Not exactly the conditions you’d design an ecstatic dance session around.
Trainers stayed on. Opening circle had attendees sipping cold beer. People chatted mid-song, took photos, wandered in off the heat. On paper, every “rule” broken before we’d even hit our stride.
But I watched a dad and his daughter cracking up at nothing in particular. I watched someone who’d clearly never done this before, hovering at the edge, then slowly letting their shoulders drop. I watched a room full of strangers, half-cut and sun-baked, just... moving. However they needed to.
Ecstatic dance was never meant to be a religion. It doesn’t need purity or the perfect setup to work. It needs a room where nobody’s watching closely enough to judge you for getting it “wrong.”
That’s the whole point. Sober or not, barefoot or not, silent or not the freedom is in the body, not the rulebook. Even in scorching heat, with a bar wide open, that freedom still found its way in.
We do love the guidelines and we do follow them at our dances but somehow this experience taught us more than if everyone had followed all the rules! It taught us to dance with the tune that was playing rather than trying to silence it.
Massive thanks to @zenjungle_retreat for having us and letting Rave OM loose on your dance floor! Incredible venue and wonderful people and so good to jump in a lake together after dancing 💦⚡️🙏🏻
3 months agozen_jungle
Thank you so much for the vibes! And for this interesting comment section 😅🎉 honestly I had the best time, and it was definitely a highlight for a lot of people 🧡 as someone who doesn't drink anyway (and who had never run a festival before) I never considered time of day and bar being open, but next year would think about scheduling it for the morning. Always appreciate feedback and anything we can do to help your experience of delivering it, although it was absolutely a hit either way ✨️🌿🙏
3 months agoecstatic_dub
Yes!!!! Honestly the ecstatic dance box is just too much sometimes, bridging is where its at, I created Ecstatic Dub as a sober dance event to bridge the club night and the ecstatic dance vibe because honestly having come out of one box I didn't want to jump into another, why do people need to police these things. Its an opportunity for expression, embodiment and connection, why does it need to be rigid or judged, well done for bringing the vibes regardless of the setup and situ! Maybe we can colab on something sometime! Xx
3 months agov.o.n.a.t.u
How awesome and what a massive takeaway for life... dance to the tune that's playing instead of trying to silence it 👏🔥❤️ Can't wait for the pop up dance on Sunday 🙌😍
3 months agoestapolyesta
@rave.om.ecstaticdance im a bit busy with the weekend and all and id like to give a well thought out answer. Sometimes, I have declined to do the session at a festival, when its not my own. I arrive and see that circumstances are not great, I switch up and turn it into something else or I dont do the session at all. If the circumstances are not right, i more and more start to say no. Especially because these days everyone and their cousin is hosting events that have an ED section but are not suitable. So it can be anything from like a super guided dance workshop till cancellation and everything in between. I hope this gives a little more clarity but its not easy to catch in a short writing. What prompted me to respond was the way yopu presented this, how you make the guidelines seem like something not that great, while we should really celebrate the guidelines, cause they are the magic ingredients. And then the way you responded to others while they have such valid points. Also...we never met, did we?
3 months agorave.om.ecstaticdance
@estapolyesta so to be clear it wasn't our festival , we didn't set the schedule we turned up and worked with what presented. Interested to hear what you would have done differently in these specific circumstances as you mentioned trained experienced facilitators and not to blow my own trumpet (too much hahah) I have been in the scene since 2009 and have countless hours of facilitation experience!
3 months agomeiko_deen
So good to hear about this. 😍 Ecstatic Dance or ecstatic dance? Or just dancing ecstatically? Someone set the „rules“ a few decades ago. What people don’t realize is that thousands of years ago, when indigenous tribes danced more ecstatic than we probably ever will, those rules did not exist. No drugs is funny to me when cacao becomes the „must have“ to make the dance a quality experience. Or micro dosing (which recently seems to be within the guidelines). There are ecstatic dance cliques that even define the vibe that „must“ be set, the style of music and the way the DJ must present him-/herself. I‘m all for a safe space to dance. But folks need to loosen up and stop carrying their issues into the spaces just because they have the lead. Or even worse call themselves „founder of“ some ecstatic dance.
3 months agoecstaticdancebrighton
You work with what you’ve got, and it’s also up to you to set the container or not - this is a dance party, not ecstatic dance. Doesn’t mean it’s not great, movement and dance are meant to be part of life in all situations - but it’s not ecstatic dance. And it makes it confusing for people who are looking for sober, focused movement experiences when the guidelines aren’t held. In our opinion :)
3 months agojethroobadja
That's great and truly lovely! People having fun in this way is absolutely necessary and wonderful. But then it's just not ecstatic dance 🤷🏾♂️ I agree completely that it shouldn't be a religion, or rigid like that in any way. It's a formula with guidelines that point towards a specific quality. I really don't mean to be the ecstatic dance police, but when none of the guidelines are honored, especially the sobriety, then please don't call it ecstatic dance 🙏🏽
3 months agorave.om.ecstaticdance
#RaveOm #EcstaticDance #SoberRave #ConsciousClubbing #SoberCurious #DanceTherapy #FreeMovement #DanceYourselfFree #Cornwall #StAgnes #VisitCornwall #SilentDisco #JudgementFreeDanceFloor #WellnessEvents #SoberSocial
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