A collective of dancers and drummers plan to take music and dance out into the streets this summer on July 15 in cities across the nation and globe. The acronym P.U.R.E. stands for Public Urban Ritual Experiment and was started by a group of belly dancers in New York City in 2004 for the purposes of healing and peace.

The public spaces they blessed with a short choreographed performance were chosen for their significance to humanity and benefit from healing ritual.

Movements from ancient world traditions including Middle Eastern, Chinese, Romani Gypsy, Israeli Folk, Flamenco, Indian dance and drumming are all incorporated into the P.U.R.E. experience. The dancers travel down sidewalks and in and out of subways and buses, like some urban tribe, all dressed in black and silver, swirling blue veils to remind bystanders of the unity of our “water planet” Earth.

The philosophy is based on creating community through dance and ritual, drawing people together both emotionally and physically in a shared sense of both reverence and fun.

This is the first year for the San Francisco Bay Area Branch to join the P.U.R.E. experiment. Dhyanis and Aruna, of the Marin-based WorldDance Fitness studio, will be facilitating, coordinating and hosting the rehearsals in June and July, with the global performance scheduled for July 15th. The tentative route will begin at the Ghandi Statue at the Embarcadero. The dancers will move in procession to the Mechanics Monument at Battery and Bush, then en masse via public transportation to pay homage at the Yerba Buena Center Gardens near the Martin Luther King Jr. waterfall (and the African Diaspora Museum). Finally they will beam themselves over to the National Aids Memorial Grove at Stanyon Street in Golden Gate Park. Each performance should last about 10 minutes, though the troupe will dedicate their day to this activity.

The New York based group, now 30 strong was started by Kaeshi Chai of Bellyqueen and Bellydance Superstars and Darshan of Gyspy Carvan, Portland, Oregon.

Their idea began from a vision of uniting otherwise isolated dancers in New York and taking the dance out of the nightclubs and into the general public (and we love them for it!).

Some of the sites where they’ve danced include Ground Zero, Battery Park (where the dented WTC globe sculpture now stands), the N.Y. Stock Exchange Building and the Irish Hunger Museum. Since its inception P.U.R.E. has spread to Detroit, Chicago, Indiana, Los Angeles, New Hampshire and Tokyo. “We want to inspire individuals to take a moment and reflect on what they can do or give in the spirit of peace,” say the organizers. Dhyanis and Aruna invite other Bay Area dancers to join them in the healing power of community through ancient traditions of dance and ritual.

www.puredance.org

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