Dance Tribe 2024

Dance Tribe is a sanctuary for movement expression, active meditation, and community sacred space.

It's a shared flow state that can be primal, playful, and healing.

No choreography, no comparisons—just be yourself and extend others the same grace.

Music is magic, movement is medicine, community is sanctuary, breath is alchemy.

Come as you are.

 

The above video illustrates how I might guide you into embodied awareness and finding your own ritual of entry.

This is whatever allows you to tune-in to your body intelligence as you follow your movement impulse.

From there, we take a journey toward the ecstatic!

You're welcome. Come as you are. Come ride the wave...

* No talking please (at all).

* Barefoot (or, if really needed, non-street shoes used ONLY for dance.)

* No photography in the space during the event please.

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I am your DJ and facilitator, Julian Walker. 

I've been sharing the experience of free-form dance as awareness practic since 2004, and yoga since 1993.

Having deeply practiced and professionally taught multiple integrative movement, meditation, and mind-body modalities over the last three decades, I became allergic to any "one true way" claim of authority. 

All methods and techniques have gifts to offer, yet in the end, the permission to be fully oneself and enter flow states in shared sared space is the grail we seek.

Whatever your background or orientation, you're welcome at Dance Tribe.

 

Tuesdays 7:30 to 9 pm (starting October 1)
Doors close at 8:15 pm (please respect)
The Church In Ocean Park
235 Hill Str. Santa Monica

In advance tickets here ONLY.

(No at the door tickets)

Note: Make sure you select DATE, TIME & NUMBER of tickets for your purchase to go smoothly.. THEN check the 3 boxes.  😉 (You can also create an account for future convenience!)

New? Check out this handy-dandy flow-chart please!

flow chart

What "style" of dance is it?

We follow in the footsteps of all traditions and methods that point toward the powerful experience of free-form dance as awareness practice.

Dance Tribe thrived in multiple Westside locations between 2014 and 2020, most notably the 120-year-old Church in Ocean Park. I inherited facilitation of the Tuesday night gatherings from my primary dance teacher and friend, Michael Skelton, when he left LA.

During that time overlapping dance communities, some (like 5-Rhythms, Fumbling Toward Ecstasy, and Soul Motion) going back to the late 1990's, some (like Ecstatic Dance and LA Dance Collective) newly emergent in LA, found a shared home.

I also love what my friends at Deep Dance are doing, and feel great resonance in our intentions and vibe.

Dance Tribe resurrected in 2023, post-pandemic, for 13 glorious months at The Lab—with an even more dedicated intention.

Now, starting October 1, we are BACK at the church!

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All video and photos above this sentence are courtesy of the masterful and gracious Erik Borzi. IG: @erikborzi

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  •  Barefoot is best, acceptable dance shoes that never touch the street are fine.
  • Leave no trace. Clean up as necessary.

 

Parking

Early-birds can use the parking lot just East of the church!  Note: there are two clearly-marked spots that we cannot use.

There is street parking nearby (read the signs) and metered parking spots/small lots on and around Main street.

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"I have been to other ecstatic dance experiences before in different parts of the country. What makes Julian’s experiences different, in my opinion, is his many years of teaching yoga and being a musician. He guides dancers and yogis as a shaman would – engaging all of our senses.

His musical selection and intuition on what to play when – is otherworldly. The whole dance is a healing work that you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know you’ve changed and you’ll never be the same. The people that Julian attracts are also a unique breed of kind, spiritual and creative individuals who contribute to the atmosphere creating a vortex for healing and change. What a gift!”
~Vera Ostrova 

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” Tonight….my heart wide open, dancing, flying high from some place deeply happy and satisfied within and by just being in the room with the people around me. 

 

And then the surge of tribal sexiness that rolled, drummed and thrusted out of me, my body sweating, being taken away by each beat, by each rhythm…pounding out of each pore of my body….my hips grooving, grinding and swinging to the flow of my heart…..which was listening deeply to the soul tapping tunes coming from the speakers!

 

Thank you….for all you bring to me dance, the music….my tribe….I bow to you and I am ever so grateful to have connected with all of you on and off the dance floor afterward. I feel filled!

Thank you Julian, for the fabulous mix tonight….touched something so deep within! I am very grateful!” ~Heather Rhea Dawn

But... What Even IS Dance Tribe?!

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Dance Tribe is a most delicious combination of sacred space and playful, fierce, authentic self-expression in community.

For me, its a dream come true —and this community has been growing and connecting and supporting one another since 2014 now!

Church in Ocean Park —deep in the Dance Tribe zone!

You may ask: Well —how is this different than just going to a nightclub?

The first word that comes to mind is intention. The second is respect.

The way our community values this practice means that you are much freer to explore and express yourself than you would be in a nightclub.

It’s less self-conscious, less about image.

It’s a barefoot, comfy clothes, all for one and one for all, you do your thing and I’ll do mine vibe, with the intention of really exploring the flow-state power and beauty of dance.

Are you ready for an adventure?

I’ll see you Tuesday nights!