TRANCE DANCE SEMINAR

Every meaningful change starts with you.^^^

Upcoming

27.03.24 Dresden-Neustadt, please preregister

Are you interested in or have questions about the trance dance seminar or trance dancing in general? Just drop me a line using the contact button! You can already find a lot of information on this page!

What is Trance dancing & what does it do ?

Trance dancing at my seminar is comparable to a group meditation. You will be blindfolded and accompanied by music, incense and your own movement, you will embark on a journey of inner discovery. It is important that you let yourself go, have no expectations of a result and that everyday worries and fears remain aside for a moment. Only then can you really immerse yourself in this space where there is no social pressure, no seeing or being seen, but where only you are. This is where growth, transformation, subtle perception, changes of perspective and small and large miracles take place. You get the feeling that what has been seen, understood and felt goes deeper than everyday life allows. There is often a feeling of connectedness with everything, of oneness. Often this experience is accompanied by extremely positive feelings of happiness, heartfelt love and gratitude or connection with your source.

In addition to these effects, dance increases your physical condition and is a healthy form of exercise for every age group. It offers you the opportunity to dissolve or transform unwanted conditioning, to free yourself from everything that is not or no longer useful to you. A trance dance can also inspire you and encourage you to make your dreams come true or to see what you missed before.

How does a trance dance work

We start with a welcome round and an explanation of the process. The seminar currently has about 16 participants, two assistants and I are responsible for the well-being of the participants. I recommend drinking enough beforehand, as it is difficult during the dance. The participants put on a blindfold they have brought with them or borrowed from me, followed by a meditation and with a signal the dance begins. During this time, you may get bored or feel like you can't take it anymore. Overcome yourself and if you have exhausted your limits for yourself, you can of course also end the dance prematurely. After usually 60 minutes, the signal sounds again and ends the trance dance. All participants lie down on the floor, are covered, come back calmly and take off the blindfold again.If the last one is back, we sit in a circle with a drink and end the seminar with a round of talks, if you don't want to say anything, that's perfectly fine.

What is ok, what is not ok at a Trance dance

I offer a space for self-awareness in a group. This means that you can feel free, but also that you have a certain responsibility towards the group. If you have had severe traumatic experiences, a normal trance dance is not the place to work intensively on your trauma. Please see a therapist for this. Apart from that, you are of course invited to express your emotions, laughter, crying, uninhibited breathing are expressly desired. However, if we are seriously concerned about you, you will be separated from the group and looked after as best we can. Trance dancing is also not suitable for pregnant women, as other participants can touch you rudely (we are careful, but cannot prevent every collision). Please be aware that you participate in this course at your own risk, just don't worry, nothing has ever happened so far and if you cooperate, it won't. Thank you for your understanding.

What is Trance?

"Trance is a state of consciousness that every human being experiences on a regular basis... during sports activities, when you're daydreaming on the train, during meditation... In your everyday waking state (fully conscious), your brain emits rapid beta waves. When you get into a trance, the waves are delayed and become alpha waves (expanded perception, creativity, information absorption,...) and teta waves (dreams)." [1]

Every day we take in an infinite amount of information through our sensory organs, but we don't have the time to really process it. You consciously take this time in meditation or in shorter or longer trance states. You recognize connections, can take on other perspectives comparable to dreaming. This is where you process, tidy up, empty the trash can and reboot the system. More about trance and consciousness here: [2].

Trance dancing allows you to immerse yourself in a trance state with the help of a protected, neutral space, imbued with rhythm and movement. Sometimes you need some practice, sometimes you're a natural.

Such an experience is powerful, meaningful and has lasting effects. Even if the experience is difficult to put into words, we all sit together at the end of the dance over a cup of tea and talk to each other. In this way, we lose the inhibition to talk about profound things and open ourselves to true connection.

Where does Trance dance. come from

Dancing is probably as old as there are people on earth. In the ancient legends, it is said that the natives wove the wisdom of the universe into the elements from which the earth was formed using secret dances. Water, earth, fire, air are therefore imbued with infinite wisdom like the universe itself.

