Dance Leader Training and Development Programme 2025-2026

LAST CHANCE TO JOIN! ACT NOW!

Guided by Christina Gulzar Lausevic and Jilani Cordelia Prescott

A two year course including four residential retreats in beautiful and comfortable venues

This programme is for everyone who is interested in the Dances of Universal Peace, including mentored leaders, and also those new to the path of Dance Leading. 

We invite you to embark on this deeply enriching and exciting journey with us, not only on your path as a Dance Leader, but also as an opportunity for profound personal development, spiritual growth and self-discovery. Jilani and Gulzar are currently the only mentors offering a Dance Leader training course in the UK. After running our highly successful course in 2017/18 and again in 2020/21 we are delighted to be able to offer this opportunity for a third time in 2024. 

YOUR GUIDES

Jilani Cordelia Prescott trained as a classical musician, and has over 30 years of teaching experience. Her main focus is now leading the Dances. She has led Dance and Sufi retreats, teacher trainings, and camps across the world. She is also a Sufi guide, and acts as the Facilitator on the Board of Trustees for the Sufi Ruhaniat International. Her passion is to work with people, enabling them to shine more fully as themselves, and to share their gifts with others.

Christina Gulzar Lausevic is a highly experienced teacher, having been a teacher and teacher educator in her first career. She is engaged in Dance Leading and developing Dance Leaders in many countries.  Trained as a Facilitator in personal and collective transformation, she founded Emergent Space with her partner, with whom she runs Retreats. Gulzar is passionate about how the Dances help people heal and awaken to their highest potential.

ASPECTS OF DANCE-LEADING TO BE STUDIED

  • Breath Practices
  • Voice Work
  • The Sacred Phrase
  • Leadership Skills
  • Developing Magnetism
  • Spiritual Walks 
  • Dance Repertoire
  • Musicianship
  • Confidence
  • The Dances as a Healing Practice
  • Energetic Holding Skills 
  • History and Background of the Dances 

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THIS TRAINING PROGRAMME?

We will guide and support you on this journey every step of the way. Included in this 2 year training are: 

Four residential training retreats, including 16 nights full board accommodation. The retreats are held in comfortable and beautiful venues with expansive grounds. We will have sole use of these country houses for our own group. 
Between these live trainings, you will be supported in your unfolding development with regular group video conference calls (16 calls, or 24 hours in total). 


As a Dance Leader, you will: 

  • Find and develop your unique voice as an expression of your heart and soul
  • Expand your Dance repertoire and deepen in the spiritual traditions and practices of the world
  • Develop an understanding of the power of sacred mantra and the energetic and healing effects of sound 
  • Develop your musicianship and learn how to embody a greater sense of rhythm
  • Explore how different Dances support our grounding and expansion in different ways
  • Understand group harmonisation and how you can use this to support healing and transformation
  • Expand your energetic range so that you can embody different qualities, elements and polarities at will
  • Develop your capacity to speak to peoples’ hearts and open them with your words
  • Allow your gift to flow through you from a place of empowered surrender and magnetic presence
  • Discover practical marketing tools to help you to take your transmission of the Dances out into the world 
  • Explore how to adapt the Dances for various situations and needs, to support a wide range of communities

Many Dance Leaders, even those who have already completed a training, still feel held back in their leading, or in putting themselves out there in their communities. In this particular training, with its added focus on supporting you with personal development as well as leadership ability, we aim to help you from the start to discover and overcome potential obstacles to being a successful and magnetic Dance Leader. 
Both Jilani and Gulzar are trained and very experienced teachers and guides, and a particular skill they share is to see your gifts and to let these unfold joyfully and with ease. 

We will help you to be the best Dance Leader you can possibly be. 

PRACTICAL DETAILS

Residential Retreats in two beautiful country house retreat centres, in Northumberland and Cheshire, both easily accessible by air, rail and road. 

  • 10th – 14th April 2025 Shepherds Dene, Northumberland (pictured above right)
  • 16th – 20th October 2025 Wistaston Hall (pictured above left and centre)
  • 1st – 5th May 2026 Shepherds Dene
  • October 2026 Wistaston Hall

16 conference calls with the whole group via Zoom or similar interface 

APPLYING FOR A PLACE

The first step is to fill in the form to apply for a place by clicking on this link: https://forms.gle/LwJfHhN2vefzNZ5p8

Please also let us know when you have completed the form. If you are successful we will offer you a place and send you payment details.

