In the intro to his upcoming God, Sex, and the Body workshop, Jonathan shares the "archetypal energies that Gabrielle mapped" for use in 5Rhythms workshops:
WHAT ARE THE ARCHETYPES?
The Mother is our nurturer.
The Mother is our nurturer.
She makes everyone feel good to be themselves and reminds us to take care of ourselves and those around us.
The Mistress is the part of us that flirts with the world
and when she is truly empowered that becomes an art form.
The Madonna is the Tarot reader.
She is the manifestation of our intuition and our most mysterious gifts that god gives all of us.
The Father is a worker.
The Father is a worker.
He builds the structures that enable everyone to feel safe.
The Wild Son takes everything to the edge.
He loves risk and adventure.
The Holy Spirit lives and dresses as the seeker.
He dances in his spirituality, he chants mantras and he sings medicine songs.
I'm not suggesting that Gabrielle considered these six to be the only archetypes, or even the most important, but it is very interesting to me that she chose these ones, given her lifetime commitment to freeing the Western mind from the grip of its rational, anti-body culture. These archetypes are so rooted in patriarchal, Christian mythology and ideas about gender that I would have a great deal of difficulty dancing them if I was in one of their workshops.
I'm critiquing this not because I don't want people to do 5Rhythms workshops - I've done one myself and enjoyed it completely. I do want people to be free though and I was bothered to think people might feel these six archetypes were somehow the most central figures they should work with. I have no idea why Gabrielle chose the Mistress (she only exists in relationship to a married man, so she doesn't have her own essential identity) or the Madonna (a weakened Christian version of the ancient Goddess who could procreate without a celestial partner). And of course the Holy Spirit is male here, even though some Jewish scholars will tell you the most ancient version of the Spirit who breathed on the face of the Earth at creation was Sophia. I don't think the spirit world is gendered the way we order the world, but Gabrielle seems to present it that way.
As a woman of British descent, I prefer the triple goddess archetypes when I dance: Maiden, Mother and Crone. I also use Warrior, Priestess, Hunter, Teacher, Lover, and more. They have come to me through my dreams, my dances, writing and meditation. It is very powerful when you connect with an archetype that really resonates within you. It can tell you about the energy that is moving in you. I have found it gives me strength and clarity when I dance them.
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| David Knezz, maskmaker |
Another option is to choose an element; fire, earth, air, or water. I can remember doing Neutral Mask work in theatre school in my 20's to find the elements that were most natural to our bodies/natures. We wore masks that had no expression (neutral), beautifully Italian handcrafted leather masks, and moved until we found the element in our bodies, which in turn would help us find the characters that we would most powerfully portray. Amazing experience!
I hope members of the Dance Your Bones collective do take up the invitation to dance an archetype this October 31st, but I hope you choose one that comes from your own inner world.
I will be there, dressed and in archetype, maybe even more than one :-)
And I will send Jonathan a link to my blog to see what he has to say about it too.
