Boxing day, 2007, and the performance is about to begin. I’ve locked myself in a small cupboard to put on my costume, a tight spandex leotard top and a very light wavy pair of bottoms that look more like a dress than men’s trousers. I am warming up; ready for something I don’t think I am ready for. It’s not easy considering there is just enough space to stand, but I am in here because the fear of being laughed at has taken me over. Well, not completely, but doing dance warm-ups dressed in spandex, in front of one of the top DJ’s in the UK (one of the Freestylers) didn’t seem like the best idea. Knock, knock, knock! It’s time for me to go on. My mother, who is helping organise this event, goes on stage to introduce our performance. “Are you ready for something experimental?” she says, riling the rowdy crowd up a little. “We like experimenting, don’t we?” By this time the crowd are ready for something, but possibly not for what is about to happen. For starters this is a rave, and around five hundred of the local partygoers have turned up for a right good time, and hear some banging tunes (roughly translated this means loud dance music with the base turned up so loud it drowns out most of the actual music). My partner in crime, David Leckenby, has been on stage for a few minutes building the tension with some subtle but tense electronic sounds. Now it’s time to start the show. I assume my position on stage, with my back to the audience, and we move into our introduction, which is intended to focus the audience and bring everyone together, and then take them on a journey to the beginning of the universe, the place before anything had ever happened. Well… had I known beforehand how people would have responded, we might have made this part a little bit shorter, and maybe a bit more punchy, to say the least. I can’t remember exactly what people were shouting at us, but they definitely wanted us to get on with it.

Stepping back a little I thought I would mention a little more about who we are and what we are trying to do. Kosmic Fire. That is our performance group name, and also the very thing we are inspired by and trying to bring into this world. All of us involved in this ensemble of mixed mediums are involved with revolutionary spiritual teacher Andrew Cohen and his teachings of Evolutionary Enlightenment. The evolution of consciousness is what our lives are about, and the performances we are endeavouring to create are an expression of this intension. We literally want to transform consciousness and culture with our performances, and I must say that we have begun to have some success with this. But it is also important to mention that up until now, all our performances have been to audiences who are either interested in, or at least sympathetic to, the direction we are trying to go in. They have been explosive actualy, real experiments in the leading edge of performance art and the transmission of higher values through these new forms. Visuals, electronic music, spoken word, modern dance; all pulled together to form a higher synergy and expressing and inspired by the very Kosmic Fire that our name endeavours to encapsulate.

Anyways, back to the show. As I said, a few minutes into the performance I had the feeling that the audience weren’t really digging our vibe, or the deeper content we were pointing to. It was a funny experience; standing there with my white leotard on, the sound of people yelling for us to get on with it, all to the backdrop of vocal content speaking abut the truth of our existence. It was interesting though that in the midst of all this I knew very deeply that I had to stand behind our mission that night, and follow through on what we had set out to do, even if the audience weren’t really up for it. Let’s just say it wasn’t easy, but there were definitely moments where we broke through. At certain points I started to engage with the audience, almost taunting them to let go of their impatience and unrest, riling them up even more. But at the same time, in those moments, I felt this very deep potential for consciousness to transmit through these new forms, dance parties, techno raves, and literally come into this world in a very powerful and authentic way.

After the ordeal, once the rawness of what just happened had faded, the overwhelming sense welling up from inside, and my partners in crime echoed this, was a complete sense of victory. We had actually gone in front of a few hundred people and tried our best to transmit a message that is more than needed in the world we are living in. And also, if you are trying to push the edge in any way, which we are definitely trying to do (yes, I know I am saying this about my own performance, but you will have to take my word for it, or at least give me the benefit of the doubt ; ) ), you are not always going to get the best responses. That being said, it was glaringly obvious that to really make an impact in this kind of environment we really need to develop our performance medium, big stylee!

All in all it was a totally positive experience and I am very glad we did this. I guess we only learn when we are tested. That being said, I don’t think I will be returning to the stage dressed in my spandex leotard fairy outfit, as my good friends have come to call it, it’s not really good for the street cred ; )

I just wanted to let you know how our London Global Zaangha went last Saturday, at the EnlightenNext London centre.

It was awesome!!! It was so great to come together with so many inspiring and interested people; together we took this event through the roof. It was entertaining, educational, inspiring and most of all it was an ecstatic joy to be together.

I'm not sure how many people came but it must have been around forty. It was a combination of Zaadsters, and friends of Zaadsters, so a great mix.

The evening was presented by Lovena and Vanessa (both Zaadsters and members of EnlightenNext), who did a great job of guiding the beautifully chaotic proceedings, and setting context for an event that brought a hugely varied group of people together, all with the common passion for change.

We kicked off the evening's entertainment with some Jazz vibes with a very engaging and Soulful performance by Ereni Mendrionos. This was followed by the Yoga Monk, writer and musician Dada, who played some beautiful and deep spirited songs using projected images that were inspiring and really complemented his music. He was very warm and really brought everyone together (including getting everyone to sing a long in a very natural and sweet way), conveying both musical beauty and the depth of his spirituality that comes from his involvement with his spiritual organisation, Ananda Marga (http://www.anandamarga.org/).

Now you'll have to take my word in terms of the final performance, as I was one of the performers, and how could I give feedback when I didn't even see it!! ; ) Together with 3 other friends and Zaadsters (who are also involved with the work of EnlightenNext), we created a live music, dance and visual projection performance that conveyed the very source of the creative impulse itself! When I say live, I mean LIVE. Although we have a general storyboard and sequence, the power of what we do (and the fact we have very little time to rehearse ; ) ) comes from the fact we are all creating together in real time. This is only the second time we have done this performance and the response was amazing. People really loved it! Obviously as one of the performers it is VERY hard to be objective, but the sense of excitement and appreciation was overwhelming. More importantly though it brought everyone together, and we all carried on talking, not wanting to leave, for a long time afterwards.

Our mission at EnlightenNext is to create, with other like minded people and organisations, a revolution in consciousness and culture. Last Saturday night you could really feel this new culture bubbling and bouncing, being created by all the amazing and passionate people present!

We will be holding another event on Wedesday the 10^th of October around the launch of the next issue off What is Enlightenment? Magazine (Zaadz and WIE work very closely together). The title of this issue is: Ecology, Politics, and Consciousness: Rebooting Environmentalism for the Twenty-First Century. So we are going to have a party! You are very welcome to come and join us, it's FREE! We will have music, snacks and an opportunity to come together and engage with others around these exciting and important issues. Let me know if you are interested or want to find out more.

Also, the inspiration behind EnlightenNext, and the new culture we are trying to create, Andrew Cohen, will be coming to London in October, on the 19^th and 20^th. You should definitely check it out if you are interested!