WHAT IS THE LONG DANCE?

The Long Dance is a spiritual weekend coinciding with Earth Day during which we honor our ancestors and the earth with all night dancing,  singing, drumming, and sacred ceremony.

The Long Dance traces its origin to Grandmother Twylah Nitsch of the Seneca Nation.  Grandmother Twylah asked her students to get people dancing and singing on the earth again.  The Long Dance is the modality she gave them with which to do this.

During the Long Dance, the first day is one of preparation and also of purification, which is usually done with sweat lodges.  The following day the sacred space is sanctified and the sacred circle and it's altars are built.

At sundown everyone enters the circle and gathers around the pow wow drum with their own drums and other instruments.  The Long Dancers sing, drum, and dance until dawn the following day.  

The Long Dance can be a mode for a deep inner journey, it can be a pure celebration or it can be both.  Some people make healing intention ties and use this time to pray for healing. 

The Long Dance comes to us in South Florida, USA via Alan Willes, a drum maker and song keeper from Jackson Hole, Wyoming www.sacredmountaindrums.com.  Alan received the dance from Charles Lawrence who received it from Grandmother Twylah.  This is the first Long Dance we know of in S. Fl.

Other things that may be said about the Long Dance include:

-honors the circles of life
-honors the earth
-honors the seasons
-puts you in sync with nature and the universe
-puts you in sync with the rhythm of the earth
    -    brings community together






THE LONG DANCE
Ascension Assistant
  For More Information on the Long Dance
dee7aum@bellsouth.net