SAC Roles and Responsibilities 2009/2010

Area	Coordinator	Holding Group Link
Treasurer	Maz	Maz
Secretary	Rowan	Rowan
WWG	Rowan	Rowan
Admin/Marketing
Database	Rowan	Rowan
Website	Rachael	Rowan
Marketing and Advertising		Rowan
Ticketing – Punters &	Diane	Chris
Workers	Chris	Chris
Address List		Rowan
Site Crew	Pre camp: Ian On camp: Faye	Mark
Gate / First Aid	Karen and Pia Julia	Jandy
Karma Yoga	Rowan	Rowan
Café	Nick	Jandy
Creativity Children/young teens/Teens/Adults Sports/ storytelling	The Creativity Team	Nomsa
Outreach	The Outreach Team	Chris
DUP Leaders	Amida	Maz
DUP Musicians	Jilani	Rowan
Voice	Sarah	Maz
Circle Dance	Mick	Maz
Women’s Activities	Frances	Nomsa
Men’s Activities
Feedback		Maz
Shop	Rachael and Tom	Maz
Overall programme	Maz and Rowan

WWG Members:

Rachael & Tom (website & shop)

Keith & Chrystia (creativity & outreach team)

Frances (women)

Ralph (outreach)

Nick & Michael (cafe)

Chrys is a freelance composer, choir leader and percussionist, whose professional work calls upon the great diversity of skills she has acquired after more than 25 years in the performing arts. She creates and directs projects, training and workshops for theatre, education, the health service and community groups. Chrys has a particular interest in sound healing, and the effects of sound and music in our lives. She runs 2 community choirs in Abergavenny, and various monthly drop-in groups, as well as guesting at other events.

On camp Chrys will be leading Find Your Voice sessions. In these she will create a safe space for people to explore the very root of how we make sound with our voices, finding our optimum resonance and building confidence as we build our voices.

Bruce Knight

Bruce Knight has been running singing workshops since 2000. He is known for his upbeat and energetic style, and his love of songs with simple dances or movement. Bruce runs the 100-strong Songlines community choir in Warwick and Leamington Spa, and is a regular teacher at the Unicorn Natural Voice Camp.

On camp this year Bruce will teach a couple of his favourite songs with the intention of sharing them at the informal “Sacred Arts Cabaret” on the last afternoon.

Su Lewis

I have been singing all my life. I am a member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network and have been a natural voice teacher for 5 years. I am a regular voice teacher for Island Voices Community Choir on Portland in Dorset. I sing with two choirs and a women’s singing group, and write and arrange songs for small groups and choirs.

At the camp I will be leading some morning wake-up singing sessions. These relaxed and fun sessions are designed to wake the voice and body up gently, ready for the busy day ahead, and we will sing simple rounds and part songs.

Sarah Pennington

I have been singing since 1996 and teaching natural voice since 2001, with both small and large groups. I am a member of the Natural Voice Practitioners Network and co-founded Big Sing Dorset with Gilo.

My intention is always to create a safe space in which everyone can enjoy their voice and experience the magic of harmony singing and the sense of community that it can bring.

At the camp I will be leading some of the morning sessions, working with the Harmonic Temple, a body of harmonised chants written by Nickomo using mantras from various spiritual traditions for affirmation and healing - angelic sounds to summon up warmth and wonder.

Ralph Nimmann

Ralph leads a Taizé harmony singing group in Cambridge and is a member of the Cambridge Georgian choir CHELA. He also led the Berlin Chanting Group for 6 years.
“Ralph is wonderfully patient and takes great care to make sure that everyone feels included. …Ralph could get even the most hardened non-singer to surprise themselves.” (feedback from a Cambridge Taizé singer).
His teaching style could be described as “Sacred Fun”. Ralph especially loves leading peace dances sung in harmonies. Read more: http://www.rainbow-cambridge.org.uk/dances/

Ralph will be leading Taizé singing sessions at the camp.

