Posts Tagged ‘dance’

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Interested in leading a more conscious, creative and joyful life? On Saturday, April 3, join the Duke Dance Program on Duke’s East Campus for Across the Threshold: Creativity, Being and Healing. This day-long Symposium is a highly interdisciplinary journey designed to join scholars and practitioners from many fields, cultures and countries to explore the transformative paths humans have discovered/created through performance, spiritual/religious/ritual practices, and healing practices.

The daylong Symposium includes workshops in performing and visual arts, yoga and meditation; a panel discussion; and an evening performance. A featured presenter is Ciane Fernandes from Bahia, Brazil. Joining her will be world musician and healer Porangui McGrew and Seattle-based dancer/choreographer Louis Gervais, accompanied by a stellar local lineup including Andrea E. Woods, Susan Gaylord, Jon Seskevich, Hsiao-Mei Ku & Jennifer Chang, Alyssa Hinton, Muz Ansano, Vera Moura, and Beverly Botsford. My dear friend, Dr. Larry Burk, will be moderating the panel entitled: Transcultural Healing: Beyond the Threshold of Convention. A detailed Symposium schedule and registration information is available at danceprogram.duke.edu/threshold.

Ciane Fernandes, a tenured Professor in the Performing Arts Graduate Program at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil and an associate researcher at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York, personifies the Symposium theme. With a background in dance and performance studies, nursing, mental health and art education, Prof. Fernandes explores authentic movement and the healing power of the body across cultures through her research and artistic work as a director, choreographer, performer, video maker and writer. For the Symposium, she will participate in a panel discussion, lead a workshop entitled Dancing Images: Authentic Movement, Analysis and Composition, and perform a solo work on the evening performance.

As one of the top five research universities, Duke has become the college of choice for the dedicated dance student. Duke is unique in providing the rare combination of high-quality dance training with a first class science or liberal arts education.

Dance at Duke encourages the total union of physical, intellectual, and expressive capabilities. The student dancer develops skills of perception, analysis and expression that benefit many fields of endeavor beyond the dance world. The Program in Dance provides a wide choice of classes for everyone from the highly trained dance technician to the absolute beginner. Beyond the three main areas of emphasis in ballet, modern, and African dance, other courses including jazz, swing dance, floor-barre, tap, Flamenco and classical Indian dance are offered on a rotating schedule. Extensive full credit courses include areas of study in history, choreography, kinesiology, world dance cultures and dance writing.

There are many performing opportunities for students of all levels working with faculty, guest artists and student choreographers. All students on campus are enriched by an abundance of professional touring productions and in house concerts.

Dance at Duke dates back to the thirties. Once part of the Department of Health and Physical Education under the leadership of Julia Wray, it is now a freestanding program in the Humanities with a major and minor in Dance and an individualized major available through Program II.

Across The Threshold: Creativity, Being & Healing is sponsored by the Duke University Dance Program, co-sponsored by the Franklin Humanities Institute; the University of North Carolina Program on Integrative Medicine, Dept. of P.M. & R.; and the following Duke University Departments: Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Music, Religion, Theater Studies.

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As we shift into the 21st century, our expanding consciousness is leading us to examine our lives and lifestyles in order to review who we are. As we conduct this inner search and reflection mission, we take stock of what is working for us and what is no longer applicable in our lives.

As a teacher of the ancient wisdom teachings, the hermetic axiom of As Above, So Below and As Within, So Without has led me to reflect on how what is changing within us, is also being reflected throughout society. It also led me to ponder this question… Is it time that we begin to review and change our traditions as well?

Many traditions, wedding ceremonies for example, reflect a reserved antiquated victorian ceremony with the solemn party stiffly marching in uniform step by step towards an altar. This led me to think deeper and ask… In this new age of love, consciousness, abundance, and joy, should weddings and other traditions and holidays be celebrated in new ways in accordance with the changing times?

