Home at the Dakini Rose Gardens. Photo by Immortalized Images.
My mythos…
Hi friends! Welcome to a glimpse into my world as a modern Temple Dancer, yogini, artist, truth seeker, wife, and mother of three beautiful daughters!
Sometimes I look around and can’t believe the Grace of the life I have created. I live in a beautiful home and Dance Temple, have an amazing family, by and large love, respect, and take care of myself, and am excited and inspired about the path I am pioneering. But let me tell you, I have not always been here, and through challenge and victory, continue to forge my own personal hero’s journey…
I have been fortunate to have been training in my dance craft since I was a small child. Every experience has its graces and its challenges… The beauty of my having trained since childhood is that I have a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge in my art and my connection to embodiment to share with you all!
The challenge of this has been that I was I very sensitive empathic child raised in an intense competitive dance environment that eventually led to perfectionism and comparison mindset, self criticism, body shame and eating disorders, various addictions, depression, and anxiety. I moved to Los Angeles out of high school with stars in my eyes, and couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t quite fit in, hated the rat race I found myself in, and was using various coping mechanisms to deal with the confusion I felt in my life. I was taking horrible care of myself, was devoid of inspiration, disconnected from my empowered sexuality, used my relationships with men to try and fulfill my self-worth, and was headed down a path of self destruction until I eventually found myself being diagnosed with melanoma cancer as a 26 year-young woman. More on that later…
By the grace of God I found yoga in college, which I initially practiced religiously as a good work out and an effective way to dissipate my anxiety. Little did I know it would eventually become my saving Grace…
Over time, my path in yoga led me to releasing my commercial dance agent and my gym membership (which was my daily obsession at the time), going through my yoga teacher training and then working and teaching at various Los Angeles yoga studios, discovering and delving deep into Bhakti yoga and kirtan chanting, and then eventually into my next layers of realization through Bellydance, Classical Indian Dance, and my path as Priestess. I finally found a path of embodiment, and a purpose in my dance practice that finally made sense to me and awakened a place in me I didn’t even realize I had lost. By this point, I organically day-by-day began healing from my addictions and disorders as my attention shifted toward healing. Finally, I began to see through a new lens that loved myself and those around me, and my heart began to feel safe enough to bloom. This was when I moved out of Los Angeles, moved through my cancer awakening, got pregnant with my first daughter, and was fully reborn into a new life.
The rest is Herstory. And I intend to share as much of it as you want to hear.
No matter where you are now, the path of healing is always right at your finger tips and truly only a few choices away. Little daily choices. Little daily rituals. Make art that fills your soul, and craft your LIFE as art. Connect with the wildness and Beauty of mama nature, and She will guide the way.
And hopefully, I can shine some light too, as we peer into each other’s reflection…
I love you xx
“She howled at the moon
as mud writhed between her toes
and jasmine danced on her lips
and she once again remembered
that she is
Alive...”
And now for my Professional Bio…
Owner & Director of the Dakini Rose Gardens
Creatrix of Ritual Embodiment™ & DRF Temple Fusion
Artistic Director & Choreographer of the Dakini Rose Devadasi dance company
Producer and Director of “Rebirth of the Devadasi” Sacred Arts Salon
Monique is a professional dancer and yogini, mother and wife, visionary and mystic, temple dancer and ordained Priestess, ceremony facilitator, paraglider (sky dancer), costume designer and visual artist, philosopher, and devotee of Truth. She has been fortunate to have had a lifetime of dance training and performing beginning with Classical Ballet and other western forms as a child, and then into Modern, Odissi Classical Indian Dance, African Dance, and various styles of Bellydance as an adult. She has a BA in Theatre and Dance, is a certified hatha yoga instructor, a host and graduate of the 13 Moon Mystery School, and is a respected pioneer in the realm of Modern Temple Dance fusion arts. As Creatrix of Ritual Embodiment™, steward and Priestess of the Dakini Rose Gardens and Temple in Southern Oregon, and Director of the modern temple dance company, the Dakini Rose Devadasi, Monique teaches and performs her artful embodiment transmissions locally and abroad.
“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. ”
Gratitude…
Acknowledgment and deep bows to my primary teachers, mentors, and collaborators:
My amazing partner Destino and precious daughters, Mythea, Laniakea, and Trinity, my wonderful and supportive parents Corinne and Barry, Rachel Brice www.daturaonline.com, Colleena Shakti www.colleenashakti.com, Sharron Rose www.sacredmysteries.com, Ariel Spilsbury www.13moonmysteryschool.com, My beloved faery godmother Sylverleaf, Zoe Jakes www.dancecraft.com, Sioux Lehner (my primary childhood dance teacher and company director), The Salimpours www.salimpourschool.com, My Dakini Rose sisters Ruth Rhiannon & Halo Seronko, and many more…
Thank you to all my inspirations, collaborators, students, and teachers!
… A dove from my heart xx