piling sleepily into vans in the predawn dimness. The costumes

were fantastic! Half of us were in bones and fur and the other half

was more vegetable-based, so I divided the group into 3 tribes: Cave

#1, Cave #2 and the Vegetarian neighbors from the nearby jungle.

We all grouped together at the top of the cliff, grounded and

centered our energies and outlined our game plan. The dancing

would be totally ad-libbed, with very few cuts or scene changes. My

directions to the participants were: Be in character, know your story.

Get into earth consciousness: low center of gravity, environmentally

aware, nonverbal, physically demonstrative, experiential: listen

acutely, taste the air, smell things, feel the Earth. We are family, we

are a clan, we make music, we dance, we celebrate life! Let's get

physical. Let's go!

The overcast weather worked well for video. There was no wind

(thank goodness), and we used about an hour and a half of battery

power. The dancers all got lost in the spontaneity of the dance and

before we knew it we were done! We had all gone back in time

(Yes, Steven Hawkins there is such a thing as time travel). We

finished the adventure with a group photo session and a primitive

"pancake" chant. We were hungry; we had been hard at work

since before dawn.

Afterwards we went back to Mana Le'a Gardens, had breakfast

and watched the out-takes. We were impressed. Renato from

Ecuador said to me, "Delilah, you seem to have an uncanny ability

at being able to get people to play with you!" I had to laugh; the

Retreat was an extraordinary bit of play we were all engaged in.

There is a vital revelation and reminder in Renato's words: To

celebrate our lives, we must play. I remember doing this since I was

a little girl, and I guess I never stopped. It is a good thing, I think.

As adults we often forget or neglect our time to play. It is truly how

we celebrate life!

Scene 1: Opens with a birthing in a cave. Meleah and I are

Shaman midwives, Faye Zama is the laboring mother,

with Sherry Stevens as the birthing coach, Robert

Stevens as the expectant father, and Sirocco as the tribal

matrib ("sacred musicians," from Turkish).

Scene 2: Neighbors in cave #2 play bamboo sticks to signal the

birth. The guests arrive. All celebrate!

Scene 3: The Vegetarians arrive, are greeted and initiated into clan

by drawing red circles on their bellies. All dance.

Scene 4: Everyone goes to the watering hole and playful dancing

ensues on stone platforms around big surf. The energy

shifts to a more serious nature and dancers do sacred

earth dances on the bluffs. Everyone is dancing and

playing music with rapt attention.

Scene 5: Group circle dance! THE END.