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Space Harmony: Portal to the Sacred -- A Sacred Dance Experience

Friday September 22, 2017 06:30 PM To Sunday September 24, 2017 04:00 PM

Ottawa, CA

Thank you for your interest in the Space Harmony: Portal to the Sacred -- A Sacred Dance Experience. However at this time, registration for this event has closed.

Event Details

Art work by Svetlana Swinimer*

Space Harmony: Portal to the Sacred -- A Sacred Dance Experience

Come as you are with your heart and open mind! Come to any part or all of this weekend experience of dance as a Portal to the Sacred!

For our first evening on Friday we will be “tasting” sacred dance appetizers with various facilitators and meeting our main facilitator for the weekend, Marylee Hardenbergh. She has been creating outdoor, site-specific dances for over 30 years in such places as Bosnia, Russia, the Mediterranean, and the United States – and now in Canada! (7:00 – 9:30 pm)

On Saturday morning, Marylee will teach concepts from Laban’s Space Harmony theories, which we will use to explore the spiritual aspects of spatial tensions. Each individual will have the opportunity to experience in their own unique way how chosen spatial paths can invite in the Divine. Marylee’s teaching style is to present this beautiful material in a way that is simple yet profound, making it accessible to all. Laban believed that every-body is a dancer. Some are high movers, some are middle movers, and some are low movers, but EVERYONE is a dancer.  (9:00 – Noon)

The Saturday afternoon session will take the group through various exercises designed to create a deep sense of community within the group in preparation for the Movement Choir performance on Sunday. Exercises will include structures designed to unite individuals through breath work, to experience how the group can expand and condense together, and to foster awareness of how to utilize contrasting spatial tensions.  One important aspect of Movement Choirs is that individual expression is encouraged while the group moves as an organic whole. It is democracy in action! We are very excited about creating a performance especially for one of Ottawa’s amazing sites.  (1:00 – 4:00)

On Saturday evening we will come together with others from the community (open to all – donations only) for an evening celebrating Sacred Arts – a Labyrinth walk, a Moving Mandala Meditation, video, visual arts, music....  a celebration for the mind, body and spirit.  (7:30 – 9:30 pm)

On Sunday morning participants are invited to offer a Taize movement piece in the morning Worship Service at Bells Corners United Church (our host venue for the weekend). This piece will be included in the Friday night offerings but will be simple enough that if those who come only on the Saturday would like to participate, they can also learn it; we will have a short session during the Saturday lunch break.  (10:00 – 11:00 am)

On Sunday afternoon – those participating in the Saturday afternoon session will gather to offer the site-specific “Movement Choir” (as Marylee likes to refer to the process) to be performed at a public space in Ottawa (tentatively the locks at the Chateau Laurier Hotel in downtown Ottawa – but this is subject to change!).  Participants will learn the structure of the performance, mark it through, and at the end will perform the piece to music. The design of the Choir will be inclusive, both for the participants and for those who happen to be in the public space. Marylee’s underlying goal is to create beauty, visible in an outdoor space. We will perform rain or shine! This will be an unforgettable experience --- it will stay in the memory of both participants and the city of Ottawa for decades to come. (2:30 – 4:00 – approximate time)

Come dance with us! No dance experience necessary.  For more information, please contact Wendy Morrell at wendy.morrell@sympatico.ca or 613-726-1375.

About our facilitator:

In addition to creating outdoor, site-specific dances for over 30 years, Marylee Hardenbergh is a founding member of Global Water Dances (www.globalwaterdances.org) – with Ottawa being a fantastic part of this world-wide community -- and is currently the artistic director of Global Site Performance (www.GlobalSitePerformance.org) in Minneapolis. Hardenbergh also leads Movement Choirs, most notably for the American Dance Therapy Association. She studied with Irmgard Bartenieff in New York City, and is honored to carry forward this direct lineage from Rudolf Laban. She has received numerous awards for her site-specific choreographer, including a Soros, a USA-based National Endowment for the Arts, and McKnight Fellowships. Marylee created the Sacred Dance Guild’s first “flash mob” at Festival 2010 “Simply Soaring” held at Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.  She was also thrilled to have met several SDG members on the Sacred Dance Guild Journey to Bali last May.

This workshop is co-sponsored by the Sacred Dance Guild and the Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada.  Members of either of these organizations (or any of our affiliates) receive the member discount.


* This photo is of one of several pieces included in "Space Scape," an installation exhibited in Feb. 2017 by Ottawa-based artist Svetlana Swinimer. Space Scape offers personal glimpses of the mystery that remains at the heart of our cosmos. It provides an imaginative journey in which science opens up space and lets magic in. This work reflects the artist's fascination with new, awe-inspiring scientific discoveries in outer space.


 

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Sacred Dance Guild

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The Sacred Dance Guild is a spiritually diverse, international, non-profit organization with a commitment to advocate for dance as a sacred art and to promote dance as a means of spiritual growth and integration of mind, body and spirit.

On behalf of its members, the SDG furthers these goals by providing sacred dance programs and resources, and by promoting sacred dance events.

The Dance Movement Therapy Association in Canada (DMTAC) is a
not-for-profit, membership-based organization dedicated to promoting
Dance/Movement Therapy (DMT) across Canada. DMTAC aims to develop and
nurture a cohesive community of DMT professionals, students and
supporters from all provinces. The organization offers advocacy,
educational opportunities, information and resources, and is focused
on expanding professional training opportunities for DMT in Canada.

For more information, please visit: www.dmtac.org.

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Where and When
Bells Corners United Church
3955 Old Richmond Road
Ottawa, Ontario
CANADA
K2H5C5
Start Date: 2017-09-22 18:30:00
End Date: 2017-09-24 16:00:00