"We Dance for Peace"

Last night, on September 15th and well into Sunday morning, Earthdance International 2007 was happening all over the world. Taking place in over 368 cities in 57 different countries around the globe, this event was a rave for peace, to unite all nations together. The group supports the 30 days of peace during the month of September and is an international organization.

This was it, the event I had been waiting all week long for. After hearing about this elusive event from a friend with mutual interests I proceeded to contact the head of the Tucson Earthdance Festival by email, who gave me the link to their myspace page. The page then directed me to a watch and jewelry repair shop in a tucson mall, where a man in the back came out, looked my friend Andrew and I from head to toe before asking what we needed. After we inquired about the tickets he brought them to us, and proceeded to write our names down in a black notebook.

"Hey man," I said as he turned to walk back behind the store, "where do I find out how to get there?" "Same place as last year," he replies. My blank look gives away my confusion, as he adds "you didn't go last year?" I shake my head as he gives a look around the store "Just mapquest mile wide and Trico...but you didn't hear it from me."

Great, I think, what did we get ourselves into? We didn't understand the vagueness of it all, but nonetheless the day of we found out the exact location from our friends, and understood, finally, why a veil of secrecy was needed.

We ended up driving 45 minutes from the campus area and out into the middle of nowhere. . . never before has "nowhere" been such a perfect place. We parked the car and started our mile hike towards the giant flood lights and music. Making our way to the front we saw a battalion of security guards, some with 12 gauge shotguns. "Hey man, did you take that off someone or is it yours?" Our friend Jon asks the huge man at the front of the entrance. "No, its mine," the burly man replies. "You ever shoot someone with that before???" he tries to ask as we get rushed inside with no response from the man.

Stage one at Earthdance Tucson
Photo taken by Nicole Cassese

I felt at home among the others, in my neon pink tights, knee high striped socks, green sneakers, a tye dye shirt and glow bracelets and "candy" adorning my arms. That's right, this is raver country. and we had arrived in true fashion, ready to dance peace,along with every other nation in the world.


Nicole and Andrew, Pre-Earthdance
Photo taken by Angela Dilello

There was a female security guard who called me over to the searching table, and the rest of our group was ushered to go through security as well. She was in a rasta hat and of African American decent, and told me to dump my bag out on the table. I looked up, tired, already with a headache and waiting for my second wind to kick in, and tell her to "do whatever you want with it". With those words she smiles at me and says "I can do whatever with it? girl, go on in," she adds as she gives me back my things. Right on, I think, and I head in as I watch most of my male companions get a thorough search. It must have been my darn cute innocent face, (or the utter compliance she wanted to see).


(Check out this video!!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvprHoOvGOs

Their motto is "We are one global family, all colors, all races one world united. We dance for peace and the healing of our planet earth. Peace for all nations. Peace for our communities. and peace within ourselves. As we join together across the world, let us connect heart to heart. Through our diversity we recognize unity. Through our compassion we recognize peace. Our love is, our power to transform our world. Let us send it out . . . NOW"

There were seven different stages that played different genres of techno and trance music, and the dj's rotated every hour on each stage, making for a nice variation of music. There were vendors selling their music, glow in the dark toys, a hookah lounge inside of a lit up tent, and people watching all around. People would just walk up to you and start a friendly conversation only to be taken away by the wind as they fluttered on to the next person, sharing the good vibrations.

I met people from many different places, especially border towns, who came to the closest Earthdance location nearest them, (thank you tucson for being a hosting city every year!). Everyone was sending out their love and it made for an awesome group of people to come together in support of this amazing cause.


A crowd gathers by stage one
Photo courtesy of Nicole Cassese

The hippies were there with their dogs and big vans. The ravers and ecstasy kids were there with their glow toys and lit up pacifiers and bottles of water. The kids on acid we seen staring into the glow lights radiating from stages. Rasafarians, goths, dance enthusiasts. peace activists, they were all there, together.

Unfortunately, no matter how secluded we were, I think the hundreds of cars and raging music gave us away. At midnight we were told the sheriffs department had shut us down and it was time to go. Well, to that I say bah. We were dancing for peace, in the middle of nowhere, causing no problems. I hope our message was loud and clear either way.

I have to say, you feel home in a group of people with a positive energy like that. I have never before had I gotten compliments on my Grateful dead tye dye until that night, and that alone makes a deadhead damn well proud. Everyone was there for the same reasons and that united us as a whole as we sent out our energy into the night, hoping to touch the lives of our millions of brothers in sisters in their home countries and cities and we danced into the night off into the spaces of our minds.... we danced . . for PEACE.


Photo taken from the Official Earthdance webpage

http://www.earthdance.org/