Tom Goldhand is one of the co-founders of Ecstatic Dance Amsterdam since 2012, and has held many hundreds of ceremonies at the legendary club lite and subsequent venues.
He's also a trained dancer, dance therapist, a contact improv teacher, and a DJ.
For me he is a great source of experience and inspiration, both indirectly when I attended his events and directly through our many personal conversations.
I appreciate that he doesn't just do things in a certain way, but rather, he can also explain why he's doing it, share past experiences where he learned it, and give examples from adjacent fields.
For example, listen to the discussion around the placement of the altar and the comparison with medicine circles around the 43 minute mark.
If you're an organizer, ceremony leader, DJ or even just avid dancer, you will find huge value in this interview.
You can watch the video version on Spotify or on our Youtube channel (Link TBA).
A few highlights:
ED is a practice of movement.
How to create a dance that appeals to more kinds of people, that allows different people to interact and serve each other, and that combines both fun music and therapeutic aspects.
The important of the ceremony and the responsibilities of the ceremony leader.
"Safe space" vs. "Brave Space"
How to increase group cohesion and avoid "bubbles" and a disconnected dance floor.
Setting up the space:
Where are the "hot spots" of the dance floor?
Why placing the altar at some spots can lead to "black holes" that interfere with the dance, and how they can be placed to clean and clear problematic areas of the space.
Why altars in medicine circles are so different to altars at Ecstatic Dance events.
ED is the easiest event to hold, and hardest event to hold right.
Space team:
- Importance of
- 3 crucial roles in the team, and other responsibilities
- What are problematic issues on the dance floor; How and when the space team should intervene?
The three types of DJs.
LINKS:
Ecstatic Dance Amsterdam - https://www.ecstaticdanceamsterdam.com/
Heart of Ecstatic Dance training - http://www.heartofthedance.com/
Contact Improv by Tom - https://tomgoldhand.com/
This interview will be weaved into the upcoming book "Ecstatic Dance - How to serve the world through a shared movement practice", written by me, Eyal Matsliah aka Nowananda.
For a 1700 words text summary of the interview, to ask questions, and know about the upcoming book, visit this link:
(TBA)
