The Belly Dance Blog: Sacred and Sensual Dance

Artful Life Retreats: Dance & Yoga + Creativity, Art, and Life-Visioning for Women

2010-02-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for a dance get-away? Artful Life Retreats are unique women's weekends combining dance and yoga with creativity, art, and life-visioning. Here's a bit more about them:

Join Bronwyn and Gillian for a weekend of creative awakening through movement, breath, art, and music. Immerse yourself in three restorative days of healing movement, artful play, joyous celebration, rural tranquility, and beautiful, healthy vegetarian food. The retreat offers plenty of time and space to go deep for authentic self-care and renewal, and to allow your body to surrender to the joy of dance and movement and your heart to open to the joys of creativity! No previous yoga, dance, or art experience is necessary!

Upcoming dates for our weekend retreats are March 19, 20, & 21, May 28, 29, and 30, July 30. 31, & Aug. 1, September 17, 18, and 19. Each season on the island has its own magic and beauty; the mists and frogsong of March, the soft air and wild roses of May, swimming tides and long deep twilights of July, September's tall grasses and garden harvests. We hope you can join us for one of these magical weekends!

The retreats will start on Friday afternoon and close on Sunday mid-day. Over twelve hours of instruction will be offered, including sessions in:

*body prayer and creating personal ritual
*creative journaling and visioning through collage
*elements of temple dance & the yoga of dance
*celebrating our sensuality
*inner bellydance
*opening the heart through women's chants and kirtan
*yoga and meditation (optional)

Our studio and retreat space is Arbutus Retreats, a beautiful, spacious sacred space nestled in a private spot on Denman Island. The gorgeous studio features big windows opening into gentle forest, pristine sprung hardwood floors, high ceilings, skylights, and a beautiful vibe. Meals and breaks will be taken in the serene and cozy private home with ocean views. Visit us at arbutus retreats.

A variety of accommodations are available on Denman, to suit all budgets and tastes. We are happy to help you find the right place to enhance your retreat experience.

Instructors
Bronwyn Simons is an artist, dancer, teacher, entrepreneur, and passionate believer in the power of both dance and art to bring joy, transformation, & healing to our lives. For two decades she's been been teaching, leading, and facilitating workshops, retreats, and classes for women. Whether she's teaching movement, visual art, creativity, or wise woman ways, her focus is always on guiding each woman home to herself, home to an appreciation of her unique shining spirit and perfect, wise body.

One student said: "I can't recommend Bronwyn's teaching style highly enough. We had soooo much fun!! We laughed and shared and opened our hearts. She facilitated a fabulous melding of personalities and talents into a weekend of growth....in the dance and, for some, very personal growth..."

Gillian Saxby has taught yoga, yogadance and bellydance as sacred forms of expression since 2000. She feels privileged to witness the re-membering that women seem to experience though yoga and dance. She believes in the healing and transformational aspects of these art forms and loves to share her joy for the dance. Yogadance unifies the arts of yoga, bellydance, and temple dance through the alchemy of breath and movement, allowing the connection of body, mind and spirit to grow.

One student said: " (In Gillian's workshop) I felt encouraged to move in a way which celebrated my femininity...the movements seem to be held in a sacred place within."

Learn more about Gillian at www.yogadance.ca, and visit Bronwyn at The Artful Life.

About Denman Island
Denman Island is a tiny, jewel-like island nestled against the East Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, just a few hours journey from both Vancouver and Seattle. The island is bursting with life and the wonders of nature: private beaches, serene lakes, and forest trails. There are cozy or elegant B & B's, several 'island style' retail shops, a general store, bookstore, and places to eat like the Denman Island Bakery.

There is also a rich web of artists and healers who are located on the island and who offer their products and services. You can explore artist's studios, purchase pottery, jewelery, paintings, sculpture, or textiles. You can schedule a healing session with a massage therapist or other bodyworker, an herbal medicine consultation, or even a tarot card reading! For further information about Denman Island including accommodation ideas go to www.denmanisland.com.

Costs and Registration
The weekend of teachings and some meals costs $325.50 including taxes. (The cost will be $347.50 after July 1st, to accommodate the new HST). The fees includes all instruction, lunch and dinner on Saturday, and snacks throughout.

A $100 non-refundable deposit is required to register, with remaining fees due on the first day of the retreat. You can pay your deposit by cheque, or by credit card through Paypal. Visit arbutus retreats here to pay through Paypal, or contact Gillian at yogadance@telus.net to arrange payment. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation email and a registration package.

A variety of accommodations are available on Denman, to suit all budgets and tastes. We are happy to help you find the right place to enhance your retreat experience. Please contact Gillian at (250) 335-1616 or yogadance@telus.net if you have any further questions, or would like us to send you a brochure and registration package.

