Relationships

Practices such as Passion Dance are often done in the company of others, and in fact Passion Dance embraces the opportunities provided by a group setting to model a healthy community. Meditative movement encompasses three ways of responding to the presence of others.

1. Acknowledging without engagement. In the same way that in sitting meditation we allow feelings, thoughts, and external distractions to pass by, it is often very useful to spend some time focusing on our inner landscape and our own physical being to the exclusion of others around us.In Passion Dance, each journey begins in this way; we close our eyes and move in place to reconnect our body, mind, and spirit. We are reminded of the totality of our being, and of the rightful boundary between ourselves and the outside world. Define the players clearly: I, this dancer, and not I, the environment; other beings and things with which I can choose my relationship.
2. Playing together. We can maintain an awareness of ourselves, and see how another person affects and is affected by our presence. Dance with someone—play, enjoy, experiment. Notice their movement; follow it, counter it, complement it; do what feels good, and if nothing feels quite right or you simply feel complete, move on. Continue your dance apart from them.This is not an intellectual exercise; conscious analysis and decisions are largely unnecessary, as the felt sense of your experience will tell you what to do. In our dance, as in life, we interact with others but remain present with ourselves; we allow a felt sense to form in the presence of another and let it guide our interactions.
3. Amplification. In Passion Dance, we form an energy circle with one person in the middle dancing and all of us amplifying their energy. Perhaps someone enters the circle jumping and shouting for joy, or moving their hips like a bellydancer with excitement and sensuality. Those of us on the outside of the circle follow and amplify. When we allow another person’s energy to resonate and merge with our own, both of us are energized.