Heya peeps, I am now going to post all my event invites on the best crypto blog platform in the ultraverse! Peakd! So here is a sufi dance Balkan music event I am running that is coming up in Margaret River, Western Australia!
A spiritually focused dance event with live Balkan inspired music created by multi-instrumentalist Monty Cash and guest/s.
A brief introduction to Sufi whirling will commence at 2.30pm with music beginning shortly after. All forms of dance are accepted.
Entry is by donation - suggested $20 cash or bank t/fer
Bookings are non-essential - though an Eventbrite ticket link has been provided to gauge numbers - https://dtr.cool/id29
All profits go to Just Home Foundation in Margs for the purpose of encouraging people powered solutions to the homeless/rental/housing crisis in the Margaret River and Augusta region.
Delectable steamy sensations by Di of the Margaret River Chai Company will be available after the dance for a gold coin donation.
More info - Monty: 0422 563 234 (Telegram/Whatsapp)
Email - monty@montycash.au
We ask that all attendees enter the sanctified space as though it is a temple. Hold an intention for practice in your heart as you enter and bow with sincerity at the door with hands on your shoulders and forearms crossed in reverence to the space, to yourself and to the practice. Where possible maintain silence in body and mind and turn off your phones for the duration of the session.
Traditionally whirling dervishes wear a gown that reaches the ankles with weights attached. It is possible for you to wear what you please but also please be aware of the space that we have available as a much larger area is required wearing a gown. These sessions are dedicated to the spiritual integrity of the practice more than the appearance of the dancer - though yes, the utilising of the symbolism of the attire can assist some to engage in deeper trance.
A simple pair of wooly socks will suffice to slide sufficiently on the ground while turning. It is a polished wooden floor - please be aware of what is beneath you.
If you intend to turn for the the entire session - be prepared by eating little or not at all at least an hour before Sema. It is acceptable to sit and observe in the practice also - in the observation we are also participating.
Whirling dervish dance is not the only dance accepted at this practice but it is offered as a non-egoic practice as a foundation by which to engage in movement oriented meditation.
Thank you
A note from Monty:
While traveling Europe as a street musician in 2017 I attended and played music for a 114 day Sema of non-stop whirling and music at a Sufi Dergah in Termal, Turkey. There I became inspired by Sufi tradition.
There I discovered that Sufi form and Sufi motivations for music and dance as a spiritual practice need no doctrine - that practiced with sincere intention can provide a path to neurological equilibrium.
I play a mix of eastern and western influenced music using a klasik kemence (a Turkish stringed-bowed instrument), a 12 string guitar, a bendir (a traditional frame drum native to the Balkans), a glockenspiel and I will occasionally flavour the loops with a recently acquired full button accordion. Special guests may also be playing on the day.
Alternative rhythms and scales inspired from the Balkans allow the mind to enter a new type of trance - accessing alternative neural pathways thereby dissolving barriers between the conscious and the divine.
My philosophy in music is that 'feel' and improvisation are paramount to the ability to interpret the energies present within the ether all around us. That each time music or a song is played - it is unique - and it is interpretive of the etheric information available in that moment in that location with whomever is present.
Music in this sense is more than a recording or a repetition - it is an artistry of which can only be mastered in full by culturing a state of complete selflessness for the body and mind to behave as an uninhibited medium.
In the practice of Sema the body is the instrument - the music and the body become one - there is no audience, no clapping, no giving and no receiving.
The expression is simply infinite consciousness.
I encourage you to learn to feel your body in the music and feel in the moment what is the right movements. Allow yourself to relearn through feel that which you already do by rote. Subtly reach into the unknown with sensitivity through the conduit of an open vessel aligned with source through a purified intention.
Join me on this journey into the self!
I practice with the blessing of the order that I worked with in Turkey. It is my sole wish from this event to provide a sacred space with opportunities that are non-pretentious to allow the individual to be their own guide. If you would like to know more about the group in Turkey I was involved with which accept all faiths, genders and disciplines; go here - https://Tumata.com/en