CALL TO VISION QUEST DANCERS!
THE LONG DANCE (at the Birdsong Peace Chamber)
September 21/22, 2024
Led by Stephanie Moore
What is the Long Dance?
The Long Dance is a visioning dance held at night under the stars. The dancers
move in a circular motion around the corral. It is a time to bring forth
associations that lie in the subconscious mind, and by dancing them, they can be
brought to conscious levels, owned, and released. It is a time to quest for your
spirit, to surrender, to endure. Beautiful Painted Arrow says: In the Long
Dance of Life, every- step awakens three opportunities for the human; One:
placement in eternity; Two: purification of past forms; Three: new opportunities
for adventure, for in the instances of eternal time, the new always refreshes
and cleanses. Arrive early Saturday afternoon and pitch your tent and
help prepare the corral A Sweat Lodge follows. Then we hang our Medicine Shield
Banners in the corral. Following a light supper, as night falls the dance begins
and goes into early morning hours, then the dancers rest. On awakening, we have
breakfast, a sharing, and return home early in home afternoon of Sunday.
The Tradition of the Long Dance
The first Long Dance was held in Pennsylvania in 1987 under the tutelage of
Beautiful Painted Arrow. At the end of 1996 he retired to his land in Colorado.
We will dance at the Sun/Moon dance arbor at Birdsong Peace Chamber in
Pottstown, PA. For more info on Birdsong, go to
www.birdsongpeacechamber.com.
Some people know immediately that this dance is for them while others may need
time and processing to decide. Often times, people who have an initial reaction
of 'I couldn't possibly do it' eventually come to understand that it is part of
their destiny to dance. As with any decision, it is most important to listen to
your heart. The tuition for the dance is $150. There is scholarship money
available for those drawn to dance but who have financial difficulties. To
register or for more information, please cantact Stephanie
at
stephaniemooremedicine@gmail.com or
(610) 477-2200. About
10 days before the dance an email with final instructions will be sent.
There will be a Covid protocol which may include testing. You can register on line at the
link below.
Our COVID policy for 2022 included a self-administered antigen test when each person arrived at the dance site. It is likely this will be the same in 2023. Vaccination is recommended but not required. Of course, if you are ill or have been somone who is ill, please stay away.
For more about Stephanie, https://www.stephaniemooremedicine.com/
The Medicine Shield Banner for the Long Dance
Each dancer makes a banner in preparation to the Long Dance. They bring
the banner to the dance and hang it in the dance corale. Your banner is to be 2 feet by 4 feet, with an overlap sewn
across the top two foot edge. Insert a 26 inch dowel rod thru the overlap and
attach string on each end of the rod to hang the banner. Any color may be used.
Put artwork on it that depicts: a) where do you come from; b) where you are now; c)
where you hope to be after the dance. Let the making of the Medicine Shield be a
way of forming your intention.
Becky Howell has written a wonderful little book on her dance banners : " Long Dancing through my Life" - From Amazon
Here are the original instructions for the Long Dance as Joseph wrote them in 1987: 1987-long-dance-instructions.pdf
Click here for a document with details of what to expect. (Long Dance details)
Joseph
taught three main dances, the Long Dance, the Drum Dance, and the Sun/Moon
dance, and these are the ones that involve personal sacrifice and I usually talk
about their “visioning” qualities. We also dance the Easter Dance, the
Sand hill Crane dance, and the Corn dance in this area which are more
celebratory in nature and include the whole family - kids love them.
The
three dances require different levels of sacrifice both in time and money.
At Bird Song, that dances have kept the price that Joseph request from the
dancers, the length of the dance increases too. The Long Dance is a one
day dance (actually one night – we start after dusk and end before dawn), and
the tuition is $150. The Drum Dance is three days, and the tuition is
$350. The Sun/Moon dance is four days and the tuition is $750. There
is no commitment to repeat the Long Dance, but the Drum Dancer is expected to
dance each year for six years and the Sun/Moon Dancer is expected to Dance four
years with another understanding that once you dance you never stop being a
dancer.
All
of these dances require a fast from food and water for the whole period of the
dance. This doesn’t mean much to the Long Dancer but to the Drum Dancer
and the Sun/Moon dancer this is a serious sacrifice.
Also,
the level of support varies greatly. At the Long Dance, the dancers
support themselves, they even do their own drumming. The Drum Dancer has
“professional” drummers but each person provides their own shelter. In
the Sun/Moon dance, each dancer has a non-dancing support person, and there are
the drummers, dog soldiers, medicine people, kitchen staff, etc. – usually
making up to twice as many people in support roles as dancing.
While
all these dances have a visioning quality, the Long Dance is very definitely
about personal visioning – each dancer makes a banner depicting their personal
transformation. The Drum Dance carries the intention of healing for the
whole world as well as that personal healing - this was originally called “The
Drum Dance for World Peace.” And even though the Sun/Dancer may
have the biggest personal insights of any of the dances, the emphasis is on the
sacrifice that the Sun/Moon dancer makes for the rest of the community – the
dancers dance “so the people may live.” The Sun/Moon dancer is the
sacrifice.
Joseph
taught us these dances over many years, the first being the Long Dance, then the
Drum Dance, and finally the Sun/Moon Dance. While there is no hierarchy to
these dances, no one dance is better that the others, the way Joseph
taught them gives a hint to a way to decide which dance to do first.
Joseph encourages us to dance all of these dances and while most people pick a
dance and do that for a time, they also rotate through all the dances. The
Long Dance is most accessible and seems like a good first dance. All is
good.