Peaceful waters: Earthdance 2007
We all came from it, and without it nothing could survive. Water, the most basic form of life, will be the focus of this year's Earthdance.
The largest synchronized music and dance event for world peace the planet has ever known will attempt to heal Earth's water. Saturday at 4 p.m., through the focused attention of hundreds of thousands, an intentional healing vibration will be globally emitted.
Now in its 11th year, Earthdance's international prayer for peace will include a seven-minute long ??Om.? Participants in more than 350 locations in 60 countries will tune themselves to a specific frequency to hum the mantra of ??Om? while focusing on peaceful, tranquil and healthy waters.
According to Earthdance's founder Chris Deckker, that frequency will be toned to something akin to the earth's heartbeat, the Shuman Resonance, or the electromagnetic waves coming from the earth.
?The synchronized global Om will be toned to the specific frequency of our planet,? he said. ??The earth will give the foundational note for the people to Om to.?
At least six speakers emitting this frequency will be submerged in bodies of water across the planet the Ganges, the Nile, the Amazon, the Rhine, a river in Australia and a lagoon in Kauai. Based on the work of Dr. Imoto of Japan, whose ideas are featured in the film ??What The Bleep Do We Know!?,? it is thought that this focused global attention will input positive energy into the basic structure of life itself.
?In the next epoch of change, water will be an important global resource we will need to take care of, because of droughts, pollution in our oceans and shortages of clean drinking water,? Deckker said. ??Life came from water, and we will put an intentional healing focus into it.?
Earthdance began as a music and dance festival focused on global harmony more than a decade ago in small electronica clubs, but has since branched out to include everything from reggae to jam rock to folk to hip hop. The local Earthdance will see dozens of musical artists from all genres.
Unfortunately, for the second year in a row, Michael Franti and Spearhead will not be playing at the local Earthdance because of a gig in Australia.
?Michael's such an important part of the Earthdance family,? Deckker said. ??People should write to him and say, 'We need you back at Earthdance!'?
However, the heavy hitters who'll be rocking the stage should more than make up for it.
?We have lots of headliners this year,? Deckker said. ??Zap Mama, Medeski, Scofield, Martin and Wood, Don Carlos, Lyrics Born, The Coup, Les Nubians, Ozomatli.?
Northern California's Earthdance in Laytonville is the global epicenter of the event, and Arcata's New World Ballet will perform a Saturday midnight ritual centered around the sacredness of water. Like last year's Laytonville Earthdance, tribal elders from across the globe will be gathered to add their strength to the prayer for peace.
Each year, Earthdance includes a participatory event during the prayer. In 2004, there was the world's largest drum circle led by Mickey Hart, and in 2005 there was the world's largest spiral dance. This year, people are being asked to bring some water from a source near them as an offering in a community urn. The urn's water will be blessed by the elders, and then can be taken back to be returned to its original source.
?It will almost be like a tincture,? Deckker said. ??A super-charged tincture.?
Having just returned from Black Rock City in the Nevada desert, which he described as ??a bit mad,? Deckker insists Earthdance is unlike any other festival.
?It's not like Burning Man, where you have to be a 'Burner,' or just another festival to go party at,? he said. ??It has been my vision from the beginning that Earthdance would go into people's homes, and that vision is coming alive now.
?There will be families from all over the world participating this year, grandmas and grandpas, Christians and Muslims, indigenous peoples. It's symbolic for a global festival that anyone can take part in it. You can interact right from home. That's the power and beauty of Earthdance.
?Little communities start and grow because of Earthdance,? he continued. ??People meet each other at Earthdance. Activists, musicians and artists connect internationally. And my hope is that people will feel inspired to bring about change.?
If you can't get to Laytonville this weekend for the three-day camping festival, Deckker said you can still be a part of Saturday's global prayer. Visit Earthdance's Web site, Earthdance International 2007, sign up online and download the prayer for peace as a nope MP3.
?The concept starts at the home level,? he said. ??Get your friends together, get your family, call out to everybody. Please do what you can. There is strength in numbers.?
