Hello! I’m Marjolein

Certified 5Rythms® & Sacred Dance Teacher | Visual Artist

Marjolein has been on her dancing and art journey for more than 30 years. She has always been fascinated by the body and its movement. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in 2002 at the Gerrit Rietveld Académie in the Netherlands and has participated in several exhibitions and art workshops.

Although physical hardship throughout Marjolein’s life has challenged and limited her body movements, it has also given her reason and motivation to keep searching for possibilities and to look deeper into what moves and has moved her. She finally found her purpose in dancing and teaching conscious movement, which has become her main focus.

She started dancing Sacred Circle Dance in 2003 of which she became a Certified teacher in 2007. Marjolein has been dancing 5Rhythms® since 2010 and has been a Certified Accredited 5Rhythms® Teacher since 2021.

Marjolein is a 5Rhythms & Sacred Dance teacher and artist. She organises and produces for other teachers in the same field. Additionally, she collaborates with other disciplines so that together they can support each other in order for everyone in the community to reach their highest potential.

Marjolein was born in the Netherlands and has Indonesian roots. Her personality is calm, passionate, clear, kind and playful. Marjolein’s type of music and DJ-ing is vibrant, awakening, investigative and playful.

“My mission is one tribe – one heart, creating a safe space for people to move, explore, dance, find connection and freedom in self expression, and to join together in community. I love to show possibilities, to be a guide and hold space for dancers and artists enjoying and exploring themselves and the group by inviting in a process of self healing through movement and art” 
– MarjoleinThijsijna Akkerman –
(Read: Mar-Yo-Line or call me “BLU” as I’m a Mayan Blue Galactic Storm)

My Story

Dancing has always been my way to express my view of the world. I have done what I do as long as I can remember. At 3 years old I was happily sent to ballet class with my friend in our pink tutu dresses. Moving through different dance and movement styles. Being over the moon when the teacher decided to do the hucklebuck with us, instead of gym exercises.

Copying the dance moves from the videos on TV. Recording and mixing cassette tapes to dance on.
Make little choreographies to perform in front of family and at school.
Organising a secret-bond friend dance club in my darkened bedroom and always trying to get friends to gather to share the fun.

Like most young girls my dream was to become a ballerina. I had the grace and spirit but I wasn’t as lean as the other girls. At school I couldn’t move and do sports activities like the others, I was too little and not strong enough to keep up, I always needed help. I was always tired, my body hurt and my motivation to exercise went down fast. Physical pain and weight became an everyday issue, sports a torture. I was 14. I had to learn to live with it.
Luckily I found a therapist that gave me temporary relief. He said that I needed to keep on dancing. If anything was worth the pain it was dancing. I danced Ballroom and Latin American, did competitions and had fun dancing Street Dance.

At 20 I got the opportunity to move to the city to study arts. I was loving the student life but also lost my way, went to dark places and my weight started to increase. In 1996 a friend introduced me to Sacred Dance. A path of healing started. This dance style isn’t about how you look and being perfect. Sacred Dance is about the connection between your body, your dance and the group. Physically I could do this. It was healing my heart and Soul. I was fascinated by how the simple repetition, the focus and the energy of a group was so strong and centering. I wanted to learn more and started training to become a teacher.

In 2000 at 23 years old I fell in love with Argentine Tango. My connection to my body, my innerworld and the other deepend. How to dance with a partner so in tune that time and space disappears and you both become one, one moving being, elegant and whole.

10 years later, in 2010 I went to my first 5Rhythms class and it felt like coming home. I felt supported to dance from within and could totally express myself. A new journey started. After many hours of dance, sweat, tears, reflections and revelations, workshops all over the world I was ready to do the last part so I could spread my love for embodied movement and dance. In 2021 I finished the training and became a certified 5Rhythms teacher.

My journey through dance taught me how to deal with my pain and my limits. Not to run away from it, push it or hide it but to listen and be with it. Move with it. The dance showed me how to embrace my imperfectness and how to keep on moving when all is against you.
I love my body, my dance, my path. Let’s keep moving, let’s keep grooving.

