School of Awakening » mind body spirit festival

Fire & Spice at the MBS Tantric Dance

Sidika — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 13:53:30 +0000

Lisa and Jerome – married for 24 years with two teenage children – take to the London stage and reveal their fire and passion in the Tantric Dance.

Thursday was the rehearsal – a flurry of colourful costumes, sequins, music, hilarity and endless rehearsal for four gorgeous tantric couples dancing to Sarita’s narration and Vibha’s choreography. And then came Friday and the big event – the performance at the Mind Body Spirit Fayre in London. WOW!

Lisa gives her account of events below:

27TH MAY – The Rehearsal

The Gods and Goddesses arrived, and I knew I was on an everlasting journey. Nothing was going to stop me from being all I can be. A light inside me began to ignite, my chakras were all on fire. I was ready to burst, to share my knowledge of what I know, my God-given talent out to the universe.I knew my God Jerome would be there holding the space, with his strength and courage, and allowing his light to shine as well. We rehearsed over and over, and each time my goddess nature grew deeper and deeper, and how proud I felt of my God.

29TH MAY – The Main Event

The moment arrived as I glided on the stage in my divine nature, feeling all my elements within. I danced with the other Goddesses around me, swirling and swaying to the sound of Now I am Free. I released my inner inhibitions and danced without judgement, to the music of my soul calling. The whole place shivered and melted into gratitude of love, thanking everyone who watched witnessed this most profound experience.

I breathed in joy, gratitude of my Being. Then my God arrived, held me looked me in the eyes with passion and desire. He awoke my deepest emotions from within. A moment I had been waiting for for 24 years. I threw myself into his arms. The power of his hands grasped me tight. I was held like a baby, nurtured and honoured. He then threw me back.I trusted deeply allowing my whole self to let go, surrender into the unknown.I felt fulfilled in every way.

It was a moment in my life of pure and true inspiration, and knowing and seeing through dance and soulfulness one can change not only your own life , but the lives of so many others.

Thanks, Lisa – you and Jerome are such stars!

You should have heard the audience roar and clap as Lisa leaped into the arms of Jerome. And you should have seen the expression on the faces of their two teenage children as they watched their parents do their thing!

And thanks to the other wonderful dancers – Vibha and Dean, Roxana and Vincent and Mahab and Richard. Not forgetting Dharma on sound (who literally saved the day when we had some unforeseen crisis) and Sarita’s fabulous narration.

What a show!

Watch this space for more photos of the performance itself (the above are from the rehearsal) and coming soon….. the Video!

Check out Vibha’s Tantra Sacred Dance Circles for women if you fancy having a go.

Tantric Dance of the God & Goddess

Lisa and Jerome – married for 24 years with two teenage children – take to the London stage and reveal their fire and passion in the Tantric Dance.

Thursday was the rehearsal – a flurry of colourful costumes, sequins, music, hilarity and endless rehearsal for four gorgeous tantric couples dancing to Sarita’s narration and Vibha’s choreography and story. And then came Friday and the big event – the performance at the Mind Body Spirit Fayre in London. WOW!

Lisa gives her account of events below:

27th May – The Rehearsal

Godly Jerome

I knew my God Jerome would be there holding the space, with his strength and courage, and allowing his light to shine as well. We rehearsed over and over, and each time my goddess nature grew deeper and deeper, and how proud I felt of my God.

29th May – The Main Event

Oh sweet desire!

I breathed in joy, gratitude of my Being. Then Jerome arrived, held me, looked me in the eyes with passion and desire. He awoke my deepest emotions from within. A moment I had been waiting for for 24 years. I threw myself into his arms. The power of his hands grasped me tight. I was held like a baby, nurtured and honoured. He then threw me back.I trusted deeply allowing my whole self to let go, surrender into the unknown. I felt fulfilled in every way.

Embracing it all!

It was a moment in my life of pure and true inspiration, and knowing and seeing through dance and soulfulness one can change not only your own life , but the lives of so many others.

Thanks, Lisa – you and Jerome are such stars!

And an especially big thank you to Vibha who created the concept, wrote the story and choreographed the dance.

