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Dances of
Universal Peace International
Guidance Council
The Guidance Council holds in trust the transmission of the Dances of Universal Peace and Walking Meditations in the lineage of Murshid Samuel L. Lewis. Four to six Senior Mentors, appointed by the Pir of the Sufi Ruhaniat International on a rotating basis, have the responsibility of guiding leaders and mentors by encouraging their spiritual expansion and personal development, supporting learning opportunities, setting guidelines for certification and for mentor acknowledgements, recognizing mentors, and upholding standards of conduct and human relationship that are in keeping with the transmission of the Dances of Universal Peace.
Darvesha Victoria
MacDonald – Chair (Silver City, New Mexico)
has served as chair of the Guidance Council since June 2007
and on the DUP International board of directors since January
2008. She was a member of the original DUP International board
(then PeaceWorks INDUP) at the time of its inception in 1987.
She has travelled extensively worldwide leading the Dances.
Her major focus of the last ten years has been seeding the
Dances in South America, particularly in Colombia, and
encouraging local leadership and mentorship.
A co-founder of Wilderness Dance Camp, Darvesha has spearheaded revision of the Leader and Mentor guidelines. Darvesha is a Murshida in the Sufi Ruhaniat International, a Senior Mentor of the Dances of Universal Peace, a Ziraat Farmer, and a Buddhist practitioner.
She writes, "When I found the Dances and Walks in the
eighties, I felt
like I was stepping into a swirling Zendo. Here I could
continue to do my Buddhist sitting practice of
self-witnessing, in action with sound: the perfect place to
practice meditation in action." The Dances catalyzed profound
changes and transformation in her being. She continues, "I
know, from my own experience, that the Dances create a
therapeutic and transpersonal environment, where one can dwell
in spacious awareness, witnessing one’s own emotions rising
and passing, within the loving glance and touch of another,
who is there with acceptance and no agenda to ‘fix’ or change.
Now, so many years later, I still feel my heart continuing to
expand when I am in dance circles." Darvesha's website is http://darvesha.net/.
Rahmana Dziubany (Allemagne) est mentor senior et Murshid au sein de la Ruhaniat. Elle guide les danses depuis 1983 en Allemagne et dans le monde. Les premières formations de danse qu’elle a dispensées et ses nombreux voyages en Europe ont contribué à diffuser les danses, et avec le soutien de Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz et Kamae Amrapali Miller, la NDL a été fondée en tant que base du réseau de danse pour les pays germanophones. En 1989, elle a semé les graines des danses en ex-RDA, Pologne, République tchèque, Slovaquie, et a fondé le projet MIR, avec l’intention d'apporter les danses dans de nouvelles régions et de soutenir les futurs guides dans les régions pauvres par des initiatives de collectes de fonds. Le projet Mir a également soutenu des guides au Brésil et œuvré en Bosnie après la guerre dans des camps de réfugiés et des établissements d'enseignement.
Munir Peter Reynolds
(Corvallis, Montana, USA)
Munir has led the Dances since 1995 and
has served on staff at DUP retreats and Leader trainings
throughout the western USA. His travels presenting the
Dances have led him to Canada, New Zealand, Holland and
Russia. He first danced with Saadi Neil Douglas-Klotz in
1987 while studying Creation Spirituality with Matthew Fox
in California. He writes, "Dance leading is an amazing path
of human development and spiritual awakening. I can't think
of anything that brings out more beauty and authentic
presence in human beings. If we can give ourselves to the
transformative potential of this work there is no limit to
what is possible."
Munir served as Executive Director of
DUP International from 2008 to 2016, during the period of
reorganization to its present purpose and structure. He
holds an M.A. degree in arts administration, an M.A. in
Culture and Creation Spirituality and has worked in various
non-profit organizations since 1976.
From 2002-2008 Munir was Executive Director of Oneness Project, a Dances of Universal Peace programming and grant-making organization located in the Pacific Northwest USA. His role with Oneness Project included administering grants programs supporting the Dances of Universal Peace world-wide.
Munir and his wife Johara live in a
strawbale house homestead they built in 1997 in the Rocky
Mountains of western Montana. Together they cultivate most
of their own vegetables and a sustainable lifestyle.
Farrunnissa
Lila Rosa (Durham, North Carolina, USA)
A Senior Mentor, Sheikha in the Sufi Ruhaniat International,
Dance musician, and former MTG Secretariat, Farrunnissa
founded the Dance community in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill
area of North Carolina (www.BeautyCircles.org)
and leads Dance meetings, workshops, and Dance leader
trainings across the eastern U.S. She enjoys bringing
clarity, inspiration, and vision to each Dance circle, and
empowering each Dancer's personal experience of the Divine
through body, breath, and heart.
She is a life-long musician, singer, and song writer, and
featured on five CDs by different artists. She is part of an
eclectic women's vocal ensemble called Jewelsong, who shares
original music and inspirational songs from many different
spiritual traditions. She is the founder of and a core
performer with the frame drum ensemble, Sancta (www.BlessedBeats.org),
and has taught the basics of frame drumming to over a hundred
drummers in the Southeast. She has also served for many years
as Secretary to the Ruhaniat Board of Trustees. Farrunnissa
writes, "I view life as a joyful opportunity to remember the
Divine -- which is to say, to experience our True Self -- in
each moment, in every circumstance, in every heartbeat, in
every Dance."
Halima Sussman (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA) is a Senior Dance Mentor and Murshida for the Sufi Ruhaniat International.
She has served on the Guidance Council since its inception. Halima also served as a Board member for Dances of Universal Peace International from 2009 to 2012 and served as Chair of the Unity Council, the council that birthed the current shape of the organization supporting the Dances of Universal Peace Internationally.
Halima lives in Cambridge, MA. USA with her husband Abraham.
Together they guide the local Ruhaniat Center, SAMA. The
dances have led Halima to teach Internationally and all over
the USA. She writes, "In 1969, I went to SF to go to art
school, and by grace, soon found myself at a Sufi Dance
meeting with Murshid SAM in Marin County, CA. This encounter
changed my life - the spark of that moment still lights my
way. The Dances and Walks continue to be one of the
foundational practice of my spiritual journey." She is the
mother of four beautiful grownup sons, a psychotherapist with
a practice in spiritual psychology, a former midwife,
passionate gardener, and committed student of life. For
more about Halima, SAMA, and Northeast events visit
http://northeastsufiscalendar.wordpress.com/.
