Here’s commentary I was going to compose in reference to last weekend’s DUP Retreat.
In my experience, it used to be that the Dances were always led by well-known leaders, invited from afar to head up a particular retreat. At those Dances, the leader would graciously step aside, to allow, or even encourage, local leaders, usually two or three of them, to each lead a dance that they had laboriously learned. (Leading a dance, involves knowing the steps and the music, and — this is the hard part — knowing how to and naturally integrate the teaching of both to the group so that the dance easily streams out from the learning.)
But always, as I recall, the dances of local leaders seemed hesitant and unsure. Not quite present. Worried about our response. It felt to me as if we were “being kind” by accommodating these student leaders, and meanwhile, aching to return to bask in the frequency field easily spun into space by the famous leader from afar.
Over the past few years, it appears that a shift has been occurring in the way Dances are conducted, at least in some areas. I hear, for example, that in Columbia, South America, where for years famous leaders have been invited from the U.S. to lead, has now spawned an entire coterie of young leaders. And they are not alone: witness last weekend’s annual Midwest regional gathering in Fort Wayne.
A total of 14 local leaders led our circle dances, with no famous leader from afar, no firm frequency field for us to count on.
Instead, we were on our own, about 50 of us, mostly women, but eight intrepid men! (I counted different numbers each time I tried in the photo below, taken Sunday morning, after a few people had already departed.)
I’m the one with bare legs, front row, third from right.
Besides the 14 leaders, who each led one to five or six or so dances, there were at least 8 or 9 musicians, some of them constant, others cycling in and out of the center. Lots of organizers too, can’t keep track. Some playing more than one role. And all volunteer.
The point is, we were on our own. No more steadying frequency field installed from afar for us to easily and automatically melt into. Instead, the field, though strong, kept altering, as each local midwest leader, donning the microphone one by one, easily and expertly introduced and/or helped us to remember one or more of his or her favorite dances. Each one easily and naturally teaching us first about the meaning or the origins of the dance they themselves had chosen, then demonstrating both the words and movements, followed by exhibiting, through its tempo, the lovingly joyful, or sorrowful, or even wild mood of that particular dance, accompanied by musicians in the center; each dance honoring, in full heart and soul, the divinity that lies at the heart of all the world’s religions. Christian, Islamic, Jewish, Buddhist, Jain, Native American, Aboriginal, Goddess or God or both or none, it didn’t matter, we were invoking and celebrating the mysterious nourishing source of all creation.
That the frequency field kept altering, both “kept us on our toes” as a cooperative group, and invited each of us to participate in our own individually expressive manner as one by one local midwest leaders, each quirky as hell, and unselfconsciously expressing the infinite blessings of his or her own unique nature, invoked a specific frequency for that moment, that specific dance.
In other words, for the sacred Dances of Universal Peace, the hierarchy unconsciously encouraged by Pluto in Capricorn, installing famous leaders at the top to lead submissive followers, at least for the US Midwest dancers and those in Columbia South America, has now given way to the inventive, exhilarating collaborative individuality of Pluto in Aquarius. What could be Aquarian chaos never took hold; instead, constantly shifting harmonics, at least here, as each person steps up to their own plate to invoke their specific, utterly individual field, in blessed cooperation with others’ very unique, specific fields.
Not easy to accomplish. Much more difficult than basking inside an overall field set by a famous leader for the duration of the weekend’s Dances — and yet: encouraging and harboring a deeper, fuller ALIVENESS.
We danced and sang, for two to two and a half hours at a time, five sessions total, one Friday evening, three Saturday, and one Sunday morning. Each session included probably 12-18 different dances, to learn (for the moment) or remember (forever), and to enjoy, in concert with every other dancer, over and over again, while taking time out, of course, each of us, during sessions, to sit on the sidelines until we got our breath again.
(P.S. I did see cell phones pulled out while sitting, but VERY rare.)
Snacks Friday night, two breakfasts, plus spectacular and delicious lunch and dinner on Saturday. Great, full, meaningful conversations.
I’ll end with an incident that both illustrates and shows the possibilities within this now commencing Pluto in Aquarius era, to go on for the next 20 years.
We were standing in a circle, on Sunday morning, waiting for the microphone to go from one head to another, when Liz Monnier, 74, who is in charge of emailing all of us, suddenly shot out from the circle into the center and began to hilariously act out, in sudden spontaneous song and dance, just how we are supposed to leave our rooms. “Sheets off the beds!” “Keys in the box!” “Sheets and towels piles on the floor!” On and on. Her hilarious eruption prompted others to join her impromptu, as the rest of us stood there with mouths agape, clapping, laughing, thrilled at this Pluto in Aquarius performance art that had suddenly burst forth out of the blue.
