On Sunday, May 3, at the Third Street Center from 3 to 5pm, three Roaring Fork local women from different communal backgrounds and varying degrees of involvement in music will join together, with an open invitation to the greater community, for an intentional time of immersive song, movement, and connection with a new SongKeepers Circle.
The event will be led by music educator, musical artist, and author Lisa Dancing-Light who began hosting these gatherings last year after taking suggestions from a student who expressed a desire to bring people together and empower their voices.
“This type of gathering allows us to connect on a more intimate spiritual level to regulate and recalibrate our nervous systems and entrain with each other,” Dancing-Light said. “It is a very ancient cultural and tribal practice. The main purpose of ancient music through history was to create community by bringing people together and for healing.”
Dancing-Light’s career as a musician has spanned over four decades. Throughout this journey, which she said began at the age of three, she has performed with the Aspen Choral Society, been involved in many band projects and offered music lessons to people of all ages and demographics, primarily in piano and vocal training. Through these events, she incorporates traditional sounds rooted in Kitran mantras, Sanskrit, Native American-inspired songs and even modern science — to foster a healing environment.
“My entire life has been dedicated to music; sharing and studying as a student, researcher, educator, healer, composer, and performer,” Dancing-Light said. “Singing in groups in ancient times was intended to heal and bring people together. By listening to each other and blending our voices, we create a Morphogenetic Field that connects us and fosters deep resonance.”
She added: “This resonance then [creates] a shift in the environment and hopefully humanity. This is science-based through Albert Einstein’s term of “Spooky Action” at a distance, also known as Quantum Entanglement.”
Her collaborators, Mindy Arbuckle and Pam Rosenthal, aka Bonte Lane, began attending Dancing-Light’s SongKeeper Circles, where she said the three of them developed a deep connection with one another.
Rosenthal, a musician with a long-standing and iconic presence in the Roaring Fork Valley, felt drawn to this since it aligned with her past of hosting communal music circles. She expressed excitement in working with both Arbuckle and Dancing-Light in a familiar format, which she hopes to foster for those in attendance.
“I hope to attract people who do not see themselves as singers and to create a safe and inviting container for them to explore their voice and feel the healing power of music,” Rosenthal said. “Community is so important and something we have lost in modern times. Connection through community music making brings people together regardless of their backgrounds, offering a space to create relationships that might not otherwise come to be.”
Arbuckle, who is known in the community for her work in spiritual mentorship, looks forward to helping attendees connect with themselves by getting in touch with elements of nature through invoking the parts of that which are alive within all of us.
“The elements, Earth, air, water, fire, and ether make up everything, and when we invoke the elements through song, then we are invoking this elemental, universal power within each of us,” Arbuckle said. “We’re not only joining our voices, but we’re doing so in intentional ways where we’re bringing in nature.”
Those in attendance can anticipate gently arriving into themselves and their community members through grounding exercises such as guided breathing and meditation led by crystal sound bowls, before moving into guided group singing. They are encouraged to come as they are.
For tickets, more information or to contribute to future events, visit any of these lovely ladies’ websites: bontelane.com, lisadancinglight.com or mindyarbuckle.com