From: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

`A BEAUTIFUL DOORWAY' \ SUFI DANCE TEACHER HELPS OTHERS UNLOCK INNER PEACE

BYLINE: JANE VRANISH, DANCE CRITIC
DATE: May 14, 1996
PUBLICATION: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
EDITION: SOONER
SECTION: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
PAGE: D-1

If that blood pressure is on the rise, maybe it's time to go into a dance. Dunya Dianne McPherson calls it Dancemeditation, an action meditation style that focuses on inner peace, much like yoga or Zen. "It's meant to be used in life,'' she explains. "Sometimes people can simply move into breathing patterns. The way life is set up in our culture is demanding, stressful and outer-oriented. I teach you how to do the exact opposite.''
In real terms, Dunya is a proponent of Sufism, an ancient spiritual practice from the Middle East. In its native Arabic, it means ``purity,'' and it can take many forms externally, from whirling dervishes to free-form Tai Chi, from belly-dancing to moving like a leaf.
Dunya is back in Pittsburgh this week in response to last year's successful series of workshops. These days, holistic treatment is becoming popular, and she spends up to three weeks each month traveling across the United States from her home in New Mexico
Sufi dancing began as a healing solution for Dunya. She had studied dance at North Carolina School for the Arts, Bennington College and the Juilliard School. After graduation she performed throughout the mid-'70s with modern dance choreographers Pearl Lang, Daniel Lewis, Paul Sanasardo and Hanna Kahn.
One day she turned her head the wrong way in rehearsal. By the next morning she couldn't move her arm. The diagnosis was a pinched nerve, but it continued for the next three years. ``I was completely depleted from living on coffee and Danish pastries because I was trying to be thin,'' Dunya explains. ``So my body couldn't get better. But I began to realize something was amiss before that, because I was exhausted all the time.''
A friend suggested that she try Sufi classes. ``I didn't know anything about it. But it was a lot of rolling and breathing and I didn't have to hold my arm up. I loved the way I felt afterward, very relaxed, really happy - that was unique.''
Eventually she went to New Mexico to study with Sufi Master Adnan Sarhan, almost on a whim. During her first class, the soothing qualities of breathing, stretching, meditating, chanting and moving took over. Suddenly Dunya could move her arm. She continued her studies for the next 10 years. ``The injury I had went away, and a lot of health problems reversed themselves. I found it very practical.''
Classes range from 2 1/2 hours to eight hours. ``I go to where everybody's at to start with,'' she explains. ``It's a welcome time to get connected, find a sense of authenticity, a sense of self. Then I use small and gentle movements that have an organic relationship. It feels very good in the body.''
The shorter evening classes, complete in themselves, serve as an introduction with stretching and breathing exercises. ``But, like a massage, it takes a while for the body to let go, to go inside youself,'' says Dunya. So the longer classes allow for ``valuable rest time, where all those delicious feelings can soak in.''
The primary function is to find a sense of inner peace. ``It almost always happens,'' claims Dunya. ``It's like a beautiful doorway and life turns around.''