Moving Archetypes
 

“Dance is Deity.

-Padma Menon

The Body-led intelligence of archetypal dance

padma-graffiti.jpg

Values

Body-led spirituality

Body is sentient. Body-led spirituality or inquiry is where we allow the body to reveal Her intelligence. To be Body-led is more than just being embodied—we free Body from all roadmaps of the mind. Through this revelation we learn to navigate multi-dimensional and complex Reality. The mental intelligence finds its rightful place in this movement.

Authenticity

What renders us sacred is our authenticity.

Authenticity is excavated from Body. It is not awarded by communities, families, or ideologies. Authenticity is Deity and Dance.

Heart-sourced expression

Heart is the Guardian of the door to the cave of Body. He invites us to turn towards our longing for authenticity and to dance our ancient longing with all its poignancy, lyricism, and beauty. The intelligence of Heart is the lion’s ferocity and wildness.

Dance is the inquiry

Dance is the language of the ceremonial expression of Body-led spirituality. Dance in this expression is mystical, outpouring, nondual, multi-dimensional, of sensation and archetypal.

Rasa

Rasa is the ancient Indian practice and philosophy of creativity and expression. Rasa is a multi-dimensional approach which includes ritual, ceremony, archetypes, sensation, Body, and dance. Rasa reveals that Consciousness is a creative intelligence that we experience when we can mirror that intelligence in our bodies.

Padma’s approach

Padma calls her approach Body-led spirituality which is a new spirituality that honours Body and Her intelligences of senses, movement (dance), expression and grounding. This is not just embodying existing spiritualities but leading with Body inspired by ancient wisdom of ritual and ceremonial dance and philosophies sourced in these like Rasa spirituality from India. Padma’s approach to dance is a unique offering based on her forty years of experience of dance.

In Padma’s Body-led spirituality, mainstream proposals of stillness, analysis, linear ascension, denial of Body, outsourcing to external authorities, and retreating from Reality as renunciation, are interrogated. Body-led spirituality centralises Body as the site of experience, experience as the essence of Reality, expression as the manifestation of experience, and beauty and creative intelligence as the alchemical transformative expression.

Padma does not teach for performance or certification purposes. Her offerings are invitations to experience dance as an intelligent, joyful, creative and radical self-inquiry. The offerings are meant as intimate, personal practices that transform perceptions of everyday Reality, meaning, purpose and connection.

No previous experience of dance or knowledge of archetypes is necessary.

 
archetypes.jpg

Individual Programs

Reclaiming your Sacred Self

A transformation program

Body Poetry

Exploring embodied creativity

 
GDPhoto_200215__web-1-2 (1).JPG

Group programs

Group classes

Padma is on a break from teaching in the first quarter of 2024. Therefore there will be no group courses or intensives offered during this period. If you wish to be informed of the next courses when they are offered again, please sign up to our newsletter at the SIGNUP tab.

Group courses are offered as 8-week workshop series or as 2-day weekend intensives. Currently the group courses require live, interactive participation via Zoom sessions. They are available internationally but are offered at Australian times.

No previous experience of dance is required for these courses.

Padma approaches dance as archetypal and as contemplation. Dance is combined with reflective experience through guided improvisation.

The 8 week workshop series are offered four times each year, and are supported by practice videos, information on philosophy and a discussion forum.

The 2-day intensives are a ‘deep dive’ into various aspects of Indian dance and philosophy. They are supported by pre-intensive talk on the philosophy of the theme or focus Deity, preparatory videos, post-intensive videos to continue your exploration and the option of an individual session with Padma to deepen your exploration.

To find out when the courses are offered, sign up to our newsletter at the Signup tab.

Free Events

There are no free events at this time. Please check back later.

Classes & Events: on a break until April 2024

 

About Padma

Padma Menon is a dancer, writer, and philosopher, who is a pioneer in offering a new Body-led spirituality of dance. She helps those seeking to reclaim their authenticity, which is their sacred self, by generously sharing her lifetime’s knowledge in sacred dance, philosophy, and ritual—so that they can experience unconditional freedom, taste their true essence, and move in this world in a sacred way.

Moving Archetypes, founded by Padma, is dedicated to offering dance as a Body-led spiritual practice of self-inquiry. Padma has a unique approach to dance, rooted in ancient philosophy and practice, but locating it in the reality of our bodies and consciousness in these times.

Padma hails from a matrilineal family of writers, activists, and philosophers. Her great great grandmother is the legendary Indian poetess Ikkavamma (1864-1916) who was one of the earliest feminist actors and poets in India. Padma was a child prodigy and began her dance career at the age of nine in India. She was a leading dancer in the Kuchipudi style of dance, which is an ancient temple dance tradition. When she moved to Australia in the 90’s, she developed one of the first professional non-western dance companies that had a national and international performance profile. Padma then moved to the Netherlands and created significant contemporary works which eschewed colonial interpretations of contemporary aesthetics for a radical aesthetic that was sourced from the depths of Indian practice. Padma also developed a centre for dance in India which helped women to live their full and sacred presence in their lives.

Padma has mentored and taught hundreds of people all over the world. She has created ground-breaking choreographic works that featured in international festivals like the Holland Dance Festival and Cadance Festival in Europe. She has delivered keynote presentations at universities and conferences in Australia, Europe and the United States including the DanceUSA conference and the Greenmill International Conference. During a break from dance, she was the CEO of high profile not for profit organisations that advocated for issues such as multiculturalism and humanities.

