Dance Anywhere

What if the whole world paused to dance?

That's the question Beth Fein asked, and inspired a world wide movement project called "dance anyhwere". I heard about it on face book from a dance friend I met in Tucson. I met her through a Nia teacher I randomly connected with on the Nia website. Yes, the internet has an amazing potential to connect.

Yet, while the internet serves as a fantastic tool for creating opportunities for connection, there is no substitute for coming together in the physical. Connecting, feet to earth, and hand to hand.

That's what we did on Friday, March 26, 2010. A few emails just a few days before, and a passionate enthusiasm to share the JOY of dance with community was all it took to allow for the magic of co-creativity to unfold.


Andre brought his guitar and mic, Sharmaine brought some sidewalk chalk, and Charlotte rounded up the peeps who were curiously milling around the Village plaza. Together we "altared" the boardwalk infront of Artworks, playfully creating the space for our dance to unfold. At 12 noon, we circled up and the eagles flying high above us, joined in our dance.

Eagle medicine is the gift we give ourselves to remind us of the freedom of the skies. Eagle asks you to give yourself permission to legalize freedom and to follow the joy your heart desires!

~Jamie Sams and David Carson, Medicine Cards

The concept for dance anywhere® is about the transformation of familiar and ordinary locations and blurs the line that separates art and dance from our daily lives.

Together we awakened the magic of the moment using dance, music, playful intention, and togetherness. That is our intention for Move Freely, Live Deeply - transformational movement and music.

Quantum gratitude to all who danced, and to the eagle medicine.

Embodied Prayer

I am Sacred. My body is sacred. My dance is sacred.

The definition of sacred : devoted to or dedicated exclusively to a single use, person, or purpose.

It's not about any specific religious belief or practice.

My body is just for me, it is my person, therefore it is sacred.

This is the basis of Nia's new Principle #11 Creating a Sacred Livelihood. Creating a Sacred Livelihood is about living into your purpose and into the unique way you exist in the world.

This concept has been very inspiring to me. It has come at a time when I am remembering why I dance, and why I love to share dance in community. It is my unique way of connecting to Self, Other, Community and the Divine.

At the end of the last Move Freely, Live Deeply workshop, Andre and I shared an embodied prayer with the group. The intention was to use our unique and sacred vessel of the body to "bring more life to" our journey of living into our brilliance. We started at the back of the studio, and together like a river moving with purpose, we danced towards the altar.

This week Andre and I were inspired to video the dance and share it with you. Clear some space, light a candle, or just take a few breaths. Ask yourself, "What is it that I am moving towards in order to live into my own unique brilliance?" and dance it! Try on the movements I suggest, and make them your own.

Listen to the message that pours into your heart. Open your wings and fly freely with passion and purpose. Honour the medicine that has brought you to this moment, and step with grace into the ever present NOW.

Untangling the Bones

Living Deeply...
Packed up, moved out, left town and came back again the very same day. Then came February...

In the conscious crafting woman's circle I meet with on Moondays, facilitated by Sharmaine Goldman, the theme of the month was our "hearts desire". Using papier mache over a heart shaped balloon, we were invited to symbolically create our heart's desire. We started with a simple journey guided by the instructions to trust what comes. A feeling of peace and a white dove are what came to me. I was somewhat surprised that it was not some vision of abundance, or romance, or even a house considering my present state of homelessness. While I wasn't sure how to "create" that in papier maché yet, I was compelled by the clarity of the feeling I experienced in the opening journey.

That week divine timing gifted me with a celebration. Just after an hour of dancing in what felt like a "stuck or frustrated" energy, my balloon heart spontaneously exploded from the inside out with a burst of confetti raining down on me. The release sent me into a joyous dance of wonder and gratitude. And my heart now resembled a rib cage, bare bones exposed for all to see.

On the new moon, I seeded a journey asking to learn about self-love and compassion. And a desire to explore structure after still not knowing what direction to go in, inspired a continuation in the vision of Move Freely, Live Deeply and "BONES" was conceived.

During the 9 days of gestation I explored the "art of body reading" with Duncan Fraser, began reading "Women Who Run With the Wolves" and discovered the story of "Skeleton Woman" about the Life/Death/Life cycle. (read skeleton women) I worked on my "heart's desire craft" and watched it transform into a beautiful bird cage, a house for my heart, protected yet open to be seen, open to the light. Clues abounded and synchronicities increased as I began seeing the "bones" of everything I looked at.

Then we danced...

In Nia we moved the bones, played with them to express boldly, to move creatively "within the box", and to shape shift energy.
In the ecstatic dance journey, we asked our selves, "what must I give more death to today, in order to generate more life?". My dance became an offering of the bones. I "turned up the volume" feeling the exhaustion from the ego holding on and dragged myself through the sticky swamp of self-importance, collecting the discarded and buried pieces of the "not beautiful" into a heap of bones at the base of the altar. In the surrendering came tears, in the tears came tenderness. In the tenderness I felt the hands, and eyes, and breath of sacred bodies singing over sacred bones. With Andre's voice as the banks of our river, we opened our hearts and danced a new dance, stepping into the flow of the new life that wants to emerge.

I planted a seed of self-love at the new moon, Feb 13. On the full moon of the dance I gave that seed pieces of me that were ready to be composted and watered it with tears. I'm now untangling my bones with curiousity and compassion. Dancing with the knowing that the purpose of the body is to experience and extend love.


I finished my heart craft. In the process I realized that my heart not only wants to be seen, but wants to see! I want to see into your heart. I want to meet heart to heart. And so I'll continue polishing my heart so that it may become a mirror to reflect how beautiful you truly are.

Moving Freely...

"The skeleton is an excellent image for the life/ death/ life nature. As a psychic image, the skeleton is composed of hundreds of small and large odd-shaped sticks and knobs in continuous harmonious relationship to one another. When one bone turns, the rest turn, even if imperceptibly. The life/death/life cycles are like that exactly. When life moves the bones, the bones of death move sympathetically. When death moves, the bones of life begin to turn too." (excerpt from Women Who Run with the Wolves)

In Nia, Principle #10 X-Ray Anatomy, is the practice of using your eyes, your other sensory organs, and your intuition to see inside you. You can penetrate the veil of your flesh to perceive your alignment by focusing on the position of your bones and joints.
Try it! Stand comfortably in front of a mirror. Focus on your bones and joints. What are the shoulders doing, is the core twisted, what about the hips, which way are the knees pointing...? Be curious.
Tip: Be a witness, no judgements, just the facts! If you hear yourself judging, playfully call out "objection your honour!" In the simple act of bringing loving attention and acceptance, we can begin to untangle our bones from the inside out. Don't forget to breathe...

Move it! Duncan asked us, "Can you really feel the structure that your Spirit is housed in? Follow Duncan Fraser in these simple exercises as an embodied exploration.

Ex#1
Posture for balance and ease in the knees and hip joints.




Ex. #2
Move the elbows to release tension in the the small (intrinsic) muscles of the arms and shoulder girdle.