Shifting DANCES

“I see dance being used as communication between body and soul,

to express what is too deep to find words for.”

_Ruth St. Denis

Identity is not only cognitive but is an embodied experience that becomes organised into patterns of movement, affect, posture, and relationship. Our autobiographical memories play a huge role in how these patterns are organised. The greater the intensity of a life event, the stronger is its emotional imprint, contributing to the patterns through which we experience ourselves and the world. The brain does not remember independently of the body, and movement can alter emotional and memory processes.

Many shamanic and traditional healing practices involve dance, recognising that transformation occurs through the whole organism rather than through thought alone. Dance allows us to discover new ways of organising habitual patterns held in the body. This is done by introducing new postures, rhythms, and movements that open up new emotional possibilities and new ways of relating to life. To dance is not to recall and “deal with” emotions, memories, or trauma, but rather to allow awareness to participate in an ongoing process of reorganisation and renewal.

When we dance into this ever-changing flow, we open ourselves to many possibilities. Sometimes memories and emotions arise and are embraced as part of the process. Sometimes old patterns soften and dissipate, releasing us from ways of being that no longer serve. Yet perhaps most importantly, dance allows us to embody possibilities that have not yet been lived, awakening insight, creativity, and the courage to dance a new future into being.

_Christos Daskalakos