Rites of Dance

Location of the event in Brisbane and the Gold Coast

About

NOTE: This page is a daughter page of: Conscious Events - Brisbane

Rites of Dance is a pretty saucy conscious dance event with tribal music mixed with life guitar and ending with sound healing, hosted by the charismatic DJ Mark Sankhara on the order of once a month down on the Gold Coast and sometimes Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast - usually on a Friday or Saturday. Unlike other events, which are pretty consistent, it's a little harder to predict the frequency of Rites of Dance events, but if you follow their Facebook page for upcoming events you are more likely to catch one.

• What:
  Ecstatic dance-like dance event paired with sound healing at the end ...(and once-a-month Cacao starting 4:30pm usually).
• When:
  About once a month in various locations ... follow the Facebook group to see when.
• Where:
  Tugun Village Community Centre (Gold Coast) ... or ... Bulimba Community Centre (Brisbane) ... (map) ... and the Gold Coast one.
• Cost:
  ~$60 online ... a bit less for early bird.
• What to wear:
  Suitable dance attire, you'll be bear foot ... see more here.
• Website:
  instagram ... (and facebook

Mark during one of his sets

What is Rites of Dance

Rites of dance is Mark's creation. It's similar to Ecstatic Dance but with the unusual variation that he'll encourage photos, as posting is how he promotes his events. People might have mixed feelings about that, but what impresses me about Mark, is that he does do a great little consent piece at the start of his events that warms people up before the dance begins. Mark is also an incredibly talented musician and DJ who knows how to build up anticipation at the start of his events. It's a rare skill in this community, but it speaks to his training as a performer, and I have a soft spot from anyone who grew up in New Zealand. I also like his raw honesty, like in 2024 when he took a 8 month break from Australia to travel to NZ and recharge his batteries.

What's Special About This Event and Venue

The talented Mark Sankhara
(who runs the event) (instagram)

The energy of this event is a little sexier than most of the Brisbane events - he'll even suggest that if you fancy someone you should tell them - I suspect this is the Gold Coast influence! I've never been to one in the Gold Coast, but I've been to a couple of the events he brings to Brisbane, and they are pretty well attended and fun! I like going because I get to let my hair down, as it's not my event! :-D

Sincerely,

    Andrew Noske

See Also

• Ecstatic Dance - Brisbane... Adrian's incredible event which is ~every 2 weeks in Brisbane.
• Ecstatic Dance... lots of info about this genre of dance.
• Brisbane Conscious Dance Calendar... should have all the dates for this event (ping me if outdated).
• 5Rhythms Dance - Brisbane... another great dance event, this one on select Fridays.

Links

• Ecstatic Dance Australia (Brisbane)... all the info for the Brisbane event.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to Susanna for being the first person to tell me about this event... and to Mark for wearing his heart on his sleeve... for being refreshingly blunt/honest about what works well and not in his performances.

One of the consent pages from our book.