A conversation between the sacrum the heart and our innate sexuality
This workshop has taken place in:
Senigallia Italy 6 July 2019
Milano Itlay 29th & 30th July 2019
Melbourne Aust 30 Nov & 1 Dec 2019
FEEDBACK
The space that Maria creates in her workshops brings me to a different dimension of peace, love and harmony.
Working through the body somatically as we are allowed in our own time to let go of past traumas, pain. This is done so very gently that you hardly feel it, and when finished you are left with a feeling of just being. Just being in my own presence feeling safe, love and accepted.
As a human being what else is there than being one with yourself and therefore with others.
Thank you Maria for an amazing experience.
Love & Light. Toni. Yoga Teacher.
Being 60 fills with a sense of being in my perfectly non perfect existence. Every day I practice acts of attempted authenticity. Rising up stumbling and falling and getting up again.
I was sharing with a friend that when I began my long career as an Artist model at the age of 19 I felt a great sense of belonging and personal freedom. I discovered that being naked was so natural to me and on top of that I was paid to be naked. I am one of those people that when it is hot I take my cloths off and when it is cold I put them on. So in spite of the things that happen to me as a small child, things that should not have happened, somehow in me there was something bigger than all of that, that allowed me on some levels to be able to be comfortable in my skin. I have the same feeling with my sexuality, but due to that past experience it was complicated.I have learnt a lot about myself in the healing process. When I took up Egyptian dance at the age of 29 the door opened to an ancient wisdom that dwelled inside me, the challenge to embrace my femaleness and to a journey of self discovery through this primordial and essential dance. This dance lead me to other movement healing modalities that took me to become a Dance Movement Therapsit that became the foundation of my work.
Delving into the potential naturalness and normality of our sexuality. Aligning itself to our hearts desire and the meaning of self love and unconditional acceptance.Our beautiful, bountiful and boundless heart holding us physically, emotionally and spiritually in our sacredness.
We deal with distorted anomalies around our sexuality, mostly focuses around women. In a privileged country such as australia we can run or attend a workshop such as this one. As we who can reclaim the right to embrace our natural selves for ourselves including our sexual organs, we can help open the portal for all women of all cultures.Once we can individuate ourselves and our sexual expression we can then navigate our wants, needs and right in relationship to other. To do this we must create a compassionate and self loving path to the heart.
Through authority in the acknowledgement that much of what we believe about the feminine has been filtered through the eyes of a patriarchal context. We have to know and care about this. We are trying.
In this creative, expressive, movement and dance workshop we will address these themes. Deepening our relationship to the heart connection, to our personal expression of sexuality and joy.
Through the expansion of the relationship we have with ourselves we can the meet the other.
Yumi and Maria have known each other for nearly 20 years. They share a passion for dance and its transcendent and transformative qualities. They are like spiritual comrades and both have been exploring particular spiritual practice reflecting from their cultural and global identity through dance.
Maria is like the earth and water that is moved by the fire and air. She is seen by many who attend her workshops as a nurturing mother. In her teaching, she holds her students in their dance, enough for them to find their way, then sets them free.
Where as Yumi is like fire and air that is moved by the earth and water. As a kind of catalyst, Yumi also helps people to open up their new territories through her gentle provocation exercises. As Butoh originally called as ‘dance of darkness’, Yumi taps into the aspect of our shadow to unleash the unknown.
Their coming together in this 5 day Residential on Mt Batukaru, Bali, will be a beautiful blend of Female energy, as they bring together their magic from years of dance practice and performance to provide a rich, creative field for the participants to work in.
This wonderful week offers you:
30 hours of training in total from Maria and Yumi.
Full accommodation* in the beautiful tranquil Bali Mountain Retreat, with all vegetarian meals and drinking water provided
Transport to and from the airport or Ubud or other main destinations.
A beautiful massage
Temple trek
Traditional Joged Bumbung Dance performance and
Village Temple full moon ceremony
are included in the package price.
*this is standard share accommodation. You can change your preference to a single room but the cost will be more.
