In the Fire of Grace: Dancing Rumi's Journey of the Soul

Dates: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 - 7pm

Prices: Public, Members & Alumni $20 

OneSpirit Elective: Not Available for Elective Credit

Distance Learning: Available via Live Webinar

Description:

In In the Fire of Grace, Iranian-born dancer Banafsheh interprets five stages of the soul's archetypal journey to union with the Beloved in movement that marries, as Rumi's mystical vision does, the serene peace with the fierce, gorgeous passion of the divine. She is accompanied by Andrew Harvey as the voice of 12th-century Sufi mystic poet Jalalludin Rumi, summoning her deeper into the ecstatic flames of death and rebirth.

This evening will feature the showing of the film, as well as the chance to dialogue with Banafsheh and Andrew afterward, as we open to direct experience of the urgency of Rumi's message for our turbulent world and the shattering, glorious paradoxes of the mystical journey.

Banafsheh Sayyad has blazed a unique trail in contemporary dance. Born in Iran, her electrifying and wholly original dance style fuses together Flamenco, Tai Chi, Gurdjieff Movements, and the sensuous ecstasy of Persion Dance with the austere rigor of Dervish whirling. Collaborator Andrew Harvey says of her: "As an embodied mystic of the divine feminine, her presentations are not performances but transmissions which transform your vision of dance forever. Dancer and dance become one initiatory flame of grace."

Andrew Harvey is the renowned mystical scholar, Rumi translator, spiritual teacher, author of over 30 books, and architect of Sacred Activism. His Rumi is a thunderous, poignant Shakespeare of the soul, who has been treasured guide and companion to Andrew's own mystical journey and, through his teaching and writing, that of countless others.

If you have questions about registering for this course, please contact One Spirit Learning Alliance by email to info@onespiritinterfaith.org or call 212-931-6840 x 0.