Prices

Investment:  £3670

Reduced price for full payment received by 18th October 2024:  £3470

Supplement for a guaranteed single room on all retreats: please add £240

Subsidised price for people who have completed a training with us before: Deduct £200

Deposit to secure your place: £400 (non-refundable – this is less than what we need to pay the venues to book your place)

Absolute deadline for all bookings: 5th February 2025

We prefer people to pay in full if they are able to do so, due to the high non-refundable deposits we have to pay to the venues.  If you need to set up an instalment plan, please contact us as soon as you can.  We will work to find a suitable arrangement for you and for us, taking into account our fixed expenses and costs.

Bursaries:  We hope to be able to offer some generous bursaries to those who would really need one in order to attend. Please contact us to discuss your needs.  And if anyone would like to donate to our bursary fund, to support someone else attending, it would help immensely – please let us know.

For more information, click on the links to contact Jilani or Gulzar

TESTIMONIALS

I really value and honour the visible and invisible work you’ve been doing, inviting me in a very sensitive way to explore some paths where I wouldn’t have been by myself. I felt really safe and joyful about the way you’ve been holding the group and all the training.Thank you. (Solène Garrin – France)

Your capacity of listening and channelling all the situations was impeccable. Keep going please! Congratulations!  (Juan Nuraddin – Spain)

I grew up so much! Thank you!!!!!  I’m so grateful…(Paloma – Belgium)

Jilani and Gulzar know what they are doing. You can trust them. (Sarah McCulloch – UK)

“Wow! No words! It was amazing”

“A very sensitive way to explore some paths where I wouldn’t have been by myself.”

“I would highly recommend this pair of very gifted and experienced dance leaders. Thank you so much.” 

“Beautiful holding of a very diverse group.”

“I have attended two training courses before, and on this one my heart has felt safe enough to open fully to feel joy and pain, and to connect with the Divine within.”

“Gulzar and Jilani create a safe, warm, heart-centred, non-judgemental space in which to overcome fears about leading dances.”

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Celebrate the Autumn Equinox with Jilani and Salik

Dancing with Balance and Harmony at the Autumn Equinox.

Dance the Prayers of your Body, Heart and Soul!

Simple sacred chants and movements. Beautiful Live Music. Powerful breath practices, and sharing. Ritual and ceremony. The opportunity to meet ourselves and each other, fully embodied, in the heart-space of deep meditation and devotion.

Everything clearly guided and held. All are welcome, whether you are new friends or old.

These dances could be called body prayers: simple, gentle yet powerful movements with chants drawn from many world traditions, all celebrating Unity.
Moving, chanting and breathing in rhythm together we begin to harmonise ourselves as individuals and as a group. Our bodies and hearts can realign with the rhythm of our souls. The results can be wonderful: we may experience sensations of peace and joy, heart-opening connections with others and a sense of oneness with all-that-is.

Everything is taught as we go along, so anyone can join.

If you’d like to join us for a shared meal afterwards, please bring a contribution of something delicious to share.

Time

5.00pm – 8.00pm including a shared feast (please bring a contribution of something delicious to share)

Investment:

£25 (£22 if paid by 14th August)

Contact:

Please use the contact form below to book and for payment details

Khankah of the Heart Retreat, Crewe, January 2026: The Winged Heart

KHANKAH OF THE HEART
THE WINGED HEART

A residential retreat at Wistaston Hall Oblate Retreat Centre, Crewe

22th – 25th January 2026 From supper on Thursday to after lunch on Sunday.

“Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding, the two as beautifully balanced and coordinated as birdwings” – Rumi

Jilani and Shamsia have a vision of a Sufi community, a Khankah, based not in a building of bricks and mortar, but in the relationships between the deep and loving hearts of its members. All fervent seekers are welcome to join, whether you are new to this or have been walking the path for many years.

In this retreat we are inspired by the Sufi winged heart: the symbol of spiritual liberty, expressing that the heart reaches upward towards heaven. In those paired wings we see the balance of known and unknown, impermanence and what survives, dancing on the threshold, the edge between the worlds, where we fly free, with the breath of God beneath our wings.

Shamsia Sandra Sunfire lives, Dances and Walks in Wales and has done for nearly 30 years. She follows the Path of the Heart, the Path of Love. Shamsia is a leader and mentor of Dances of Universal Peace. She loves the retreat process that draws on the rich tapestry of wisdom teachings and practices, the rhythms of nature which empower us to be more of who we truly are. She both leads and attends retreats. Shamsia is a conductor in the Dervish Healing Order and is dedicated to service on the healing path.

Jilani Cordelia Prescott is a guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International, Cherag, SoulWork practitioner and leader of the Dances of Universal Peace as well as a mentor of other dance leaders. She has over thirty years’ professional experience as a teacher and musician. Her relaxed and patient teaching style means people easily learn the practices, and can be free to enter the powerful and healing depths of the experience. Jilani lives in the misty Pennine hills of northern England, and brings her love for the Earth to everything she does.