There will be an opportunity to perform in the outdoor Amphitheatre of the Yoga Barn Ubud on Sunday the 11th of June. (This is not Obligatory but guaranteed to be a lot of fun)
See the program bellow to get a feel of what the week will offer you.
The all inclusive cost per person was $1.255 USD
NOW $800 USD
*PLEASE NOTE: TO MAKE THE PAYMENT: YOU WILL NEED TO OPEN A PAYPAL ACCOUNT IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE; CLICK ON ADD TO THE CART ABOVE; GO TO TOOLS; GO TO SEND MONEY; CLICK ON PAY FOR GOODS AND SERVICES; TYPE IN EMAIL ADDRESS dancingisis@gmail.com; ADD THE AMOUNT YOU WILL BE PAYING, EITHER THE DEPOSIT OR FULL AMOUNT; CHOOSE USD; ADD A NOTE AND YOUR SHIPPING ADDRESS; MAKE THE PAYMENT*
Costing per person includes:
Complete Accommodation package including all meals and water. A massage.
Transport to and from the Retreat
30 hours of tuition Yumi & Maria
What Maria says about Yumi
Yumi came into my life via a beautiful close friend and in my life they are a team.
I love Yumi’s naturalness, kindness and her deep sense of spirituality. I organised a number of workshops for her in my garden studio in Ivanhoe Melbourne, so that I could dance with her. We performed together at an event, in the same garden in Ivanhoe, I was like a mountain and she was the wind. Everyone screamed when she put her feet on broken glass during the performance, she didn’t feel a thing. She put her guts into her work, there is a depth in her that expresses the cries of humanity, that takes us to at times uncomfortable places that need to be seen in the light of day.
Yumi came to visit me in Italy last year, she was so present to every detail including placing the cutlery in perfect order. I have been trying to do so ever since, but I cannot do it like she does. We also organised a workshop for Yumi in an artist friend’s seaside garden. The participants are still talking about her and are waiting for her to return.
She is always ready with a smile and a laugh. Her passion for her dance and for sharing her dance has made every workshop I have done with her a brilliant experience.
I am so looking forward to the time we will spend together in Bali. I am sure that what we both give, teach at out Bali Residential, will create a body experience in everyone present, that will live with them for years to come. READ MORE ABOUT YUMI
What Yumi says about Maria
I have known Maria from when I first moved to Australia nearly 20 years ago. As I was merging into those funky and hippie-ish arts community in Melbourne from the busy buzzing city Tokyo, I used to see her on the street with her very exotic and charismatic look. Sometimes there would also be her little (then!) cute daughter who was exact miniature of Maria!
Maria always has amazing presence as a goddess with her colorful aura around her and her big beautiful eyes, which I admire so much. As I was getting know her, I start also appreciating her mother earth, nurturing nature as well as her quite funny and quirky quality. She could be natural comedian in her daily life, and we always laugh loud together. She is great fun to be around. She is a very good cook and her foods are always very yummy and nutritious. When I was visiting her in Italy, she used to make fantastic energy juice for me with full of fruits, nuts and turmeric and that kept me going!
I know she is almost the ultimate shaman in one of the Japanese belly dance community in Hokkaido, where they ask her advice for everything while she just wants to enjoy the sushi and sake in Japan!
We can work together really well, as we both approach dance in quite deep and holistic ways. In this workshop, we can explore our inner and outer awareness through our body where I can make it bit crazier while Maria can make it bit calmer. READ MORE ABOUT MARIA
Venue: Dorm 1, Rosina Building Abbotsford Convent, St Hellier St Abbotsford, Victoria, Australia
If you pay attention to an Egyptian country woman as she walks along the dusty street carrying her load on her head what might you see? You may notice that she walks with a proud gracious elegance, her body has a natural ease, there is little effort to hold herself in the poised perfection as she balances her load on her head. She glides as her hips sway side to side and her feet roll across the sand. Her shoulders are free, her face is free, her eyes look straight ahead.As her feet move her forward there is a twist, spiral- double helix through her spine the echoes from her feet through the base of spine. The energy moves awards, echoing in her ribs and shoulders right to the top of her head. Her dangling arms follow this twist as the movement of ribs and shoulders move around her axis and her heart.
