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| Early in Decemebr I was able to go to 'Dance Deepening' weekend for sufi dances or 'Dances of Universal Peace' (DUP). I went to the Friday evening dance in New Paltz, NY and then we all drove up to Saugerties, NY where we stayed with Karuna (except Jeddah who also lives in Saugerties). Then we got up early on Saturday morning and took Karuna's car to outside Athol, MA. Above are pictures of the road as you approach the farm house where Abraham and Halima hosted the weekend retreat. Here and below are pictures of the farmhouse. It had started snowing as we approached the farmhouse just after 9AM. I often turn off the flash for outdoor pictures, but in these pictures, the flash really highlighted the snow making it look bigger and brighter it if was close. I also made a short video of the snow. It snowed all day on Saturday, but had cleared up by Sunday morning leaving eight inches of snow (also below). The dances were held in the loft of the barn behind the house (below) |
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| The first floor of the barn was unheated, but the loft was nice and cozy (shown above). Here is Abraham, part of the couple who hosted the weekend. He was one of the musicians in the center of the circle for many of the dances. The loft also had several nice windows on the snow (below). Also below is a picture of Latifa, Majid, and Yasmin as they chatted in the loft. |
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| There were about five men and eleven women at the retreat. There were several rooms set up as dorms, but the women stayed there. Myself and another guy were in the attic, one at each end. This is the end where I stayed. It was mostly way to dark to take a picture except when the sun was shining in in the morning and I took this picure (which is too bright, really). I slept quite well there though changing clothes was a bother as you had to crawl in and out and couldn't stand. Saturday evening they showed a video of Murshid Sam Lewis who created the Dances of Universal Peace. It was so cool to see him, how he moved, talked, and was. The dances we did that weekend were all by Murshid Sam. They tend to be simpler than more current dances, but had a lot of power that became clearer as we focussed on his dances. |
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| We had meals buffet style and ate around the large table. Above you can see Leon, Jeddah (who rode up with us), Katie (or Hamida) and our hosts, Halima and Abraham. In the next picture above is Zakira (who rode up with us) and Omar. Omar was one of the leaders at the weekend and had been a student of Murshid Sam along with Abraham. Halima had danced with Murshid Sam. Here is the kitchen with Halima and Jeddah doing dishes at the massive sink they have. Below is the table where food was served and a picture two of the weekend participants. I was happy to get to know all the people who attended the weekend, but wasn't able to remember but a few of the names. :-( |
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This page was last updated on May 3, 2010.
