Samhain Portal: Ecstatic Dance, Ancestor Ritual & Sound Bath

As the veil thins we gather at the threshold.

Samhain is the Celtic new year, the night the veil between worlds is thinnest. We build an ancestor altar together, then we do what we've always done at the turning of the year: gather, dance, move, sing, pray and celebrate. One continuous journey in a 900-year-old church with a sprung wooden floor and a d&b audiotechnik sound system.

THE JOURNEY
3pm Doors open. Cacao, and add your item to the ancestor altar
3:45pm Opening Ceremony
4pm Samhain Ritual with Carolyn Hillyer & Nigel Shaw (Seventh Wave Music, The Braided River). Bone whistles, flutes, drums, grief rattles and songs we can all share, some in Proto-Celtic. From loss into mending.
5pm Ecstatic Dance Journey (2 hours) with Osara. We dance for our ancestors.
7pm Live Sound Bath with Georgia Kate & Osara. Crystal singing bowls, gong and chimes, woven with live vocals and drums.
7:55pm Closing Ceremony
8pm Dinner & hang out (optional, venue closes 9pm)

THE ARTISTS
Carolyn Hillyer and Nigel Shaw are renowned musicians and artists who have lived and worked on their ancient hill farm in the feral heart of Dartmoor for over 30 years. Their live performances weave tender music, wild songs and sacred flutes and drums, many of which they have made themselves.
Osara is an embodied DJ and founder of Ace Collectiv, one of the UK's leading ecstatic dance DJs and the longest serving resident DJ for Ecstatic Dance UK in London. Drum, shakers and yoik-inspired vocals with organic, underground and electronic dance music.
Georgia Kate is a meditation practitioner and space holder. Her sound baths are woven with the cellular medicine of crystal singing bowls: deep rest, release and inner alignment.

BRING
A photograph, an object or a name written on paper for the ones who came before you. Layers, something to lie on for the sound bath, earplugs if you're sensitive, a water bottle.

BEFORE YOU COME
Alcohol-free. All ages: children stay with their parent or guardian and under-12s wear ear defenders on the dance floor. No experience needed. Wheelchair access throughout. Organic cafe and cacao. Kids space with a DBS-checked guardian.
Safe(r) space with Welfare Angels on the dance floor throughout. Barefoot or grip socks. No phones on the dance floor.

Ace Collectiv. 4.7 out of 5 from over 600 ratings across our experiences.