Bringing this to the dance: in Raqs Sharqi it is called Scissor walk*
See it in the eyes of Alexander Technique it is called Primary Control: she is in expansion moving in opposition, from the centre in all directions, outwards and back again.
She is all woman, her femininity pours through her body and into the ground, full of pride and in her essence.
This is where the dance begins
It is from here that I have drawn much of my inspiration. I have said many times before, The dance is simply a more animated walk”, the waves, spirals and curve get exaggerates when we dance. The fundamentals are all there, in the walk.
In this workshop we continue the journey into the Sacred and therapeutic dance of Ancient Egypt, going deeply into the walk, exploring its somatic expression, but also moving form a deeper emotional space, questions could be: where do my feet take me and how do they walk me through life?Taking our time using Yin energy to give width and breath to Yang energy.
The walk will take us into the Traditional and modern Sha’abi dance and music. The movement of the pelvis as it expresses the articulation of the hip joins that echo the pounding rhythm of the feet as it tell the story of the beat. The story is not complete without Baladi music as the colours wake up the snaking spine and all its expressions. There will many other musical surprises.
It give me great pleasure to have Jane Refshaurge, my Alexander Technique (AT) teacher, mentor and friend joining us during the workshop. Jane will teach you the basic principals of Alexander Technique and how they are applied to the dance. She will work with aspect of AT that talk directly to Egyptian dance. When Jane places her hands on you, I can assure you something new and magical will happen in your body.
As usual all levels of dance and non dance and styles are welcome. I foster interactive learning. Everyone benefits, from very experienced dancers to the complete beginner.
2 20 cm Pliates balls (I have a limited amount for sale)
A mediation cushion**
A thin stick at least 1 metre long (no decorated dancing sticks)
Comfortable cloth
a long skirt or dress
Long veil
Hip sash or scarf
Water
* This term came from the the then Hilal School of Raqs Sharqi
** Mediation cushion with Barley husks is idea because of the weight and size. Any other small cushion that has some weight in it will also be OK. Apart from sitting on it you will be used it to carry on your head. Therefore it need to be weighty so there is no effort in keeping it there.
“ When you discover Bali, it is as if your Soul awakens to an ancient part of her deep feminine self that has been long forgotten or neglected. She breathes in fragrance and beauty, touches you with tenderness, serenades you to soften and surrender then dances with you in delight. ‘Welcome Home’ she says.” Tricia mary Lee.
You are invited to join Sacred Dancers from around the World and to take time to share and learn how to relax, to release and to revitalize through the Sacred Movement Arts.
It is a time for gentle, moving, rediscovery of, and connection with, your Sacred self.
This year our special focus is on dancing from our Lotus Heart chakra in order to enrich your personal sense of love, compassion and beauty for all areas of your life, which then dances into your community and into our World.
We have daily Sacred Dance sessions [ led by Tricia and Maria] and also allow time for quiet reflection, journaling and local exploration.
The weaving and sharing as each dancer brings her gifts adds a wonderful richness which blesses us further in our own Sacred Dance practice.
Our Bali Mountain Retreat Venue is intimate and caring with beautiful food and comfortable accommodation.
The week is especially rich in cultural immersion and there are daily awakenings of the soul almost as if she recognizes different dimensions of her being.
This is your unique opportunity to experience the living Sacred culture of Bali, where dance is still honoured as a regular part of Temple life and beauty and fragrance are a part of daily living.
The Goddess Saraswati and Quan Yin are especially revered in Bali and we invite their provenance and guidance whilst on the Mountain.
Our visit to the Temple at Sarin Buena for the Full Moon Festival of Odelan is a rare privilege that we are welcomed to share with the Batukaru people.
We also trek to the local temple at Muncak Sari for a personal prayer and Blessing Ceremony from the Priests and Priestesses, a deeply moving Ceremony in the open air temple.
We have a wonderful evening of music and dance with a local Gamelan orchestra and dancers from the village.
Another evening we share a powerful Fire Ceremony dedicated to Saraswati for cleansing and purification.
In addition we can learn from the Balinese how to make offerings and also cook some Balinese food.
