Introduction to Women’s Ritual Dances

with Laura Shannon

28th – 29th March 2026

The roots of these dances go back thousands of years to indigenous Goddess civilisations of Neolithic Old Europe, embodying a pre-patriarchal worldview of reverence for Mother Earth. The dances serve to strengthen community, heal trauma, prevent conflict, encourage communal celebration, and create a culture of peace.

Women of rural Eastern Europe have preserved these ritual dances into the present day, continuing a living lineage of ancient priestess traditions. Through careful attention to the symbols encoded within the dances, we can decipher their hidden wisdom and receive the many gifts they offer to women today, whatever our own beliefs or background.

Laura Shannon has been researching and teaching traditional women’s circle dances for 40 years and is known as one of the ‘grandmothers’ of the worldwide Sacred/Circle Dance movement. Laura holds degrees in Intercultural Studies, Dance Movement Therapy, and Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred, and is currently writing her PhD dissertation on the roots of circle dance in Neolithic Old Europe.

Laura has taught in the Findhorn Sacred Dance Department since 1998; founded the German-based non-profit Athena Institute for Women’s Dance and Culture (Athena Verein für Frauentanz und Kultur e.V.).; and succeeded Carol P. Christ as Director of the Ariadne Institute for the Study of Myth and Ritual and the Goddess Pilgrimage to Crete. In 2018, Laura was named an honorary lifetime member of the Sacred Dance Guild in recognition of her ‘significant and lasting contribution to dance as a sacred art’.

Laura has published many articles and book chapters on women’s ritual dances and contributes a regular blog to feminismandreligion.com. She divides her time between Greece and the UK, and brings her inspiring seminars, concerts, and lectures all over the world.

Places are limited on this weekend, so don’t delay!