Writing is also Padma’s passion. She has won national awards in India for her poetry and short stories and her writing was published by Orient Longman in India under the auspices of the British Council. She was also a regular contributor to a leading national daily in India during her university studies.

Other than a lifetime in dance, Padma has studied Indian philosophy, yoga, and martial arts under traditional lineages. She has also studied contemporary western dance and was one of the earliest Indian dancers to mainstream cross-cultural dance. She has a Masters in Choreography from Codarts Academy in the Netherlands, and a post graduate degree in English Literature from the Australian National University.

Canberra, Australia is currently home to Padma, and she loves the ancient spirit of Australia’s bushlands and enjoys her long walks listening to the exuberance of native birdsong.

_DSC6412.JPG

FAQs

+ Is this classical Indian dance?

No. Padma does not teach traditional Indian dance. Her dance is rooted in ancient Indian dance, and the Rasa philosophy of dance. However, she reinterprets dance through a Body-led perspective which is nonlinear, nondual and multi-dimensional. She calls this Dance Contemplation. As a result, she offers a fresh approach of dance as self-inquiry, which combines dance, reflection, archetypal wisdom and divinatory insights.

+ What does a dance contemplation class look like?

Dance Contemplation is Padma’s approach to dance where she offers dance as the philosophy. Here dance does not simply illustrate pre-existing philosophies, but it is the wisdom about life and Reality as experience. In other words, Dance is about itself.

A Dance Contemplation class is always a ceremonial “invocation”, so it is not just a mechanical practice session. The dance content is supported by guided reflection sections where you will explore the philosophical insights within dance through dance itself. This renders philosophy an intimate, sensory and feelingful experience rather than theoretical or academic.

In dance contemplation classes, we learn to use our body and mind to engage with the chosen archetype/deity or theme through dance, guided improvisation and reflection. The approach includes:

  • Dance rooted in Indian dance but focused on the ceremonial and archetypal dimensions
  • Unpacking "Rasa" or archetypal sensations of dance
  • Attending to the philosophical implications of the dance
  • Guided simple movement improvisation There is also time for reflection and feedback in the classes.

+ What are archetypes?

Archetypes refer to Deities or sensations (Rasas) that are multi-dimensional expressions. For example, the archetype of Shiva, the Deity of Dance, is beyond masculine and feminine duality, is both destroyer and creator, dancer and ascetic, and ferocious and compassionate. In dance we are able to blend these dualities to experience Rasa which is sensation that is not just the sum of the dualities but something other and beyond.

Padma refers to her archetypal approach as constellation. Just as many stars form a constellation while retaining their own individual qualities, so also in a constellation approach we are able to experience both individuality and union in the same moment.

+ Do I need to know dance to participate in the classes?

No. Padma's approach to teaching is to invite a beginner's mind no matter what your previous experience. She will guide and facilitate open, creative explorations of the archetype through movement. The classes are designed to encourage a non-judgemental approach to our self, our movement and to others.

+ Is this dance therapy?

No. You must not approach this dance as therapy or psychological process. It is a philosophical inquiry through dance. Dance contemplation is not designed for a cathartic process where through self-expression you ‘purge’ your emotions. The aim is to expand from a sense of individuality towards a more connected experience of life and feelings. The archetypes provide powerful and empowering frameworks that can facilitate this process.

+ How can I try a class or find out more before I join?

It is impossible to fully translate the nature of a dance-led spirituality into words. The very purpose of this practice is to move you beyond thoughts and words, and into the intelligence of the language of the body.

You can try a session by signing up to one of our Come and Try sessions (please check the Free Event tab for upcoming sessions or sign up to our newsletter for the next one). You can also access Padma's weekly practices and posts on her social media channels. These will give you a taste of her approach and teaching.

 
 
Padma Menon has an incredible stage presence…she also has the rare gift of forcing an audience participation through sheer intensity of performance.

She left viewers marveling at her sure technique and near flawless exhibition of footwork, but more importantly, it gave them for a couple of hours, an invitation to get out of themselves, to
empathise so fully with the scenes on stage that the end, when it came, left them yearning for more.
— The Financial Express, India
What is striking… is the way in which Menon pushes the traditional Indian dance vocabulary in ways that give the audience new insights into both Western and non-Western dance…
Because of its play with opposites and differences, [the dance] has a passion that eludes most choreographers trained in a Western tradition.
— The Canberra Times, Australia
GDPhoto_170916__web-11.jpg

Contact Us

I am always interested in hearing from you about your questions or your interest in Indian dance as a spiritual practice. If you are interested in our programs and would like to know more, you can subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates on upcoming programs. Please go to the Signup button below to subscribe.

You can also link to our Facebook page or Youtube channel (use the buttons below) where you will find more resources about the Indian philosophy and dance.

For information about my Reclaiming your Sacred Self Individual transformation program for women, please use the form to get in touch with me. I will respond to you with more details about the program and an invitation to set up a free one hour meeting for you to find out if the program is what you are looking for.

You can contact me by using the form on this page. Please let us know where you found information about us and what your query relates to. You can also use the form to add your name to the waiting list for the next free come and try session for our group classes.