After the Retreat we can guide you in Ubud to experience more of this dynamic fusion of ancient and modern Sacred culture, which has to include shopping at the Markets for clothes, visits to galleries and an invitation to share dance at “Yayasan Widya Guna” [ a small school community for disadvantaged children]. BSDR also donates in support of this Charity.
“Dance your Blessings, Bless your Dance” and join us in Bali 2016
My Alexander Technique teacher Jane Refshauge feels that Egyptian Dance is primarily a dance of the Organs. Through our exploration and research that began in 1995 and lasted 6 years, we explored the organ connection through Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centring, Bartenieff Fundamentals and Feldenkais to name a few. All of these somatic modalities encourage the body to function as a whole. This sense of wholeness supports and feeds the essence of Egyptian dance and the total embodiment of it. The 5 day intensive with bring into form all that has fed me through the years of exploration and all work with the Shamanic and transformative element of dance.
Our vital Organs each have a purpose and personality. We all have the same organs with the same biological function. We often individually express differently, for whatever physical, biological or emotional reason.
In this sacred Shamanic Dance exploration we will enlist the beauty and timeless essence of Egyptian Dance as a foundation and engage with the personality and vitality of particular organs and let them inspire us to move our dance. We will touch them, feel them, listen to them, talk to them, allowing them to respond to us through the dance. We will dance the richness and fullness of what they revel to us.
We will dance the lungs – “the wings of the heart”, as we breath in what we need and breath out in gratitude. Sensing, feeling, dancing the multidimensionality of the lungs, as they give breath to our life journey and the great potential of expansion and release. How we negotiate space how we reach out into our lives.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that inspire us. These could be:
Upper-body figure 8‘s, circles or undulation
Flowing and gestural arm movements
Use of the veil
Finding the breath in our feet connecting the the pulse of the earth
Next will be the dance our digestive system, navigating our lives through all the twists and turns: how we take in, chew and swallow what our life gives us. How we digest it and then release, eliminate what we don’t need. Our “Gut Feelings”. As we move through all the organs of the digestive system, we will stop at each major organ and let the organ choreograph a poetic dance.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from our belly. These could be:
Torso undulations
Belly undulations
Whole body waves
Opening up and close from the navel
Lyrical Egyptian music with and without voice that create an Emotional response in us
We will then dance the Lymphatic system that lives just under the surface of the skin and the Skin itself, the largest organ of the body. Our skin, contains us holds and protects our internal structures. It senses our environment make us able to receive the world around is.It also separates us. Our skin is also the outer manifestation of our inner lives. Our Lymphatic system is an amazing network of rivers and streams that filter every organ of the body maintaining balance and strengthening our immune system. It also speaks closely to the Bone Marrow, the soft receptive part of or bones structure the supports us and connects us to earth and ground. It talks to all other body system and body fluids.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from the fluidity inside us. These could be:
Seaweed movements
Integration of isolations
Body parts echoing, mirroring and following each other
Finally we dance the beauty of the Sacred Beating Heart. This amazing pump that keeps us alive, moves billions and billions for blood cells through our body. Feeding us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Our heart is the key to the wellness of all aspects of our personal lives but also to the wellbeing of the plant. The heart is our evolutionary progression towards peace in ourselves and humanity and love.We will dance the dance of the cells, the dance of folding and unfolding. The dance of the hands that are the outer manifestation of the heart. Unconditional Love.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from our our heart centre. These could be:
Heart being the centre of expression and movement
Heart relationship to Navel
Hand gestures
Expressing deeply and profoundly the story of the music
Dancing from the Heart out to the world
Expressing love for self and others in the dance
The 5 days will weave in and out of the Embodied Bellydance® Framework listed bellow. As usual on day 4 and 5 we will being the Participant Dance Presentation Every year this aspect of the intensive becomes expansively meaningful to me and to regular participants.
Join me on this 5 day journey of revelation and transformation. Returning always to the essence beauty and form of Egyptian dance and all that it has to offer,to all genre a dance and movement. Weather you are professional or have no dance experience. I work in a way that give everyone what then need.
