The Moving On Dance Project with Cheryl Bartky

"You have turned my mourning 
into dancing."
Psalm 30:11

The Moving On Dance Project is a program I designed for mourners, both past and present, to transform their grief and memories into a thing of beauty.  Mourners meet for a half-day workshop to move through their grief and ultimately to co-choreograph an original dance from the raw material of their life's experiences.  The group then shares their original dance in the form of a dance prayer with a welcoming group of "witnesses."  The process is transformative for the dancers and witnesses alike.  

Through my work with the bereaved over the past many years, I heard the words, "I want to move on," from virtually every client.  Hearing their desire with a dance therapist's ears and heart, The Moving On Dance Project with Cheryl Bartky was born.  I know that dance is the perfect medium for those experiences, like grief, that are simply too moving for words.  Below are samples of the project, shared by real mourners who love dance and movement and are non-professional dancers.

Day of the Dead
Chochmat Ha Lev, Berkeley, CA
Original music composed and performed 
by Rabbi Brian Schachter-Brooks

A Moving On Yizkor Prayer 
Shevuot 
JCC of the East Bay

To schedule The Moving On Dance Project for your congregation, community, or organization please contact me.  

Cheryl Bartky, LPCC #57, BC-DMT, BCC
Counseling for the Soul
510-299-4190 
Cheryl@counseling4thesoul.com
6317 Fairmount Avenue, El Cerrito, CA
Only 3 blocks from the El Cerrito Plaza BART
Author of Angelina's Prayer
Available on Amazon.com