Trance dancing can be found in cultures all over the world, often embedded in a ritual. The Inuites, the indigenous people of Canada and Greenland, consciously induce a trance state in some of their ritual dances.[3]The Navajo, a Native American tribe, honor themselves and their environment with dances. Through recurring rhythm and movement, a trance state is strived for, which makes it easier for the dancers to connect directly with the danced messages and the wisdom contained therein.[4]For many indigenous peoples of the Americas, such as the Apache, Kiowa, Hopi, Cree, Seminole or Navajo, dance rituals are an integral part of the culture, the Sioux, for example, are known for their extraordinary sun dances, which are said to have their origin in the farewell of winter. For these dances, too, the peoples work with trance states.[5] Umbanda, a religious association from Brazil, makes extensive use of elements of spiritism, African-American religions such as Candomblé and Roman Catholicism. In their rites, they aim to ensure that, through singing and trance dancing, the medium is occupied by a spirit that guides them and imparts advice.[6] Similarly, the Vodou religion of Haiti, the Santeria of Cuba, the Saami of Scandinavia, and many more. In many cultures and religions, shamans play a major role, communicating with the spirits through trance states, such as in Siberia or the Marakame of the Huichol of Mexico.[7] The Sufi dance of the whirling dervishes is said to open a portal that flows in the form of an hourglass, here too the dancer is in a trance state that allows him to exercise an almost superhuman body control and endurance needed to build and transmit energy.The Balinese masked dancers and Indian temple dancers also dance themself's into a trance state.

All over the world, people are setting up pit towers in nature to dance together, to connect and to achieve consciousness-altered states. It is not necessary to consume substances, only to train focus and endurance. Mathias de Stefano relies upon music and trance inducing ecstatic dance in his earth healing practices. Music, dance and subtlety/spirituality are interwoven and we can take advantage of this in our individual healing path, just as many peoples have done and are doing.

Practice works out

Are you wondering what else you can do with trance dancing? If you make this tool your own, no matter where you are, you can dive into a deep trance state with the closing of your eyes and connect with everything in this state. Use trace dances as a fixed ritual, for example during the full moon or midsummer, midwinter, to dance to the rhythm of nature, to let go of the old and welcome the new. Each place feels different and has its own story that you can get to the bottom of. Ever heard of sun or rain dances? Just try it out, whereby enough energy should flow into it for a corresponding result (the more people, the more energy or longer time/focus also means more energy). Would you like to support someone? Similar to Reiki, send him energy/love with a dance. Are you stuck in your life right now? Dance with an affirmation. It is important to have specific thoughts before or during the dance. If you want to work towards a certain outcome during the dance, it can be useful to increase the focus on it by repeating the intention. If you are looking for inspiration, it is enough to make exactly that known at the beginning and then give space for it. As you can see, it's not that easy, it's best to make your own experiences. The possibilities are limited only by your imagination, trance dancing can also be combined well with other forms of meditation such as Yoga or Chi-Gong. You have a lot more influence on the world than you think and trance dancing can be your key.

Regarding me

My name is Anja (M.Sc.) and I have been practicing trance dancing since 2015. While dancing to downtempo (slow electronic music with influences from around the world), I started to just close my eyes and go to my own room surrounded by people, where I like to stay for several hours. It feels like coming home to me, I feel the people around me and yet I am completely with myself and can process in this meditative state, recover, draw strength and maybe even do magic. I had the desire to open up this space in me to other people and so I completed my training as a trace dance organizer with Aernoudt Knecht (psychologist and founder of the Wellspring Academy) in 2020-2022.[8] Since then I have been giving trance dance seminars at events, festivals and in Dresden, where I currently live. Sometimes you can find me dancing in the forest, on the banks of the Elbe to a sun dance or in distant countries. As a DJ [9] I mix my trance dance sets myself and as a singer-songwriter I bring in my own songs and self-written meditations. Every now and then, dear Ullrich [10] plays beautiful live music with his synthesizers, violin and guitar.

I open up a space for you in which you can show yourself and be anything (I call in Sameris). I hold this space and enrich it energetically so that you can immerse yourself more easily. It is an honor and I thank all my helpers and participants for their trust.

[1] Was ist Trance, written by Aernoudt Knecht. Website: https://trance-dance.net/de/was-ist-trance-tanz/was-ist-trance/, latest access Jan 2024

[2] https://trance-dance.net/de/was-ist-trance-tanz/im-traum-erwachen/

[3] Johnston, T. F. (1975). Alaskan Eskimo Dance in Cultural Context. Dance Research Journal, 7(2), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.2307/1477819

[4] Navajo Dances (2015) published in Navajo Rituals by Navajocode. Website: https://navajocodetalkers.org/navajo-dances/, latest access Jan 2024

[5] Sun Dance (2023) written by Joshua J. Mark, published by Wordhistory. Website: https://www.worldhistory.org/Sun_Dance/, latest access Jan 2024

[6] de Oliveira Pinto, T. (1991). “Making Ritual Drama:” Dance, Music, and Representation in Brazilian “candomblé” and “umbanda.” The World of Music, 33(1), 70–88. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43562778

[7] Mexico’s Huichol resource page: their culture, symbolism, art (2011) published by MexConnect. Website:

https://www.mexconnect.com/articles/190-mexico-s-huichol-resource-page-their-culture-symbolism-art/, latest acces Jan 2024

[8] Website: https://trance-dance.net

[9] Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/prinzessinkarima

[10] Bandcamp: https://up-ck.bandcamp.com