Private Groups are Extra-Special Goodness
Last Saturday night, we were treated to the kind of sky show you see here in the picture off to the right. This was taken just a few moments after the sun had set. I was trying my darndest to get a shot off before that glorious orange orb sank into the horizon, but I couldn’t get my camera out in time to catch it. It’s still quite a spectacular sight, isn’t it? There were two other spectacular sights to behold in Cannon Beach this past weekend although they were seen by just a handful of outsiders.
On Saturday and Sunday morning, two different groups were dancing on the beach at the north end of town. I can’t help but smile when I think about the concept of synchronicity and how everything always seems to fall into place just perfectly. I did not have a public event scheduled this past weekend because I had made some prior commitments earlier on in the year that I had to keep. But here’s the thing…(and this is what I LOVE!) the one weekend in September when I didn’t have a public event scheduled gave me the opportunity to be available for the two private groups to have a Beach Dance. And oh, what wonderful dances they were!
Saturday morning’s dance was both a remembrance and a celebration of a loved one who passed on from this world approximately a year ago. It was a loving tribute to Kathleen and to have been invited to facilitate and participate in such an intimate family gathering was an incredible honor. Thank you to David, Pam, Suzie, Marylee, Dennis and Pat for sharing your beautiful thoughts and your dance with me.
Sunday morning brought one of Beach Dance’s most ardent supporters, Jenni Newton, her friend and very special guest, Mama YeYe and eight of her high school students to the shores of Cannon Beach. Wearing my INSPI(RED) t-shirt, I asked everyone to consider what inspires them and encouraged them to ponder that while dancing. As much as I love the dance itself, I have to admit that I love what happens after the dance just as much. Listening to what participants have to say about their experience makes my heart swell with joy and often brings tears to my eyes. Teenagers get such a bad rap in the media nowadays and most of what you see and hear is an inaccurate portrayal of who our young adults really are. When you give them (or any other age group) a safe place to share what’s on their minds and in their hearts, brilliance and beauty are in abundance and that was definitely the case with the group I had the priviledge of dancing with on Sunday morning. A big thanks to Jenni, Olori, Michelle, Riley, Rhy, Chad, Sam, Helen, Chelsea and Andrea for making my day a fun and unforgettable one.
It goes without saying, facilitating events for private groups is extra-special because it gives people who know one another an opportunity to share a unique experience together and it gives me the chance to craft a playlist of music that’s especially created for the occasion. Private group events, movement workshops and retreats are just a few of the things I want to do more of next summer here in Cannon Beach as well as taking Beach Dance on the road and facilitating events elsewhere.
I’m excited about what’s to come and I’m excited there are three more events this month. This Friday the 18th and next Friday the 25th, the dance begins a half hour earlier at 6pm due to the fading light in the evening. The last dance of the summer season is on Saturday the 26th and it’s at 10am. If you can’t make it to the Oregon coast this weekend or next, then hopefully we’ll dance with each other sometime in 2010!
As promised to Jenni’s group, here’s what we danced to:
Playlist for Sunday, September 13
Follow 99 ~ Asward
Shadow Man ~ Afro Celts
State Farm (Madhouse Mix) ~ Yaz
Fire Burning ~ Sean Kingston
Magalenha ~ Sergio Mendes
Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song) ~ Safri Duo
C’Mon and Dance ~ Various Artists (off of iTunes)
Jhalak Dikhlaja (Remix) ~ Himesh Reshammiya
World Hold On ~ Bob Sinclair
I’ve Found A New Baby ~ Pearl Django
Life, Love & Laughter ~ Donavon Frankenreiter
Time of My Life ~ David Cook
Isole ~ Marino de Rosas
This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm, filed under Beach Dance Events, The Dancing Voice, and is tagged as Beach Dance, playlist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.