Embodied Arts & Wellness
Come home to your body
Dancing Home FAQ's
Q- What is Dancing Home?
Q- Is it the same as ecstatic dance?
Q- What is conscious dance?
Q- Do I need to be dancer to enjoy this class?
Q- What should I know before I begin?
Q- What should I expect at my first class?
Q- What if I feel self-conscious?
Q- How does this practice work ?
Q- What are the benefits of Dancing Home?
Q- Where does this practice come from?
Q- What is Dancing Home?
A- Dancing Home is a free-form, conscious dance practice that combines somatic awareness with intuitive movement, accompanied by a curated "arc"of music, supported by intentional guidance and facilitation in a non-judgmental space.
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Q- What is Conscious Dance?
A- Conscious dance is a mindful movement practice for self-expression, personal healing, and meditation rather than performance. Often done in a group setting, dancers move intuitively to music with no pre-conceived or choreographed steps.
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Q- Is Dancing Home the same as ecstatic dance?
A- Both Dancing Home and ecstatic dance invite you to: move freely, listen to you body, follow the music, express emotion through movement, experience dance as a meditation. In addition to this, the Dancing Home space includes a curated wave of music, gentle guidance, imagery and invitations to help dancers explore different ways of moving and inhabiting their bodies.
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Q- Do I need to be a dancer to enjoy this class?
A- Definitely not. There is no right or wrong way to take this class. You can move as big or as small as you want, dance with your eyes closed, curl up into a little ball on the floor, move one arm the whole time or leap around like a gazelle. Even if you simply walk through the space to the music the whole time you would get some benefit. ​​
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Q- What should I know before I begin?
A- The space is open a few minutes prior to class for participants to warm up, stretch, rest or write. Once you enter the dance room, best practice is to leave the words behind to create a sacred container. Barefoot or soft soled dance shoes are preferred on the floor. Go at your own pace, take care of your body, drink water, slow down if you need to. The dance is continuous movement, but can be done as small or big as feels good to your body.
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Q- What should I expect at my first class?
A- Each session starts with an opening circle, group warm-up and body-part warm-up followed by about 45 minutes of continuous dancing through a "wave" of music. The music starts slow, building in energy and then slowing down again with time for integration, writing and a closing cirlce with optional sharing.
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Q- What if I feel self-conscious?
A- Some feelings of self-consciousness are normal, especially if you have never taken a class like this before. The whole range of feelings are welcome in the dance, including awkwardness, anxiousness, resistance, even boredom. If you begin to space out or feel disoriented in any way, simply come back to your feet on the floor or your breath, like you would during a meditation. And remember, you won't be alone trying to "figure it all out." Although the process is free-form, it is still a guided experience and the teacher will lead you through it.
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Some people will want to move a lot and take up a lot of space, others will move less and tend to stay more by themselves. Both are fine. The teacher will give guidance throughout the class, occasionally encouraging moments of partner work or inclusion of others in the room. You always have a choice to follow this guidance, or to stay with your own experience. Keep an open mind, knowing that the teacher is tracking the space and dynamics of the group, making informed choices based on the needs who is present, the energy of the room and nervous system cues. ​
Q- How often should I do Dancing Home?
Dancing Home is designed as a movement-based practice that you can do every week (or every day) to help shed the layers of stress that build up over time, to "empty the jug" of physical tension and stuck emotions that are held in the body, shaking loose what is ready to be let go of and creating space for what is ready to come through. ​​
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Q- How does this practice work ?
A- In a Dancing Home class we are searching for the pathway back towards center, through movement. When we move the physical body with awareness, the mind, heart and psyche also begin to move. This may bring up physical sensations, thoughts, feelings, images, memories or intuitions. Simply let them be, or funnel them back into your dance, moving your body to match how you feel inside. ​
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Q- What are the benefits of Dancing Home?
A- Many of the benefits of a conscious dance practice are similar to yoga and meditation, including release of stress, lowered anxiety, increased levels of serotonin for a better mood, greater confidence and compassion and greater connection to Self and others. The physical benefits of course include a great overall workout that is available to all bodies and can be modified as each individual sees fit.
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​Q- Where does this practice come from?
A- This practice is based on SomaSource as developed by Melissa Michals, Ed.D, founder of SomaSource Institute and Golden Bridge in Boulder, CO. It is also deeply inspired by Gabrielle Roth's 5RhythmsTM.
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" Dancing Home is transformative. I've never felt anything like it before...It was a total revelation. " – Lauren W.
"I was able to truly go inwards and listen to my own body and instincts whilst remaining present with others and in community...an invitation to step away from the everyday for a while and connect with something old and simple." –Sarah M-H.
"Dancing Home opened me to a rediscovered sense of the joy of just dancing with no preconceived steps or movements to display. The sense of freedom from self-judgment that Lucia kindles in her gentle guidance...was marvelous. " –Maddie H.