• Location: Santos Meadow Muir Woods Road

• Website: www.planetarydance.org

• Pricing: Free, potluck (bring your own food)

• Hours: Sunrise ceremony at peak of Mt. Tamalpais at 5:20 am, Main event at Santos Meadow 11 am.

Description: If you want to do something positive for the earth and at the same time get in touch with your inner hippie- than this is the event for you! The Planetary dance was founded by Anna Halprin and runs with the help of a Planetary dance committee, of which my father is a part of. This dance promotes unity and healing the earth in an event like no other you will experience. Very child friendly and fun for younger children especially, my daughter has a great time every year! I have yet to attend the sunrise ceremony on top of Mt. Tamalpais- it is before my child is awake, but from what I here it is very spiritual and powerful! After the sunrise ceremony where they welcome the dawning of the day, a different and larger ritual goes on in the woods down below. Located in Santos Meadow, which is a beautiful site in itself, gatherers get together to pray for the healing of mother earth together. A dance circle takes place with people running, walking, dancing, drumming, all at different paces. As people join the circle they are to call out what they pray for: world peace, an end to war, stop drilling and fracking, for their children, for a sick family member, etc...It is very moving and powerful to see a meadow of such different people moving and praying together for the betterment of the world. I was always very hesitant to join initially thinking it was my dad and his hippie friends doing some weird ritual dancing on a mountain- but ever since I started going four years ago I haven't stopped. It moves you in a way to see people praying for the healing of the earth and the world out there in the middle of a beautiful meadow in nature- it's sort of a feeling I can't explain but almost moves me to tears every time. Afterwards there is a picnic where everyone sits together and eats (bring your own lunch type deal)- which is nice because the dancing and running can make you hungry!

Highlights: My daughter loves going too! Everyone there is very friendly and loves to see children participating. My daughter gets entranced by the open meadows, nature, the drums, and the giant colored flags. Also a highlight is that it is just a stone's throw away from Muir Beach. Me and my daughter quite often visit the beach afterwards. Which is a nice refrain at the end the dance.

Tips: Bring a picnic lunch and a blanket to sit on. After the dance everyone conveins under the trees and eats and converses. It can be windy, sunny, or foggy- or all- at the same time! If you are planning to visit the beach afterwards please refer to my tips on the Muir Beach page.

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