Summer Solstice Ecstatic Dance with Lavender Fields

Lets Celebrate the Summer Solstice with Art, Good food, Music, Dance, and Community. This Happening is brought to you by the Woodland Realm, an Urban farm right in the center of Des Moines. This land is filled with Flowers, Herbs, and edible foods, and serves the community with various workshops and activities throughout the year. This gathering will have Local Artist and Food Vendors, and we will be baking fresh goods in the wood burning stove throughout the event. Come for all the happenings or just a few, please make it by 7pm if this is your first Ecstatic Dance, as we will go over guidelines for the space at this time <3

4pm Doors Open . Come in and enjoy our Elixar Bar in the herbal Garden Space, with our garden Fairy Ananda. Connect with our vendors, Enjoy a sweet or savory treat from our oven. All events are invitations to drop deeper into yourself, but feel free to move about the space freely, without expectations of yourself or others.

5pm Begins our Drumming Circle and Open Jam/Song Share- If you have a song to share, Poem, something on your heart, this is space to connect with our community and find the common beat between us. Feel Free to bring an instrument, or use one of ours, we have ALOT to share. This will be acoustic music, we invite you to put down your phone and be present here.

6pm Somatic Meditation and Contact improv- Join Cailie a meditation to drop into your body followed by some improv games to connect with each-other. Contact Improv is a practice of Deep listening to all that surrounds us. Throughout this class you will be invited to interact with the ground, the space around us, others in the group, and the group as a whole. This is an empowering class, giving you skills to use on and off the dance floor. You do not need a partner to enjoy this class <3 Bring a yoga matt or blanket to sit if you do not feel comfortable moving directly on the earth. Earth option is quite comfortable, so totally up to you!

7pm Cacao Ceremony. Cacao is a Medicine for the heart, and invites us to find a state of presence, and connect with our hearts desires. Cacao is an ancient medicine, forged from a tropical fruit tree, used by the Mayans for ages. The cacao we will be sharing will be Served by Olive, who was guided to Guatemala to source this medicine, and learn from the other Guardians of this Medicine. Inside your cup will be a mix of herbs to aid this Journey and a Cacao sourced from a women's collective in Guatemala. You'll be invited to connect with your breathe, and set an intention for our ceremony. This can be as simple as staying present, or as vast as moving through a drastic life change. Whatever you need, if you listen to your heart, Cacao will guide you.

7:30pm Ecstatic Dance Ceremony! Ecstatic Dance is a Dance Journey, often starting off slow, and building into a wave. During this Journey, we follow a few simple guidelines. No talking on the dance floor, allow yourself to surrender to the music, and abandon words while in the circle we create for dance. There are plenty of places to connect on the land if you have a burning conversation. Second no shoes. Hopefully you feel welcome to do this as soon as you arrive. This land is soft and comfortable, and taking your shoes off has beautiful effect on the body. Lastly, we do not allow the use of alcohol or drugs during this journey. This is a place and a practice of presence, and we want everyone to feel safe to let themselves be free, without the worry of someone not being 100% in control of their body. There are bars in every restaurant, and on every corner, we want to keep this space sacred, and offer an alternative to mind altering substances. Dance is guaranteed to get you High on movement, so stick with it, even if there are moments of discomfort, step away, sit down, lay down, and listen to what comes up in your body. We cant wait to move with you!

8:45pm Closing Circle and Sound Healing- As we close we will begin to slow the music down, and you are invited to the Ground to simply breathe and be in the space. We will serenade you off to sleep with flutes, crystal bowls, chimes, water instruments and more. Following the Sound Healing, We will have an opportunity to share with one another before cleaning up and heading home.

Host or Publisher AllLove O'Connell