Didansa

The word DIDANSA comes from Bahasa Indonesia (Marjolein’s roots are from Java, Indonesia) and is constructed from two words. DANSA, which means dance. And DI which is the only prefix existing to indicate location, and indeed all locations. For me, the words together stand for that dance IS everywhere.  In front of you, next to you, behind you, above you, under you, in you and around you.

Through movement, dance and arts, DIDANSA can help in achieving and improving physical and mental health, vitality, wellbeing, life purpose, embodiment, personal growth through greater awareness, reflection, nourishment, as well as an integration of physical and emotional layers. This can result in a healthy body and mind that is able to experience fun, pleasure and an enhanced spiritual zest for Life. 

DIDANSA offers ways to learn, improve and stimulate personal growth and become a more free, authentic and loving being. DIDANSA organises classes, workshops, retreats and events for you to explore movement, expression, and creativity through conscious dance, 5Rhythms, Sacred Dance, meditation & other arts forms.

DIDANSA stands for being connected, alive, creative, joyful, playful, powerful & authentic. Are you a dancer, a music lover, an artist, on a path of personal growth? Are you looking for a healthy lifestyle, a heart community and freedom on a physical, mental or spiritual level? Are you open to receiving and learning about awareness, mindfulness and consciousness? Are you ready to explore and deepen the dance,  ourselves,  others and the Tribe?
Then DIDANSA is for You!

What I Offer

Marjolein has more than 15 years of experience organising and collaborating with others to offer classes, workshops, events & retreats in dance, arts, philosophy and meditation. She has created dances for groups and performed for choirs & symposiums. Art pieces & Installations for classes and workshops and exhibitions  is one of Marjolein’s passions.

Classes are held on a regular basis, which is the ideal way to practise the dance, keep fit and stay connected with your body and to the group.

Workshops are made to deepen your dance and learn more about yourself. Workshops exist (for) from a minimum of 3 hours up to multiple days. These days can be in a row or spread over a period of time.

Practising 5Rhythms, Sacred Dance and conscious movement is asking you to be willing to meet yourself, disciplined to stay with yourself and in your dance. To keep on going, being fascinated by the real you. Allowing every part of you to be expressed in the dance.  Awaken the dancer in you. Being aware of your space, being present with others, engaging with them and letting them in. Experience is not needed and we provide a safe space for all ages to explore.

Retreats offer a great get-away to come to yourself  and heal. Creating distance to your daily life gives space to reflect and meditate. Retreats also offer time to practise more and work deeper on a process.

5Rhythms

Created by Gabrielle Roth and practised by tens of thousands worldwide, 5Rhythms® is a philosophy, perspective, performance art and a dynamic movement practice rooted in the principle that if you put the psyche in motion it will heal itself. Movement is both the medicine and the metaphor, reaching across all languages, cultures and age groups to transform suffering into art, art into awareness, and awareness into action.

Wherever the 5Rhythms® are practised, a community is born to dance, to sweat, to change, to support, and to provide a safe space for each of us to shatter the ego’s hold and awaken the juicy, unpredictable, fascinating, edge-walking, rockstar part of ourselves that yearns to be free. Creativity. Connection. Community.

5Rhythms® is a free-movement practice where no experience is needed and it provides a safe space for all ages to explore so that the body can move the way it wants to move.

Marjolein teaches the 5Rhythms® Waves, which shows our physical possibilities, what moves us, what we love, and how our mind expresses itself through the body.

The 5Rhythms® wave is a progression of Rhythms that each have their own unique qualities.

FLOWING – STACCATO – CHAOS – LYRICAL – STILLNESS

 

A few words of what the 5Rhythms can be:

Flowing

Trust in feet as they are the gateway to connecting and being with self. Weight dropped to the ground. Listen to mother earth, checking in with needs and nourishing yourself. Roundness, circles and curving. No beginning and no end, only everlasting motion.

