|
Click Here: See Tahya "Art of Healing Dance"
with Eve Tannery on WFMZ TV's SUNRISE
Enjoy above sample of Tahya Technique(tm) Healing Dance DVD
For more info., and/or to order the Tahya Technique(tm) Healing Dance DVD, go to Tahya Online Shop!
Also, please note: when visiting Tahya Online Shop! you are also encouraged to consider registering for:
Tahya Online Lessons!
Embark on a journey, toward relaxation and healing as your creative spirit is kindled. Discover the movements residing within that resonate with the circular patterns of the ancient and enduring art of Danse Orientale.
Tahya Technique(tm) 'Healing Dance' program is a therapeutic, alternative, complementary, holistic and natural pathway to recovery from surgery (or many of life's other "bumps in the road"), restoring wellness and elevating self-esteem.
Recognized as the Lehigh Valley's "leading authority" on dances from throughout the Middle and Far East, Tahya is well-known for her classes at Northampton Community College and Lehigh Valley Hospital's Healthy You Programs as well as for her appearances at venues such as Musikfest, Mayfair, Bethlehem's Sculpture Garden Performing Arts Series, Red Hat chapter meetings, Girl Scout meetings, guest lectures at Muhlenberg college, and more.
Tahya considers dance a way to honor the body, the temple of our spirit, this sacred garment we have been provided for this lifetime's journey. She shares the belief that art-making has profound implications for healing, spiritual growth and the full unfolding of human potential.
Whether seeking psychological, spiritual, emotional, or physical
balance, women (of all ages, shapes and sizes) have found the dance a true healing tool as they re-discover a heightened sense of creativity, femininity & self esteem. In fact, this dance is helpful for all of us: Danse Orientale
is enjoying a renaissance in the new millennium as
women discover its ability to melt away stress.
This dance expresses womanly grace
through its round, circular, fluid motions.
Tahya's 'Healing Dance' program is designed to make movement and dance accessible tools
for relaxation and/or improved health and well-being. Connecting movement with rhythmic drumming expands one's imagination, creativity, individual growth and fulfillment ~ important components to recovering a personal spiritual connection to health ~ complementing one's recovery process.
For example, women recovering from breast surgery, such as mastectomy and/or lumpectomies, may be challenged to recover arm movement; however, in class with Tahya, participants are gently guided through soft and fluid movements affording one the opportunity to experience a greater range of movement and flexibility as well as heightened sense of body image and self esteem.
"Tahya made us all feel special. We danced with veils,
tapped the rhythm on frame drums,
circled the floor with finger cymbals and connected to movements
rich in women's history and healing rituals."- Monica McAghon
"I think it's wonderful... It doesn't hurt what I've done [as a surgeon] - it complements it.
I helped treat the cancer, this has helped her mind and spirit."- Dr. Marian McDonald
"After observing the profound 'healing' taking place with Tahya's students who are Cancer survivors, I was instantly moved and realized the urgency to spread the word to therapeutic communities at large. Without reservation I endorse Tahya's work as a beautiful, effective complement to any traditional therapy model."
- Lori Cotler, MA, CMT,
Professor of Music Therapy,
New School University, NYCAs a lyme disease victim, I have found this dance to be very beneficial in aiding my recovery
(and I never took dance lessons before).
It has helped me to put aside all other things, just for a moment . . .
and focus on myself ~ mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Tahya has a special gift that she graciously shares with others.- Joan Orchard
"I suffered whiplash in a car accident and when encouraged to start exercising again
I found the movements in class with Tahya were gentle yet effective enough for me to resume activity."- Bev Marino
Course outline: Class begins with a guided visualization inviting participants to relax. A series of gentle warm-up exercises follow with an
introduction to the series of circular movements steeped in the Arabic dance traditions of antiquity. Advanced patterns of circles within circles are introduced as we spiral toward recognition and celebration of ourselves.
Music and dance easily travel beyond the boundaries of language building
minds without borders and minds that can cross borders. The intent is to make the art of dance an accessible tool for relaxation and/or improved health and well-being.
This program is open to persons of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Relaxing/HealingDance: 60 min. class, runs 6 consecutive weeks
Also available for presentation in your community:
A one-day 3-hour class
or 2-3 day Weekend Retreat
For more details, call 610-776-7045
or email: Tahya@tahya.com
OR
For information on ordering a DVD formatted introduction to Danse Orientale with Tahya as a complementary and integrative art therapy,
go to Healing Dance DVD
"I keep a copy of your 'Healing Dance' DVD on the shelf of the Center's lending library and in my healing work with clients who are experiencing health crisis ~ such as breast cancer or other illnesses that challenge their sense of self-worth ~ your instruction throughout the DVD and relaxing narrative on the companion CD's have proved very helpful. Every time a client returns the DVD and the 'Meditations' CD, they do so with words of thanks and praise for the insights and joy they gained."