2010-01-11T17:07:00.000-08:00

For a decade now, Gillian and I have been putting together annual retreats for women. Some of my sweetest, most soulful, most transformative moments of the last decade have happened in these wonderful groups of women! This year, we are both feeling a need to blossom into the world bigger, better, more, and juicier... so we are really excited to be crafting five retreat weekends, soulful getaways for feminine creativity, recharging, healing, and fun. They will be held at Arbutus Retreats, Gillian's beautiful island sanctuary, and will focus on journalling, art, yoga, dance, meditation, creating rituals of self care & embracing the sacred in daily life. Join our retreat mailing list if you'd like to know more. Upcoming dates for our weekend retreats are March 20, 21, and 22, May 29, 30, and 31, July 23, 24, and 25, September 24, 25, and 26. Each season on the island has its own magic and beauty; the mists and frogsong of March, the soft air and wild roses of May, swimming tides and long deep twilights of July, September's tall grasses and garden harvests. We hope you can join us for one of these magical weekends!

Happy New Year from the Bellydance Blog

2010-01-07T20:11:00.000-08:00

What are your dance dreams for 2010?
Your first solo performance?
Time to start your own troupe?
Start teaching?
Get back to classes?
Explore another dance discipline?
Go on a dance retreat or tour?
Learn to sew your own costumes?
Master the finger cymbals?
Create your own choreography?
Throw monthly dance parties for your dance community?
or.....
We want to know! Share your dance dreams and goals here!

Belly Dancers of the Golden Age: Naemet Mokhtar

2009-12-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

I can't find any biographical info on this beautiful dancer, so please let me know if you can enlighten us! I found the first clip posted on facebook by a dance friend - wait for the singularly amazing backbend ... and please don't try it yourself! The second clip is Tamra Henna - for fun you can compare it to Naima Akif's posted last time...

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

What is the key
To untie the knot of the mind's suffering?

Benevolent thought, sound,
And movement.

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-12-04T05:00:00.000-08:00

Why
Abstain from love
When like the beautiful snow goose
Someday your soul
Will leave this summer
Camp?

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-12-03T12:20:00.001-08:00

THIS SKY

This

Sky

Where we live

Is no place to lose your wings

So love, love,

Love.

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-12-02T05:00:00.000-08:00

It Felt Love

How
Did the rose
Ever open its heart

And give to this world
All its
Beauty?

It felt the encouragement of light
Against its
Being.

Otherwise,
We all remain

Too

Frightened.

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-12-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Now is the time for the world to know
That every thought and action is sacred.

This is the time
For you to deeply compute the impossibility

That there is anything
But Grace.

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-30T05:00:00.000-08:00

You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,

Mix them, mix
them!

Hafiz

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-29T10:43:00.000-08:00

This week I'll be sharing little pearls from the poetry of Hafiz, along with images of the Tree of Life from various Asian and Middle Eastern traditions. Hafiz was a 14th Century Persian Sufi poet - not quite Rumi's contemporary, but in the same tradition of ecstatic, devotional, mystical poetry. (I'll be quoting from Daniel Ladinsky's translations.) The Tree of Life is a symbol common to almost every culture worldwide, a symbol of spiritual attainment, worldly abundance and spiritual gifts, even of the mysterious structure of the cosmos. The symbol is often found in the rugs and tapestries of the East. The one above is a tapestry from South India.

We have not come here to take prisoners,

But to surrender ever more deeply
To freedom and joy.

We have not come into this exquisite world
To hold ourselves hostage from love.

*By the way, if you want to get Daily Belly Dance Wisdom (and my other posts) delivered directly to your in-box or reader, now you can! I've added subscription links in the right sidebar - Yay!*

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

you are precious
you are golden
you are utterly unique.

when you express yourself, it is a gift.

honour us with your gifts today.

xo

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

This week I'll be featuring vintage images of dancers for our Daily Belly Dance Wisdom - enjoy!!

Moving from centre. That's it - probably my juiciest, pithiest, most useful bit of dance-and-life wisdom, served up on this rainy November Friday. Modern dance brought to our consciousness what the belly dancers have known all along; emotion and meaning move through the muscle, from the core, and if we want to speak to our audience of the deepest things, we must bring it from the deepest place. How can you move from your centre, in dance and in life today?

Belly Dancers of the Golden Age: Naima Akef

2009-11-27T06:11:00.000-08:00

1929 - 1966
Naima's parents were acrobats in the famous Akef Circus, run by Naimas grandfather. She began as a circus performer, then became a nightclub dancer in Cairo, and finally a star of cinema. Her film career was prolific, and she danced and acted until two years before her untimely death in 1966.

