A Language Older Than Words: an introduction to Somatic Ecstatic Dance
What happens when we allow movement to arise not from planning or performance, but from a deeper listening to the energetic nature of the body? Somatic Ecstatic Dance Nottingham is not about spectacle, nor is it a bypass into heightened states. It is a remembering, a soft, grounded, honest return to what is already here, already whole, already moving within you in ways that thought alone cannot orchestrate.
This practice does not begin with the body as something to fix, train or transcend, but rather the body as it is in all it’s tenderness and electricity. It invites a listening deep enough for movement to emerge from sensation. This way of dancing is not something new or invented, but something remembered in our bones and flesh. This way of dancing is ancient as well as modern, with its roots in ancient rituals and ceremonies, and it’s current presence on club dance floors, with many forms and iterations in between. One defining characteristic of this practice, is that it is done sober, so that we can feel, awaken and remember. What makes this dance ecstatic has nothing to do with transcending somewhere else, but everything to do with the intimacy of the moment. With no boundary between self and experience, between inner and outer, we discover that what is sacred is right here.
The Practice Itself
The invitation is to slow down, drop into presence, feel what is moving underneath and let the body respond in its own language. Sometimes you will feel heavy and dense, unable to move or flow. Other times it might be a shiver, a pulse, or release of stagnant tension. It may also develop into a flood of motion, where the body can arch and crash in delight and without warning or planning, as if it had been waiting years for permission.
Somatic Ecstatic Dance Nottingham makes use of breath, sound, movement, stillness and space, not as techniques to master but as ways of becoming aware of what already exists. The practice can be tender, chaotic, slow, fun, sensual or almost invisible. There are no set movements and no right or wrong, but there is gentle guidance, allowing you to sense into and access movement in ways you may have forgotten how.
Thoughts may still be there, and that is not a problem. Thought itself is not the enemy but rather resistance or attachment to thinking is where suffering lies. But, when we dance, thought is no longer in charge. Thoughts arises and dissolves just like breath, just like sensation, just like movement itself. What shifts is that we are aware of thought, rather than consumed by it. This may feel like unfamiliar territory, but I urge you to experience for yourself rather than trying to understand it as a concept.
Who Is Somatic Ecstatic Dance For
This practice is for anyone who longs to come home to themselves without going to war with what they find. It is for those who feel disembodied or overanalysed, who are exhausted by the self-improvement loop and ready to rest in something more essential. You do not need to be a dancer or know what you’re doing. Being curious and ‘trying’ less will be the most useful thing. Take the pressure off yourself to behave or move in any premeditated way.
This is for: the dance-curious, body workers, ecstatic dancers, sober ravers, “can’t dance” doubters, somatic practitioners, boogie-lovers, those feeling disconnected, creatives, moving meditators, those who want to express, shy folk, secret dancers, professional dancers who want to express rather than perform, community seekers, those who have never danced, and everything in between.
The Ground of Awareness
This practice is not separate from meditation or self-inquiry. It is meditation that breathes, pulses and spirals through movement. It is inquiry that does not seek answers but dissolves the questioner altogether. We are not dancing to become present, we are dancing from presence itself, recognising that every movement, every sensation, every tremor is already arising within awareness and never separate from it. Nothing is excluded. Not the awkwardness, not the numbness, not the subtle bliss or the deep contractions that emerge. When we move from this place, not to get somewhere, not to achieve anything, but simply to express what is already existing within us, the dance becomes a form of prayer. As Rumi said, “There is a voice that does not use words. Listen.”
An Invitation to Remember
There is an intelligence within the body that does not speak in concepts or logic, but in vibration, rhythm, sensation and impulse. Somatic Ecstatic Dance Nottingham is a way of listening to that intelligence without trying to shape it into something pleasing or useful. You do not need to understand it, or know what to do. You simply need to be willing to feel what is here, to move with it rather than against it, and to let yourself be danced so that the mystery of aliveness can begin to move.