Save the Date: March 16, 2019 at Prairiewoods, Iowa

Points of Light Music is excited to be offering a one-day retreat at Prairiewoods in March 2019!


Save the date for
What:  Transforming Ourselves Through Sound and Movement
When:  Saturday, March 16, 2019
Where:  Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center
120 E. Boyson Road, Hiawatha, Iowa

More information on the program and registering is here:  https://tinyurl.com/transformingourselves319.  

Newton DUP Retreat: Lodging Update, Feb 2, 2019

Happy February and Balmy Post-Polar Vortex Greetings to You! 

Your retreat organizers for Dancing Ourselves Awake and The Music and The Dance are surprised and pleased to announce that the 12 hotel rooms available onsite at the Newton Christian Conference Center have been reserved in the first month of registration! 

If you are planning to come, there are still plenty of options available ...

For DSM '19 Retreat: Another Lodging Option

Another Lodging Option
 

In the Main Retreat Center, there is a room called the Director Suite that lies near the main meeting hall and dining area.

 

It is designed to house the Group Camp Director’s family during the summer and is available for our group.

 

Amenities:

• 3 Rooms: 2 with full-size beds and 1 with bunkbed
• Bath with whirlpool tub
• Kitchenette with microwave and small fridge
• Linens are provided

It rents for $100/night and must be rented as a unit. (In other words, you must rent the whole suite and find others to share the rooms and cost)

 

So, it’s an upgrade from the Bunk Cabins for nearly the same cost.

 

Contact Conie directly if you are interested.  shine@pointsoflightmusic.net

 

 

Two Dance Retreats in One: The Music & the Dance * Dancing Ourselves Awake

Points of Light Music is happy to be partnering with Dances DSM to organize another Dances of Universal Peace retreat with Anahata Iradah in late April 2019 at Newton Christian Conference Center, Newton, IA. 

Anahata Iradah is a senior teacher in the Mentor Teacher’s Guild of the International Network for the Dances of Universal Peace. She is a gifted musician, teacher, composer, songwriter, meditation teacher, DVD author and documentary film producer.

Conie's Full Voice Story

We at Points of Light Music (PoLiMu) were looking over our content about Full Voice and realized we had lots of posts about when classes were and very little about why we thought it was amazing and important work. 

So without further ado ...

Conie met the Full Voice Work when she was searching for more support on her leadership journey.  She was the first in her family to have a college degree and hold a leadership position outside the family farm.  It was a landscape Conie was unfamiliar with and she was looking for guidance. 

Fall 2018: Song Circles

A place to find where to sing in the aural tradition in the Mpls-St. Paul area: 

I'll be adding to this list throughout the fall, so check back! 

• Sun, Aug 19, 3-5p - Song Circle with Lia Falls @ St. Croix Falls Library, 230 S. Washington St. St. Croix Falls, WI (and every 3rd Sunday of the month)
• Sun, Sept 16, 4-6p - Singing in the Light with Barbara McAfee @ Hennepin Ave United Methodist Church
• Sun, Oct 21, 4-6p - Singing in the Light with Barbara McAfee @ Hennepin Ave United Methodist Church

  

  A heart-centered moment at Singing in the Light.

Upcoming Dates for Full Voice Workshops

When:  Wed, July 11, 2018 Or Tue, Sept 25, 6:30-8 p.m. 
 

Where:  St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1895 Laurel Ave, St. Paul (we'll be in the choir room)

Why:  We use our voices everyday. At work, at home, at play, we ask the voice to help communicate our ideas, needs, and desires. This workshop will provide a place for you to explore five voices that is inside every human. Some may be very familiar while others are strange. All of them have useful qualities that you can call up when the situation arises. Come and start to explore your Full Voice!

Cost:  Suggested Donation of $10-25 per person.  No one will be turned away. 

More info:  shine@pointsoflightmusic.net or 612-756-8011.

 

 

May 5: World Labyrinth Day Walk

 

Join your Highland Park neighbors and friends outside to Walk As One At One on Saturday, May 5, 2018 at 1 p.m.  Learn about this "prayer path," how to draw one on paper, and walk the labyrinth created at National Night Out last August.  Invite others to this local World Labyrinth Day event. 

Contact labyrinths@pointsoflightmusic.net or 612-756-8011 with questions. 
Facebook event link

Purpose Retreat Update #1

Your co-curators for the Dancing Your Life Purpose with the Elements retreat are enjoying their time grounding into the elements, finding their passion and flow with inspiration. 