Habiba Willow

Habiba has been involved with Dances of Universal Peace for over 20 years and leading them for most of that time. She was in at the start of the Peace Through the Arts camp, which subsequently evolved into the Sacred Arts Camp. She has also had a long connection with Sufism and its various practices.

Particularly in the last 8 years or so, the ancient Sanskrit prayers and mantras have inspired her a lot and been a regular part of her practice. Two of Habiba’s primary inspirations are Haidakhan Babaji and Amma, the hugging saint - but she will pick up Bhajans wherever she will!

At the camp Habiba and Buddhenath will offer Bhajan singing, accompanying the sessions on the Indian harmonium. Bhajans are devotional mantras in the Sanskrit language and have a very uplifting effect!

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DUP leaders for 2010: Amida, Maite, Sylvia, Maris, Sandra, Jilani & Rabia

Jilani will be leading the musicians

Amida Harvey

My first experience of Dances of Universal Peace was profound. It was 1981 and the dance was Samual Lewis’s ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple’. At that point in time I was living a London life that was far from simple. I was busy, self-absorbed and felt disconnected from my truth. I found the sense of there being a ‘gift’ in simplicity deeply moving and as I let myself be taken by the dance, I experienced coming home into a form of spiritual connection that met a fundamental human longing in me

In 1983 my Sufi teacher Rabia Joyce Purcel handed me the large dance manual and instructed me to learn & lead these dances of peace. It was was very exciting and daunting and my initial training was trial and error as there where no teachers in the UK. I lead our local Sufi group for 2 years and in 1995 my good friend, Colin Harrison, invited me to lead the dances at the first Dance Camp Glastonbury. I remember my first public session on the Sunday evening. I led 150 people and at the end of the session I was swimming in bliss. People began to ask me if I would lead dance weekends in their town and this launched me into a full-time career teaching dance throughout the UK.

I have now been teaching the dances for 29 years. I acknowledge the ebb and flow of my interest and passion over those years, but have never felt anything less than a great honour and privilege to be part of the legacy that Samuel Lewis initiated. I am grateful for the richness of meeting and dancing with so many wonderful people and the opportunity to travel with the dances throughout our wonderful world.

In living the gift and grace that simplicity is, I am grateful to Rabia for seeing in me the potential to bring these dances to life in the UK. I hope, this is reflected in my role as dance director for the Sacred Arts Camp 2010.

Jilani

Jilani is a talented musician who has been playing viola for the Dances since 1997, and leading Dances since 2005.  She has worked as a musician and teacher since 1989 and spent several years training as a healer beginning in 1994. Since meeting the Dances of Universal Peace, she has increasingly realised in them an opportunity to combine these skills. Her teaching style is clear and down-to-earth, light-hearted but powerful. People often comment on how heartfelt and moving her viola-playing and singing are. She is known for her lively, dynamic Dance-leading which attracts people of all ages to her Dance Circles. She has led Dances at camps in Wales, Yorkshire and the South of England since 2005, and has been invited to share Dances as far afield as Scotland and France, in addition to her regular groups near Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire. She is mother to three young boys, and with her husband Robert, they run their family home as a DUP retreat space called ‘The Heart Centre’. 

Sophia Sylvia Murillo, Colombia, South America

I had the blessing to know the Dances in 1999 through Darvesha´s and Tara´s beautiful guidance. I was captivated by them when I danced the Kalama and  knew this was what I wanted to do. I started leading  and going to workshops  where I had the  opportunity of meeting  different leaders.  Each new meeting widened my horizons and deepened my commitment to this spiritual path. Then I was invited to go to  different Spanish speaking countries to share the dances with the peoples of those lands. It has been an ongoing outreach program which continues to touch peoples hearts as I deepen in my own. Singing, dancing and praying … what  a beautiful way to breath, walk and live.

