All people, up until us, have danced in circles. In fact, all people (up until us) have made their own music and the majority of that music was sacred community music.

We get it still, a little bit, in church. We’ll still sit down in a church and sing together, but that’s about it.

Dancing Makes Us Real

I believe that this lack of touching each other in the circle, the inability to look around at all the faces, the bond formed from moving together is causing a hole in the way we related to each other as human beings. Our DNA literally needs us to dance and sing together, and we are missing that.

The reason I believe this is from direct experience. I remember the first time I every stepped into a dance circle. It was like something cellular woke up on my body, in my mind and soul, and I knew this is something that people are supposed to do. A part of me came alive that I didn’t even know existed.

And I’ve seen the same transformation happen in many people in the dance.

Circle Magic

I remember the last dance camp we had at Lava. This gal was just driving through town and stopped by the Center looking for someone to ask for directions. She walked in the door and whoever she met said she should stay and dance. I was introduced to her briefly and tried to explain a bit what we were about to do. It was literally minutes before the morning dance session started.

We picked up our guitars and started walking around in the circle. Then we joined hands and learned our first dance.

I remember looking up at the circle during that morning and seeing this gal’s face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile that big! It was like a kid who tasted her first candy! Here she was, a total stranger, just driving through. And yet she stepped into this circle of friends and fell into the music and dance like we had all known each other forever. She not only stayed the whole weekend, but stayed to the very last moment on Sunday morning helping us clean up. She must have carried 20 boxes of stuff out to our van for us!

I can still see the look of surprise and delight on her face, and I know she was feeling the same thing I felt when I first danced. Like I’d come home. Like something important had woken in me. Like I knew what it was to really be a full human being for the first time.

So let’s dance!

Zareen