PURE ECHO Sessions

Friday, August 29th

10.00-11.30 Human Interaction

Kaeshi Chai and Arielle Adamy

We will warm up physically and emotionally with group exercises. By end of this session you'll know every other attendees name and you'll be ready to laugh, cry and share the weekend with an open heart.

11.45-1.15pm Tribal: A Winged Migration

Myra Krien

The most profound experience in Tribal is the moment when we are all dancing together. Without words, without choreography, we move as one organism sharing the experience of union. This profound moment can take time to create through training and learning the language. Through a brief exercise we will create and share in this experience. Talking Circle: What does it mean to be a woman? What does it mean to share in an experience?

1.30-2.30pm Lunch Panel “Empowerment”

Myra Krien (moderator), Dalia Carella, Zenaide Zeina, more to come...

What is empowerment? How can we empower ourselves and others through dance?

2.45-4.15pm Archetypal Wisdom: Goddess Persephone

Puela Lunaris

From Innocent Child to Queen of the Underworld. Ready to become the Queen of Your Own World? The empowering and transformational journey of Goddess Persephone from Innocent Child to Queen of the Underworld will be our guiding light during thisgratifying Archetypal Wisdom™Playshop.

Through fun dances, spellbinding storytelling and illuminating journaling we'll experience fascinating psychological processes that will help us transform limiting beliefs and inner conflict into inner power.

Unleash the Exhilarating Playfulness of Your Inner Child. Explore the Mystique of Eternal Youth. Rescue Your Damsel in Distress. Reclaim the Sacred Darkness as the Womb of Power and Regeneration. Discover, Activate and Express Your Magnificence. Embody The Queen.

(Note: Please bring pen, paper and a blindfold).

4.30-6.00pm Living in the Moment - Emotion and the Improvisational Spirit

Brad MacDonald

Having hosted the Shuffle Dance Challenge in NYC for almost two years Brad MacDonald has encouraged hundreds of dancers to face their fear of improvisation and embrace the wildness of living in the moment. As a performer the greatest risk is sharing something personally and being rejected. But the less you share the more likely you'll be dismissed or ignored. Taking chances puts you at risk of being judged but the greatest thing can do as an artist is make someone feel something. Even if they don't like what you did you solicited a reaction - and that's better than being ignored. Be vulnerable. Be fierce. Be yourself.

8.00-10.00pm Tour through the Rubin Museum

Nancy Eder

As an institution, the Rubin Museum embodies the acronym ECHO. The Rubin's collection concentrates on the art of the Himalayas. The majority of this art is sacred in its content. The E for Empowerment is reflected in the nature of the works of art as well as the programs the museum provides for self exploration. The C for Community is underscored by Rubin's place as a center for social, educational and artistic activities in its neighborhood. The works of art also reflect the world's spiritual and secular communities. The H for healing simply expresses New York City's and the wider world's need for art and spaces dedicated to art. Last, but not least, the O for opportunity is provided by the museum for all to explore unique experiences.

Come with Nancy to experience sacred images of goddesses, gods, Buddhas and bodhisattvas. We will explore these images and connect them to ourselves and our community of dancers, musicians, artists and writers. Aspects of empowerment, community, healing and opportunity can be found in the works of art we will discover.

The Rubin Museum is located at 150 West 17th Street. Admission is free on Friday evenings.

Saturday, August 30th

10.00-11.30am Sacred Improvisation

Hanan

Improvisation is the intersection of preparation and time. How do we move in any given moment? What do we release? What do we restrict? How do we leave a legacy in ephemerality? What is the architecture of our trace? In whose image do we create? What are the motivations for our repetitions? In “Sacred Improvisation” multifaceted scholar and performer Tiffany hanan Madera, will lead you through a series of Egyptian- style movement phrases, original processes and interrogations. Employing her method based on Performance Studies and Multiple Intelligence theories as well as theatre and dance experiments, participants will identify, create and embody a holistic and sacred approach to bellydance improvisation, taksim , personal exploration and experimental movement.

11.45-1.15pm Rhythm Play with Brian Carter

Brian Carter

This 'Rhythm Play' workshop will be just that, a chance for you to play with others in the rhythm 'sandbox'. We all have music within us, and what this workshop will show you is that group drumming has the power to eliminate self-critical thoughts and replace them with a joyful presence, openness, and feeling of connectedness. It's open to all, especially those who claim to have 'no rhythm' and are not 'musicians'.

1.30-2.30pm Lunchtime Discussion Panel “Community”

Brad MacDonald (moderator), Carmine Guida, Kaeshi Chai

For the past several years the word 'community' has been discussed in hushed reverent tones. Every brand wants to cultivate a community. Every band wants their legion of fans. Every dance school wants a dedicated following of students and supporters. But what is community? What are the different shapes and sizes of communities and what do they really need to survive? In this panel discussion we'll learn from three experts who have developed very different communities to get their unique perspectives on what it takes to connect people and keep them together.

2.45-4.15pm PURE Procession Choreography

Kaeshi

Learn the PURE Procession choreography for out-of-town dancers (who are not able to make it to Tuesday night 8.30-9.30pm rehearsals), and for local dancers who want more practice. The theme this year is celebration with festive samba rhythms and steps.

4.30-6.00pm PURE Procession Rehearsal

Kaeshi

Rehearsal with BOTH local and visiting dancers and musicians for the PURE Procession. Please arrive with makeup and wear a long white skirt, white top, blue skywater veil and flowers in your hair. Pack lightly and bring your metrocard and credit card. We will leave immediately after rehearsal to process through Columbus Circle, Central Park, the High Line and dinner at La Bottega, 363 West 16th St, at 9th Ave, New York, NY

6.00-7.30pm Procession Along the High Line

This year our procession will begin at Columbus Circle then take us in Central Park. From there we will walk the Highline and enjoy a few moments of silence.