Maris Warrior

Maris has been leading Dances of Universal Peace since 1995. Born in Estonia, Maris lived in Findhorn for over ten years since 1998, where she led regular DUP and Sufi circles, co-founded Shambala Retreat Centre and gave birth to two daughters.
Although a Sufi guide in her own right, she continues to be led and supported on the Sufi path by Murshid Saadi and Pir Shabda. She also has a deep connection with Tibetan Buddhism, guided by Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Lama Lhundrup in Nepal. Maris leads Dances of Universal Peace and Sufi events internationally, mainly in UK, Estonia and Sweden. She is passionate about kindling and nurturing the light in the soul of the Lovers of God in a soft and gentle, yet intoxicating manner.

Maite

What are the Dances of Universal Peace?

 These simple circle dances, which can be great fun and yet profoundly moving, are inspired by the wisdom and sacred phrases of the worlds’ spiritual traditions. Essentially they are a form of celebration and meditation through sacred sounds and devotional movements.

Through dancing together in a circle and singing sacred phrases such as Kyrie Eleison (Christian); Shalom Aleichem (Jewish); Om Namah Shivaya (Hindu); Kwan Zeon Bosai (Buddhist); La illaha il’ala (Islam) we create an atmosphere of peace and unity. “Words are not peace. Thoughts are not peace. Plans are not peace. Peace is fundamental…to all faiths, all religions, all spirituality.” Samuel L. Lewis.

The Dances of Universal Peace are based on individual experience and not concepts or premises. We come to know for ourselves peace, joy, harmony and unity; to experience more of ourselves and more of others. The Dances of Universal Peace offer a safe way to be open with other people; creating trust on a deep level. The Dances of Universal Peace are healing and revitalising. We feel more LIFE.

History of the Dances of Universal Peace

Originally created by Samuel L. Lewis (1896-1971) the dances were inspired by his Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan and American dance pioneer Ruth St. Denis. They were first danced in America in the late 1960s when Lewis was also in his late sixties. Lewis was acknowledged as a Sufi mystic and known by his students as Murshid S.A.M. (murshid is teacher). Additionally he was a lifelong practitioner of Zen Buddhism and a Zen Roshi, having studied for many years with Nyogen Sensaki; he had a Hindu guru, Papa Ram Dass; he taught Christian mysticism; and, Jewish by birth, was well versed in the Kabballah, Jewish mysticism.

Murshid S.A.M. also studied mystical and spiritual forms of dance throughout his life with Ruth St. Denis. He was a keen folk dancer and originally went dancing to overcome a sense of shyness. Following Hazrat Inayat Khan and the “Unity of religious ideals”, that the truth at the heart of all religions is the same truth, Lewis envisioned a dance form which would embody this ideal and which would allow people to directly experience for themselves such states as peace, joy, harmony and unity. He saw the Dances of Universal Peace as a form of “Peace through the arts”, a way of sharing the blessings of peace throughout the world and within each individual. Since then the dances have gradually spread throughout the world.
In 1982 Neil Douglas-Klotz set up the Center for the Dances of Universal Peace to further the work begun by Lewis and to help make the dances available to all people. Now called Peaceworks International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace, this registered non-profit organisation has members in 25 different countries. There is a U.K. Network for the Dances of Universal Peace affiliated to the International Network and membership is open to everybody.

Some of the Sacred Phrases used in the Dances of Universal Peace

While translations of the phrases are given below, many sacred phrases are capable of different meanings and different levels of meaning; and ultimately the meaning for each of us is how they resonate in our own being and what feelings and sensations arise. Really feel the sound in the body. Stay in the heart rather than the head. Other phrases you may find are strangely familiar.

Bismillah Er Rahman Er Rahim ( Arabic, Islam) - We begin in the name of Allah who is mercy and compassion. Or we begin by means of the Entire Unfolding Cosmos from whose womb is born the Sun and Moon of Love.

La illaha el Allah Hu, or La illaha il Allah Hu (Arabic, Islam) - There is no reality except the Oneness. Remembrance of the One Being.

Shem’a israel Adonai Elohaynu, Adonai Echad (Hebrew, Jewish) Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord.

Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison (Greek, Christian) - Lord send mercy, Christ send mercy.
Abwoon d’Bwashmaya (Aramaic, Christian) - First line of the Lord’s Prayer. O Thou the Breathing Life of All, Creator of the Shimmering Sound that touches us.

Om Sri Ram Jai Ram Jai Jai Ram (Sanskrit, Hindu) - O God who is both truth and power, personal and impersonal, victory to thee, victory to thee. Also a call to victory for the spiritual self.

Kwan Zeon Bosai (Korean, Buddhist) - Kwan Yin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion - She who hears the sounds of the world and accords them mercy. Bosai is Bodhisattva.

Om Mani Peme Hung (Tibetan, Buddhist) - Hail to the jewel in the lotus. This mantra embodies the compassion and blessings of all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

“The Dances of Universal Peace change lives. And the world changes life by life. All over the earth people long for an alternative to the numbing effects of consumerism, to the fear of diversity that drives humanity apart. They long for an actual experience of reverence for the earth and life in all its forms. The dances show how.” Neil Douglas-Klotz.

For more information about The Dances of Universal Peace-

see www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org.uk

to be held on

Saturday 26th June 2010 2pm

All welcome, email us for details.
hello@sacredartscamp.org
We will hold a area feedback meeting for area co-ordinators at 10.15am and then the actual AGM will be at 2pm.

AGM AGENDA (draft)

1. Welcome and Apologies

2. Minutes of AGM 2009

3. Matters arising

4. UKNDUP

5. New members joining WWG

6. Preliminary statement of finance

7. Welcome of new Holding Group Members

8. Any Other Business

Time
Event

07:30-08:30
Sufi Practice

08:15-08:30 Dance of Life
08:30-09:30
Dances of Univeral Peace
Yoga
Voice Workshop

09:30-10:10
Bhajans
10:15-11:15
Camp Gathering

11:15-13:00
Dances of Univeral Peace
Teenager Activies
Childrens Creative Arts

14:00-15:00
Free Sharing Groups
15:00-16:30
DUP: Deepening in the Dance
Voice Workshop
Arts and Crafts for Adults/Teens
Contact Improvisation/Bodywork

16:30-17:30
Planetary Walks
Bhajans
Volleyball/Football/Frisbee
Circle Time*

18:00-19:00
Drumming

19:00-20:00 Story Time
Circle Dance

20:30-22:00
Dances of Universal Peace

Our experience of camp begins in our circle of a dozen or so tents. This is our corner of the camp where we can learn new ways of co-operation in cooking together, sharing kids, songs and stories, washing up and chopping wood. From here we go out to the morning meeting, a forum where we discuss the day’s programme, share information and offer our skills.
Dance and song begin and finish the day, which is full of opportunity for arts and crafts, sharing groups, guitar and

drumming classes, story therapy, movement improvisation, yoga, 5-rhythms dancing, kids’ play and expeditions with the children.
The Medina Cafe is open for three meals a day if you want a break from your circle’s cooking, and for hot drinks & snacks throughout the day, making it a focus for meeting new friends from other circles.

The Camp Shop

The shop will be situated in the Gate Circle and, as always, will be open 3 times a day. The opening hours will be available in the Welcoming Dome when you arrive. There will be the usual bread and milk and fresh fruit and vegetables. The shop operates a ‘shopping list’. In this way anyone who needs to go off camp can buy what others also need, thus reducing our carbon footprint. Just come in and put your wanted item on the list (don’t forget to come back in and collect and pay for it) and if you are going off site, please come in and see what you can buy off the list.

Spiritual practices

There is a spiritual understanding behind the camp, non prescriptive and non dogmatic, which encourages compassion and the sharing of such practises as Sufi meditation, the Dance of Life, a Quaker silence, or a Subud Latihan - besides spontaneous expressions of concern, grief, love and healing. There may be a sweat lodge after the dances at night, or a gathering to sing the chants of Taizé around a fire. Your own contribution and experience is encouraged - we only discourage alcohol, drugs and pets.

