Ecstatic dance

of course and we can always uh we can always go over over the same things again and again you know hello yeah it's a bit deeper a bit more interesting

totally and uh yeah i mean always like to start at the beginning but sort of like well like you know the beginning of the universe but the beginning of your dance adventure and I had this good chat with Grant the other day, and I said I was interviewing you, and he said, that's long overdue, because I think Pete is the granddaddy of Ecstatic Dance.

And then he said, oh, no, that sounds a bit bad.

It sounds like he's really old.

So, yeah.

How do you feel about that?

uh yeah i feel very very honored and uh yeah not quite ready to put on my slippers and pajamas yet um smoke my pipe and to like bow out but it does feel like a real honorable tag um because and in some ways i feel like I could never call myself that, but I have been involved and doing ecstatic dance since it really took off in England.

I've had some great conversations with Grant also.

We sort of keep our solidly group and we have the best time.

But also, have you ever heard of Ecstatic Dancing?

Is that you dance around with no shoes?

Could be that.

No,

you're going to have to explain what that is.

Ecstatic dancing.

So I started doing it in like Thailand and places like that.

So there's Spongle, which is like, [mimicking music] right? Oh my God, I went and saw Spongle, my nervous system was frazzled, right? It was...

But the kids there were like, "Yeah, it's so much fun," because it's energizing, right? Whereas you go see Ecstatic Dance, and it's more like, [mimicking music] right? Warmer sounds.

They don't go for the edgy sounds as much or the activating sounds as much.

Some DJs do the full, full gamut, uh, so it's...

Gary, I came to an event of yours my partner had signed me up for, which is called Pleasure Medicine.

And it's ecstatic dance for queer men.

And I have a lot of questions about that, about what brought you there.

But first, for people who don't know what ecstatic dance is, can you explain a little bit about

Yeah.

Well, thank you for having me.

Really happy to be here and really honored to be asked to talk about pleasure medicine and my work.

So what is pleasure medicine? Ecstatic dance, conscious dance, sober dance, all these different names.

Well, to be honest, as much as I can do, I have always loved just getting into any hobbies possible.

So at the moment, it looks like ecstatic dance, which I'd love to talk to you more about.

But I've pretty much gone through all sorts of hobbies from...

Running, hiking, climbing, went through a parkour phase,

Play with it.

Exactly.

Like have a dance with it, which I mentioned ecstatic dance before is one of my most favourite things about ecstatic dance where...

Yeah, you can just lean into those feelings of, I feel really silly now.

So people who are traveling from around the country can get there in plenty of time.

And it's going late on Saturday night with Ecstatic Dance with Banco de Gaia.

And it will be going into Sunday then, 10 a.m. start on Sunday and finishing at 7 p.m. on Sunday.

So the keynote speaker is on the main day on the Sunday.