Vincent, Lisa & Mahab

Fire & Spice – The Movie! on YouTube:

Part 1

Part 2

Looks like they’re having fun – the audience appreciated it too!

If you have a fancy trying it for yourself, contact Vibha who choreographed the dance around her work – Vibha is the one with the long swishing blonde hair. Check out her workshops and events: Tantric Sacred Dance for Women and Tantric Dance of the God & Goddess.

Mind, Body, Spirit, sex and the senses!

Malika — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 13:29:41 +0000

I thought twice about travelling up from Bristol to the Mind Body Spirit festival in London. I wanted to go but work had been pretty intense over the past few weeks and my energy levels were definitely flagging. But I wanted to do the Tantra workshop, and all work and no play and all that…

Sarita began by explaining that Tantra works with uniting opposites, and that we can see these polarities not as separate qualities, but more like the two banks of a river where they seem opposite but underneath the water they are one. I’ve struggled for years to reconcile the two different people that live inside of me – the wild, crazy, loud party animal and the much more quiet, insular and reflective self. Since discovering Osho’s work, I’ve been better able to accept all aspects of my personality and working with Tantra is happily reinforcing that for me. Tantra also teaches that the unity of sex and spirit produces a powerful energy for transformation and that there is no right and wrong, just opportunities for growth. I like this lack of judgement.

The faces of the group revealed eager anticipation from some and nervous trepidation from others – just what had they let themselves in for? To break down any barriers we were invited to dance individually from our sexual centres, connecting with that raw, potent, creative energy. Then as the music dipped to a slower, softer sound, Sarita encouraged us to dance from our spiritual centres and connect with source energy.

Next we performed the same exercise – dancing from our wild and passionate sides and then softly, meeting our partner’s gaze and connecting with their essence, changing partners as we moved around the room. After dancing with those dichotomies I already felt more alive with energy zinging around my body.

In pairs we were then led into the meditation of the five senses. This began with the male partner lying down and being blindfolded. To stimulate his sense of smell, the women wafted tissues under his nose that had been impregnated with different aromatherapy oils.

Taste was the next sense to be kindled as we fed our partners slices of apple sensuously and with great sensitivity. Sarita suggested that the guys explore their sense of taste by connecting with the tree the apple grew on, the orchard it stood in and the sunlight that gave it precious energy to grow. We are connected to everything and everybody on this Earth but we rarely stop and give ourselves time to appreciate these connections.

Playing with sound, the female partners were invited to hum, sing or whisper in our partner’s ear. I found this the hardest to do as I didn’t have any poems memorised or lines rehearsed. But looking inside my heart I found the words to say. Exploring touch we softly stroked hair and bodies from head to foot, from heaven to earth. And on removing our partner’s blindfolds we inspired their sense of sight by dancing for him like Shakti dancing for Shiva. I enjoyed this part the most as my body’s desire to move had been re-awakened by the dancing earlier, and there’s nothing like a seductive snaking of hips to bring out the goddess in me.

On switching roles, I was surprised at just how much stronger each sense became when I tuned into them. Skin was much more sensitive to touch when sight was “out of sight”. And I really could taste the sweet rain that watered the apple tree.

Me and my friend Loan at Mind Body Spirit

I had to duck out of the workshop early in order to catch my bus back to Bristol but I left there feeling so much more juicy and alive. This valuable playtime was the perfect antidote to too much work lately and I wouldn’t want to be accused of being a dull girl now would I?

Sarah Shivani Williams

Sarah’s weekly radio show, Vivacity, is broadcast on Wednesday’s at midday on BCFM 93.2 in Bristol. Tune in or go online to listen and podcasts are downloadable from: www.bcfm.org.uk.

Sarah’s blog is available at: http://vivacityradio.wordpress.com/

The Return of the God and Goddess

Vibha — Wed, 05 May 2010 17:02:09 +0000

Last September I had just arrived in England. I had moved my whole life completely over here. I was trusting in the new and the unknown and following my heart. The first thing Sarita asked me to do was to choreograph the dance performance for the Mind, Body Spirit Festival in May. I had no idea what I was agreeing to. It was my trust in Sarita that brought out this ‘yes’ in me. She has always been good at stretching me out of my comfort zone! At the time, I felt completely blank about everything and had no idea how to go about this project.