Women

Throughout the life of the Camps (which have been running for some 20 years) there have been powerful and strong women’s groups led from our hearts and taking many forms. Some years we have seperated from the whole group of women to form maidens, younger women, mothers, creating women, grandmothers groups, and more besides.Each year we celebrate our girls becoming young women in a beautiful ceremony with our grandmothers group holding the wisdom, and our menfolk protecting the outside space by drumming, until invited in.

This year we will be open to all the possibilities, gathering for morning celebrations of the dawn, creating art with nature, celebrating in the sacred women’s  lodge to honour the moon, dance and sing, daily groups/ spaces to connect to ourselves, our visions, dreams and share inspirations, nuture our bodies and souls, hold each other softly in our grief, and joy. Every woman is welcome to call a circle and suggest a gathering at our morning meeting.

Men

This is a good opportunity to experience the brotherhood of a men’s group. This may take the form of a support group or, as in some other years, develop to mentor the young men, by ritual or by sweat lodge.

Morning exercise - Dance of Life and Yoga

Elders

Eldership is explored through stories and shared experience, leading to an awareness of the responsibility of our role in the family and community, to create bridges between age and background.

Cabaret

Show off your talents at the Cabaret!

Ceremonies and Rituals

We celebrate the widest scope of spirituality and celebrate dances and song from many traditions and countries. Our celebration of the Spring with Lada, a Russian goddess, in a spiral dance may contrast with the stillness of a Buddist prayer. We celebrate baby blessings and handfastings, and may have have rituals for the young women and young men.

We begin the camp individually exploring the site, each area of the camp leaping to life. And we end with the closing dance of the camp, hugs and goodbyes.
Some practise the Dance of Life each morning under the open sky, whatever the weather. Some practise Sufi meditation.

We might honor spirit with a sweat lodge, dance the Wave, or free dance and drum under the stars. Some evenings there will be Taizé singing by the fire. And towards the end of the camp, we hold a cabaret - a feast of entertainment. Mid-week we have a market where we share our creativity, and our children celebrate theirs with us.

We especially welcome our adolesents and people in their 20/30’s to join us in making the camp reflect all ages.

Arts & Crafts

The Sacred Arts Camp attracts artists and craftsmen who are keen to share their skills - in textiles such as batik and felting, in painting and drawing, raku pottery, and maybe some green woodwork. Classes are designed for various ages, so all the family will have some handicraft to take home at the close of camp.

and don’t forget to keep in touch with other campers at the community website Sacred Arts Community

We aim to bring together people from all over the world to achieve unity within diversity, build friendships, and recognise our common bonds.

We do this through dancing together (primarily Dances of Universal Peace), singing, movement, and art that honours the spiritual richness of the world.

People of all ages, backgrounds, and from all nations join together in the dances and in Sufi and other spiritual practises.

A space will be held where spirit can move and community can thrive.

Our Ethos:

1. We encourage camping together in small circles of a dozen tents with shared cooking and eating together over open wood fires.
2. Share rituals, celebrations and community.
3. Offer a large tented café, open for all meals.
4. Alcohol, illegal drugs and dogs are not permitted.
5. Include a well being area providing spaces for retreat, meditation, healing and basic first aid.
6 .Use sustainable site facilities.
7. Run the camp cooperatively, encouraging power and responsibility sharing: everyone over the age of 13 is encouraged to contribute some work.
8. Fund ‘Outreach’ with surplus funds to bring DUP to disadvantaged communities.
9. Acknowledge the needs of the disabled and our elders.
10. Invite and support facilitators and their communities for dance, the arts, voice, movement and resources for whole families and specific age groups.
11. Provide a welcoming ‘Gate’ presence for new arrivals and close the camp to newcomers after the first Sunday night.

