The Gurdjieff Sacred Dances..........
Wisdom Transmitted through Music and Dance
by James St. Clair • Boulder, CO

In the world today, we are constantly being bombarded by the media, advertising and people all around us with the idea that we need to have more and be more than we are. Big is better, more is better, and our inner reality, our subjective experience, seems to be secondary to our outer appearance and actions. There are many movement-based methods being practiced these days which are designed to reestablish contact with the inner, with the center– for example, Yoga, Gabrielle Roth’s Five Rhythms, and Kimberly Jonas’ Soul Motion. These methods are based in dance and movement, and are designed to connect the physical realm of movement and the body with the spiritual, the inner.

The Gurdjieff Sacred Dances are body-based, physical techniques designed for expanding consciousness in a very specific way. George I. Gurdjieff, the founder of the Sacred Dances, was a teacher and is regarded by many as a spiritual master. As a youth growing up in a cultural crossroad between Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Greece, he was subject to a great variety of influences, which opened his vision and led him to start asking the questions: What is the purpose of life on earth? and Who am I? When he was twenty years old, he embarked on a twenty-year spiritual quest which took him on expeditions into Egypt, the eastern Mediterranean, Afghanistan, Turkey, Central Asia, India, Tibet and the Gobi desert.

He concluded that there is a universal wisdom coming from ancient traditions and that this body of wisdom was transmitted down the ages through music and dance. In temples, monasteries and special schools he visited, there were dances, varieties of movements and postures, which are similar to an alphabet. In the evening, when the priests and the priestesses danced in the temple, one could read through these postures the truths that had been implanted in them several thousands of years ago. These truths are transmitted through the dances from one generation to another.

In 1912 Gurdjieff travelled back to Russia and devoted his life to sharing what he had learned. He proclaimed the importance of the body and physical work in the transmission of his teaching. An important part was the teaching of sacred dances which he adapted, created or choreographed himself. In collaboration with De Hartmann he also created the music for the movements.

Gurdjieff called the Dances sacred for two reasons. One, they are used to preserve and transmit a great knowledge and they represent certain laws which govern the universe and thus, the lives of all human beings. Secondly, the focus of the dances is on the inner development of those who participate in them, rather than on performing for an audience.

The work is about breaking through the “sleep” and habits which keep us from being fully who we are, and fully in this moment in freedom. According to Gurdjieff, our sleep and slavery express themselves in the automatism and limitations of our feelings and thoughts, these being closely bound to the automatism of our movements and postures. This connection between the body and the mind is the heart of the work. It is based on the widely accepted therapeutic tenet that our usual limited vocabulary of movements will keep us within the confinements of a restrictive, routine way of feeling, seeing life and thinking.

We do not realize how intimately connected the functions of moving, feeling and thinking are. One does not change without the others changing– an emotional change such as a sudden relief of worry will immediately affect our way of standing, the depth of our breathing, the movements in our eyes.

In our lives we have a certain number of habitual movements and postures, which are quite limited in regard to the immense potential of the body. Taking new, unusual positions enables us to observe ourselves differently. The Gurdjieff Dances break the cycle of automatism by introducing non-habitual movements and sequences.

The other foundation of Gurdjieff's work through the dances is that motionlessness lies behind all motion, non action at the heart of every action. This has significant resonance with Oriental meditations through movement like Tai Chi and the martial arts in general. Further, the work builds on this idea by asserting that stillness is our nature, and that even in the midst of deep agitation, there exists a center where that stillness lives. In this peaceful, still spot is our real existence.
The Gurdjieff dances or movements are a path towards that stillness. The movements are taught and learned with the awareness and intention of watching the body move and becoming aware of the watcher– that part of our attention or inner being which is witnessing. This watching is the center or still point within the movements, which becomes noticeable because of the movement going on at the periphery.

Through the practice of the movements we begin to see our oscillation between the external world and the inner world. Through them, we start refining a balance where we can have one eye out and one eye in– not being taken and overwhelmed by outside events or people, and not withdrawing into the deepest recesses of ourselves, unable to communicate and to act decisively. The work consists of practicing the movements and while keeping one eye on the outer forms, the lines and postures, the rhythm and spirit given by the music, and keeping one eye beyond the visible outer forms. This inner awareness is on the subtleties of physical movement, the inner spirit and archetype of the movement, and the effects of the movement, the emotions and thoughts that they bring up in to consciousness. It’s about awareness of the physical as well as inner space, and how those are relating.

The Sacred Dances are experiencing an awakening now, 100 years after Gurdjieff first researched and taught them. Perhaps it is because of the growing awareness that movement and stillness have to be related to bring more balance into our lives individually and as a society. Perhaps it is a growing thirst for a deeper, more sacred experience that is creating the space for this work to be received. Whatever the reason, it is clear that with the growth of this work, more people are asking for and finding the awareness of the sacred in their lives, and with that awareness a deeper experience of the spiritual.

James St. Clair spent fourteen years in India as a student of meditation and personal growth. He is a bodyworker and therapist. For more info about the Gurdjieff Sacred Dances in America: (303) 875-5598 or dances@sublime-dezine.com