Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers
of Central Canada
✷SAVE THE DATE - REGISTRATION OPENS IN APRIL! Our 2nd Annual Summer Shamanic Dance Journey in Ceremony: Dancing the Heroine’s Journey, August 30 - September 2, 2024 at Galilee Centre, Arnprior, Ontario
✷TO LEARN MORE & REGISTER, SIGN UP FOR OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER here.
Contemporary & Traditional
Dancing-In-The-Round
All Occasions & All Ages Welcome
. . . . .
What is Sacred Circle Dance?
For millennia, dance has been an integral part of life across cultures.
Teachers in the Sacred Circle Dance Tradition have collected dances from all over the world, some attributed to specific choreographers, others passed down anonymously throughout the generations.
This modern Western practice was revived in Findhorn, Scotland in the 1970’s by German master ballet and folk dancer Bernhart Wosien. Since then, the movement has grown into a network of dance communities worldwide.
Why Do We Dance in a Circle?
Dancing in a circle is a time-honoured human tradition around the world.
The circle itself is a symbol for unity and wholeness, a state in which all things are present and nothing is missing. There is no hierarchy in a circle. Everyone is an equal contributor.
We join together to form something greater than ourselves, transcending our individuality while having our own unique experience.
Sacred Circle Dance is a gentle, graceful and fun way to share with others the experience of bringing together body, mind, and Spirit.
We Dance With Intention
Dancing together creates and can strengthen connections to each other, to the rhythms of nature, and to ourselves and/or to Spirit.
Sacred Circle Dance is not affiliated with any religion or set of beliefs; rather we express universal themes and ‘Sacred’ and ‘Spirit’ are used in the broadest sense.
There are dances from many Traditions for celebration and ceremony, for rites of passage, in greeting, in joy, and in sorrow. There are dances honouring the seasons; dances to symbolize transitions in life; the elements; the directions; the sun, the moon; global gods & goddesses, etc….and some are just for the fun and joy of dancing!
Some dances are slow and meditative while others are peppy and get your heart pumping. Most of the dances are simple and all the dances are accessible enough for anyone to be able to participate.
Let your body flow with the music and let the energy of the dances embrace you.
Each dance is taught during that specific gathering with enough time to learn the moves. No previous experience is necessary.
Sacred Circle Dancing in Ottawa
Sacred Circle Dancing was brought to Ottawa from the Findhorn community by British dance leader June Watts in the late 1980’s.
Following that intensive workshop, several women chose to continue developing their relationship with Sacred Circle Dance and for years offered open public gatherings once per month, as well as various personal ceremonies as requested.
Who Are We?
Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers of Central Canada is a collective of practitioners based in the National Capital Region, dedicated to the revitalization of a local Sacred Circle Dance knowledge and practice. Core members are Carrie Fawcett, MMus., Ceremonialist & Sacred Circle Dance Leader; Barbara Carter, Inspired Choreographer & Sacred Circle Dance Leader; Kathleen Leeson RH, Shamanic Healer & Clinical Herbalist.
We are the 2nd and 3rd generations of local Sacred Circle Dancers. We draw from the large catalogue of shared dances from our predecessors, and we have skilled choreographers within our community.
Our public offerings include Circle Dance evenings oriented around particular themes, held the 4th Friday of each month from 7 - 9:30pm in Ottawa.
Members are also available to bring appropriate dances to your Ceremonies, events or family gatherings.
Contact Us
To get up-to-date Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers news, including upcoming dance opportunities in detail, sign up for our monthly newsletter here.
Teachers
Carrie Fawcett, M.Mus. B.Ed., began exploring more seriously her long-time attraction to dance with classes starting in her early thirties, with World Dance styles including bellydance, Bollywood and flamenco. She was eventually introduced to Circle Dancing, which has remained her focus ever since, because of its beauty, its accessibility to so many people, its versatility, and its effectiveness as a tool for transformation.
Alongside and through her offering of dance, Carrie is a Ceremonialist and Certified Celebrant based in the Ottawa region. With a creative and credentialed background in the arts and education coupled with a desire to serve her community, her work involves co-creating with clients, personalized and meaningful ceremonies that support their growth and wellbeing.