Dances of Hope - Benefit Belly Dance Show

2009-11-26T15:30:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I had the honour of participating in a benefit show organized by my friend Bryanna. Bryanna, who is best known as a vegan chef, blogger, and cook book author, is also a fabulous belly dancer and a life long activist for social justice. She brought together the latter two passions by organizing Dances of Hope to benefit the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund, an organization that brings much needed medical care to children in war torn areas of the Middle East.The show was a great success; the dances were beautiful and varied, the dancers had fun, and almost $2000 was raised for the cause! I thoroughly enjoyed performing, a cane duet, a sharqi duet, and a veil solo! Here are some pictures, taken by the talented Mike Van Santvoord. Top is Bryanna, middle is Gillian, bottom is yours truly.

American Tribal Style Belly Dance

2009-11-25T11:41:00.000-08:00

A gallery of tribal style gorgeousness

Russian Belly Dancer Julia Ivanova

2009-11-23T08:37:00.000-08:00

I just came across this on YouTube - what do you think of this belly dancer? I think she's beautiful, strong, and skilled, but what I really love is her joyful and relaxed stage presence. She really seems to feel at home on the stage... such a big, cold, empty stage, and she just heats it up.

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-22T05:00:00.000-08:00

There are short-cuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.

~Vicki Baum

steampunk urban tribal gothic circus burlesque fusion belly dance... I think...

2009-11-21T21:26:00.000-08:00

The Indigo's up to some wild&edgy stuff lately - I'd love to know what you think.

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

The Dancer believes that her art has something to say which cannot be expressed in words or in any other way than by dancing... there are times when the simple dignity of movement can fulfill the function of a volume of words. There are movements which impinge upon the nerves with a strength that is incomparable, for movement has power to stir the senses and emotions, unique in itself. This is the dancer's justification for being, and her reason for searching further for deeper aspects of her art.

~Doris Humphrey, 1937

Creating Belly Dance Performance Opportunities

2009-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

I can vividly remember coming home from my very first belly dance lesson, showing my tentative, clumsy steps to my sweetie, and announcing to him that I wanted to "dance on stage!" Being the kind man that he is, he was very encouraging, and only later (after I HAD danced on stage...) told me how filled with trepidation for me he was on that first day. Performance, or the idea of performance, has always been a really important part of my personal dance journey. I don't believe that performance is or needs to be important for every dancer. We dance for many reasons, including bonding with other women, having a fulfilling and regular physical practice, or exploring and healing our emotions and bodies. For many of us, however, the experience of getting up in front of others, revealing ourselves, and taking the time and space to share our beauty, can be healing in itself. Over the years, I have danced in quite a variety of venues, ranging from friends' kitchens to big theatres. There is undoubtedly a satisfaction and sense of glamour that comes from dancing in a large and professional space for a diverse and sophisticated audience. But is such a performance somehow inherently more important, more thrilling, more authentic, or more meaningful than a performance in a more humble venue? The personal thrill of my first solo dance, performed in a friend's kitchen, was quite equal to the thrill, years later, of debuting 'Axis Mundi,' a full-scale production in a professional theatre. Both performances contributed a great deal to my growth as a dancer. Both gave me the sense of heightened awareness that makes performing so compelling. And both generated audience feedback that told me my dancing had touched people's hearts. Was one performance more valuable, important, or enjoyable than the other? No! If you feel that performance is an important part of your own dance journey, don't feel that you have to wait for the perfect, big, or professional opportunity to come to you. I encourage you to create your own performance opportunities. A good place to start might be to host a "Hafla," or women's dance party in your home, inviting your fellow students and their friends for a casual evening. There are also many opportunities in your community to offer your performance as a gift to others; I have performed in care homes and retirement homes, and given pro bono lessons and performances at women's centres and in schools. If you are yearning to perform, I encourage you to think creatively about your opportunities, and then take the next step by creating opportunities for yourself! (In the pictures: 1. my solo debut, on a friend's kitchen floor, 1994 2. in Axis Mundi, 2001 3. after dancing with my friend Bryanna at a retirement home, 2008)

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-20T05:00:00.000-08:00

To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful.

~Agnes De Mille

Isis Wings?

2009-11-19T07:42:00.000-08:00

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-19T05:00:00.000-08:00

Some say the soul informs the body. But what if we were to imagine for a moment that the body informs the soul, helps it to adapt to mundane life, parses, translates, gives the blank page, the ink, and the pen with which the soul can write upon our lives? Suppose, as in fairy tales of the shapechangers, the body is a God in its own right, a teacher, a mentor, a certified guide? Then what? Is it wise to spend a lifetime chastising this teacher who has so much to give and teach? Do we wish to spend a lifetime allowing others to detract from our bodies, judge them, find them wanting? Are we strong enough to refute the party line and listen deep, listen true to the body as a powerful and holy being?

-Clarissa Pinkola-Estes
(not a quote from a dancer, but a great one for dancers!)

Daily Belly Dance Wisdom

2009-11-18T05:00:00.000-08:00

The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word.

~Mata Hari