Julie Clark tries dancing with a difference in an earnest attemp to release some inner glow.

by Julie Clark
Appeared in Sydney Courier

I'm late. And even though the parking problems I had anticipated didn't

But as I enter the studio and find my 30 or so fellow CHAKRADANCE™rs sitting silently in a circle on the floor, their faces lit by the soft glow of candlelight, I feel liberated from the need for explanations. Clearly, the only person I am responsible to here is myself.

I have just arrived at my first CHAKRADANCE™ session, part of a nine-week introductory course, which will teach me to use spontaneous dance to re-balance my body's seven energy centres or chakras. Invented by dancer, healer and CHAKRADANCE™ teacher Natalie Southgate, the concept was first trialed in the UK, before classes started in Sydney in 2001.

In just two years it's taken off, with a solid band of followers who attend regular drop-in classes and special events such as the upcoming Solstice Dance Party. My housemate- a very grounded, holistic 24 year old, who also happens to be extremely well versed in everything new age, is a previous participant, and I'm keen to experience a bit of what he's talked about: a mix of creative,
expressive movement, learning, healing and fun.

Natalie explains that the nine-week course focuses on one chakra at a time, working up from the base chakra located at the perineum, to the crown chakra, at the top of the head. Tonight however, we will experience a little bit of each, dancing our way through seven tracks of music to get a taste of how it works.

As a warm up track begins to play, we are advised to keep our eyes semi-closed. But, apart from this there are no instructions.

The idea is to let your body move.

Once before, at a free dance class I attended in England, I was struck my the thought that the set up might all be an extravagant joke. I was working as a Cultural Development officer in local government at the time and wouldn't have put it past several of the Arts Workers I knew to have organisesd the session on my behalf - in which case they might be standing around laughing at my energetic contortions. But when I nervously opened my eyes to check, I found that each participant was fully focused on their own individual experience.

At CHAKRADANCE™ it was the same.

Women and men of all ages - from vixens in their early 20s to esquires in business suits, were all dancing as though nobody was watching. Some moved frenetically or with exaggerated motion, others danced with all the grace of a ballerina, whilst several stood trance like, swaying to their own unique internal rythm.

Settling into my own experience and moving to a complicated choreography of my own devic, I am amazed at my own unexplored potential. It crosses my mind that if Graeme Murphy were here he might share in my amazement and I could find myself next week on the stage, filing a role in Sydney Dance Theatre's new show, Underland.

And as the music progresses through the seven tracks, I am aware of how varied my natural uninhibited response to the distinct vibrations of each chakra. Some tracks I leap about and others I am almost still. Sometimes my legs and feet are alive, others my hips, my stomach and shoulders. When it comes to the heart chakra I can feel it all come together in some sublime and suprisingly demonstrative expression of joy.

When the music fades, everyone sits still to share his or her experience. But after almost two hours of dancing I am exhausted and ready to go home. CHAKRADANCE™ may be healing, expressive and everything else I thought it would be, but it's also a bloody good workout. As I get in m car, I realise I'm glad Graeme Murphy didn't turn up and witness now my leaps floundered by the end of the class. And I'm grateful I've already bought my tickets for Underland and will be watching it from te comfort of a seat in the stalls.