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Date Posted: 18:12:24 11/02/09 Mon
Author: SS
Subject: ************SCD************

Art of DJ�ing for Ecstatic Dance

Genia Zilberstein
(w/thanks to Janea Dahl)

Basic Timing: 30 minute warm-up
70 minutes of dance

Ideas for the journey:

� In ecstatic dance, the music is a vehicle for each dancer�s experience. The music never dominates; it always leaves space for the dancer�s spirit.
� The primary role of the DJ is to make the dancer feel safe to experiment, to connect, to go deep. The dancers will find their own ecstatic path � our work is to not sabotage their journey.
� At some level, ALL the dancers feel EVERYTHING we put into constructing our DJ set. Do not skimp on time and quality. Remember that you are in a sacred space, doing sacred work.
� Revise, revise, revise � like your writing teachers said. You�ll hear the difference in quality.

Inspirations for beginning:

� Set a simple intention such as �Let love shine.�
� Ask yourself what�s going on in your life right now? In the world?
� Write down a few words that inspire you. Write yourself a little story.
� Start with one song that you intuitively want to include and build around it.

Tips for picking songs:

� After you�ve selected a theme and some key words, take some time to go through your collection and pick 30-40 songs. A useful cheap trick is to pick song titles that contain your key words.
� Learn to �listen with your butt�, sensing when your body responds to a song.
� Grab songs that make you want to get up and start moving.
� Grab any song that sounds fresh and new to you.
� Look for songs that make you feel something. Avoid songs that leave you emotionally flat.
� Reject songs that feel grating to you in any way.
� Avoid songs that hit you over the head with a �message�.
� Avoid songs with cruel, obscene, abusive content.
� Instead of a very familiar or overplayed song, try a cover or a remix.
� Too many songs with words in English can take people out of their dance. Explore world music.
� Listen to the whole song. Many songs are good for the first 30 seconds, but then go �flat� with endless repetition. Watch how your interest level changes through the song.
� Avoid songs that shift between too many different rhythms.
� As a rule, avoid �chill� music � it works best as background for sitting in a bar.

Tips for creating the warm-up:

� The warm-up is an important part of creating the sacred space for the dance. Like the first step of a meditation, the role of the warm-up music is to connect dancers to their bodies, to their spirit, and to the space.
� The warm-up is a time of gentle flow and stillness. We�re not trying to shake people awake; the desired effect is more that of a gently rising sun.
� While not strictly necessary, you may want to put together the warm-up first, to get a feel for the musical landscape you�re creating.

Tips for creating the dance set:

� Start off slowly, and build slowly.
� Create a chain of songs that may not be logically consistent, but subconsciously connected.
� Imagine yourself in the room, moving to the songs. Coming out of each song, imagine where you want to go next.
� Listen to your transitions. Imagine yourself dancing at the end of a song, and ask yourself how you would feel through the transition, entering the next song. Grating transitions must be re-done.
� Create some texture with songs of different genres. For example, tribal drumming could lead into a song with Spanish flavor.
� Include a fair number of instrumental tunes, songs with too many lyrics may put people in their heads again.
� Typically, dance songs will last between 3 and 5 � minutes. Shorter songs may be OK for transitions, or mixed very tightly together. Longer songs should typically be trimmed.
� At each step, you want people to �want� the next transition. In practice, this may mean staying in a song just a little longer than necessary � to avoid the opposite effect where you cut off a good song before people are ready to part with it.

What we are (and are not) teaching:

� Some of us take our inspiration from the 5Rhythms work of Gabrielle Roth, and some have actually taken classes with her or her students. This work is complex, and may only be taught by teachers certified by the 5Rhythms faculty. While we sometimes use the words �wave�, �flow�, �chaos�, and �stillness� to describe what we do, Sacred Circle DOES NOT teach the 5Rhythms.
� The same applies to Soul Motion, Body Choir, etc. While the physical setup of Sacred Circle Dance was �inherited� from a class taught by Vinn Marti, we are NOT teaching Soul Motion. We can learn from all these practices but we�re not �XX lite�.
� What we are trying to teach is how to create Sacred Circle Dance, a practice we�ve been evolving for the past 5 years.
� That said, we do encourage you to experience as many forms of dance and music as you can, and to read about different approaches to dance � we especially recommend Gabrielle Roth�s books and videos.
� The skill of being a DJ involves your entire being, and the more of yourself you put into creating your dance music, the richer the product of your artistic creation will be � and the richer will be your gift to a roomful of dancers on Sunday morning.

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