When most people think of a dance retreat they probably imagine teams of choreographed dancers going through a complicated kinetic routine. Or else everyone dressed up in traditional clothes doing circle dances with their hands on their hips.
The dance retreat in Morocco this January is a bit different.
Dance is all about play
Imagine dance as a form of communication, an expression that precedes language and you’ll be closer to what we’ll be doing in the afternoons with Anni Taskula, a dancer from Finland who described for us what she planned like this:
‘We will find inspiration to dance from both within and without; guided by inner impulses found through shaking, breathing, voice and touch, we will also be inspired by the surrounding earth, wind and sky.
To discover the joy of dance we will tune into a certain space in our minds that resonates with the emptiness of the desert. Then we’ll explore movement through improvisation tools from contemporary dance, contact improvisation and butoh.
No previous experience of dance is needed, just a curious approach and open mind to self-expression and improvisation. Bare feet and comfortable clothes are all the equipment needed to go on this journey of dance.’
For me, dance has long been a journey of self-expression and exploration. When we can move without any thought for what we look like and just following an unspoken impulse then we can find ourselves moving in an entirely new way.
It’s like meeting your own body again after all these years.
Anni Taskula will be teaching the joy of dance in the afternoons and Durward Burrell will be running meditation sessions in the mornings on the 17-23 January Sahara retreat in Morocco.
