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Ecstatic Dance: Moving to your own rhythm

Christopher Kelley
Posted 1/27/23

[caption id="attachment_97734" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Digging the vibes: “Cozy Corners” were provided for those who wished to rest and meditate during the over two hours long dance

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Ecstatic Dance: Moving to your own rhythm

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Digging the vibes Above, left; “Cozy Corners” were provided for those who wished to rest and meditate during the over two hours long dance event. Above, right; DJ Chris Cox, an infamous spin artist in the Ecstatic Dance scene, shook the walls of Tadasana with his bass driven beats. PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER KELLLEY Digging the vibes: “Cozy Corners” were provided for those who wished to rest and meditate during the over two hours long dance event. PHOTOS BY CHRISTOPHER KELLLEY[/caption]

The name of the evening’s dance was “Deep Release”, the hosts of Tadasana Mountain Yoga’s Ecstatic Dance told the circle this before the dance had begun. An ethereal hum steadily drifted out of large speakers, the sound escalating and growing louder, swirling about the intimate space until it became a pulsating heartbeat.

Attendees stretched and writhed as the emanating sounds dictated, letting their bodies become entranced by its own rhythm, a rhythm of emotions to be both celebrated and expelled, to be realized through the motions of the dancing.

This is the spirit of Ecstatic Dance, to let your body be taken away on a musical journey and to let it express emotions that we harbor within ourselves.

“The first time I went to an ecstatic dance I thought of it as exactly what I wanted a rave to be, where you can roll on the floor and you can use the space and it’s safe because it’s not in a bar,” Lisa Samoy, one of the inspired minds behind building Nederland’s Ecstatic Dance community, spoke with The Mountain-Ear about her passion for the concept of free-form dancing.

“I get to process a lot of emotion and thought. The music is so powerful in leading me through different emotional stages which reflect something in my life or my body that I need to work with, whether it’s a physical stiffness or ailment or whether it’s emotional. It’s like a really thick, processing cauldron.”

Ecstatic Dance is a form of expression to some and also a catharsis to others, both deeply personal but also a communal experience, much in the same vein as the “high” achieved in experiencing your favorite band live, in a crowd of thousands.

“I definitely find a lot of peace, a lot of release,” Laura Rose Gaydos explained to The Mountain-Ear. Gaydos, along with Samoy and with Kate Taylor, collaborated to help nurture the Ecstatic Dance movement at Tadasana Mountain Yoga.

“I used to go to the Rhythm Sanctuary after days of seeing clients,” Gaydos said about how Ecstatic Dance helped her through her days of working as a massage therapist in Denber. “All the tension that I had collected I would just shake it off and I would feel so free walking out of there.”

“Anything that was weighing heavy on me, dancing was an opportunity to move through it and let it go and reconnect with myself and my community,” Gaydos said.

“We hold so much in our bodies; our muscles and our tissue clamps down and holds that emotional state that we’re not able to process,” Samoy explained some of the physical, mental, and spiritual benefits to Ecstatic Dance.

“Thoughts or emotions about a relationship, about work, about the state of the world…anything in my life might come to my mind during the dance and the music can help me move through it and process it.”

On January 20, 2023, Tadasana Mountain Yoga hosted their first Ecstatic Dance of the new year. Hosts Gaydos, Samoy, and Taylor were present only as facilitators, not as instructors. They helped to center the space and ease attendees into the dance with an “opening circle”. Then they became part of the dance, just as everyone else; floating around the space as the sounds of featured DJ Chris Cox arose and blossomed into a beat.

The music was at times airy like a Sunday morning walk, inclining dancers to sway and swagger. Other times the music was gritty and booming with attitude, calling dancers to dip low to the ground and rise fast, hard, and with purpose.

“He’s one of the long-standing Ecstatic Dance DJs in the area,” Samoy said about Cox and his contributions to the scene. “I’ve been to dances in Hawaii and other states and I feel like what we have going on here in Boulder County and Denver is the best. Our DJs really know how to put together a set and make the journey transformational.”

DJ Chris Cox is a well-known name in the Colorado Ecstatic Dance scene, which is one of the biggest in the country. Cox has created music for the Denver Broncos for Super Bowl XLVII and has produced official remixes for such major artists as The Crystal Method. His remixes are a staple at Rhythm Sanctuary in Boulder, a premier venue in the scene which offers a much bigger space than at Tadasana. However a smaller setting comes with its own advantages.

“It’s a unique opportunity to do it in a smaller space with a smaller group of people,” Gaydos said. “It brings a different dynamic. Rhythm Sanctuary is a big wedding-style ballroom and it’s just full of people dancing, which can be pretty overwhelming for people who are new to Ecstatic Dance.

At Tadasana, some dancers met each other in the space, attracted to those who moved in a way comfortable or familiar to them, their bodies moving together harmoniously. Others embraced their own inner rhythms, letting their hands and fingers interpret the story that the music is telling.

Some were completely free and able to enter into a trance, letting the music flow through them. Others were not so free of their inhibitions, yet there was no shame or embarrassment present in the space; everyone was free to move in their own way.

“The main thing that is helpful is to have some kind of contemplative practice, whether it’s meditation or yoga, and to have a way into the self and to the body to figure out what you need in the moment,” Samoy noted.

“When we’re going out dancing at bars there’s so much of an outward focus; what are other people doing, how are they dancing…where Ecstatic Dance offers the opportunity to not do that. The big opportunity is to find what the self needs and just follow that.”

“One thing we often encourage people to do is to just look around the room and see if someone is doing a movement that they’d like to try,” Gaydos mentioned. “It’s baby steps; I’m sure my first dance I wasn’t as loose as I maybe am now and some dances I go and I’m not as relaxed as others. I just trust the process.”

“If you don’t like the sounds then look to find what it is in you that’s responding to that. Is it a part of you that doesn’t want to feel angry or is it reminding you of something else that you’re irritable about in your life? If so then breathe through it and express it; let it out so you’re not holding it in your body. It’s great to move!” Gaydos said.

One could even choose not to move at all, or not to dance in the traditional sense. Some felt inspired to stretch out on the floor, others picked a corner and rolled out their yoga mats. There was a dedicated corner that allowed attendees to step out of the space if necessary, to lay down or meditate, to sit out a song and read, or transcribe a message or thought and crumple it up and release it.

Everyone at Tadasana Mountain Yoga has lovingly fostered a welcoming and unique community centered on individual expression and wellness. The “come-as-youare” spirit of Ecstatic Dance and the smaller, more intimate space produces a calming and inviting vibe that can convert the curious into a believer.

Ecstatic Dance nights will continue as a monthly event, with plans to feature Clay Rose of the Gasoline Lollipops spinning next month.

For more information go to: https://tadasanamountainyoga.com or call 303-258-YOGA.