THIS WORKSHOP WILL BE CONDUCTED IN BOTH ENGLISH AND ITALIAN LEGERE IN ITALIANO
The Australian Dance Movement Therapist Maria Sangiorgi will present for the second time in Italy her therapeutic approach based on “Embodied Bellydance ®”. In this second workshop she will continue the exploration of focusing on the healing effects of the free flowing movement of the spine, including connection to the navel and its nature to expand through spirals and the energetic model of the starfish pattern. The workshop is aimed at both those who have never had experience of these forms of movement, and those who want to deepen the practice.
Embodied Bellydance® embraces the undulating, spiralling, circling movements of the human body, life and the universe. By Following these natural movements, we invite them to amplify and radiate through the whole organism. Embodied bellydance® invites you to organise the natural movements, the inner wave and to follow the rhythm, the song , the beat of the drum, and become the spirals, circles and waves into patterns that tell the story of the music.
By accessing the rich resources of movement our Spines offer us we begin to express the ancient dance of the Serpent. We can move like the serpent; we have the potential to inspire our connective tissue, bones, muscles, organs, and the spaces in between with the fluid nature and resonance of water. Finding this fluidity liberates us, on all levels.
Embodied bellydance® was born out of an exploration of the fundamentals of Egyptian dance and its ancient and profound wisdom. This progressed to a curiosity for the connection that the dance held to the spiralling flow of nature, life and the universe. It also spoke of the interconnectedness of the masculine and feminine energy through shape and form and the harmonic correlation to music. To be embodied in this dance is to be whole. It weaves a story throughout the spine and radiates out via the navel in all directions to all parts of the body. It takes from the culture of its origin a joy and respect for life. Embodied Bellydance® asks you to dive into your authenticity. It works through the Physical: To know the true origin of movement, the Emotional: To feel that every movement has an emotional response that can be identified, the Spiritual: To understand that dance is transcendent .
Maria Sangiorgi is a Dance Movement Therapist and creator of Embodied Bellydance®. During her 23 year of teaching Bellydance and research into somatic movement practices she developed Embodied Bellydance®. It is now being embrace by bellydance students and teachers who wish to deepen their understanding of self as a whole. It is also frequented by Dance Movement Therapist who want to add more skills to their tool box. She uses aspect of it in her therapeutic practice. As a Dance Movement Therapist Maria works with the physically and intellectually handicapped and homeless woman with mental health issues. She also facilitates Dance Journeys for the Awakening Heart, including SensingFeelingDancing the Chakras, and Women Dance Retreats. Maria has developed a passion for Continuum since being introduced to it 2 years ago. She also practices Esoteric Healing and is a massage therapist.
About the Workshop
This workshop revolves around the exploration of the Serpentine movements of the spine and is aimed at both those who have never experienced this form of movement before, along with those who would like to deepen their practice of all forms of Oriental/Egyptian dance and other dance in general. Professional dancers and therapist welcomed!
Date and Time:
Friday 8th to 10th Nov 2013
4 pm to 8 pm Friday
9.30 am to 8 pm Saturday with a long lunch break from 1 to 4 pm
Sunday 9.30 to 2 pm
Cost:
€240 whole weekend with accommodation
€140 workshop only
This included:
workshop + 2 night accommodation
All food (vegetarian) & beverages. from Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon.
Workshop only €190 + Meals €15 each
Venue:
La Ragola Country House and
Yoga Centre
Ostra, Ancona, Italy
VENUE:
La Ragola Country House and Yoga Centre
La Ragola is situated on the outskirts of the medieval town of Ostra on top of one of the famous rolling hills of le Marche. It offers picturesque view of the country side and Ostra and is 15 minutes from the beach.
Our welcoming host Anna Maria Poggelli will make sure that you are comfortable and feel at home www.ragola.it
How to get there:
Nearest Airports: Ancona 1 hour away
Bologna 2 hours away
Rome and Milano aprox 4 hours away
Nearby train station Senigallia
Bus from senigallia to Ostra
Can arrange pick up from Senigallia
If you would like to stay longer at La Ragola to enjoy what that area has to offer the cost is €50 per night meals included.
It would also be worth you while to take a Gourmet food and wine tour which the region is famous for with local food and wine connoisseur Marco Candi
