How I discovered Ecstatic Dance and 10 reasons why it is my thing
I have always loved dancing, from discovering nightclubs in Manchester as a teenager, to hitting the mega clubs in Ibiza and dancing til sunset, to raving at festivals, to being the wedding DJ’s favourite guest by keeping the dance-floor buzzing to their tunes. I would try out any old drop-in dance class I could get my hands (& feet) on, from salsa to hip hop to Zumba to belly dance to Ballroom & Latin. You name it, I have tried it at least once…
I felt I was always searching for something to get from dancing, it was perhaps a treasure map into some discovery of mine.
What was I even looking for? What did I expect to find?
Why did I keep on returning to the joy of movement, and seeking out any opportunity to dance?
I wasn’t a professional dancer, I had an office job, it could only be a hobby for me. I didn’t want to teach dance and I didn’t want to dance for other people’s entertainment. There was something else I was drawn to dancing for… I discovered that when I was feeling intense emotions, from frustration to elation to sadness, I could deal with them better by putting on music that reflected the mood, and dance around alone at home to it. It was my way to release, my way to feel, my way to connect to myself. I knew the power of dancing intuitively, but I hadn’t connected to my tribe of dancers yet — I couldn’t figure out why the friends around me at the time weren’t also obsessed with it. I still hadn’t fully scratched my dancing itch, despite all the dancing adventures I had already been on in nightclubs and dance classes.
However, there was a whisper in my soul that there was something out there for me that would fulfil my dancing desires…
My longings were answered when I discovered Ecstatic Dance.
I will never forget my first time when I was travelling in 2016, it was at The Yoga Barn in Bali. WOW. That day changed my life forever! I had never been so surrounded by people truly expressing themselves, having dropped their self consciousness and dancing freely. The music was varied and electric and designed to get people really dancing, not just stepping from left to right like zombies in typical clubs. People were stomping their feet to the tribal beats, waving their arms around, jumping around with such aliveness and joy, leaping around the room, sometimes getting on the floor and slinking around however they wanted to. It was WILD. Full throttle letting go!
As I walked out of my first ecstatic dance, I was absolutely buzzing, and I have been ecstatically dancing ever since.
This was MY THING, hurrah!
10 Reasons why it is my thing:
- Variety of music. I get bored going to garage or techno nights and listening to the same beats. Tango dancing means tango tunes all night… at Ecstatic Dance you get such a mix, DJs can get really creative over a diverse range of music.
- It is done Sober. It is just so refreshing to go out dancing without the aggressive drinking culture, or to not see people chewing their faces off. Healthier for our bodies and you feel safer.
- No Choreography. I get frustrated that I can’t quickly pick up dance steps taught to me by teachers, it makes me move awkwardly trying to remember the technique, I don’t feel free in dance classes. Ecstatic Dance means improvising the whole way through, so you really feel it coming from you. And in a world where I am always being told what to do, the rules, the policies and procedures, boy does it feel good to dance in my own way, not to someone else’s steps. Make your own steps up, make your own life up.
- It is my Meditation. I wish I could meditate in stillness. I know all the benefits of it, but I find it so hard! However, get me into a deep meditation through movement, and bingo.
- Suits my Bedtime. Nightclub culture has you up til the early hours of the morning, but then I am knackered for days afterwards and it disturbs my sleep. I want to go to bed on time, and Ecstatic Dance tends to have dances during the day or at least finishing before midnight.
- It is Ritualistic. I just love how it is contained between an opening and closing ceremony, it creates a group field and focuses the energy. Rather than an ongoing party with no clear start and end, you all go through the experience together at the same time. There seems to be less chaos and more connecting to the moment.
- The No Talking Rule. I am a chatterbox, which may prevent me from actually having a good dance at a party, cos I am busy catching up with friends on how they have been and what they are up to etc. Dropping the words means I am able to fully be present with the music and the dancing, and greet people with my presence rather than endless conversation.
- Sense of Community. I go to various dance and exercise classes, and hardly ever do I make friends with anyone in the class. Maybe it is a London thing, who knows? However, I champion a more connected world, the way people are friendly to each other when they meet when travelling. At Ecstatic Dance, it opens people up to connect with one another, I have made some amazing friends with beautiful souls from all walks of lives. It actually creates an amazing sense of community.
- It is Self-Development. Ecstatic Dance has inadvertently been transforming me without me realising it was doing it! I have been able to express my emotions and feelings through movement, and access different parts of myself which were suppressed or hidden from the world. Often when I dance, I have breakthroughs in my thinking, or an old memory resurfaces, or I get clear on some issue — it breaks through stuckness. It has definitely helped me with my creative expression in the world.
- It has been my path to Spirituality. I guess that niggle inside me, that whisper in my soul, was guiding me towards Ecstatic Dance, because it knew that it was my spiritual path. When I first started it, I thought it was a sober way of clubbing, ‘good exercise’, a bit hippy perhaps… but as the years went by, I realised that DANCING IS SPIRITUAL. The DJs have been the shamans all along. That spirit is moving through me as a I dance! That my soul is so happy to be alive in this human body, it is bursting out of my skin through dance. I go into different states of consciousness, and I am connecting to something way greater than me, I feel transcendence. My whole thinking has shifted. When I have had a really good sweaty dance, or been to a week long Ecstatic Dance festival, magical things happen… you reach that sense of ‘Oneness’, the love vortex opens, and you don’t even realise you are dancing anymore, you just are a being, you just ARE. Bliss.
(Could probably write 100 reasons but 10 is enough for today).
I am so passionate about Ecstatic Dance I have trained in facilitating and DJing with Dance the Medicine. I also run an Ecstatic Dance in London called Ecstatic Playground in Limehouse Town Hall, come check it out :)
It is my thing!
