Ecstatic dancing connects music, dancers

Going to Sandpoint’s Ecstatic Dance is not anything like going out to dance at a bar on the weekend — where people might throw back a drink or two to get loose, go out on the floor to shuffle their feet a bit, trying not to move their arms, hoping they don’t look like Elaine in that “Seinfeld” dance episode, where character George described her dancing as “whole body dry heaves.”

There is none of that at Sandpoint Ecstatic Dance — no judgment, no constraining your movements to fit in, and no creepy drunk guy bothering women, and men, because there are no drugs or alcohol at ecstatic dance.

Ecstatic dance is a worldwide phenomenon, but fairly new to Idaho; apparently, it started in this country in Oakland, Calif.

“In Europe, people dance,” said Colin Pemp, who rarely misses a Sunday at ecstatic dance. “Here in America, we drink PBRs and sit and look at each other,” he said.

Pemp, who worked in Ireland for two years and spent seven years in China attending Suzhou University where he became fluent in Mandarin, taught English to mostly young children, using music as an important educational tool.

“Just watch kids. They dance naturally, all the time. We’re supposed to dance. It’s a release. It’s ancient. It’s celebratory. It’s spiritual,” he said.

Sarah Rusnak, who is one of the founders of ecstatic dance in Sandpoint, agrees. “Most every culture dances — indigenous dances and dervishes come to mind, she said.

“I was familiar with ecstatic dance in Spokane, but it really came on my radar after an extended vacation in New Mexico,” said Rusnak, “so when I came back, I knew I had to help create this here.”

She worked with Blissa Nizzoli and Natalia Ocasio, and in the fall of 2018, ecstatic dance opened in Sandpoint. “Since it is worldwide, it was easy for us to find online sources to help us,” she said. Ocasio owns the building, Embody Center, formerly Common Knowledge, across from the senior center. Rusnak credits Brietta Leader, dance teacher at Embody Center for the Healing Arts at 823 Main Street “for raising awareness and getting people interested in dance in the community.”

Rusnak, who is a whole foods educator, yoga teacher, and women’s retreat leader, said ecstatic dance is a self-guided experience. Nothing is choreographed, she said, “but we work with a set of shared guidelines: There’s no talking on the dance floor. People dance and move the way they want to — to a variety of acoustic, world, and electronic music.”

It starts out with a soft arrival, 15 minutes in length, she said, then they stop and set an intention, maybe read a poem, or someone might suggest a body focus.

“There is usually some kind of theme,” Pemp said.

Then there is an hour and one-half of dancing and it ends with a closing circle, “though people come and go and take breaks for fresh air outside,” Rusnak said.

A DJ may come from the Spokane group or a member creates a playlist that is in a specific format, loosely based off of Gabrielle Roth’s five-rhythm guidelines for the music, Rusnak said. Roth was a dancer who created the five rhythms movement system, which “focuses on five rhythms of the body — flowing, staccato, chaos, lyrical, and stillness,” according to Wikipedia.

A wide range of people attend — generally one-third male and two-thirds female and mostly people in their 40s-50s, though there are people in their 60s who attend, “but surprisingly few in their 20s and early 30s,” Rusnak said.

Before the coronavirus took over how we live, Sandpoint Ecstatic Dance, or S.E.D., had 10 to 20 attendees. Rusnak hopes to reopen S.E.D. in June, depending on the status of COVID-19. It meets from 10 a.m. to noon the second and fourth Sundays of every month.

Shea Corey of Coeur d’Alene, attends S.E.D. “My first experience with ecstatic dance was two years ago when my girlfriend and I went to Nelson, B.C. We saw an ad for ‘dance church’ and decided to check it out,” Corey said.

It was held in an old brick building, he said, and there was a diverse crowd there — 6 or 7 kids, a 75 year-old with a cane, and eventually some 60 people filled the place, Corey said.

“The whole concept is to provide a safe space for physical movement. There is lyrical guitar music, African jazz slowly rocks, and then the energy catches on fire. The music comes like a series of waves. You become a puppet with the music pulling the strings,” Corey said.

Corey, who holds a stressful job mentoring drug-addicted young people, says ecstatic dance is a release. “You are exhausted at the end,” he said, “but your body feels lighter, and you have a feeling of utter contentment.”

“Jabba” F. Olson attends S.E.D. regularly. “The community is very supportive and diverse. It’s fun to dance with people who are non-judgmental,” he said.

Corey also spoke about the feeling of community. “It can be a religious awakening, but whatever it is, you become connected with who you are in your body. You connect with people by experiencing and exposing vulnerability, and you just want the best for them,” he said.

Rusnak and Corey recommend starting out the experience in a few layers. As the music tempo increases, attendees generally want to rid themselves of a top layer. “I like to wear loose, comfortable clothing that moves with me,” Rusnak said, and personally, she likes to wear something flowing and somewhat dressy.

Ecstatic dance costs $8-$15, a sliding scale, and there are opportunities to volunteer instead of paying — greeting people, helping with set up or clean up. Entire families have a discounted rate.

“The music is a journey. It starts out slow and when the vibes are right, it gets the endorphins going. It’s healthy, conscious dancing where people are sober and it just releases you from the junk of the past week, Pemp said.

“And, it’s just fun to get down,” he added.

Susan Drinkard writes features for the Daily Bee. She can be reached at susanadiana@icloud.com.