Tara Dancing in Zimbabwe

Tara Goes Dancing in Africa

Tania Remedios attended TaraLing’s Consecration two years ago. She had met Zenia, a close friend, Tara Dancer and ardent dharma practitioner at Patrul Rinpoche’s shedra in Belgium, and was intrigued. Tania lives in Zimbabwe, Africa and was convinced that her sangha there would love to sing and dance the dharma. With great sincerity she asked if I would be willing to do some teaching in Zimbabwe.

This was a hard decision! I am truly feeling my age and the thought of a ten hour flight to Johannesburg, sandwiched between a hop to Sao Paulo and a finish to Harare, the capitol of Zimbabwe, horrified me. But Tania was insistent and promised a business class ticket. I also explained that I could no longer travel without Myri’s support. No problem she said. Myri was excited with the opportunity. And then before I knew it dates were determined, the tickets were bought, and then March arrived.

Tania had been fielding all kinds of obstacles securing a place to hold the workshop and we assured her that “the bigger the obstacles the bigger the blessing”. And then we got hit with a major obstacle. For the past year we had been negotiating a residential status in Brazil for me as I have been committed to working with Myri on manifesting TaraLing. There had been multiple delays, and then a week before we were to leave for Africa I got a call that the papers were ready. I needed to go to the Policia Federal. March 5^th. Our flight was March 4^th. That took some fancy dancing but we managed, the Policia Federal were happy to accommodate us before March 4^th and I am now a legal resident of Brazil.

Arriving in Harare the first thing we noticed was that everyone in the airport was kind and accommodating. Myri kept saying, “look, everybody has such beautiful smiles!”. We were whisked through immigration and Tania welcomed us, introducing us to her driver, Whiskey. A sweetheart of a man, he navigated us through the heavy traffic, over and around intense pot holes. It is a condition the locals constantly complain about, the lack of road maintenance.

Zimbabwe was colonized by the British and was known as Rhodesia. The country achieved majority rule in 1980 now recognized as Zimbabwe. To our delight one of the main languages was English so we had no problem communicating with the locals. We did have to get used to driving on the left side of the road however.

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The day after we arrived we headed to the Adrian Stanley Room in the Reps Theatre to set up for our four day workshop. We then buzzed back to Tania’s to organize a smoke offering. Tania had invited a group of friends and it was delightful to meet them and start to share our version of the dharma through music and dance. Whisky was supposed to organize the fire but he got caught in traffic. So I asked everyone to gather some firewood from Tania’s trees and gardens and we made a lovely fire together.

Tania had invited participants from several different groups. It was a wide range of ages and experience. Unique cultural expressions were fascinating. We had quite an interesting exchange about the idea of mermaids. I happened to mention our shakti pod of mermaids on Maui and I was told that in Zimbabwe many feared the local mermaids, Several of our women dancers were guided by them as channeled presences.

Each day we were treated to presentations of their tribal music, accompanied by two Mbiras. Their voices blended in breathtaking harmonies.

As our time together drew to a close we were asked to return and two of the dancers are hoping to join us for our May retreat. Tania has offered to help sponsor their airfare if we can get help sponsoring their $500 retreat fees.

Go to www.taradhatu.org home page

scroll down to the bottom and click the

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click either Paypal or Credit/Debit card. This should take you to the next window.

On the next window about in the middle in small print you will see a pencil with

“add a note”

Click in there and write "Sponsor an African Tara Dancer"

After the workshop we were whisked off to Victoria Falls, one of the wonders of our beautiful planet. Tania organized a helicopter ride for us to get up close to the pounding wonder. Later in the day we followed a path bordering the river of falling waters and were treated to numerous rainbows.

Tania had told us of a connection she had made with a Maasai community and I was intrigued. She organized a journey to their camp in Kenya. We flew to Nairobi, spent a night in a lovely bnb and then were driven five hours into the outback. Her Maasai family greeted us joyfully. One young man danced around with a lion’s mane on his head. We were told that in previous times a boy became a man after killing a lion but Maasai elders replaced this coming-of-age tradition with a sporting competition to test the skills of young Maasai men.

Then the adults lined up chanting and dancing, women on the left, men on the right, calling, responding and then the men doing some impressive leaping straight up. One of the young women told us that the man who jumped highest had his choice of women.

We were introduced to the chief, met his powerful, beautiful sons and their wives. He gave us Maasai names, as they tied a “shuka”around each of us. This cloak like garment identifies us as members of the clan.

We were then shown how to make fire from rubbing two special sticks. We made some donations to the tribe and were told that they would go towards a school that was being built for their children. The three students demonstrating the most achievements would be sponsored to enter higher education.

But off the top of the donation would be the purchase of an animal to add to the chief’s herd of cattle.

We were staying down the road a bit in several glorified tents, and had the good fortune to see in the distance a giraffe, a few zebras and in the early morning to hear a pride of lions roaring nearby.

It was an amazing journey. And even though this old body of mine has a lot of complaints, heart and soul I am grateful for the opportunity to meet with Taras from Africa!!.

To end I will include some Whatsapp messages

From Munyaradzi Hwega …So profound. Heartfelt gratitude for inviting me to this sacred dance workshop celebrating divine feminine energy. The event was truly enriching! Many thanks to everyone who participated in such a warm and fun filled activity. Thumbs up. May the blessings of Mother Tara bring peace and compassion to all. May we embody her enlightened courage.

From Niel Peterson - Great Sharing LOLAHS galore. I was really moved by the sincerity and authenticity of Prema’s stories, explanations, wise words and of course the beautiful music and dance moves and accompanying vocals. What a lovely way to present and internalize the teachings (LOLAHS is our shorthand for Lots of Love and Laughs and Hugs and SONGs)

From Kala Antoa … Thank you Tania for making all this possible. Your meticulous planning and organizational skills made it all happen.

From Veronica … well done successful event. blessings abundant .. Here's to the next one

From Zenia …,Thank you for the inspiration that made this experience possible. We were truly fortunate to come together and share so much merit and wisdom. Every contribution—whether logistical, financial, or simply dedicated, enthusiastic, and open presence to learn and fully experience the “Tara Dances” was wonderful and deeply appreciated. It was a beautiful experience to meet everyone, to dance and meditate together, connecting with our divine nature and higher purpose through affirmations and prayers for our own benefit and for all beings. It was amazing to radiate this light and energy from Zimbabwe, from Africa—joining with the energy of the Sangha that connects worldwide. Through the blessings of Tara, may we keep “turning the wheel”

From Tania … heartfelt thanks and eternal gratitude to Prema for making the arduous trip all the way to Africa to share this special lineage of Mother Tara with us, despite medical "challenges". Thank you Myri for helping me to persuade Prema to accept my invitation, it was important for us to learn from the source!

From Myri … We returned to TaraLing with our hearts nourished. Meeting each one of our dancing Zimbabwean Taras was a joy. So grateful to all who said yes to the beautiful journey that Tânia organized so we could share the precious teachings of Prema. OM TARE!!!

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