DANCE OF ONENESS®
Courses and Workshops Taught by Banafsheh Sayyad
Banafsheh has been teaching at universities, colleges and private studios around North America, Europe, Australia 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.
Work with Banafsheh and NAMAH!
To set up workshops or courses with Banafsheh in your city, schedule private instruction, or send a CV,
call (310) 499-7100 or send an email on our Contact page.
Dance of Oneness®
Banafsheh’s Dance of Oneness® is now a certified Training Program for all teachers, performers, artists and those who want to live at their full potential. The aim of training in Dance of Oneness, which is uncovering the true Self and serving the greater Good, can be applied to ANYONE’S personal and professional life. Participants not only develop new dance and fitness techniques but 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 Ritual movement 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.
Become Certified in Dance of Oneness®!
Each Certification is a personalized program, by level of ability and experience.
All Performers wishing to certify must submit their CV via our Contact page,
and complete a minimum of courses within each series, as determined by Banafsheh- from direct observation- in at least two workshops or retreats.
All Instructors wishing to certify must satisfy the basic Dance of Oneness® Certification requirements before continuing onto Teacher Training.
Dance of Oneness® Certification Program:
Introduction & Foundations of Dance of Oneness: OPENING (24 hrs)
Dance of the Chakras: Body of Light
1. Root- Grounding
2. Sacral- Sexuality & Creativity
3. Self- Relationship to Self
4. Heart
5. Expression- Expressing My Truth
6. Third Eye- Vision
7. Being Present- Connection to Spirit
Sacred Dance:
1. Contemporary Mystical Persian Dance
2. The Mystical in Dance
3. Veil Dance
4. Choreography
5. Ecstatic Ritual & Sema
6. The Sacred Feminine
Integrated:
1. Rumi & the Way of Ecstasy
2. Persian Dance & Flamenco
3. Spiral of Love
4. Dance Your Passion
5. TrancenDance & Drum Ritual
Teacher Training:
1. Servant of Beauty
Classes for Children:
1. Creative Dance for children (ages: 4-6)
2. Classical, Contemporary and Tribal Persian Dance (ages: 7-13)
Certification Requirements
Series Chakras Mystical Dance Integrated Teacher Training
Performers X X X
Instructors X X X X
Course Descriptions
Dance of the Chakras: Body of Light (Level I - VII)
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. The universal, spiritual life-lesson of each chakra is explored through its corresponding movement, inner focus, meditation, music and chanting that open and bring each chakra into balance and alignment.
Contemporary Mystical Persian Dance (Level I - III)
Guided by the mystical teachings of Rumi and Hafez where movement becomes devotion 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.
The Mystical in Dance (Level I - III)
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 Tribal movement, 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.
Veil Dance
The veil is a poignant symbol of mystery, and of obscuring naked Truth. The Veil offers protection, the shield which allows the recoil of our timid natures. To lift our Veil, is to expose our fears and secrets to chance, to announce our integrity and ply our courage, and reveal the Beauty which is there all along.
Using Veil in movement brings an elegant and powerful tool to the attention of the observer. This classic dance form of the ancient priestess traces a beckoning siren call, a mere lovely garment helpless upon the wind- while drawing one inescapable into the power and beauty of the dark Feminine.
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.
Ecstatic Ritual & Sema
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 devotional practices and contemporary rituals that ground us and open us to the Divine. With the aim of dissolving our sense of separateness in movement, we engage in Sema or Sama - pure listening with the heart - in its various manifestations, from high energy movement to deep calm: shaking, chanting, reverential bowing and Rumi’s moving meditation of whirling.
This workshop demystifies turning, offering access to 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 teachers 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.
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.
Rumi & the Way of Ecstasy
A rare and unique experience, with noted Rumi scholar, writer, and mystic 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.
Persian Dance & Flamenco (Level I - III)
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.
Spiral of Love
Come dance in the spiral of love, igniting your whole being with the fire of this spiral, integrating the physical and non-physical dimensions. Guided by the poetry of Rumi and Hafez, explore love's intoxication through movement that lies between trance and control, letting go and technique. Gain more awareness of your energy anatomy and the Chakras and develop the ability to dance your Heart inside the spiral of love with abandon and precision. Take home a daily movement practice that supports an inner alchemy of turning negativity to gold. Our setting is a Dervish House or Dergah, a true tavern of love, beyond any particular religion and open to all.
Mixed Levels. Our days are a balance between dance, yoga, chanting, music, meditation, sharing, developing our own creativity and the chance to explore the beautiful beaches, the local natural springs baths, villages and sites of Turkey's exquisite Marmara region. There will be Sema (whirling) with live music on most of the evenings.
Dance Your Passion
Are you dance partner to Ecstatic Joy? Do you tap the limitless flow of Source Energy while driving to work?
We are not likely to soar with the Lofty Divine without first feeling it here on Earth, in our day-to-day. Banafsheh is ecstatic! to bring once again to Esalen, another in her well-loved workshop series of combining usable alignment of Energy phenomena with powerful movement practice and simple ancient Ritual.
Set to live, joyous musical offering, we dance, meditate, chant, yoga, laugh and share, ponder the poignant prose of Rumi & Hafez……. and learn:
• How to draw-in and feel vital Source Energy- Learn the ease of becoming a Channel of Light
• Movement based on the Chakras - Become open in your energy Vortex
• To choose the best-feeling emotion in any given situation - Pivot! your way to productive, excitement-based thought habits
• Take home a blissfully simple Practice to achieve and maintain genuine Excitement - Make the shift to Joyous Life!
TrancenDance & Drum Ritual
Ecstatic Ritual accompanied by a live percussion session. Meditative and ecstatic, 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.
Teacher Training
Servant of Beauty
This is an integration of all points learned in Dance of Oneness. The Instructor as Servant, learns to focus on Beauty as the guiding influence of service- to recognize, honor, and develop the Beauty, and the Gift, encountered in each Student, and with each encounter in Life.
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