Cost: £520 – £475 – £435 including all meals (generous/standard/cost prices: self selecting sliding scale based on need). £80 deposit (non-refundable) reserves your place. Please get in touch with us if these prices are beyond your means. We want to be inclusive and we hope to have bursaries. Single/shared accommodation available.

Shamsia and Jilani will have musical support from Halim Geoff Carter and Robert Salik Orange

We are very grateful to have received a grant from the Oneness Project to support an ongoing bursary fund to enable us in turn to support those encountering financial difficulties so that they can join us.  We have previously been supported by Dances of Universal Peace International. This bursary fund will be available to all including those who will in future serve and support our communities, the young people.  We recognise that these are challenging times and that financial challenges are becoming more widespread and that a bursary fund will help our community to be more supportive and inclusive. If you are experiencing abundance and feel inspired to support our bursary fund, please contact us.

We are committed to exploring sustainable ways to continue to gather as a Sufi Community, financially and based on caring for the Earth’s limited resources.  This venture has been unfolding in our hearts and our lives each and every time we meet, we nurture and pray for its past, present and future.

Please don’t be shy about approaching us to discuss bursaries or paying by instalments, which can make it very affordable.

Contact us now for more information or to book: email  Jilani on jilanicordelia@gmail.com, or Shamsia on sandrasunfire@gmail.com.

Inana: the ‘I Am’ Statements of Yeshua – 3rd to 5th October 2025, France

In the Footsteps of Yeshua and the Great I Am: Exploring the “I Am”, the secret teachings of the Aramaic Jesus.

le Chant du Loup – 2045 Chemin de Chapias 26150 Die, France

Inana: Simple Presence, the I inside the I, connecting one to One, is the food that energises all life.The “I Am” feeds all being with understanding and energy…

Simple Chants and Body Prayers, led by Jilani Cordelia Prescott, with live guitar support from Jilani.

All welcome! Everything will be taught as we go along – no prior knowledge or experience necessary. In French and English.

‘Who danceth not, knows not what is being done.’ (Hymn of Jesus)

Cost: €150 Retreat Fee

Food and Lodging extra, by Donation

Gite, dormitory and camping all possible.

For bookings or further information, contact Manoelle:

Phone/WhatsApp +33 699 44 01 42

Sufi Camp 26th – 31st August 2025, near Usk

Come and immerse yourself in the beautiful Welsh countryside and ‘the Sacred Manuscript of Nature, the only book which can enlighten the reader’ (in the words of Hazrat Inayat Khan, the Sufi mystic). For these days we will live together close to the land and deepen our connection to Mother Earth through many different practices.

There will be opportunities for training for dance leaders, including circles where new or more experienced dancers, dance leaders and musicians can explore the dance leading journey, with guidance and supporting practices held by Jilani, who is a very experienced mentor and trainer of dance leaders.

This event is offered in association with Khankah of the Heart, a UK Sufi community based not in bricks and mortar, but in the loving hearts of everyone who feels part of it. Through Khankah of the Heart we may be able to offer some bursaries for those who would otherwise be prevented from attending this camp by the cost. Please ask!

Rissa of Yew Tree Camps has this to say about the site:

‘Meadow Ground overlooks the gorgeous Welsh Valleys and enjoys dramatic views and spectacular skies from its position on the hillside. The Stone Circle is a formation of English and Welsh stones, which came together serendipitously to create a deep and mystical place for the dances. We are immersed in nature amongst the hedgehogs, owls, buzzards, bluebells, orchids and new and old trees.

The land has been lovingly tended to and developed to create the beautiful and magical setting for these camps. We are blessed by the full range of weather that Wales provides; beautiful sunny days, misty rainy days and everything in between – it is therefore good to pack for all seasons!

We have various sheltered spaces for workshops, lovely compost loos (including a new accessible compost toilet) and a mains water supply for drinking, hand washing, cooking, and basic off-grid showering and bathing. We will maintain an open fire which marks the centre of our camping circle. 

Please ask us about alternative accommodation and any other access needs you may require. Our field may not be suitable for everyone as the ground is uneven in places, but we would love to accommodate you as much as we can. We have options available to help you attend more comfortably if you aren’t able to camp or don’t wish to. If you need to travel light, we can help with some basic supplies like tents or bedding, however these are limited. 

We have three cats who love the freedom of the field. Therefore we are not able to accommodate other peoples pets on the field.’

