“Where have you been all my life?!”

“That has got to be a soul calling because you were THAT good!”

“You were on FIRE last night! That was freakin’ amazing!!”

“Best.Night.Of.My.Life!”

“When can we do it again?!”

The praise was flowing.
The women were buzzing.
And I was glowing with gratitude.

I had just wrapped up leading a guided sacred dance party for 100+ women at the Radical Self Love Party in Brisbane.  It was one of the wildest experiences of my life (see photo below).

Photo credit.

This was only my second time leading a sacred dance party and yet I felt like I’d be doing it forever.  And to some degree I have been.  Just never exactly like this…not in this form.

You see, leading sacred dance parties has actually been in the making for 20+ years.  I just didn’t know it until I had the opportunity to lead one.  And when I did lead my first one (which was for 20 women at a health retreat), it felt like all the fragmented parts of myself finally came together and I felt complete.  And when I led my second one (which was was for 100+ women at the Radical Self Love party mentioned above), it became very clear that I was to do more of this.

So here’s the story on how I came to lead sacred dance parties (and maybe it’ll give you some clues on how you too can integrate your past passions with your current desires/dreams):

// I’m in primary school. Can’t remember the exact age. I’m guessing 6 or 7. I went to my first aerobics class with my mum (leaving me home alone wasn’t an option and creche didn’t exist in those country town gyms).  When the music started and the women started cheering I was captivated, mesmerised, even hypnotised…especially by the instructor.  I wanted what she had…even her skin colour shimmering tights.

// I start high school. I’m 12 going on 13. Aerobics/circuit classes becomes a compulsory part of my fitness training.  I freakin’ LOVE it!!  Working out to music, and moving in sync with the music makes me come alive. I’m addicted! The endorphin high becomes my drug of choice during my highschool years.

// I move to the city and start University. I’m 17 going on 18. First thing I do is join a gym that has group fitness classes – working out has become a lifestyle for me now.  Within 6 months I have my Cert III in Fitness, my first Les Mills certification and my very own permanent timeslot at one of Brisbane’s best gyms in the city.

// For the next 8 years I devote my life to being a Group Fitness Teacher. I’m not sure what I was addicted to more: the endorphin hit of high intensity cardio mixed with super loud (awesome) music, or the thrill of taking my participants higher and higher and higher…to places they couldn’t go alone.

(Advice: wherever you’re having the most fun in your life, keep doing that! And forget the rest!)

// During this time, I become skilled in 5 key elements of teaching a kick ass class: choreography, technique, coaching, connecting and fitness magic.  These elements get drummed into me, so much so that they have become part of my DNA.  As a result,  I don’t hear music like most people do.  When I hear a song that hits me in the right spot, I don’t just feel it deep in my bones but I see it.  I see the beats, the phrases, the frames, the lyrics, the cues.  I see the movement, the room, the layout, the people…and in some cases, I even see the outfits.

(It’s because of this training and experience that I find it incredibly easy to integrate music with movement and intention to create an inner journey towards empowerment, ecstatic bliss and transformation.)

// Then, in March 2010 I found myself at the other extreme: a 10 day silent meditation retreat. Turns out my body needed a break. Or more accurately, my soul needed some nurturing. So I declare I was never teaching again.  And to be sure of it, I give away thousands of dollars worth of music and choreography notes while the rest went into a bonfire.  I was compelled to burn bridges – turning back wasn’t an option.  And so began my love affair with the magic and power of silence and stillness.

// Nine months later I’m teaching again (no matter how hard you try, there are some aspects of yourself you can’t deny). But I stay well away from the gym world and instead, I enter the world of yoga.

Here I learn to hold my seat, to slow down and to synchronise movement with breath (compared to movement with music).  I learn to read the energy of the individual students and the collective energy in the room.  I learn to resist my automatic urge to manipulate the energy to higher (happier) vibrations and instead drop deeper with what is present in any given moment as that was where the real magic was.  This in turn helped me to let go of always relying on a rigid plan and instead activate my intuitive abilities while increasing my capacity to teach on the fly.

(In other words, teaching yoga totally transformed my approach to teaching movement and expanded my ability to connect with every single person in my class.)

// July 2012. I’m starting to experience an inner tension when I teach my yoga classes…the kind of inner tension that shows up when only part of yourself is being expressed and the other part is trapped, dying to come out and play…except, you have no idea how to unleash it.  I persist with teaching yoga but wonder how much more of this I can take.

// January 2013. I attend my first 5Rhythms class.  I am reminded how liberating it is to move to music without being told precisely how to move with every single breath.  I attend 2 more classes but 5Rhythms just isn’t my thing.

// March 2013. I attend an impromptu chakra dance class in New Mexico while on retreat led by one of the participants from Eucador.  I had the most powerful vision during the 6th chakra meditation track.  This vision came true immediately after class.  It spooked me out but more than anything it reminded me to trust my visions more. And it reinforced my interest in working with the chakras. But overall, it just wasn’t my thing.

That same month on that same trip, I also attend a Nia class in Santa Fe.  I lasted only 20mins.  It’s the second class I’ve ever walked out of in my life (the first was a yoga class that left me mortified and wondering how that particular teacher could be certified).  Turns out, choreography style dance is not what I want.  And neither was the playlist.  And neither was the instructor.

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You see, when it comes to a dance class I crave the kind of music you’d hear in a nightclub…and I crave it loud.

I crave the free form dance but I crave the guidance of a skilled teacher too. I want someone to challenge me, to push me to my edges, to explore new parts of myself and to crack me open.

I also crave a safe space where I’m free to express ALL of me…even my sexual erotic self.  And I want to do this without worrying that I’m being “too sexual” or “inappropriate”. Or worse yet, have it be misinterpreted and therefore attract unwanted attention.

With that said, I crave a space that’s not only about expressing my sexual erotic self. I want to have fun, I want to release, I wanna go wild and I wanna feel free in my body, in my mind, in my heart and in my soul.  And most importantly, I want to leave feeling euphoric, inspired, powerful, nourished and free. I want to feel like anything is possible and that I have what it takes for my dreams to come true and for my desires to be fulfilled.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find what I was looking for.

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// Meanwhile, my friend Jess Ainscough asks me to teach a “yoga rave” session at her Wellness Warrior Retreat. I say NO as I have no desire to teach a yoga rave.  However, I tell her to give me 60mins and I’ll create the best sacred dance session these women have ever experienced.

And I did.
And it was.

That night, everything perfectly aligned….
The part of me that loves the sacredness of yoga and meditation…
The part of me that loves the ecstatic joy of dance…
The part of me that loves to lead, inspire, motivate, teach, entertain and uplift…
And the part of me that loves creative freedom.

It all got to be expressed in one place, one moment.  And as a result, I felt complete..I felt full…I felt like myself.

// Later that month, Yvette Luciano who was blown away with the dance session at the retreat, asked me to do it all again for her Earth Events Radical Self Love Party and I said HELL YES!

It’s been 5 months since that night. And I’ve lost count of the number of times women have asked me, “When is the next sacred dance party?”

Well, the date has finally been set. 

Friday May 9th. Brisbane. It’s time to dance.

For more details + tickets click here.

PS. I have been asked if these sacred dance parties are coming to a city near you.  At this stage there are no plans. Brisbane is where it’s at!  However, if you’d love for a Sacred Dance Party to come to a city near you, by all means be sure to let me know.