma; cujo corpo dança de acordo com uma música ouvida interiormente, em uma expressão de .... um outro mundo, mais profundo. Este é a bailarina verdadeiramente criativa, natural mas não imitativa, se expressando de si mesma e de algo maior do que todos os seres."

Se conectar a algo maior do que nós mesmos - a Dança do Futuro é a dança do passado e de todos os tempos. Seu ciclo veio redondo e eu posso vê-lo - Eu nos vejo dançando unidos no espírito da beleza universal - natural, cada um de nós "bastante digno" para participar. Eu posso ver a dança da alma como uma forma de curar nós mesmos, nossas tribos, nossas comunidades e nosso planeta. Eu posso sentir a competitividade substituída por uma alegria compartilhada, e eu posso sentir que o ego pode dar lugar ao sentimento oceânico de conexão enquanto abrimos nossos canais para os ritmos do universo. O futuro está aqui, e nós somos as Dançarinas do Futuro.
"Portal Para o Futuro" - eu fotografada por Thomas Goebel Praça