Brian Bergman
Brian has been practicing yoga, meditation and mindfulness for 21 years and has been practicing conscious dance for the last 11. He is a veterinarian, a Dancing Freedom facilitator, and holds a PG Diploma in Yogic Studies, from the Bihar Yoga Bharati, in India.
He is the founder of Dance Awake. He teaches conscious dance and other practices under Awake Human Being. He offers training in Dance Awake both as practice and training as facilitators.
Remember
Remember a Dance
As old as the universe.
Moves through every fibre
of your Being.
Stay present to it.
Be moved by it.
Open to the conversation
Here and Now.
Remember….
The dance of life!
Where only Love
has ever moved.
Jolene Cartmill
Jolene is a Dance Awake practitioner and facilitator (training completed in 2018). She has been practicing conscious dance in various forms since 2008. Before that she trained and taught martial arts for 10 years. Additional practices include: yoga, non-compartmentalised reality awareness, conscious movement practice, dreaming and parenting. In her free time she runs a small production company and is involved in various creative projects.
On the Path
Finding our feet
Kissing with each step
The earth beneath
Some in rapid succession
Some slow and lingering
Always this dance,
Merging, flying,
Out breath, in
Our feet and the ground
Are Lovers that can’t be kept apart.
Alice Cox
Alice has been holding space for conscious dance for the past 2 years. Her journey began when a friend invited her to the debut of Ecstatic Dance Cornwall and from that day she attended every class. With her passion for contact dance, she began running Contact Improvisation warm up workshops before the Ecstatic Dance journey’s. In the last year she has been on a journey of creative intrigue and curiosity in creating music journeys and holding space for people to express themselves through movement. Having completed the dance awake practitioner training Alice has now begun running dance awake classes in Cornwall.
She is passionate about discovering the endless repertoire of movement creativity our bodies and minds are capable of and dives into expressive performance improv in her free time. Other passions include nature, trauma healing, laughing, poetry, holding gratitude for the universe, human connection and playing piano.
Duet the Body and Mind
She is dance she is flow
Feelings come’ feelings go
Overwhelm left in the past
Loving awareness forever last
Follow your path
Throw your head back and laugh
Grip passion tight
Loosen the fight
We are dance we are flow
Expectation I let go
Acceptance of now
Please divine tell us how
Surrender your mind
Be irresistibly kind
Let go of its thoughts
With its mean old taunts
Your body is wise
Promise it never lies
Mind goes criticise
Body says na let’s synthesize
And harmonise
With the truest of lullabies
We got this guys
We will not compromise
Take back our power and rise
We are dance we are flow
Together we grow
Talitha Deetlefs
Tali’s life has always been filled with music and dancing. In 2018, after a traumatic event brought about a severe depression, she turned to dance as a vehicle for healing and started a journey with conscious dance. For her to dance is to be free and a way to be herself completely.
Tali is a visual artist, and when she isn’t dancing she loves practicing yoga and running on mountain trails. Other interests include expressive arts therapy, dreamwork and active imagination.
She trained as a Dance Awake facilitator in 2020 and currently offer classes in the Helderberg and Winelands.
The Dance and I (a reflection)
Dancing is remembering who I am
A coming home to my body
Dance is honest
Dancing is one of the only places where I can really be myself
And if I forget who I am
Dancing helps me to remember
When I became frozen and disconnected from myself
The dance rescued me
Unfroze me
I could feel myself again
And I came back to life
When I move all the bullshit disappears
Its just me and the source of everything
A remembering
A deep felt sense of belonging
Of being enough
Allowing the different parts of my being
to express themselves fully
Even if it is uncomfortable
To allow all the feelings to come to the surface
To love
To allow love in
Sophie Bolton
Sophie is the founder of Dancing in nature – a conscious dance practice that brings dance back to its natural roots, combining beautiful outdoor and indoor spaces, exquisite live DJ’d sound journeys and tender, deep-hearted vocal guidance to facilitate a uniquely elemental conscious dance experience.
Sophie’s passion is to guide coherent musicals journeys of sounds for a dancer to express themselves fully. She loves to feel the atmosphere from behind the decks and find music that feels most truthful and alive to that moment.
Sophie developed her skill as a DJ through facilitating Dancing Freedom classes in the UK and building a reputation with the organisers of the London, Bristol and Paris Ecstatic Dance scene.
“Our soul, our true self, is the most mysterious, essential, and magical dimension of our being. In fact, it is not a separate reality, as traditional Western thought views it, but the cohesive force that unites our body, heart, and mind. It is not a ghost trapped somehow in the physical machinery of our body but the very essence of our being.”
— Gabrielle Roth
Paula Smith
Paula is passionate about conscious dance, freedom of expression and the empowerment that emanates from this dance practice. Her journey with conscious dance became the healing energy she needed after surviving traumatic events. Dance helped her to process grief and move on with her life as a thriving human being.
As a conscious dance facilitator and transitional life coach, Paula uses dance and somatic movements to inspire others to shake out stuck energies and step into their power. She facilitates Dance Awake classes in Southern Alberta, Canada.
Move! Move your body to the rhythm
Move! Let the movement take control
Move! Move into the present moment
Move! Merge your body, mind & soul
Breathe! Breathe deep into your core
Breathe! Feel your Being come alive
Breathe! Breathe into your soul
Breathe! The present anchor arrives
Dance! Dance until you surrenderDance! Shake out what no longer serves Dance! Until you’re One in the moment
Dance! Peace and Love that you deserve
-Paula Smith