The Next Dance Of Universal Peace Leadership Training Course will begin in

November 2010

The Course will take place over two years and will consist of eight residential weekends.

The weekends will alternate geographically between Oblate Retreat Centre, Crewe and in the south mainly at the Emmaus Centre, West Wickham. The dates for the weekends are 19th-21st November 2010 at Crewe; 4th-6th February 2011 at West Wickham; 13th-15th May 2011 Crewe;  August 5th-7th 2011, West Wickham; 18th-20th November 2011, Crewe. The following three weekends will take place in February, May and August at Crewe or in the south.  These dates will be finalised in the near future.

Contact me if you are interested in being considered for this course. Email me at mail@philipodonohoe.co.uk.

Clearly, learning to lead the dances involves much more than just getting to know the movements and melodies of dances. This is of course the starting point but there is much more to be experienced and assimilated before one can masterfully lead the dances. There are a number of components worthy of study and I call these the foundation stones of the Dances which are: Breath; Sound and Voice; Body Awareness; Rhythm; Concentration; Attunement and Magnetism; the Unity of Religious Ideals; the various Walking Concentrations of Samuel Lewis; and the Spiritual Lineage of the Dances.

Our main focus will be to explore more deeply the foundation stones, their application to the dances and how they enhance the skills of dance leading.

For instance we will work with aspects of the various walking practices each weekend even though we will cover them in more detail at certain times. Everything we do will be related to our work with the dances and the dances themselves will invariably play a prominent part in each session. The original dances of Samuel Lewis are perhaps the cornerstone for the path of mastering the Dances and we will study these dances  in some depth. We will also study primarily, though not entirely, the dances from the Manual, Foundation Dances and Walks published by Peaceworks.

The path of dance leader is essentially a path of service, of self development and self mastery for the benefit of others. As prospective dance leaders we all begin with strengths and opportunities for growth. It requires great and sustained commitment. The more we put into things the more we get out. As we devote ourselves to the path and efface ourselves in the dances and their associated practices things happens to us and through us. Each of us has the opportunity to develop our own authentic style of leading dances.  One does this by experiencing as much, as fully as one can: completely assimilating all that one has experienced, perfecting it and making it your own: then it is an easy matter to turn all this around and become an effective instrument for the dances. As well as committing to learning to lead the dances we also have to make the commitment to work on ourselves and do what it takes to overcome our limitations.

What I want for you at the end of this course is that you are confidently, effortlessly and masterfully able to share at least some of the dances and walks with others and ready to create the opportunities to do this.

Weekend 1 - Toward the One: Introduction to the Course and the Foundation Stones

Element breaths; basic element walks; basic sound practices. Dancing several of the basic foundation dances. Exploring some of the dances of Samuel Lewis. How best to approach dance leading; the beginning steps.

Weeken 2 - This is not my body: Body Awareness, Rhythm and the Walk

Body Prayer. The body is the Temple of the Divine. Practices will be given for developing awareness of the whole body. Awareness of the whole body of the dance circle. Basic element walks and combinations. Wazifa walks. Sun and moon practices and walks. Various dances reflecting the qualities embodied in the walks. Dance leading sessions in small groups.

Weekend 3 - In the beginning was the Word: Sound and Voice

The articulation of the Sacred Phrase with the voice is the primary component of the dances. Voice is breath amplified. Practices will be given to develop the awareness of sound and its effects and techniques to help you to discover and develop your own natural voice. Listening Skills. Developing awareness of the dynamics of the voice in the dance circle. Group dance leading sessions.

Weekend 4 - This breath is the one that counts: Breath, Heart and Magnetism

Development of the flow of breath: techniques for developing awareness of the breath as energy. The breathing process and how it affects everything we do. Tuning in to the swirling and flow of the breath in the dance circle. Dances to reflect the breath. Practices for developing heart awareness and inner magnetism. Group dance leading sessions.

Weekend 5 - Planetary Walks and Spins.

Murshid SAM developed walking concentrations based on the planets. He called this Astrological Yoga. Mastery of these and other walks aids development of the whole personality and creates the ability to shift between various energetic states. Dances to reflect at least some of these walks. Further group dance leading.

Weekend 6 - Concentration and the Dances.

Concentration practices. The use of  Energy Centres in the walk and the dance. Centre Walks. Meditation and atmosphere in the dance. More on the development of Heart. Group dance leading sessions.

Weekend 7 - My House shall be a House of Prayer for all people: the Unity of Religious Ideals and Universality of Spiritual Experience.

Dances to reflect this unity. Group dance leading.

Weekend 8 - In the Footsteps of the Teacher: Tassawuri Walks and Embodiment.

Longer dance cycles and how to lead them. Dance creation. Review. The next steps.

Additonal Components of the Dance Leader Training

Group Conference Phone Calls

I have found that Group Conference Phone Calls a great way to have meetings, classes and discussions as well as keeping in touch with a group of people that are geographically dispersed. I did several Coach Trainings myself using this method and for many years I have been successfully running a monthly Sufi Group this way.

Meeting in this way will mean that we can concentrate on the more practical, experiential aspects of the course like the dances and other practices. Though it is also possible to do work effectively with certain types of practices on the phone surprising as this may seem.

It is possible to record the calls so that if you miss the call you can listen to it at a later date as an MP3 file.

We will work out specific dates but the intention is to have calls in each of the months in between our weekends together.

DLTC Yahoo Group

Participants on the course will be subscribed to a Yahoo listserve specifically for the Training Course. This will be one of the methods of keeping in touch, sharing information and accessing files relatin gto the course. Naturally all particpants will need to have access to a computer.

Individual Study of Spiritual Traditions

Everyone on the course will be encouraged to explore in depth at least one spiritual tradition and share the essence of this with the whole group in one of several ways.

Of course as a dance leader in addition to this you would naturally be looking at a whole range of spiritual traditions and gaining understanding of the essence of each of them.

Price

The price for the whole course including the tuition, full course recordings, course notes, the residential accommodation and food will be £1700.  Payment will be made in instalments either monthly or per weekend.  To secure your place please send a deposit of £100 payable to Philip O’Donohoe, East Barn, Churchfoot Lane, Hazelbury Bryan, Dorset, DT10 2DS.