Afro Cuban dance rites (open air)

given by dance facilitator Regina LoMío (facebook.com/reginalomio; @reginalomio)

organized by LoMío (facebook.com/lomiosi; eventbrite.de/o/lomio-27002762399)

In a ritualized setup, like in the traditional rites associated to ancient cults and cultures, dancing can be a healing tool when coupled with conscious cultural learning and mindful and/or flow-enhancing techniques. Cuban culture is very rich in spiritual and music/dance sources and living traditions. In Cuba, dancing is always a spiritual and somatic healing experience of some sort that can also be shared with others. In the Afro-descended Cuban culture people often say that “we go to dance to cleanse ourselves”. And they mean it both literally and metaphorically depending on their own personal relationship to the relevant spirituality, and possibly also on their personal level of mind-body awareness.

Here we propose adance ritual in which the concepts of embodiment and flow would be applied to traditional/ancestral/popular dances (and dance subcultures) to awake and/or improve the individual mind-body connection as well as aiming at reaching relevant states of consciousness, eg. the so-called states of "total flow" and "dance trance". Moreover, the dance rites would also include storytelling, items, and subjects with spiritual connotations. Our rites aim at improving the individual relationship with dance, movement, body awareness, spirituality (religion-independent) and are therefore equally suitable for those who have never felt comfortable when dancing and those who may well be experienced dancers but lack confidence or the ability to fully lose themselves in it to some degree. On top of that the rites are an opportunity to connect to others through dance in a more embodied and spiritual way than just clubs, parties, festivities, and many other types of dance gatherings.

Blended in the sessions without a particular sequence, we will embodiment-aware dance the following dance/music styles: Yoruba-Santeria, Ewe Fon-Arara, Bantu-Congo, Brikamo-Carabalí, Rumba, Conga/Comparsas, Haiti-originated traditional dances of Cuba, and Timba (including despelote and son/salsa).

Level and audience: Level-independent, it is all about the ritual and the potential healing that we all need. This is a racism/sexism/queerphobia-concious event and as such ethnic and gender/sexuality minority people are explicitly invited and welcome. This is NOT an event to get to know me personally, flirt with me, or push any of your agendas. Please, be mindful!

Frequency: Once a week. Since this is not a course (or workshop) but instead individual dance rites happening every Saturday and intended to run the whole warm season, you can always catch up and come when you want/can.

Dates: every Thursday at 6:00-8:00 pm. Whenever it would be necessary to cancel event dates due to bad weather or other issues I would inform as soon as possible in all the event’s sites.

Price: Donation-based. We will be glad for your (max. 20 EUR) contribution

Inscription: Not required but you are welcome to notify attendance or ask questions through sending an e-mail to [email protected].

Outfits: Training outfits, sports wear, or similar. No shoes or training shoes (don’t destroy your sandals, we dance on soil!). You might bring wide and long (up to one hand bellow the knees) skirts, preferably made of cotton or any flexible and light tissue; and/or you might bring colourful handkerchiefs.

Language: English (German or Spanish on request).

Address: We will dance at the Katzbachstr. side of the Viktoriapark. This means we will be inside the park but not far from the street. For a detailed map with the highlighted site look in the event's Discussion. IMPORTANT: it is on the whole event's Discussion not in an individual date's discussion on a smartphone Facebook app. On a mobile device, just go to the page of the whole event and then expand the Discussion by clicking on "See all>" to display all posts.

We got LED-lamps to keep us illuminated after dawn in April and May, but in September we may start the event one hour earlier (17-19:00) on the same dates. Please, don't be too afraid of the possible rain since it would take a bit more than usually expected for me to cancel event dates. Provided it is not like a dangerous storm I still would play and we will dance under the rain as we got water-proof equipment. If it rains or any harsh wind blows we would have to cancel individual sessions, but hey, there will always be another chance!

Adresse (auf deutsch): Innerhalb des Viktoriaparks, Katzbachstr.-Seite vom Viktoriapark und

fast vor der Ecke Monumentstr./Katzbachstr.

Stadtteil: Kreuzberg

U/S-Bahn: Yorckstraße, Platz der Luftbrücke

Host or Publisher LoMío