Clockwise from upper left:  Heather Hayat, Conie, Saleem, Morgan



In addition to these four, 11 other dance leaders and musicians have volunteered to contribute to our dance time together and 15 dancers have registered to fill out the circle. 

 

Won't you join us too!  



• The Early Bird Registration is over, so Regular Registration is $125 for the weekend. 
• Registering for lodging and meals is open until next Wednesday, April 4, 2018, 11:59 p.m. and then we need to give the staff at the Newton Christian Conference Center our final numbers. 
• All are welcome to come for the day or the weekend, but will need to find room and board elsewhere. 

 

To register, go to https://2018dsm-retreat.eventbrite.com.

To participate in pre-retreat conversation, go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1988433318048213/



 

2018 Wanderings and Play Dates?

The calendar says Spring Has Sprung!  I can feel it and see it with the increasing daylight even when I look out my windows to some hip-high mounds of snow.  The flower beds out in front of my house don't have snow, though, and I know under the leaves my favorite bulbs are working their way through the dark earth, unfurling with all of their life energy toward the warmth, the light, to surface and keep going to bloom as tulips and crocus. 

Unfurl is my Word of the Year (more on that later), and part of my unfurling is to meet and play, sing and dance, with others as I travel near and far this year.  Will our paths be close enough to do this?  Checkout my current plans and let me know!

April 18, 22-23:  Iowa (Des Moines, Driftless?)

Co-curating a Dances of Universal Peace retreat between April 19-22 (Check it out: the theme is "Dancing Our Life Purpose with the Elements").  I'd love to drive and sing through the Driftless on Wednesday, April 18 and come back through Des Moines. 

May 23-24:  North Shore (Ely, Duluth?)

Officiating a friend's wedding over Memorial Day weekend on the North Shore.  Would love to drive and dance in the Arrowhead earlier in the week.

June 11-15:  western Minnesota, North/South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington

Being a guest musician with Andrea Sorum, sharing song and movement, at Holden Village, June 16-23!  Gonna take my little car on its first loooong roadtrip!  Help break up my time on the road with singing, dancing, interplaying, pop-up labyrinths, and other fun.

Possible routes to Holden Village, Washington from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota.

June 23-27:  Washington, Idaho, Montana, North/South Dakota, western Minnesota

Same as above, this time in reverse.
 

Mid-Summer to Mid-Fall:

There's all sorts of dreams and tentative plans for St. Louis, Missouri, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, New Hampshire, Illinois, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, ... and the places in between there and here.  If you're curious about the what's and when's, reach out and let's see what connections can be made! 

Highlighting Morgan Rivers

Points Of Light Music is delighted to be collaborating with three other marvelous dance leaders to organize and curate the weekend long "Dancing Our Life Purpose" retreat in April. 

Top:  Saleem Adam, Conie. Bottom:  Morgan, Heather Hayat

Today we'll get to know Morgan Rivers, who was the core organizer for the dance leader training Conie completed a couple years ago and who wisely organized the Anahata retreat last year to invite musicians to deepen their skills in support of the Dances, which inspired this year's regional leader led retreat.
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A lifelong musician, spiritual seeker and lover of movement, Morgan has been shepherding a monthly circle of the Dances of Universal Peace since 2004 in Des Moines, Iowa and became a
certified leader in 2017.

Anne & Morgan making music. Photo courtesy of Morgan Rivers.

She loves creating sacred space for people to have an experience of connection, unity and a stronger sense of their own divinity.

A dance circle at Unity.  Photo courtesy of Morgan Rivers.

Two of her favorite quotes about the Dances are:

1. “Spiritual growth is an individual activity best done in groups.” - Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz
2. “What is the power of the Dances of Universal Peace?  What is the secret of their enduring appeal? Why have they spread all over the world, continuing to spread, even as we speak?

Ask a dozen Dancers, and you're likely to receive a dozen different answers. For some, it's the power of community, a precious chance to join together with others in a deep experience that is always new, even as it's always familiar. For others, the secret is the feeling-sense that can result-joy, peace, compassion, equanimity, ecstasy. Some will say they love to sing, or love to dance, or love the hugs. Others will say they don't know why they come; it's just something they must do, a call that must be answered. 

For me, the power of the Dances lies in the shared, sustained, embodied Sacred Space created by sounding a sacred phrase with simple, heart-felt movement. I know of no other spiritual practice or artistic discipline that is based on these specific combined elements. Each time we join hands in Dance-worship, what can result has the power to transform, to heal, to unite us individually and as a group with All That Is, to bring us home to our true Self.” - Farrunnissa Rosa, Dance Leader and Mentor, North Carolina

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Here are the 2018 dates for Dance Circles in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Mar 1-31: Smallest Labyrinth Museum in St. Paul

Last fall, fellow Minnesota Labyrinth Network members Sue Swanson approached Tom Vetter and me about co-curating a Smallest Museum in St. Paul exhibit about labyrinths.  We said yes! 