Staccato

Straight Lines and shapes movements with a beginning to an end, like an arrow being released. Finding angles and sharp corners in your body. Gateway is in  the hips. Awaken a  fire in your centre and make it stronger. Standing in your own power. Finding your physical limitations and boundaries. Connecting with another as an investigation of how I’m relating between Me and You. By copying others we learn moves from the outside in or we can listen to what moves arise from within, those moves will come when freedom of expression flows and wants to come out. Waking up Inner fire, opens up our heartspace and we can connect with our love and passion.

Chaos

Duality of flowing and staccato coming together. Lines and circles, angles and shapes, expanding and collapsing.  Gateway is the head. Letting go and releasing what doesn’t serve you anymore. Investigating the connection with the others and the groups will help  in supporting and being held by the group, we’re all in this together. Let yourself be purified like a burning Phoenix.

Lyrical

Body, mind and soul are one, wholesome, wholehearted in harmony. It’s a state of being. aware of your whole being in detail, observing with wonder and fascination. The gateway is the arms in which we can expand our joyfulness and light. Illuminating the fully real you. Connecting with the world with open arms, seeing the world from an Eagle view allowing it to be as it is.

Stillness

Transparency in slow motion. Healing with Compassion, open and connecting with the universe.  Seeing where your  movement starts, following its way to see it ends in a pause. Finding a closure, an ending with elegance, grace and respect. Being present and aware patiently waiting for a new movement to arise . In stillness here is nothing to do, nothing to become, nowhere to go,  just be. Full of promises.

Sacred Dance

Sacred Circle Dance, also known as Sacred Circle Dance, activates, moves, connects, purifies, heals and makes people happy. This is not a dance form that has status according to society but a form of movement that arises from within yourself. A dance form that softens and opens the heart. Sacred Dance teaches how to be a student, a companion as our own mastery. How to be focused and grounded on our own, learn how to be vulnerable and ready to open and make connections with another, the spirit and the universe in overview and freedom.

In Sacred Dance the dance teacher demonstrates the movements and the participants follow. The steps and arm movements are easy to learn and are repeated repetitively until the end of the music piece. After a while the dancer doesn’t have to think about the steps anymore and can experience what the movement, music and the group is showing. The dances range from gentle to energetic, the dance can be an uplifting group experience, or part of a meditation. The dances can be connected by holding hands.

Bernard Wosien, born in Polen 1908, was a German Ballet master, choreographer and professor of expression education and dance. Wosien is the founder of the modern form of Sacred Dance and was assisted by his daughter, Maria-Gabriele Wosien.

In 1976, Wosien introduced his dance form at the Findhorn Foundation in Scotland and from there many other places.. He used both traditional dances and his own choreography to develop “group awareness”.  Many teachers all over the world are still teaching dances made by Bernard’s, other teachers  and creating new ones.

Dance in healthcare

The workshop always starts with exercises for loosening the body. Then we move and dance together to the rhythm of the music. In the workshop, in addition to the atmosphere and energy of the group and of the day, the possibilities of each participant are taken into account. With the help of volunteers, we invite all participants to exercise, with or without a wheelchair or walker. One can also only watch from a chair. The workshops are suitable for everyone and can be danced by all age groups. Dance experience is absolutely not a requirement. The dances range from subdued and reflective to expressive and joyful, and are carefully and safely guided. All dances are set to inspiring music from all over the world. The music styles are also very diverse, from classical to contemporary, and from religious to folkloric. This dance style is called, among other things, Sacred Dance. “

What do the participants learn?

• Dances and music from all over the world.
• Looking at what a body with limitations can still do.
• Relying on the body’s memory.
• Pleasure in dance and movement.
• Letting go of stress, mental and physical tension.
• Soothing and comfort in emotional processes.
• Active relaxation, calming, relaxing and energising.

Reactions (participants):

  • Mr.D.v.Doorn: “You use muscles that you would otherwise leave behind. Fantastic, I want to come back”.
  • Mrs.R.Schram: “Beautiful music to rhythm. My body feels lighter. I am away from everything for a while”. 
  • Mrs. Doorn: “Beautiful gestures, like a bow. Beautiful music, it gives me peace”. 
  • Mr.H.Blankendaal: “Magnificent, nice and cosy. It gives me comfort”.