I also wonder… How much thought do we give into why we celebrate the way that we do? Because it’s always been done a certain way, should this be our guidance to continue? And has it always really been done ” a certain way”? Take the celebration of Halloween in the US. In the early 1900′s through the early 1940′s, Halloween was primarily a holiday celebrated by adults with elaborate costume parties in private settings.  The concept of trick or treating was virtually nonexistent. With the Baby Boom of post world war two, the celebration of this holiday shifted into a children’s holiday with a focus more on community festivals and candy. Fifty years later, we’ve seen the holiday shift again, becoming more popular with adults and Halloween is now the second most popular and celebrated holiday in the US, (the first most popular is Christmas).  Yet I know many people who are under the impresson that Halloween has always been celebrated by children in this country. This is because if a tradition has been celebrated a certain way in our home since we were children,  we don’t give the origin of the tradition much thought. We assume that it has always been this way, unless we are shown otherwise.

Holidays are not the only traditions that have changed over time.  The majority of weddings and receptions held in the U.S. from the 1900′s through mid-century were tame, small scale events. Many weddings consisted of the woman wearing a nice dress and the man a suit to a brief  civil ceremony at the courthouse with a family member or a couple of friends as witnesses or an intimate church wedding with a reception following in the church hall or family home. Some theorize that the traditions of weddings, receptions and honeymoons altered as Hollywood in the mid-century began publicizing celebrity weddings and elaborate parties and the adoring public viewed these events on the silver screen and the television and wanted to emulate their idols.

The scale and grandeur of weddings and receptions has risen to a frenzied state. Reality TV shows feature “Bridezillas”, “My Big Fat Fabulous Wedding” and similar shows where weddings and receptions begin at the $60K budget and quickly move into six figures on many occasions. What is most intriguing to note is that during the planning, production and actual date of the event, the bride and groom often appear miserable, exhausted and worn out physically and emotionally and often experience complete meltdowns from the stress, rather than experiencing a moment of communion, joy and togetherness.   It leads one to wonder… Have we forgotten how to simply have a good time? What has happened to us as a society, that the celebration of two souls joining together in a union, has become a competitive event that must rival every other reception in history?  What direction does this set the young couple on for their life together?  It appears to set the expectation and desire that too much is never enough. Many times these couples themselves go into debt to pay for their wedding extravaganza and enter their marriage in debt, which quickly triples as they now compete to have the best house, cars, furniture, clothes and vacations.  Do we have an identity complex or low self-esteem as a society? Would our friends not like us if we did not have the reception of a lifetime or a better house than theirs?

As I continue to ponder these questions, I came across the most delightful video of a couple being married in Minnesota that gave me so much hope for the future! Their wedding procession was so spectacular that I can only imagine how fantastic the reception must have been. The scene here reminds me of the 60′s when people connected to the energy of the event and that being together with other loved ones was the main point of it all. Love was celebrated as an adjective, verb and noun and expressed fully in every way imaginable.

So I ask you dear readers, Is it time to reflect upon the traditions we have and recreate them? Perhaps we can keep the integrity of the meaning, while allowing the concept to stretch and evolve as we do… What do I like most about this video here? Easy, the focus is on friends and family celebrating the joyous union of two hearts uniting in love.  It gives me Hope, so much hope for things to come….

Enjoy, *~Kala~*

View the  YouTube Video:

and read the lyrics to the song being played – Forever …. it’s you and me, moving at the speed of light into eternity…

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Across The Threshold: Creativity, Being & Healing is an interdisciplinary Conference bringing together  scholars and practitioners from scientific, creative, and  mystical disciplines to explore and share transformative paths leading to integration of mind, body and spirit.

Acknowledging the complex interrelationship of mind, body, and spirit is a step towards empowered and enlightened healing of ourselves, our relationships, and our environment. We are physical, mental, social, emotional, and spiritual beings, and the interplay between all these parts of ourselves affects our quality of life moment-to- moment — our ability to synthesize ideas and knowledge; to develop our intuition; to imagine and create; to heal.
The Conference, to be held on March 19 – 22nd, 2009 at Duke University and at the historic Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, North Carolina, is designed to be a stimulating blend of the experiential and theoretical, including:

• Keynote address by Bradford Keeney  

Listen to Kala’s interview with Bradford Keeney

on The Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show

• Keynote performance and workshop by  Vincent Mantsoe

• Participatory art installation with Cici Stevens, Workshops, Panels and Paper Presentations, Opportunities to share meals, network, and relax and a special pre-conference 1⁄2-day workshop with Bradford Keeney

For more detailed schedule information and to register,

visit www.duke.edu/web/threshold

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