To dance is human, and more than human

To dance is human, and beyond human. When we dance, we connect with a profound wisdom that has traversed through all forms of life for millennia. From the intricate movements of bees to the graceful glides of whales, and from the gentle sway of trees to the ever-changing flow of clouds, dance is a universal language. Rituals and ceremonies centered around dance have been integral to countless cultures, although many have been disrupted or concealed through colonization. Dance as ritual, ceremony, therapy, and engagement with life serves as a gateway to transformation, healing, and emergent consciousness through state-shifting.

In this course, we will immerse ourselves in the medium of our bodies, movement, and dance. Our exploration will be guided by the Polyvagal-informed Dance/Movement Therapy© (PVIDMT) framework, which intertwines Polyvagal Theory with sacred dance and movement. This approach blends client experience, mentorship, and deep immersion in both Polyvagal Theory and personal sacred dance practices.
 

By integrating principles from this framework, which honors both scientific and spiritual dimensions of human healing, we will delve into somatic pathways for state-shifting. Through structured somatic and movement-based practices, theoretical insights, and experiential dance, we will engage with all the ways we dance.

Week 1: Introduction to PVIDMT©  

Tuesday 8th April 6-7.30pm BST

Concepts Introduced: Introduction to PVIDMT©  and its relevance to dance and movement. Exploration of the foundational principles of PVIDMT©. Weight as ground, yield, place and belonging.

Key Activities: will include Theoretical information, movement practices and conversation.
Objective: Build a foundational understanding of PVIDMT© and its integration with sacred dance practices.

Week 2: Exploring Stateshifting: The Autonomic Nervous System (“ANS”) as a Dance

Tuesday 15th April 6-7.30pm BST

Concepts Introduced: Detailed exploration of the concept and practice of state-shifting and its role in ceremony, healing, therapy and restoration. Breath as emergence and neuro-physiological stateshifter.

Key Activities will include Theoretical information, movement practices and conversation.

Objective: Develop a practical understanding of how stateshifting is both a function of, and an ally to, the autonomic nervous system.

Week 3: Somatic Pathways to State-shifting - The Ritual and Ceremony of Healing

Tuesday 22nd April 6-7.30pm BST

Concepts Introduced: The Crossroads of science and Spirit: Pathways to stateshifting in the contexts of  ritual, ceremony, restoration and healing. Spine as a portal and a pathway.

Key Activities will include Theoretical information, movement practices and conversation.

Objective: Foster connection to the primary portals to the body and shateshifting

Week 4: The Dance of  Compassion

Tuesday 29th April 6-7.30pm BST

Concepts Introduced: PVIDMT©  as a portal to compassion; The Trilogy of Human Response; Compassion as a heart-full portal to reciprocity, dignity and global transformation.

Key Activities will include Theoretical information, movement practices and conversation.

Objective: Increased commitment  to cultivating compassion.

Feedback from worskhops and trainings

"Thank you thank you. I was so filled with richness, and the wealth of resources that you orchestrate from your experiences and profoundly deep work and that you bring out from all. Your session and the movement experiences became the themeatic exploration and foundation for my opening to the rest of the conference. A small group that I moved with discovered a common theme of opening doors, acknowledgement, and support."

"Thank-you for the compassionate and wise way that you walk through the world and for the beautiful work that you do." 

"Thank you so much for your in enlightning class. It was absolutely beautiful!" 

“THANK YOU SO MUCH for the valuable and grounding (literally) information and skills you shared with us. What you have to share is shining a light during this time of uncertainty.” 

“I learned so much from just being in your presence and following your gentle/firm and so so grounded guidance/suggestions/offerings.”

Can't make the workshop? We will record Amber's class and share the video with all ticket holders following the event.

YOUR FACILITATOR

Dr. Amber Elizabeth L. Gray

Dr. Amber Elizabeth L. Gray is a Dance/Movement Therapist, Somatic & Human Rights Psychotherapist; and long-time Sacred dance, yoga and Continuum teacher who works with survivors of war, torture, human rights abuses and historical trauma and oppression, in the US and in active and post conflict zones, refugee camps, and disasters. 

A lifetime of dance and exploration in dance-based community and healing traditions has contributed to her passion for, and belief that, movement as life. Encouraged to study Haitian dance by Katherine Dunham initiated a pathway to her own initiation into Vodou. Equally activist, artist, advocate, author and therapist, her clinical, healing, educational and organizational work endeavors to promote reciprocity and empowerment, and incite meaningful change. 

She brings her Polyvagal, Heart & Spirit-informed Right to Embody somatic human rights framework and Body of Change eco-somatic regenerative retreats to communities of therapists, artists, global citizens and change makers world-wide. Amber originated Polyvagal-informed Somatic & Dance/Movement Therapy through 25 years immersive mentoring and exploration of Polyvagal Theory. 

This work is a survivor-centered, multi-cultural & Spiritual justice framework that reflects many years of grounded theory co-inquiry with her clients to understand how Polyvagal Theory promotes restoration and healing in the body-heart-mind-spirit for survivors of egregious human rights violations. She has been teaching this work globally since 2003 and publishes about it frequently. 

Her book, Polyvagal-informed Somatic Psychotherapies for Trauma: Roots, Rhythm, Reciprocity & Clinical Work is scheduled to be published by Norton in 2024.

www.ambergray.com

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