"This is not a show dance, says gisela ottenschlager. Every time she dances with her meditative dance group, she is gripped by the special atmosphere. "Praying with the fuben" the woman from schusselfeld calls it and seems very serious. Ottenschlager became known to a larger audience through completely different dances, namely through her productions at the schlusselfeld carnival.
This is something completely different. When the 15 women gather in the sanctuary of the church and form a very calm and collected circle, the atmosphere also spreads to the spectator. The women are young or not so young anymore, catholic or protestant, from schlusselfeld or from various surrounding communities. What they all have in common is that they want to draw strength and peace from dance.
"I need to come down in everyday life", says gisela ottenschlager. That gives her this way of dancing. After a hard blow at a very young age, she had "lost a lot of her faith". She learned to pray with the pigeons in various monasteries. "I took peace and strength home with me", she tells. The meditative dance has brought her back to her faith.
Help in hard times
Gundi prols experienced the healing effect of meditative dancing in a difficult time. "You can switch off and recharge your batteries." This helped her a lot during the time of her husband's serious illness and then during the time of mourning.
The meditative dance group has been in existence for about two years now. The women meet once a month in the parish hall. Usually they dance for themselves. They dance "through the church year", that is, they take up dancing the times of the church calendar. Light in the darkness or encouragement to wait, for example, are themes in advent. At easter the resurrection, the joy and the growth are felt in dance. They also dance the elements fire, water, air and earth. "With the fire it gets very fast, it makes you feel really hot", gisela ottenschlager explains. The earth, on the other hand, becomes "all the way down into the earth" danced.
Last sunday, for example, the circle had the opportunity to dance at the harvest service. While gisela ottenschlager leads the way, marion jager and doris paszek are responsible for preparation and integration into the liturgy.
The atmosphere is important
A dance of thanksgiving for the opening, a song of praise to the sacrifice, a hallelujah for the whole world, and a rhythmic shalom for the grave of peace are accompanied by music, meditation and texts. For the water is thanked with a traditional indian dance.
"Everything must be coherent", says gisela ottenschlager. She doesn't mean the dance steps, though. "We don't make mistakes" -, but rather the atmosphere in the women's circle. That's why they get together to get in the mood, first drink coffee together. They also organize international evenings with typical national dishes. "We already had a greek, an italian and a russian evening."