We are happy to announce that in March 2018, The Smallest Museum in St. Paul will be showcasing labyrinths around St. Paul.  Come to Workhorse Coffee Bar and checkout the display that is just right of the front door. 

Details are being worked out, but you can expect pictures of local labyrinths, labyrinths you can trace with your fingers, and lots of interesting designs. 

There will be a artist reception on Saturday, March 10, 2018, from 10 a.m.-noon.  Join us for hands-on demonstrations of creating labyrinths from a seed pattern, seeing a variety of designs, and trivia about the local labyrinth scene.

Even if you are not able to join us for the reception, let us know that you visited by taking a selfie with the display and tag @pointsoflight_mu on Instagram, #smallestlabyrinthmuseum

What:  Smallest Labyrinth Museum in St. Paul
Exhibition Dates:  March 1-31, 2018
Reception Date:  Saturday, March 10, 2018, 10a-12n
Where:  Workhorse Coffee, 2399 University Ave W, St. Paul

Jan 30-Mar 2: "Nothing exists except ..." On Display

Almost two years ago, this doodle came out.  Who would have guessed that it would be accepted in a juried exhibition? 

What if G-d was pure ecstasy? Yearning and love? #doodlesacrednames #wouldprinceapprove

A post shared by Conie Borchardt (@pointsoflight_mu) on Apr 25, 2016 at 10:27am PDT

It looks pretty sharp in this frame, a little timeshare loan from a friend's painting from my living room.  And I was worried about finding a frame to complement some of the idiosyncratic colors ...

I've titled this drawing "Nothing exists except ..."

Here is the Artist's Statement: 

"I am interested in vibration in sound and movement, in light and color. Repeating words, either spoken or on the page, is a meditation, inviting a deeper relationship to unfold new understanding, to rewrite old patterns. Through my experiences of Dances of Universal Peace, I have chanted and connected to the words of many religious and spiritual traditions. Here I dive into Allah, the 0 of 99 Names of God that Sufis like Rumi study."

You can find "Nothing exists except ..." on display at St. Paul's Monastery as part of their "Seeing God" exhibit until Friday, March 2, 2018. 

Here's a small portion of the art in the "Seeing God" exhibition.
"Nothing exists exception..." is on the far left of this photo.

What:  "Seeing God" exhibition
When:  now until Friday, March 2, 2018
Where:  St. Paul's Monastery, 2675 Benet Rd, St. Paul

Apr 20-22: DUP Retreat: Dancing Our Life Purpose

Dancers, Save the Date!

What:  Dancing Our Life Purpose: A Dances of Universal Peace Retreat

Over the course of this weekend, we will immerse ourselves in the Dances of Universal Peace and the Elements of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air to clarify and energize our individual sense of Life Purpose.

Sessions will be curated by Morgan Rivers, Conie Borchardt, Heather Hayat Godsey, and Saleem Adam Wolter with assistance from dance leaders and musicians in the region. The Sunday morning Universal Worship service will be coordinated by Heather Hayat Godsey with support from cherags in the region.
 

When:  Friday evening, April 20-Sunday afternoon, April 22, 2018

The Dance Retreat begins on Friday evening with dinner at 5:30 p.m. and continues through lunch at Sunday noon. There will be dance sessions Friday evening, Saturday morning, afternoon, and evening. Sunday morning, the retreat will conclude with Universal Worship.

Where:  Newton Christian Conference Center,

5064 Lincoln Street, Newton, Iowa

The retreat location is the lovely Newton Christian Conference Center just outside of Newton, Iowa. A variety of onsite lodging is available between $29-82 per night and meal packages are available.

Early Bird Registration ($100) for the Full weekend is available until March 1, 2018, midnight. After this date, the Full Weekend is $125. Individual Day Registration is also available.

More Details and Online Registration at https://2018dsm-retreat.eventbrite.com

 

Contact Morgan@healingpartners.biz or kochmaryann2014@gmail.com with questions.

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For Dance Leaders and Musicians

Come and offer your dances and your musical support for the Dances! Let us create these circles together!

We will gather a day earlier to find our attunements and then gather for an hour on Sunday afternoon to reflect on our shared experience. Your service in leading and playing music for the retreat is your registration fee. Room and board is your only financial commitment.

Dance Leaders and Musicians, please contact Conie@PointsOfLightMusic.net with questions.