|
by Jennifer
Reeder
 Twenty
people stand in a circle clasping hands while chanting
in Hebrew to invoke the energy of the goddess spirit Shadda`ED.
An ordained Sufi minister lights one of nine candles –
a circle within the circle. Then a dance leader enters
the human circle, explains the words to a song and says,
“OK, we’ll start with a simple grapevine to
the left...”
Every second and fourth Saturday night of the month, up
to 30 people from various religious backgrounds meet at
the Mason Center to sing and dance the Dances of Universal
Peace, an international movement that started in the 1960s
in San Francisco. The dances have taken place regularly
in Durango for the past four years.
“The bottom line is that you can’t start peace
outside of you – period,” says Kathryn Sky,
a dance leader who goes by her last name. “You have
to bring it from within you first.”
The dances were founded 30 years ago by Samuel Lewis,
a Sufi teacher, with the aim to use sound and motion to
encourage a universal approach to the world’s religions.
Today there are more than 400 different dance pieces.
In October, a different Western Sufi minister called for
1,000 universal worship services to occur before the end
of the year in response to the situation in Iraq. So last
Saturday evening, the Dances of Universal Peace was combined
with a universal worship service.
Saturday’s service was the first to take place in
Durango.
Throughout the evening, ordained Sufi minister Yarri Soteros,
of Durango, read a mantra or passage from each tradition,
including goddess, American Indian, Hinduism, Buddhism,
Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and universal,
“or known and unknown,” Soteros says. After
a candle lighting, participants learned relevant words
in foreign languages, then put the words to song and dance.
Vocalist dance leaders as well as guitarists, a drummer
and a mandolin player kept the tempo moving.
“I love playing spiritual music more than anything
else because it takes me someplace else,” says mandolin
player Mart`EDn Model. “It’s real heart-opening
to come here; you can’t help but smile, you can’t
help but hug people.”
The steps to the dances are simple, and as the movements
become more fluid, the leaders call out directions, such
as: “Just the women” or “Sweetly now!”
Before learning the words and steps to the Hindu segment,
Sky warned, “They say if you’re going to do
this one, you’d better mean it.” (And after
holding a certain fumbling writer’s hand, she explained
that the general rule of thumb for handholding is “thumbs
left.”)
During the Christian section, participants learned the
Aramaic translation for
 |
| Martin Model plays the mandolin
while Susan Sheely sings along Saturday night at the
Dances of Universal Peace at the Mason Center. Photo
by Jennifer Reeder |
the 23rd Psalm, “Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
The Buddhist segment involved the “Heart of Perfect
Wisdom” mantra.
Throughout the night’s activities, a woman with
terminal cancer laid on mats while members of the group
left the circle to attempt to send her healing energy
through touch. For the last song, the woman popped up
smiling and linked arms with the other dancers to sing
the only English song: May all beings be well and happy/
May all beings be free from strife/ May all beings return
to love/ Peace be with you forever more.
“That’s what this is all about, of course:
Everything that we do is about heart energy,” says
Mancos resident and peace dance participant Fred Boshardt.
He says a strength of the gatherings is the diversity
of religious backgrounds of participants, who are united
in the desire to “go beyond the dogma of religion
and into heartspace.”
Kerry Costelloe, a 53-year-old participant who protested
the Vietnam War in the ’60s, says the dances are
important, particularly in light of the impending war
with Iraq. She said that many people are going to churches
and mosques in Iraq, as well.
“It’s a time for everyone to be contacting
spirit and finding that peace and love again,” she
says.
Despite the current threat of war, Costello said she has
participated in dances for years, first in San Diego and
now Durango.
“It’s just a wonderful opportunity to be in
a group of people singing and dancing devotionally,”
Costelloe says. “It’s a different way for
people to make a difference.”
The next Dances of
Universal Peace will take place at 6 p.m. New Year’s
Eve at the Mason Center and will feature a potluck, poetry,
music and dances. For more information, contact Sky at
385-7375 or visit www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org
|
