Working with deep focus between earthwork and the dance,

this specialist course takes us into the territory of shadow choreography.

______________________________________________________________
 

This work takes us into that which is Taboo.

But it does not leave us there.

​

To calculate the amount of time and energy spent avoiding this place would be mind boggling.  

But avoid it we do.  To a point of developing an entire choreography that lodges in the body

and so seeps into thought, word and deed.  

​

But, we must understand a shadow choreography has developed

to assist us navigate daily life and indeed survive.

 

This is the hardest dance.  

But, one that is profoundly liberating.

​

Moving into this work usually comes at a point where a dancer becomes frustrated and scratchy.  Or just plain stuck.  It can present as a crisis.  Or it can present as mutiny.  It looks like a juncture, where new life and energy are so ready to emerge but are yet to find clear direction, and this will happen for dancers who work long term with Spiderflower as a direct result of earth connection.  Here, there is a bridge to cross - that cannot be crossed - yet.  Old, internal choreography that has held it all together until this point in time does not know how to let go.  At the point of taking flight, the most intense moments of fear may well emerge and shadow choreography can rise ready to take us, and those around us, down. Back into what is known, comfortable, controlled, familiar - and safe.  In these moments, that outmoded choreography digs in its heels.  Our own magnificence can be terrifying, and our old friend who has worked so hard to keep us in the 'right place' . .  will face dissolution.  So the level of fear can be overwhelming.  Each of us possess a unique shadow choreography, and when this is rooted in the unconscious it will inform our behaviour and in turn effect our work, life - and dance. For the dancer inside this space - it is a place of chaos and one that must be worked through before moving into any level of accreditation.

​

It is however, a natural juncture. 

The entirety of what is being discussed here translates directly into movement. 

This choreography is lodged in the body.

It is in the fibre of the being, the cells the muscles and the bones.

As a dancer expands their movement repertoire physically and energetically,

any internal-trans-physical choreography holding them as small wants to release

to make way for a deeper, more expansive level of expression.

​

The gift is when a choreography no longer serving a dancer 

makes itself visible.

​

Without tools and a rite of passage, this can be a hard bridge to cross.

It is possible to pick around the edges.  We can pick around the edges for eternity.

Unless we lift the lid to take a look at what we have placed as taboo within our personal choreography, and explore what that actually means - then we might loop around and around

the same issues forever.

​

This is where the magic of earthwork steps in. 

By nature, the earth is a great magician,

who, (with the greatest ease and least amount of fuss), 

transforms everything she touches.

​

​

Small groups are gender sensitive.  

Gender sensitive means groups work to women only, men only -

but also open bespoke space for the LGBTQA+ community. 

As we follow the river - groups may merge in time. 

​

​

_______________________________________

​

​

PART 1 & TABOO

​

PART 1 works over 4 days and lays a clear framework to go into PART 2.  In all reality, it is a technical block.  Shadow work is a constant, just as it is a dynamic within creation.  Tools by which to track, unpack and dissolve the brittle dances that keep us locked are offered here.

​

PART 1 knocks on the door

and opens out the meaning of the word TABOO.

We dance on the edge.

Go where we are forbidden. 

Touch that which has been outcast.

Call to the hidden.

And start a conversation.

​

Taboo can fall to either side of a double edged sword.

Toward the fact this taboo is rooted in the holy and gives to life.  

Toward the fact this taboo is rooted in that which is destructive and needs to be left alone.

​

Until we take the lid off of the box and take a look,

the unseen dance will continue to influence our lives.

​

​

_______________________________________

​

​

PART 2 & THE LABYRINTH

​

With the technical aspect of this work absorbed, Part 2 takes deep focus upon the dance and earthwork in conjunction.  

​

As we begin to understand our shadow choreography, we may tug on what looks like a thread . . .  keep pulling and soon an entire, multi-layered, complex choreography will expose itself.

​

Here, we are into The Labyrinth.  

​

Somewhere we need to give ourselves the gift of time and space to get to know our own taboos and forbidden places  - well.   The secrets that live here so very often act as fertile soil and when worked with can bring about great and positive change.

​

It is the centre that needs to breathe.

To ground. To root. To connect.

​

​

_______________________________________

​

​

COMPLETION

​

On completion, a dancer will be left with a set of tools where they can recognise and navigate their shadow choreography as it arises in future and learn to master this dance each time the circle turns.

​

The Tabooed Labyrinth takes a dancer through a powerful alchemical process.  

Spiderflower's dance, the wheel and earthwork are all elements through which we work.  

Combined, these create what should now be a familiar and safe framework for dancers

to take dense matter to the earth, and turn it to gold.

​

The process over all takes off an immense amount of pressure, empowering a dancer so they can continue their work and their life in a way that is much less impeded by the unseen.