Ecstatic Dance - Brisbane
Contents
About
Ecstatic dance has made it to Brisbane... and it's awesome!
There are a few different "conscious dance" events/venues in Brisbane, but one of the most frequent and amazing is a "Ecstatic Dance & Yoga Fusion" event every second Saturday evening (~5:30pm - 9:00pm) at the The Newmarket Hall in Ashgrove (map). It's run by the wonderful Adrian Mornay who is usually the DJ, but I believe there may be other DJs and for sure I'm hoping I might even be able to run a little dance improv workshop with him one day!
About once a month the event also features a big Cacao Ceremony plus a theme and/or sound healing - such nights cots a little more but usually have more people. Go figure... people love Cacao I guess. I just wanna dance!
once a month Cacao nights are significantly more... (see events / tickettailor).
What is Ecstatic Dance
If you haven't heard of ecstatic dance, there's a longer-than-necessary intro on my Ecstatic Dance page, and I published a book "The Little Book of Dance Inspiration" with a dear friend from the United States.
In a nutshell: wonderful tribal music where you are free to dance however you want (no instructions) and no shoes. In the dance, the only real rule is to be respectful to others, no talking on the dance floor, and no photos. Remember that putting your hands together in a pray-like position is saying "thanks, but I want to dance by myself now".
What's Special About This Event and Venue
I've been to ecstatic dance events all over the world, and this one feels just very wholesome. It usually starts really slow and features quite a bit of instructional drop-in, but it is likely to build into incredibly energetic music! The first time I went was a cacao night and there were probably 60 people cutting loose and dancing their butts off as the music reached its heights. I think the special events are usually pretty big like this, whereas, on regular weekly yoga events, it's more intimate and grounded with twenty people the second time I came, which gives you lots of room to dance and connect more deeply with yourself.
One of many things I appreciate about Adrian is how welcoming, warm, and friendly he is. He throws a little science/physiology explanation into his opening exercises and for someone pretty high energy like me I appreciate that he really slows you down into a trance-like state during his musical journeys. I remember all of us lying down for almost 15 minutes at the start of the music because the buildup was slow. The space he's created feels incredibly, incredibly safe, and you might be encouraged to share how you feel and an intention at the start of the dance. Every venue has a different energy, and I would say that Australian dancers are a little more timid sometimes, I don't see too many people dancing with others (for most it's a solo experience), but that is great news for people who like to be more solo and feel safe. It's a great mixed range of ages, with plenty of younger people, but some older too! If you do want to dance with others, you might just find being a little silly and making eye contact gets you a smile and a little dance.
Sincerely,
Andrew Noske
PS: I highly recommend coming at 5:30 pm for the full experience. It starts small, but people will slowly trickle in during yoga up until the opening circle around 7:00 pm. It seems to me a few contact improv people attend, so those are the people you might discover if you hang around after class with the cleanup crew. If you want to build community, try hanging out just a little longer, introduce yourself to Adrian and others and you just might make some fun friends to dance with the next week - or hang out with outside of dance as well!
See Also
- Ecstatic Dance... lots of info about this genre of dance.
- 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: Huge thanks to wonderful Adrian Mornay, a fellow engineer, for bringing ecstatic dance to Brisbane, and making it feel so safe and welcoming... plus a decent dose of the spiritual feels on top! When I moved from the US back to Brisbane in 2023, I was worried there might be zero conscious dance community, but thanks to Adrian and others... there's a pretty amazing group. |
