Reclaim your Love of Life through the Magic of Dance.
For everyone, everywhere.
Julia Franks Author
Julia is a lover of dance. She began dancing at parties in her teenage years. In the 1980s and 90s, Julia co-ran clubs and raves in London. She developed a workshop exploring the rave experience called Spirit in the House.
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For the past 3 decades, Julia has practised as a Transpersonal Psychotherapist, with a special interest in the wisdom of the moving body and exploring body symptoms.
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She is a Certified teacher in Open Floor movement practice and Ecstatic Dance. She a member of the International Conscious Movement Teacher's Association (ICMTA), and runs regular Flomotion and Open Floor dance sessions in London.
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Julia writes regular blogs on themes connected with dance such as Dance and Defence Against Loneliness, What is Dancing with Awareness in the Body, Community Dance and Dance Movement Psychotherapy.
Dance for Life
Before humankind could talk, tell stories, or build collective endeavours, it was ‘rhythmic movement in time’ that gave the first spark to the human instinct to collaborate. Dance supported a decisive switch in human orientation, which set the stage for our extraordinary evolutionary journey. Dance made settlement, survival, belonging, and language, all ultimately possible.
In dance, shared movement, energy exchanges, spontaneous patterns, and communal spaces are forged. Thus, fears and concerns are overcome; social bonds, common purpose, and collective identity evolve. Dance has transformational power. What ignited our ancestors can inspire us today. That is the central proposition of this book. In the Western World we lost our dance in the second half of the last millennium. We must revive dance in our lives. This book is the invitation.
Today we see the growth of sober raves, day time discos, and many other forms of ‘conscious dance’. But what is conscious dance? It is the opposite of ‘self-conscious’ dance. Dancing with freedom, as if no-one is watching. This book introduces and explains how we are reclaiming dance through practices such as five rhythms, open floor, Biodanza, ecstatic dance, and movement medicine.
It observes how dance is now being employed to tackle social and health challenges from isolation and depression, to Parkinson’s, dementia, addiction, obesity, and stress. Julia invites us to ‘get dancing’ and gives us options for how to do it. Dance is a way to end isolation, be part of a community and fuel ourselves against the stresses of modern life. This book will awaken your curiosity to the rhythm of your own dancing body, and the magic evoked by dancing together. Dance is old magic for our new world.
Dance for Life
Table of Contents:
​Preface v
Introduction vii
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My Journey 1
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The Origins of Dance and Human Evolution 22
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The Rediscovery of Dance 40
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The Place of Dance in today’s world 62
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Conscious Dance practices today 82
Julia's book, Dance for Life, is itself a dance: a blend of different flavours and textures. Part autobiographical, part historical, part factual, interweaving the voices of many dancers with Julia's subjective 'diary of a conscious dance teacher'.
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The book grew from Julia's conviction, born of lived experience, that we all need to up our game when it comes to dance: for physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual health. The scientific community back the proposition that dancing is one of the best all-round forms of physical exercise, and there are ample examples in the book of how dance is being used to improve the lives of people: from those with Parkinson's disease, to support young people, stress, addiction, dementia and more.
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Dance for Life offers the reader a comprehensive introduction to the world of Conscious Dance, a growing practice which includes Ecstatic Dance and many others that create community, offer emotional expression and joyful embodiment without late nights and the use of drugs and alcohol.
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Taken from Dance for Life preface:
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'Dance for Life has a clarity and intuitive logic to it, that is like a dance itself. The 5 chapters each have their own rhythm, beat, and lyric. There is pace, flow, and shape. We learn how Julia encountered dance and placed it at the centre of her life. Julia recounts the story of how dance enabled human evolution and civilisation, but also how we ‘lost’ dance. She observes how the last 50 years have fostered the
rediscovery of dance worldwide. She illustrates and demonstrates how dance is a force for good in our vulnerable world. Finally, we are
introduced to what conscious dance is, and its many varieties. Along the way, we meet historians, anthropologists, psychologists, religious teachers and (most important) lots of wonderful ordinary people who dance with Julia every week.
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Julia is uniquely qualified. As a former club promoter, current therapist, and conscious dance leader, Julia has curated ‘dance experiences with a purpose’ for more than 30 years and has danced with more than 1,000,000 people. Julia has been convening people and curating dance all her life, she wants everyone to get dancing. This book is a celebration of how dance can make us whole.'
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