Dance like no one’s watching

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This article was published 09/08/2024 (745 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At first glance, it looks like any other rave — EDM booming through the speakers, the floor vibrating with the thump-thump-thump of the bass as bodies pulse in time to the beat, poised for the drop, which, when it comes, is greeted with rapturous movement.

Everyone is drenched in sweat, blissed out as the music takes over. It’s a scene like any other on dance floors across the world.

Except that in this case it’s not yet 8 p.m., there’s not a drop of alcohol in sight and the room is populated only by women, their arms high in the air as they dance with abandon.

This is Reunion, “a sacred and ecstatic dance party for women to remember and reunite with who they really are”… or so the tagline reads.

The brainchild of Rachel Molenda, 33 — a relative newcomer to the rave scene who discovered the joy of dancing two years ago — Reunion raves are alcohol-free events specifically for people who identify as women.

Spotting a gap in the market for sober-curious events, Molenda held her first rave in January at Kind Human Club in Toronto.

She now runs them every month, moving from location to location throughout the city.

Sunday’s party at Handsome Daughter is the first out-of-province Reunion and comes after Vicki Melo of Winnipeg’s Sugar Mama Bakery attended one of the raves in Toronto and found the experience “life-changing.”

One of the main draws is the rave’s early start and finish. Molenda promises to have everyone tucked in their beds by 10 p.m.

She gets the ball rolling at 7:30 p.m. with an opening circle before a guided movement session to warm up. Dancing proper kicks in next, with more than an hour of “ecstatic” free dancing followed by a standing visualization. Ravers are invited to gaze into each other’s eye and share their experiences before the event wraps up.

For Molenda, Reunion is more than clubbing; it’s meant to be an intentional sacred experience, using dance music and community that invites participants to remember the truth of who they are.

Shedding the shackles of performative behaviour, Molenda’s events invite women to dance as “weirdly and grossly as they want.”

“I don’t position it as a spiritual experience, but I am a spiritual person and I bring elements of that to it. I made it alcohol-free because I want people to experience the medicine and drug of music and dance on their own,” she says.

“I am not against substances or alcohol, but I don’t want people to feel like they need those things to experience a shift; I want people to experience how alive they can feel when they are lost in the music and move their bodies in ways they never have before.”

Reunion is a way to shake out the cobwebs and release self-doubt, Molenda says.

“(It’s) a way to walk out of this feeling more alive and standing tall. I want people to get really immersed in this. A primal potency is cultivated when women come together in the same room. People have come up to me and said they felt like they were in a room with sisters.”

Molenda has big plans for Reunion. She sees herself taking it global and would like to introduce annual or twice-a-year retreats where women can gather for a week to be fully immersed in dance and celebrate themselves.

“I believe that this is my life’s work,” she says.

“It’s not just a dance party; this gives you permission to step into who you are and therefore create or attract all that is meant for you.”

av.kitching@winnipegfreepress.com