So now it is the beginning of May. The script ’appeared’ one night. Great music, costumes and amazing tantric dancers are now also lined up. We also have a professional film maker on board, so we’ll be able to show you some great clips of the performance!

Shiva and Shakti in the divine dance

It has been an exciting, challenging and fun creation which is still evolving as the May 28th draws near…..Pieces of the puzzle are still falling into place and I’m learning to trust the mystery of how everything works out in time.

Sarita will be narrating the story while we bring to life through dance the return of gods and goddesses to the earth. Come witness women and men reclaiming their divinity and their ecstasy, and then moving into recognizing and honouring this in each other. Come join us in this celebration of awakening to love through Tantric Sacred Dance on Friday, May 28th, at the Mind Body Spirit Festival, we’d love to see you there!

Love and blessings,

Vibha

Click here to book your place for this honouring of the divine male and female.

Vibha teaches Tantra for women, including Tantric Sacred Dance and Return of the Goddess

Mind Body Spirit Festival 2009

Sarita — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 10:12:21 +0000

Also this year we were asked to perform a Tantra Dance at the Mind Body Spirit Festival in London. It was a wonderful event and I loved giving the introductory speech and some comments while the dancers were performing. Here are a few photos, taken by Aha Garrity:

Mind Body Spirit Festival 2008

admin — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:27:19 +0000

14 September 2008 by Sarita

MIND BODY SPIRIT FESTIVAL:

SHIVA SHAKTI TANTRA DANCE PERFORMANCE:

After returning from India in May, a group of students and friends and I got together and created a Tantra Dance performance for the Mind Body Spirit Festival in London, the UK’s largest alternatives festival.

My friends Vanya and Dinesh who are fashion designers from France created the costumes. They found their design inspiration during a visit to Khajuraho and other Tantric Temples in India.

We had twelve performers, some of whom are couples and some of whom simply partnered each other for the dance event. All of our performers have attended numerous Tantra groups with me and as you can see from the photos are vibrant and juicy people. We got together the day before to design our performance and rehearse, taking over Qiming and Gordon’s fabulous session room in Portobello Road, London. Luckily, Kaethe was there, who has been doing theatre for many years and could thus help us with choreography. I wrote the main dance theme on a scrap of paper, and after we worked out the kinks, I typed it up. We went through the 20 minute performance about a dozen times.

At the end of the day we celebrated with Buja Buja ice cream. For those of you who have not yet discovered Buja Buja, you have something to look forward to! It is raw, non dairy, contains no sugar and is the very best ice cream in the world. It is available at most health food shops in the UK. Yes, pleasure and health can dance hand in hand!

I had never thought of putting Tantra into a Dance performance, but since we were asked by the organisers of the Mind Body Spirit Festival to do so, I thought, well, why not? In fact it is a fabulous way to offer a taste of Tantra to people. We were able to transmit the joyous, vibrant, sensual, loving and sacred qualities of Tantra in a colourful extravaganza.

During the performance, Kaethe took care of the music while I hovered around in the wings and at intervals during the event, read out poetry taken from ancient Tantra scriptures. I must admit I did feel like a proud mother hen watching such a high energy show.

Poetry sample:

“All of us in different ways

Think of god

Beyond senses and feelings

And yet it is only

In the essence of loving

That God is found.”

From the Baul Mystics of Bengal, India

We received numerous compliments after the performance. We were flying high and came up with the idea that the theme of Tantra would make a fabulous ‘West End’ musical. So if anybody out there is inspired to take on such a mammoth project, the talent is all lined up!

NEWS FLASH; we may be doing a repeat of this performance at the Dartmouth Tantra Festival in December. This is going to be a great event with many Tantra teachers, live music and fabulous booths. The first one last year was great and I am sure this one will be even better. Perhaps I’ll see some of you there! By the way, the organisers of the Dartmouth Tantra Festival, Colin and Kerry, were part of our team of dancers in the performance.

Love and Blessings

Sarita