DANCE OF ONENESS
Classes / Workshops
Banafsheh has been teaching at universities, colleges and private studios around North America, Europe and Turkey since the year 2000.
In all classes, she uses her original warm-up and body toning routine based in yoga, tai chi and qi gong that promote the classical motto: A sound mind in a sound body.
To set up workshops or courses with Banafsheh in your city or to schedule private instruction, contact (310) 499-7100 or send an email on http://www.namah.net/contact
Dance of Oneness®:
Courses Taught by Banafsheh Sayyad
Banafsheh’s Dance of Oneness® is now a certified Training Program for all teachers, performers, artists and those who want to live life more fully. The benefits of training in Dance of Oneness, which invokes the art of living through movement and dance, can be applied to ANYONE’S personal and professional life. Participants develop new dance and fitness techniques and cultivate the intuition to live and serve by inner guidance.
Dance of Oneness® is a way of life - rigorous, disciplined and passionate - an active ground for self-knowledge and healing. Students learn technique but also the inner dimensions of Movement - through full-bodied robust dancing, releasing oneself to feel free, fearless, creative and exuberant. Persian Classical and Tribal Dance, Flamenco, Yoga, Tai Chi, and Sufi Ritual and the poetry of Rumi and Hafez are a fusion of influences defines Dance of Oneness®. This is a way to integrate oneself, harmonize with others and serve the greater Existence. It is the learning by steps, but growing by leaps.
Dance of Oneness® workshops are designed to develop the intuitive technique to be grounded yet light, delicate yet strong, empty yet utterly present, navigating between felt presence and the unknown, calling the divine Light to a fluid, responsive body. The focus is on inviting the unobstructed flow of Light/Chi to temper our being, through a dialogue with Grace, through sensing our Chakras, and through the discipline necessary to develop correct alignment and a fluid spine, graceful arms and hands, expressive feet and legs, to achieve whole body free-flowing undulations, lithe and free in our wholeness, a Dancer of Oneness.
1. Sufi Dance of the Chakras & Chakra Embodiment
2. Rumi & the Way of Ecstasy with Andrew Harvey
3. Contemporary Mystical Persian Dance
4. The Mystical in Dance and Mystical Choreography
5. Rumi’s Ecstatic Ritual
6. TrancenDance & Drum Ritual
7. The Sacred Feminine
8. Dancing the Five Elements
9. Fluidity and Strength: Persian Dance & Flamenco
10. Veil Dance
11. Self-Integration and Stress Relief
12. Choreography
13. Creative Dance for children (ages: 3-5)
14. Classical, Contemporary and Tribal Persian Dance (ages: 5-13)
Course Descriptions
Sufi Dance of the Chakras & Chakra Embodiment
Students learn to tap into their abundant source of energy and creativity in a weaving of dance, live music, chanting, yoga, meditation and wisdom teachings based in the Sufi and Hindu traditions. The universal, spiritual life-lesson of each chakra is explored through its corresponding movement, inner focus and chanting that open and bring each chakra into balance and alignment. Students learn the technique and the inner states of Banafsheh’s dance practice based in Sufi ritual and Mystical Middle Eastern dance. Sufi Dance of the Chakras is for people with a background in Dance and Chakra Embodiment is open to all. Format: 6 hr to 3 day sessions on each Chakra or a 5-7 day retreat for introducing all the Chakras
Rumi & the Way of Ecstasy with Andrew Harvey
Passion burns down every branch of exhaustion;
Passion’s the Supreme Elixir and renews all things;
No one can grow exhausted when passion is born!
Don’t sigh heavily, your brow bleak with boredom;
Look for passion, passion, passion, passion! - Rumi
Learn to live from your deepest, holiest passion and become a sacred activist! Dive into the great mystical poet Rumi’s transforming practice of love and surrender to your highest potential through ecstatic dance, music and poetry and unfold your passion into real action. Open your being to Sema, or deep listening with the heart through whirling, shaking, zikr and bowing - from wild abandoned movement to deep calm. Banafsheh and Andrew’s retreats are known for their ability to catalyze lasting transformation and healing through the integration of ecstatic dance, Sufi ritual, yoga, meditation, world music, sacred activism, a special performance and the poetry and teachings of Rumi. sacred activism, a special performance and the poetry and teachings of Rumi. The experience will leave you feeling deeply nourished in an empowered state of embodiment.
