Over the years I have run several two year intensive residential Dance Leadership training courses. It runs over eight weekends.

The dates for the next course are

2007 - March 30th-1st April : July 13th-15th : October 12th 14th

2008 - January 25th-27th; April 11th-13th; August: 8th-10th; November 14th-16th

2009 - January 23rd-25th.

In additon to the residential weekends there will be meetings in the form of group conference phone calls to study and discuss various aspects of the dance leadership process. Particpants will also be subscribed to a special Yahoo Email group to receive and contribute files and emails relating to the course.

Contact me if you are interested.

I work with what I call the Foundation Blocks, the mastery of which build one's capacity to hold and transmit the energy of the dances. Essentially, working with the dances is working with energy, weaving the energy of a group to create an environment that allows people to experience more of themselves and more of others on increasingly subtle levels.

A brief outline of the course follows...

Session 1 - Introduction to the Course and its Components.

The foundation blocks: walks; sound and voice; body awareness; foundation dances; breath; unity of religious ideals; concentration. In subsequent sessions our main focus will be to take one of the above mentioned foundation blocks" and its application to the dances. However the intention will be to integrate, review and incorporate the major aspects of each of these foundation blocks into our practice from session to session.

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 will be related to our work with the dances and the dances themselves will invariably play a prominent part in each session. The intention is to work primarily with the dances from the Foundation List of dances as drawn up by the Mentor Teachers' Guild.

As a broad outline the subsequent sessions are as follows.

Session 2 - Body Awareness and Practices with Walk.

Putting ourselves in touch with the whole body. Basic element walks and combinations. Wazifa walks. Sun and moon. Various dances reflecting the qualities embodied in the walks. Dance leading sessions in small groups.

Session 3 - Sound and Voice

Practices to develop both the awareness of sound and to help us discover and develop the natural voice. Basic musicianship. Dance leading session. Group presentation on a spiritual tradition.

Session 4 - Breath.

Experience of the breath as breathing process and as energy current - breathing techniques. Dances to reflect the breath. The heart. Murshid Samuel L. Lewis and the other dance ancestors, Ruth St. Denis and Hazrat Inayat Khan. Group presentations and dance leading sessions.

Session 5 - Planetary Walks and Spins.

Dances to reflect at least some of these walks. Further group presentations and dance leading.

Session 6 - Concentration and the Dances.

Further work with the Heart. Group presentations and dance leading.

Session 7 - Unity of Religious Ideals.

Dances to reflect this unity. Group presentations and dance leading.

Session 8 - Tassawuri Walks and Embodiment.

Centre walks. Longer dance cycles. Dance creation. Review. The next steps. Group Work

It has been found helpful if participants work together in small groups. In addition to being able to practice leading skills in this supportive environment there will also be group collaboration in exploring various religious traditions and in giving presentations to the whole group and in the later stages of the course in creative endeavors.

Participants will also be given opportunities if they wish to lead dances with the whole group. Mentoring and Certification Participants will not be required to work in a mentoring relationship as part of the course. They may do so if they choose either with this person or another dance mentor and begin the process during the course or at any time after it ends.

For those participating in the course to deepen their awareness of the dances there will be no necessity to have a mentor.

While the course will cover all of the skills necessary for certification level 1 and much more, the process of certification will not be dealt with as part of the course. Once the course is completed participants will be able to fulfill the requirements of the certification process at their own pace in consultation with a dance mentor which may be this person or if preferred another dance mentor.

Membership of the Network for the Dances. There is an International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace with a regional branch network in the UK. Membership of the network is strongly recommended to course participants as this along with teaching the dances helps support the overall spread of the dances. It would be up to you and your own relationship to the dances in which category you wish to place yourself but if you wish to be teacher member you also need a dance mentor. Teacher members do get public liability insurance. For further details of membership in the UK please contact Mike Hadden, Membership Secretary.

Suggested Reading List It's not essential but you may wish to begin reading before the course begins. In addition to those books listed there is a wealth of books on the different spiritual traditions which you may find useful to explore.

Samuel Lewis - Spiritual Dance and Walk. edited by Neil Douglas Klotz. Peaceworks 1993 isbn 0915424134.

Samuel Lewis - Sufi Vision and Initiation. edited by Neil Douglas Klotz. Sufi Islamia. isbn. 0915424088

Hazrat Inayat Khan - The Mysticism of Sound and Music. Various eds. as vol. 2 of the Sufi Message volumes available. Element books do a recent ed.

Hazrat Inayat Khan - The Unity of Religious Ideals. Also part of the Sufi message Vols.

Ruth St. Denis - Wisdom Comes Dancing. edited by Kamae Miller. Peaceworks 1997. isbn 0915424142

Neil Douglas Klotz - Desert Wisdom. Thorsons,, 1995. isbn 0722532237.

Neil Douglas Klotz - Prayers of the Cosmos. Harper, 1990 isbn 0060619953

Neil Douglas-Klotz - The Hidden Gospel. Quest Books, 1999 isbn 08356 07801

W. A. Mathieau - The Listening Book. Shambala, 1991. isbn 0877736103