Dance Camp East - a collaborative experience

Hello! Its been a while, eh!?  So what's lately?  Well,  I have spent the last week or so in a field in Suffolk.  I really, really enjoyed myself.  Its a bit of an experience is Dance Camp East.  Its somehow not just about the camping or the field or the dancing or the community or the fires or any of that stuff.  Although it is about those things of course.  It is hard to describe.  I guess it is a sort of process or an unravelling that happens, as the week goes on.  Because you don't leave, you get to really know the people around your fire.  And you get to know yourself a little better too.  Because its all the time. Not just holiday.

OK, perhaps some of you have no idea about this and I am leaping into the whole  - transformation thing - before I have even given the basics.

Its camping, in a field, but its like a cross between camping and a festival.  Its a whole experience.  There is one big horsehoe shaped camp with a big area in the middle, and around it are 7 camps, each with a fire.  You choose your 'camp' and pitch your tent.  I went with a friend and her son, who gets on very well with Bub - for me this was kind of the reason I went.  So that Bub would have a playmate, and be able to run free and play for a week.  She has been coming to this camp, and others for years so I let her choose the circle we were to camp in.

The cooking is all done on the fire and is communal.  Not strictly, you can make your own food if you want, but the evening meal in particular is a communal affair.  There is always a kettle on for tea too.  You build a kitchen - there are tables and wood provided but apart from that  - its up to you.   Luckily other folk were able to pitch in  - someone had a bit of a marquee that made shelter, another fellow and his teenage daughter built shelving from rough planks of wood.  We set up a washing up station and a food prep area.  I got compelled to be quite involved in the whole layout - who knew!- I discovered the ergonomics of the layout really mattered to me!

The food, was generally amazing, everyone got involved and some amazing dishes were created and shared.  Porridge became a morning thing, with cinnamon and fruit of different kinds.  One evening there was vast amounts of sausages and mash, another someone managed to create a rhubarb and apple crumble - on a fire, in a pot.  Yes it was delicious and served with options of cream, creme fraiche, yoghurt or soya yoghurt.

As well as the camping, there are marquees (with a wooden dance floor), there is a wood fired sauna and hot tub, and a wood fired pizza oven you can use.  Many musicians go, so there is singing by the fire, a band that rehearses for the events - which range from a tea dance (you can learn to ballroom dance in workshops before hand) where folk dress up and serve tea and cakes  - to open mic night - to a cabaret where the various singing workshops also perform (if you want)  - to a silver ball (more dressing up, a lot of glitter and facepainting too).  There is a massage tent, a healing area, yoga every morning, various dance and movement workshops, chi gung, meditation, life drawing and crafts available.  You can join in as much or as little as you want to.

The weather was various.  One night there was an almighty storm with thunderous rain and and was afraid our old tent would collapse.  But it didn't.  I learned how to chop wood and how to make a kettle on a fire boil faster.   Oh and how to make a crumble!  At various points, it all felt a bit much, for various reasons, weather, parenting, new people..... but there was always someone to talk to.  And there is something about learning to face up to all the ways you want to avoid stuff, but instead getting through it and realising it all passes.  Even the weather!

A lot of the whole thing is run by volunteers and offerings. Its a self organised camp.  For my part I decided to offer some 121 coaching.  I coached 4 people, all of whom said they felt great benefit from it.  All sorts of different issues, that I don't normally have to coach on (as my focus is usually work and business related) which was a fantastic experience for me, and a honour as these people shared their stories and their hopes with me.  I really, really enjoyed it.  And got some great feedback too, which was a fabulous boost.  I described coaching as a bit like being a future counsellor.  Unlike counselling we do not look back and try to understand a problem, but we look forward and find solutions instead.  I like the idea of being a counsel for the future.  "I am very interested in the future, as I intend to spend the rest of my life there." That's a quote.  Attributed to Einstein.  Love him.

Anyway, all in all, it was a great experience.  I forgot about checking my phone (no signal anyway!) and realised that I had even forgotten what I looked like (no mirrors). Bub spent his days playing mainly with a wheelbarrow, or reading, or creating an illustrated book.  It was pretty cool and I really enjoyed myself.