Contemporary Mystical Persian Dance (Beginning to Advanced Levels)
Guided by Sufi ritual where movement becomes worship and a way of finding inner direction from Source, this workshop weaves together the ethereal beauty of Persian dance with the physically charged yet quietly intuitive power of Banafsheh’s active expression of the form. Students learn short dance sequences that are at once meditative and exuberant. Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
The Mystical in Dance & Mystical Choreography
Phase 1: The Mystical in Dance
This unique journey takes students through the seven primary elements that define sacred movement and how they relate to our energy anatomy. Drawing primarily from contemporary Persian dance, Flamenco and Sufi ritual, students explore the elements as they correspond to each Chakra: Grounding, Alignment, Circles, Waves, Shaking, Reverential Bowing and Spirals. Students will also become more familiar with the role of each Chakra or energy center in our being. Format: 6-hr workshop to 7-day retreat
Phase 2: Mystical Choreography
Students learn to combine elements to create a complete dance piece. They will also learn a piece of choreography in this style and learn how to directly access the unending source within to improvise and choreograph using the elements.
Format: 3 day - 7 day workshop
Rumi’s Ecstatic Ritual
Through deep exploration and letting go, we delve into movement that takes us out of our heads and closer to the limitless One. We draw upon ancient Sufi practices, contemporary rituals that ground us, and the sensual, ethereal waves of Persian dance. We begin with Sufi teachings and Rumi’s poetry, followed by a warm-up based in Meridian theory, yoga and tai chi. The focus will be on whole body free-flowing undulations, correct alignment and achieving a fluid spine based in sensing our chakras, all serving to facilitate an unobstructed flow of light/Chi. We then engage in Sema - pure listening - in its various manifestations, from high energy movement to deep calm: shaking, waves, zikr – chanting, reverential bowing and Rumi’s moving meditation of whirling. Through our sharing circle, we are reminded of our oneness. This workshop demystifies turning, offering access to Sufi whirling meditation in a few simple steps. This method allows people of all experience levels to turn for a sustained period with ease. One enters into Sema, or pure listening, and is led into movement. An age-old practice employed by the legendary Sufi masters Rumi and Shams, Sema is a dissolving of the preoccupations of Ego, where one turns to become empty and resonate with a finer universal energy.
Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
TrancenDance & Drum Ritual
Ecstatic Ritual accompanied by a live percussion session. Meditative and ecstatic, Sufi and ancient Persian rhythms deliver a primal dynamic to the rituals, ending in an extended Sema. This popular gathering is often the follow-up to a performance by Banafsheh or a complement to another workshop.
Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
The Sacred Feminine
This is a marriage of dance technique with inner work, a literal dancing with the Divine. By striving towards our fullest presence in the Here and Now, movement brings us in touch with our core - centered, radiant, and open. Guided by Sufi practice and the poetry of Rumi, classes weave together the sensual and ethereal beauty of Persian dance with the passionate and explosive yet quietly intuitive power of Banafsheh’s interpretation of the form. The focus will be on liquid yet grounded movement, whole body undulations, and sensing through our chakras.
Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
Dancing the Five Elements
This workshop delves into allowing the five elements of fire, water, earth, air and ether to inspire our movement and to bring us in touch with these elements both inside and outside ourselves. Format: 6-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
Fluidity and Strength: Persian Dance & Flamenco
Guided by Sufi ritual, this workshop begins with a thorough warm up in Yoga and Tai Chi. It weaves together the sensual and ethereal beauty of Persian dance with the fiery, passionate power of Flamenco, uncovering the common ground between these traditions. Students will learn the power of “less is
more”, creating a sense of drama with the bare, subtle minimum as well as exploring movement that challenges their limits. This highly energetic workshop is technique based yet internal. Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
Veil Dance
Devoted to the technique of dancing with the veil, this workshop introduces different combinations utilizing the veil. Format: 6-hr workshop to 3-day retreat
Self-Integration and Stress Relief
This is Banafsheh’s simple yet effective movement based in yoga, Tai Chi, and devotional dance, also techniques for grounding, for being in the present moment, and to become more in touch with one’s physical body. Participants will learn about the Chakras and the Chinese Meridian theory of the body’s energy pathways, as well as selective acupuncture points for the self-management of stress and to achieve ongoing vitality. This movement/exercise program decreases stress hormones like cortisol and increases the feel-good endorphins, giving one’s mood a natural boost which increases energy and productivity. The program focuses the mind not on the busy life but on the present moment, as participants are led through quiet, precise movements that emphasize balance, elasticity and concentration.
Guided by the ancient motto “A sound mind in a sound body”, participants will receive stretching and strengthening exercises, breathing exercises, a fitness program, meditation and guided visualization all in one workshop.
Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
Choreography
Choreography literally means ‘drawing in space’. Participants learn the tools and techniques of choreography, giving considerations to space, time, structure, music, narrative, and movement. Banafsheh has choreographed many performances in Classical and Contemporary Persian, Flamenco, and open formats, earning wide recognition and international acclaim for her work.
Format: 3-hr introductory workshop to 7-day retreat
