Peter Fodera (United States)
Teacher since 2004, Dancing since 1999
PETER:
I was half a century old when I discovered the 5Rhythms at the turn of the century. While life had already bestowed so many blessings on me, there was still something missing. The moment that I stepped into the dance I discovered that missing element, my self. Once I found my feet, everything seemed to fall into place.
The Heartbeat map was a special revelation. Understanding the innate gifts of our emotional body allowed me to follow the energetic flow and not to hold on to feelings or try and hide them. Emotional intelligence requires clarity. Holding on to emotions is not just exhausting; it clouds and obscures our empathetic sensors. Emotions are here to serve us.
Gabrielle always said “the body doesn’t lie.’” Connecting with our natural, intuitive, embodied wisdom helps us to come from a grounded and centered place, and find a more courageous way to love.
Join us as we step into this landscape with curiosity, kindness & compassion.
ERIK:
My first experience with 5Rhythms was in 1982 in Red Bank, New Jersey. I was a hockey jock and a schoolteacher arriving with my wife and our 2-year old son. We joined 9 other dancers for a 5-week intensive taught by Gabrielle Roth and 8 members of her music/theatre ensemble. It was magical and wild and it woke me up to the chaos of my own feelings. It was also my initiation into a life passion and career as an advocate and teacher of emotional embodiment.
Over decades of dancing with thousands of people, both as a teacher and as a student, I’ve observed patterns in movement and their connection to our emotions – both of the feelings that are flowing in the present and those from the past that are still held in our bodies. The discovery of this connection was vital to my understanding of the power of movement to heal. In my 30-year practice as a body worker, I’ve refined my ability to recognize an individual’s inner and outer history as it is reflected in their unique posture, musculature and alignment.
We call this body of knowledge The Anatomy of Emotions – the map of where and how feelings live and move in our bodies, and how allowing and liberating their expression supports greater health, presence and ease in all aspects of our lives.
Anatomy of Emotions
with Peter Fodera
21 February 2018 - 25 February 2018
Mark Morris Dance Center , New York
REGISTER HERE!
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Christian de Sousa
United Kingdom
5Rhythms Teacher since 2004
Tribe Member since 1998
Conscious Dance. What a great phrase!
It says a lot: dance and you will become conscious… But what does that mean and how does it work??
I had a recent chance encounter with some Russian dolls (you know the ones which fit inside each other?) The babushkas reminded me of one of Gabrielle’s many 5-step maps, which I remember as the Five Stages of Consciousness in Dance.
1. We step onto a dancefloor and often we’re Unconscious - we aren’t present, we’re in our heads thinking about all the stuff going on in our lives. Or we’re resistant, in our stories about “I can’t dance” or “I’m a dancer but I’m too tired/tense/distracted to dance today”
2. At some point, something happens (usually it’s the music catching us, or a moment of connection with another dancer) - and suddenly, we’re Self-Conscious - “I’m dancing! Wow! Check me out!” - or “Am I getting it right?” or “Oh no, everyone’s looking at me! Hide!”
3. Keep moving and bringing focus to the basics of body, breath and physical movement, and again eventually something happens - the stories and the self-consciousness drop away and we become simply Conscious of being in our bodies, moving; “I’m here, I’m dancing” and that’s it.
4. Keep moving more and then the magic starts to happen; we become aware that we are creative agents in and of the dance. We move with the energy, we discover that the dance is revealing to us the mysteries of our existence - and we realise we can reciprocate by embodying those mysteries. We become Co-Conscious and anything is possible.
5. “The dancer disappears and only the dance remains.” When we get lucky, we dissolve into Ecstatic Consciousness. Sometimes it’s a momentary glimpse; sometimes we get to hang out in that silver desert for a while and remember who we are - before dropping back into one of the other stages again!
One of the many, many things I love about the 5Rhythms is that they guide us through this journey of consciousness, opening the gates to heaven for us all - whilst also valuing all states and all dances as part of it.
ECSTATIC RHYTHMS
with Christian de Sousa
09 February 2018 - 11 February 2018
London, UK, London
REGISTER HERE!
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