Camp Guidelines:

Please read the following information and guidelines carefully. They will help you to know what to expect on camp and what to bring and what to leave behind. On arrival you will be asked to sign your ticket to say that you have read this information and will respect its intent.

SAC is a Closed Camp- through being part of the camp community for the full week we build mutual trust and friendship with one another. In order to support this process we encourage people to stay for the duration of the camp, we don’t allow visitors and the gate closes to new arrivals on Sunday.

Please arrive on Friday and no earlier. (We can suggest nearby campsites for anyone who needs accommodation Thursday night)
Although we discourage young people from coming & going we understand about child care issues and exams. If your child needs to arrive late please arrange to meet them at the Gate so we know who they are with. However we ask all those over 21 to arrive by Sunday night at the very latest. This is non-negotiable, to ensure everyone develops safety amongst familiar faces.
If you have friends in the area please go out to see them, as visitors (ie unfamiliar faces) will also be turned away.

Chris 01437 532243

If your daughter intends to celebrate her menarche this year, please bring white/red clothing and decorative hangings/things to place on the altar.

Moonlodge women please bring art materials, tarot etc.

Auction: The Auction will be held again this year to fund outreach to the camp. Please bring a suitable item or consider donating a service.

Stuff to leave at home: Dogs, electronic music or noise-makers. Please keep mobile phones switched off - use in car park or off site. NB There are NO facilities for re-charging mobile phones on site.

Alcohol & Drugs: We ask all participants not to use alcohol or drugs during the camp. We have a strong policy of no alcohol on site. We ask parents and carers to be very clear that their young people understand this.

Curfew: 11pm curfew, with one agreed late night. We ask all for late night noise sensitivity

Children & Teens: There will be morning & afternoon programmes of crafts, games & outings for children, with evening & fireside activities for young teens and teenagers. Please can we remind you that children and young people remain the responsibility of their parents or responsible adult through-out the camp. Children and Teenagers under the age of 16 are expected to camp with their parents/responsible adult or in small friendship circles close to and under the supervision of their parents/responsible adult.

Live-in Vehicles: We encourage all participants to enjoy the feeling of connectedness with the natural world by camping close to the earth. Experience has shown that it can be challenging to integrate live-in vehicles into the circles. However we do realise that they may be necessary for some participants due to incapacity. Please contact us to book in your vehicle. We have restricted numbers and those vehicles not booked in will need to remain in the car park.

Karma Yoga: Work for your soul’s delight.
We ask adults and teenagers to share in the running of the camp by working for 2 sessions, for example in the cafe, chopping wood for showers, helping with kids’ activities and outings. If you have special skills or work you would love to share, please come prepared. Your area and times of work are allocated on arrival at the gate.

Cancellations: If you cannot come to camp for any reason, your ticket can be carried over for one year only - but there are no refunds.

Recycling: We do not provide a skip. Everyone is responsible for their own ‘rubbish’ – so the less packaging you bring, the less you’ll have to take home! Make this an earth-aware week and recycle as much as possible. Recycling facilities are available locally for glass, metal, and limited plastic and all foodstuffs can be composted on site. A water filter will be fitted to one of the taps on site to reduce the need for bottled water.

Wood: There will be wood supplied for making fires for cooking and warmth. Fires should be made directly on the earth – no fire-pits please.

Toilets & Showers: There are compost loos and wood-fired hot showers.

This year let’s try to reduce the camp’s carbon footprint.

Please make use of the following facilities:

The Shop: There will be an ‘on-camp’ shop selling bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables (some organic) and a variety of whole-foods. There will also be chocolate and snacks. We run a ‘shopping list’ so that when someone needs to go shopping, they shop for others.

The Cafe: The cafe sells 3 hot meals a day, snacks, cakes and drinks. The cafe operates at cost of (mainly) organic ingredients, equipment, and transport.

The Holding Group reserves the right to ask any participant not respecting the camp ethos to leave immediately.

AGM.

The Sacred Arts Camp AGM will be held on

Saturday 26th June 2010 2pm

All welcome, email us for details.