Circle Dances Compilation

Circle dances have been a part of human culture for thousands of years. Performed as rites of passage, an invocation of change, or as a mode of community ritual, the circle embodies aspects of connection, unity, and cycles of transformation. I began using dance as a grounding method during the start of the pandemic while isolating in my home. Dance has continued to be a way to feel connected to rituals of my past, providing comfort during extreme anxiety. Mythic time is broadly defined as a perpetual present outside of the linear perception of time, an abstract awareness where everything is eternally happening all at once. This holistic perception of time reclaims principles of intuition, unity, and connection with natural cycles of transformation. These videos of ghostly circle dances embody mythic time through meditative movement. As far as we advance technologically, we are still inexorably linked to nature.

Lauren Woods (US)
Lauren Woods is an artist whose practice and creative research explore the concept of mythic time. Artworks become a space to examine notions of nostalgia, desire, power, beauty, death, and embodied expression. Personal myth is developed visually across various mediums such as painting, video, and dance performances. Born in Mobile, Alabama, USA, Lauren received her MFA in painting from the New York Academy of Art after completing her BA in studio art at Spring Hill College. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Art in the Department of Art & Art History at Auburn University, where she teaches figure drawing and painting.