Through working with Carrie, clients are supported in marking important transitions in life, from memorials and funerals, to weddings and vow renewals, to other rites of passage and earth-honouring events. Ceremony has been used since time immemorial as a very versatile and effective tool for our evolution.
www.carriefawcett.com
Barbara Carter is a life-long Lover of Dance. She was introduced to Circle Dance in 2010 and has been leading and teaching Circle Dance since 2012. Through Circle Dance and Ballroom Dancing, she has had the opportunity to dance many of the traditional dances from around the world.
As a choreographer, she has a gift for capturing the energy and essence of a piece of music, or song, and bringing it into form. A couple of the things that attracted Barbara to make Circle Dance a part of her life are that Circle Dance brings people of all ages into community with each other and through intention, can be a healing balm where a person can come to ‘Know Thyself’ through the dance.
Barbara also offers One-on-One Coaching as well as Teacher Training in Circle Dance and has recently completed her Certification as an Archetypal Consultant with the Caroline Myss Educational Institute.
carterb@bell.net
Kathleen Leeson RH is a Shamanic Healer and Clinical Herbalist. She has been drawn into Shamanism via her Calling to become a Medical Herbalist after getting sick with CFS in 1989. Now 30 years on, after her own health recovery she has been working with plants, people and students advancing their overall well-being and experience of their life.
She brings a wide range of tools, techniques and Journeys to assist healing processes offering the Wise, Traditional and Time-honoured processes she has been blessed with discovering are still the most potent means of Transformation. She loves Circle Dancing as an easy and effective tool to use to engage with the eternal Truths.
www.kathleenleeson.ca
•••
TESTIMONIALS from our 1st Annual Sacred Circle Dance Retreat ~ Inspired Dances for Inspired Living: Dancing the Heroine’s Journey
August 4 - 7, 2023, in Arnprior, Ontario
Some of What participants Had to Say - Music to Our Ears:
"It's the first time I've ever felt glad to be a woman" ~ "It's the first time I've ever felt unconditional love when dancing the outdoor dance process" ~ "It's the first time I've ever had a sisterhood experience" ~ "I have had some difficulty over the years doing some of the dances but I feel so much more balanced now" ~ "I feel so much more at one with The Mother and the Sacred Feminine" ~ "I can see how the masculine was seen as superior and now I see the masculine as an equal" ~ "There is a path [for me] and I am not completely lost" ~ "I feel lighter; a lightness of being" ~
Some Feedback About the Shamanic Dance Ceremony Itself:
"It was magical! Everything about it. Each song chosen resonated with [the associated stage of] The Heroine's Journey, both at the personal level and the interpersonal level. Having gone through The Heroine's Journey many times over the years, and now having gone through it as an old woman, I can hardly describe how immensely impactful this was" ~ "The songs chosen to reconnect to The Feminine were unbelievably appropriate. Actually, all the songs were like that" ~ "The Ceremony opened the floodgates of grief, and it continues. However, afterwards I felt a shift to the impersonal Archetype of Mother and what women go through in the world" ~
Some Feedback About the Evening Meditation:
"It was wondrous! I saw many dimensions including that I went back in time and danced around the fire in a ritual with others" ~ "I actually felt that I was in a cave and got the sense that we are all enough" ~ "The evening meditation was incredible; that’s the only word but it doesn’t even come close to what I experienced" ~
Some Feedback About Using The Labyrinth Onsite for Even More Personal Transformation:
"I felt a chain on my foot connected to my family and I let it go" ~ "I forgave my Mom" ~ "I met my inner child, embraced her; then met my wounded teenager and brought her with me and she now knows I'm there for her" ~
Some Feedback About Gaia Sacred Circle Dancers:
"I felt safe and welcome the whole time and there were no big egos involved" ~ As one who organizes retreats, I am blown away by all the work you three did and that's not including all the work of choreographing the dances and the ceremony too" ~ "Barb and Carrie are great teachers! They were unbelievably clear in how they taught the dances and that made it so easy to learn them" ~ "Thank you, Kathleen, for the Sacred Feminine teachings; it was really helpful" ~