7.30-9.30pm Dinner at Baluchi's

After a full day of dancing, music and walking we'll settle in for some incredible Italian food at La Bottega. We're also celebrating Antonina Canal's birthday! Mamacita!

Sunday, August 31st

10.00-11.30am Veil: A Revelation of Intimacy

Myra Krien

Beyond technique we must ask ourselves, 'What is our dance about?' 'What are we saying?' We are often taught that the veil dance is a 'conceal and reveal dance', a dance of mystery and seduction that can, as in the dance of the seven veils, lead a man to his death. What is the history and context of the veil? What is our story? What does the veil reveal about each of us?

11.45-1.15pm 5 Rhythms and Sacred Circle Dances

Kierra and Nada Khodlova

5 RHYTHMS

The 5 Rhythms is a moving meditation founded and trademarked by Gabrielle Roth in the1960s. There are no steps to learn or follow, so the dancer is free to improvise and experiment. Structure is provided by the rhythms themselves. This means that dancing a wave in the company of other people can be both deeply personal and an intimately shared experience, regardless of each individual's dancing experience or physical ability. You don't need to think or worry about what you are doing, just relax and surrender to the wisdom of your body.

SACRED CIRCLE DANCES

Dance in community through traditional Balkan, Greek, Rom, Armenian, Near Eastern and modern sacred circle dances. Throughout all ages and cultures, traditional circle dances were used to honor the divine, to heal, to affirm connection to the earth and each other, to build community and celebrate rites of passages and life transitions. The danced patterns illuminate the web of these connections. It is where personal and universal healing can occur. We will use the traditional dances as a platform for heightening awareness of body/self, self to community and self to cosmos. We will examine the dances on multiple levels to indulge in these connections. Our dances will reconnect us into an ancient way of honoring the earth's rhythms. We will seek not only guidance from the dances but from those who created these dances, the ancestors of the dances. The wisdom of the ancient ones are held within the dances. As we attentively dance and plug into this wisdom we reweave ourselves into the time honored web of life. The dances are joyful, meditative, mournful, full of beauty, longing, life and celebration!

1.30-2.30pm Lunchtime Discussion Panel “Healing”

Hanan (moderator), Katrina Eady, more to come...

How does dance allow us to heal? As teachers, how can we consciously structure our classes to incorporate more healing into bellydance? As students, how can we change the way we absorb material so healing can occur?

2.45-4.15pm Revolution of Self-Love

Jorga Rivero

A workshop to evolve with LOVE into LOVE. Revolutionize the paradigm to know yourself LOVABLE. Now, not when and if. We will do this via intention, movement, dance, and meditation. Self-Love is a life-long practice built on many moments of awareness. Yet, each moment you truly experience, chips and/or deconstructs the old and allows a re-organization to support the truth that you are enough. Now.

This truth enables us to integrate our past and present experiences better and to feel the deep satisfying pleasure of our wholeness.

The goddess embodied process relies on engaged intention, connected movement and meditation that foster discovery and restore the flow of wisdom, nature, and organic pleasure. I invite you into the space of your potential : your body and life ~ * and for you to fully live the ongoing revolution of your fluid life force.

Your body, mind, and heart call you to choose and participate.

4.30-6.00pm Oriental Dance for Healing

Antonina Canal

An introduction to Prem Shakti System, learning the art of healing and celebrating dance with consciousness. How dance works the energy of the chakras, cleans physical,emotional and mental blockages turning them into flow, health and harmony.

8.00-10.00pm Je’bon Hafla

Performances by conference teachers and attendees at Je'bon (15 Saint Marks Pl, lower level, NYC). Join us for sushi, Sapporo, sake and sequins.

Monday, September 1st

10.00-11.30am Becoming with Hanan

Hanan

We are always in a state of Becoming. Our dance becomes our flag. In this workshop, hanan will use earthy and grounded Egyptian dance technique alongside philosophy and a variety of theatrical and literary techniques to explore identity and personal narrative in bellydance performance. Through movement, writing and reflection, participants will learn new methods of dancemaking and storytelling. Rooted in the traditions of post modern dance and artists such as Anna Halprin, this workshop aims to put bellydance in a context of powerful healing and transformative artistic expression.

11.45-1.15pm Goddess Mudra Dance

Antonina Canal

Learn the meaning of the Mudras, hand and finger Hindu dance, with stories from the Bhagavadgita and Oriental goddesses. Each mudra has a healing property and profound story. The way the hands are moved open the heart chakra and create a space for femininity, beauty and joy. Learn the Goddess mudra choreography, expressing bliss, spirituality and magical expression incarnating all the feminine aspects of the Godesses from Oriental traditions.

1.30-2.30pm Lunchtime Discussion Panel “Opportunity”

Antonina (moderator), more to come...

Opportunities can sometimes arrive disguised as "problems". How can we stay flexible and transform a negative situation into something we can grow from? How do we navigate the life of being an authentic artist and thrive in a world that is powered by business, money and media?

2.45-4.15pm The Business of Bellydance & Abundance Whirling Meditation

The Business of Bellydance

Myra Krien (NM)

Usually we come to the world of bellydance as artists and suddenly we find ourselves confronted with the infrastructure to support that art and to build the business. In this workshop, we will address foundational tools while opening the floor to specific questions from the group. (1 hour)

Abundance Whirling Meditation