The Rhythm Dance |
| A Rhythm Dance is a dance which is repeated at certain intervals during
an evening session or a week long event. It fulfills several functions,
both external and internal. The most obvious function of this way
of using a dance is that it will help to hold the theme of the event together
in one weave. Perhaps it may be sed as a bookend, both to open and
to close the event. Or perhaps it may be used at specific moments
that remind the circle of a certain quality.
On the Inner levels, the rhythm dance is somewhat like the shamans drum which, each time it beats, brings the traveler further on the journey. I have used the dance and song ÏGive Yourself to LoveÓ much in this way. One good example of a rhythm dance was a time when I was co-facilitating a mens group. My co-facilitator was unfamiliar with Sacred Dance or with how I use it. When I opened the weekend with a dance from the Knights Templar called ÏEnas MythosÓ, all of the men, my co-facilitator included, were rolling their eyes and wondering what they had gotten themselves into with such simplistic stuff. (non-modern). I told the story of how Enas Mythos may well have come from the Knights Templar and that they used this as a greeting and a parting dance. The arms, unlike most dances, were crossed in front of the self, making an infinity sign and a spiral of the circle holding hands. This was, the story behind the dance goes, because in this dance the Knights were recognizing that fate and death were a part of their lives and that this may well be the last moment in eternity that they would be together in a circle. As the weekend rolled through, I kept using that dance mingled with
other traditional mens dances from many times and cultures. The weekend
ended (after a deeply moving dance circle on Saturday where a number of
the men broke out into new horizons) on the Sunday afternoon. The
circle was sealed and the men had gathered their belongings and were about
to walk out the door when I said as though by second thought (though
I had intended it all along) --- ÏO, letÌs just do one last dance!Ó
We formed a circle. I put on the tape and quickly returned to the
circle of men. When the first drums rolled and the men realized that
the dance was Enas Mythos, all of the eyes flowed in the deep and wide
tears significant of soft and deep feeling.
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