- Katrina Valenzuela, Director
Transformations Center for Healing and Holistic Studies
Barnstable, MA
* * * * * HEALING DANCE TESTIMONIALS * * * * * |
 Monica McAghon December 1999 |
"Danse Orientale for Mastectomy Recovery"
A testimonial by Monica McAghon
July 1999 -- "Arabic dancing? You've got to be kidding." I looked at my friend Juanita in disbelief when she gave me the gift of six weeks of Arabic dancing lessons. I had been through the biopsy and diagnosis of breast cancer, a lumpectomy, a mastectomy, and was in the middle of chemotherapy. Nothing seemed more incongruous than Arabic dancing, but I went anyway.
About ten women of all shapes and sizes and ages showed up, and we shyly gathered together and exchanging light banter that didn't go deeper than "Hello, how are you doing. Where do you work?" We then fanned out across the polished wood dance floor, and Tahya introduced a few movements, slowly inviting us to "Step, lift the right hip; step, now lift the left hip." We added arm movements, swaying to the music of Hossam Ramzy, Egyptian percussionist ~ shoulder, elbow, wrist, lean; shoulder, elbow, wrist, lean ~ Dum-Dum-tek -dum- tek.
Pleasantly surprised, I loved the organic feel of it, how it swept my imagination and made me think of women along the Nile, and along the Fertile Crescent between the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers. Admittedly, a romantic notion but one documented in ancient pictures from the time of the Goddesses Isis, Ishtar, and Astarte.
The psychological blow of my breast cancer, the loss to my femininity that I grieved, and the anger that replaced it with "I am not my breast" ~ all passed away. Transformed, I felt myself buoyed by a new sense of femininity, one that was deeply sensuous and yet spiritual at the same time.
 Monica (a/k/a Consuelo) in performance February 2002: A percussion goddess arisen! |
When dancing these centuries-old traditions, it didn't matter that I had only one breast; I felt more womanly than I had felt in a long time. I was connected to movements rich in women's history and healing rituals. |
Tahya made us all feel special. Each of us in her own way danced to the rhythm, honoring the lineage of these ancient steps, first conceived at the dawn of civilization, when women danced in reverence of their fertile bellies, entrancing themselves and their men and making childbirth easier.
After the surgery the surgeon looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and severity. "Build up your chest muscles with some exercise; you're scrawny," she said. Tahya's dance class focuses on lifting the arms and shoulders up and back in a way that gently massages the chest muscles. I couldn't think of a better way to exercise.
After my last chemotherapy treatment I immediately went to the Arabic dancing class. It made me forget the nausea, the bad taste of chemicals lingering on my tongue, the despair I felt at poisoning my good cells along with the remaining cancer cells. We danced with veils, tapped the rhythm on frame drums, circled the floor with finger cymbals and connected to movements rich in women's history and healing rituals.
* * *
"Danse Orientale aided my recovery and renewed my joy for the gift of life"
A testimonial by Jean Clay
June 2000 -- "I am doing everything I possibly can to hasten my recovery. Why don't I feel better?" That was the question that I asked my surgeon months after my breast cancer surgery and therapy. In 1985 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was 45 years old. Subsequently, I had surgery to remove the cancer and my follow-up check ups showed no cancer remaining. I was physically healed, but something else was wrong... I still felt fatigued and depressed.
I visited my doctor who said "Give yourself 'time to heal' " ~ it was then I realized I needed to be healed not only physically *but also* emotionally.
 Jean Clay |
I should have known I was very lucky to be alive: my mother was diagnosed with the same cancer when she was only 55 and died within a year of that diagnosis. This experience is traumatic for those of us facing this disease; it also was difficult emotionally for me knowing that I survived the battle my mother lost.
The doctor suggested more activity and exercise. That seemed incongruous at the time, but I decided to try. I had previously studied & enjoyed Arabic dancing so I decided to start dancing again with TAHYA. I soon found I was doing something I really enjoyed while at the same time getting the full benefit of exercise.
I firmly believe antiquity holds many secrets of healing that we need to unlock for ourselves today. |
Today I am a healthy, happy grandmother. I know first hand the dance is very therapeutic. Not only did the gentle arm movements and swaying motions give me greater range of flexibility, it helped me express my emotions.... and as I danced, my life became more focused and I was able to approach the dawn of each day with a renewed joy for the gift of life.
* * *
This program is open to persons of all ages, shapes and sizes.
Relaxing/HealingDance: 60 min. class, runs 6 consecutive weeks
Also available for presentation in your community:
A one-day 3-hour class, a 2-3 day Weekend Retreat
or
Tahya Technique(tm) 'Healing Dance' Training Certification Program
For more details, call 610-776-7045
or email: Tahya@tahya.com
See article entitled "10 Ways to Cope..." by Rachel Mosteller
See article entitled "Dance is Celebration of Life" by Meg Green
"Artmaking encourages vision, hope and imagination -- all of which foster the healing process and enable us to discover our creative potential." - Gianna Volpe, M.F.A., Artist-in-Residence University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center Link to the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center Art Program |
For more information on the healing aspect of this dance,
see The Health Section from Thursday, April 11, 2002 article
published in the Easton Express Times on
'Healing Dance' penned by April Helmer.
and/or download an excerpt from a Morning Call article penned by Chris Parker.
For information on ordering a DVD-formatted introduction to Danse Orientale with Tahya as a complementary and integrative art therapy,
go to Healing Dance DVD
