Jesus said, “Who does not dance, does not know what comes to pass.” He wasn’t talking about solo dancers but the old ways of prayer that coordinate bodies in cleansing peace dances. Many spiritual teachers know that dance is power.

It is not clear to me why this is not being studied more intensively since native american, african american, african, pacific islander, maori, aboriginal, shinto, taoist, pagan, celtic, sufi, middle eastern, amazonian and many others enter into states of disciplined connection and wisdom. This wisdom may be the very source of guidance whether or not it can save us.

If we give our group body to military dances, competitive sport, ego displays, and highly sexualized courting dances, why not the dance of peace? Until now it has been up to artists and battered indigenous people to hold the hope for the health of the world. Today, more than ever we need the danced prayers of community.

Where does courage to dance come from?  Not will. Courage comes from the beating heart of community support and from being elevated by chorus, movement, stillness, and nature to more clearly see and know who we are and what is needed.

It is so good to have the support of others in order to open to the mystery and guidance of peace and love!

Fortunately, Nancy Phaltzgraf and I need this. That is why we are gathering others in small online groups to dance our prayers and reflect on Dance as a Peace Way. For us this has always been the most effective form of engagement with the divine.

With the Body Wisdom of InterPlay and decades of history leading others we have discovered that being online is like being monks in cells around the world with a window open to the company of angels.  Some of us have no one else around us to support the dance. Some of us need the additional community.

You are invited to dance your prayers and intents with others in a gentle warm-up, a time of reflection, discernment, and listening, and concluding with a time for dancing on behalf of personal and global concerns.

Times are Monday 5pm pst. Thursday morning pst 9:30 pst.

A good resource for this practice is my book Dance: The Sacred Art published by Skylight Paths available from InterPlay or Amazon.

We pass the basket for this offering or you can contribute on a monthly basis through the store on this website.

Email cynthia@interplay.org for a free session to try it out.