These are photographs taken by Rolf, Nicola, Darrel, Marylin and Trev in the relaxing moments of the Shamanic Tango workshops. The pictures are a tiny window into our encounters with the lands of Cornwall, Bosnia and with each other throughout 2006 and 2007.
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TESTIMONIALS:
I was inspired during the process, frustrated, calm, annoyed, perplexed, lost, found, ecstatic, numb, but what I really felt was a sense of purpose without meeting a challenge. It was a wonder-full moment of processes and at the end, when we sat together in a circle, I realized a channel had opened in me that had been unknown to me before. I felt open... strangely open...
...one thing that came through was “being” from all levels of our existence. This was important in my process as it connected me with the grain of the beginning.
... It was an amazing moment of some minutes and something that I will treasure forever. I got an insight (or clarification?!) of what it - life/movement/love can be amongst people.
Nicola-Fee - Shamanic Tango, Autumn 2005/2006
I have never moved like that with anyone in my life. Whilst moving, I had enough awareness outside the movement to simultaneously be awed by the beauty of what was happening. To feel like my body knew how to do it by itself, enough to let me ride in it, mesmerized.
I certainly fell in love with our ability to dance, and I crave more of it. And I am very scared - and I mean Scared! - of that.
Trev - Shamanic Tango, 2005/2007
This kind of opening up, of letting go of one’s fears, is healthy for anyone at any point in life and can be applied to whatever one wants to improve.
... the Shamanic Tango workshops, which require more time and involvement than ordinary lessons, “cut deeper” into the participants’ mental and physical awareness. It is therefore likely that the Shamanic Tango approach actually speeds up the process of developing one’s dancing skills (which are inseparable from other aspects of one’s life). I am not suggesting that Biljana has come up with “the magic formula”. Essentially, each participant needs to put the effort and courage into achieving a positive change. What Biljana does seem to have achieved, however, is to create an environment in which this kind of personal development may occur.
I have yet to discover to full meaning of the Shamanic Tango workshop – what it means for me personally, as a dancer and an academic, as well as for us as a group. I have a strong feeling it will lead us all in interesting new directions, or strengthen a path one is already on.
Mia - Shamanic Tango, 2006
I very much enjoyed the experience of walking outside in the moonlight, walking silently as a group, creeping through the twisting high stone walled path, opening your senses to the limited vision, feeling the earth under foot with a greater keenness. I also found myself in the silence drifting off into my own thoughts and life worries. Realizing now my attentiveness is a skill, that I don't practice often.
... Well I have been surprised at how the after effects of the weekend reverberated for at least a week. The first few days I found quite disturbing to be honest. It was strange and a new experience. It felt scary and unsettling. I felt quite ungrounded for quite sometime, like I was still slightly dreaming. Seagulls seem to be talking and crows looking at me.
The positive feeling is it has loosened the grip of the methodical right-sided control of my thoughts. My visual sharpness and fascination in the world around me has been really beneficial to my creative artwork. Less doubts as to whether views that catch my eye are worthy subjects to focus on and a more spontaneous playful approach.
Darrel - Shamanic Tango 2007
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