Why is Dance in Healthcare so Important?
The power of this dance form goes beyond fit and form and is difficult to explain with words. The more often one dances their dance, the more powerful the effect.
Studies have shown that positive changes occur in the brain when one makes harmonic movements to music and even at the sight of it. It has an effect at physical, mental and soul level.  
Please see RESOURCES (link) to read some of the articles.

The circle of participants and the repetition of steps and movements create peace in both body and mind. At a certain moment you no longer have to think about the dance steps, so that you can experience and feel what happens to yourself, as well as to the group. This is where the dancing really starts, anything can happen and not just physically. This experience is an artistic endeavour which is different for everyone. This dance practice provides the opportunity to be with yourself and with others but also allows others to dance their dance by giving them the space to do so. 

This circle, in which everyone is equal, can give a strong connection with the other and with yourself. It is not about the performance but about experiencing the dance.
With Sacred Dance you can experience what the simplicity in movements and steps does to you. It is “so much more” than an activity.

Collaboration with a psychologist or spiritual care is possible, if available at the homes.

Results of Dance in Care noted by Spiritual Caregiver Teresa Takken and Psychologist Hans Laro van Westerhout in Alkmaar:
https://www.mantelzorgnieuwsbrief.nl/geestelijk-verzorger-biedt-luisterend-oor-familias-september-2020 (Dutch website)

  • Improvement of psychomotor behaviour.
  • Provides rhythmic, melodic relaxation.
  • The kinetic melody serves well in recovery with regard to stroke eg; Beauty of music, relaxation.
  • Assists and catalyses in balancing emotion, mind and body, where the presence of Mental Care or psychologist can be good to be able to receive participants who want to start a conversation about, for example: the grieving process; life questions, meaning, philosophical questions, experience of pain, acceptance of grief, handicap, limitations, etc….

What makes Marjolein’s workshops unique:
• Good variety of styles and energy of dancing. 
• Unity in diversity 
• Relaxing effort.
• Awareness of posture and the use of the body, expression and feeling.
• Attention is paid to aspects such as togetherness and cooperation, giving and receiving, as well as non-verbal communication.

With a clear, calm explanation and a conversational approach, Marjolein gives a caring lesson where there is room for fun, silence, enjoyment, and most of all to dance.

For  further inquiry and interest please contact Marjolein directly.

 

Resources:

We know by now that dance is fun and makes us feel great. But why?
There are many articles and research out there about what dance actually does in our body, physically, mentally and spiritually.  Here some of them:

Benefits of Dance

Brain

  • Dancing makes you smarter: https://socialdance.stanford.edu/syllabi/smarter.htm
  • Research shows that dance movement training may be superior to repetitive physical exercise to counteract the effects of ageing on the brain.  Here is the link: Dance training is superior to repetitive physical exercise in inducing brain plasticity in the elderly
  • This research by Kathrin Rehfeld et Al from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Germany.  They created a six-month-long dance program for 38 participants (ages 63-80 y.o).  And they found that dancing, compared to regular physical activity showed pronounced differences in brain volume in different areas of the brain like the cingulate cortex, insula. The interesting thing about this research is that only dancing showed an increased level of plasma Brain-derived neurotrophic factor or BDNF.  Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its clinical implications – PMC
  • Decreased levels of BDNF are related to diseases with neuronal loss such as Parkinson’s Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease or Multiple Sclerosis. Thus, increased levels of BDNF may be useful in the prevention or management of these diseases.

There is scientific evidence from the Harvard Mahoney Neuroscience Institute that shows how dance can reduce stress, help you feel good, improve your brain functioning in tasks related to executive function, memory and spatial awareness. https://neuro.hms.harvard.edu/harvard-mahoney-neuroscience-institute.

Depression:

Dementia:

Reducing Pain,  Stimulating good health & Feeling Good:

5Rhythms:

Sacred Dance: