Something in the water workout remux4/18/2023 Every silent disco begins with a reminder that participants can opt out at any time, especially if any intense emotions arise.Īfter finally quitting her corporate job this year, she teamed up with brother Michael Neary (who holds the title of chief vibe officer at So We Are Silent Disco). She is, however, careful to not misrepresent herself as a dance movement therapist. So Neary took the Wave’s five-week facilitator training course and set her sights on bringing a healing-focused silent disco closer to home. I didn't even realize how much I was running from myself until pretty much 2020, when I could finally look back.” “But the more you hide from something or try to pretend it's not there, the more your body will just combust on you. When she was younger, Neary tried to hide her illnesses to avoid being pigeonholed as the sick girl. Even though I healed, it's the train that never stops,” she says. “My body continues to be my biggest lesson. That resonated with Neary, who struggled with disordered eating and rare chronic illnesses affecting her digestive system that hospitalized her throughout her senior year of high school. Principles of this creative arts therapy range from the embodiment of positive feelings to working through trauma stored in the body. From there she gravitated to a Venice Beach-based silent disco called the Wave, which borrows from dance movement therapy. that uses rhythmic movement to achieve meditative or trance-like states. She discovered ecstatic dance, a popular spiritual practice in L.A. That pause inspired a shift in priorities, away from corporate success and toward more personally fulfilling interests. Nathan Hildebrandt and Adelyn Reed, of Bend and McMinnville, Ore., hold hands as they take a moment with their thoughts in the water during the So We Are Silent Disco. “Then the pandemic happened, and everything stopped.” “I thought that’s what I wanted my life to look like,” says the Cypress resident. A soft-spoken young woman reveals she’s been stuck in a depressive episode and almost forgot that it was possible to feel this much, or this good.īack in 2020, So We Are founder Neary was fresh out of college and making good money as a commercial insurance broker. Life can be a lot sometimes, she says, but somehow her mom still finds a way to create beautiful memories like this one for their family, no matter how hard it gets. A preteen struggles to keep her voice steady her uncertainty about the weirdness of a silent disco has washed away with the waves. Many of the silent disco first-timers leave in tears after being invited to speak on their experience, choking out furtive words of gratitude for something they can’t quite describe.Ī returning participant braves sharing first by congratulating everyone for transforming from strangers into a community in just one hour. Most in the eclectic group - which spans a wide range of ages, races, ethnicities, sexual orientations and gender identities - raise their hands. Children screaming at the nearby playground, teens catcalling, a heated family argument - all of it is drowned out by the dulcet tones of a song called “Akal” by White Sun.Ī 25-year-old woman with a microphone speaks softly over the music, asking if it’s anyone’s first silent disco. But the self-consciousness of being an oddity on public display disappears as those headphones go over their ears, silencing the sounds of the rowdy beach. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)Īs the sun begins to set on an unusually hot and crowded Labor Day weekend at Junipero Beach, bemused onlookers amass around a curious sight.Ībout two dozen strangers stand in an awkward half-hearted circle on the sand, avoiding eye contact as they fidget with identical wireless headphones. Dancers take a moment with their thoughts at the water's edge while joining fellow dancers listening to music with headphones at sunset as Katie Neary hosts So We Are Silent Disco on the beach in Long Beach.
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