This exciting new event is designed to be affordable, and please do enquire if you need further help to be able to attend. Conversely, if you find the price is reasonable or cheap for the value which is being offered, please consider offering a donation to subsidise those who are less well off.

Bring your own plate/bowl/mug and cutlery, plus anything you need to be comfortable, including special food. You might also like to bring teas/coffees and delicious snacks to share. Our meals will be suitable for vegetarians with vegan and gluten free options, and are included in the price you pay. We will all offer our karma yoga or Seva services in turn to chop wood and vegetables, wash up and clear away.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment! Contact Jilani with any questions prior to booking

We are delighted to say that Sue Goodwin will be leading a dream workshop and daily dream weaving sessions at camp.

The old ones knew that life is a dream, that we are both the dreamer and the dreamt. Now more than ever the world needs dreamers. We need to see further than we have seen before, using our creative visioning powers to see all possibilities. Dreaming is an ancient art and practice that is now being reclaimed in the modern world as one of the ways we can shape shift our old realities and become more awake to what we are experiencing, perceiving and co-creating.

Honouring our dreams can offer us glimpses of the subtle direction of our soul’s longing, and open us up to new levels of healing and understanding. Attuning to the mystery of dream worlds can inspire us to show up more fully, and be more aware of how we are co-creating our lives.

In this workshop we will open up the vast territory that is our dreaming intelligence, and how it can support and be an integral part of our spiritual practice. We will touch into the role of dream work in some different traditions and cultures. I will share some of what I have been learning about different types of dreams, the language of dreams, dream interpretation and ways we can enhance our dream recall. There will be a short dream sharing practice with a partner, to help open up our dreaming consciousness.

During the week, we will have the precious opportunity to listen to each other’s dreams as part of our morning practice.

Bio: Sue is a dreamer, a grandmother, retired herbalist, plant spirit healer, ceremonialist and teacher. Her life’s passion has been the reclaiming of ancient wisdom and ways of healing body, mind, heart and soul. In her life walk, Sue has had the blessing and honour to learn from a medicine wheel tradition from the Americas and a number of other spiritual wisdom traditions, and is now happily alchemising what she has gathered in her own ‘Medicine Bundle’. She has been running women’s winter dreaming courses for the last five years, in person and online.

Spring Equinox in Wales

Light of Renewal, Light of Rebirth

A Day of Dances of Universal Peace to Celebrate the Approach of the Spring Equinox

With Jilani and Robert

Saturday 15 March 2025 10.30 for 11 am start, 4.30pm finish

Cilgerran Village Hall, High Street, Cilgerran, Cardigan, Wales SA43 2SQ

In between the pillars of the Day and the Night We walk through the doorway from the Dark to the Light: the Light of Renewal, the Light of Rebirth – Light of the Earth!’

The Spring Equinox is the time of the transition from the dark of winter to the lighter half of the year. It is also the time of new birth, when daffodils bloom, lambs leap, and the earth warms with hope for a new season of growth as tender green shoots begin to appear.

On this day we will dance with simple steps and chant sacred phrases together, with our focus on our own tender shoots, and on how best to support and nourish our growth at this time. We will call on the Light of Renewal, the Divine Light, to sustain us and guide us as we grow.

All welcome! Croeso i bawb!

£30 full day (£25 if paid before 16 February) £16 half day (ask if you’d need a concession) Please bring vegetarian food to share for lunch. Teas will be provided. Tasty snacks are welcome too!

Jilani will also lead a Sufi Zikr on Friday evening at 7.30pm, at a venue near Newport, for an additional donation (we suggest around £10, but according to your means). Numbers are limited so booking is essential.

If you would like to join us for the Zikr, please contact
Emma: emmaoftheearth@hotmail.com 07887 622188 or 01239 821118.

For bookings and practical information about the Saturday workshop including the venue, please contact Sally Davies: saldavies@hotmail.com or 07766 213606

For information about the content of the workshops, please contact Jilani: jilanicordelia@gmail.com or 07966 451534

‘You don’t need to have any experience of this type of group to enjoy it and feel uplifted…The movement and singing is spiritual and peaceful.’ – Lorraine

“Their events that I have experienced are really uplifting and thoughtful and make me feel like I’ve found a soul family.” – Claire

Jilani Cordelia and Robert Salik lead dance events and retreats around the UK, across Europe and beyond. Their workshops are always a safely held space to explore more of who you really are, supported and enchanted by beautiful live music and gentle, meditative movement. Both Jilani Cordelia and Robert Salik are dance leaders certified in the Leaders Guild of Dances of Universal Peace International. Jilani is also a dance mentor, and a guide in the Sufi Ruhaniat International. Jilani and Salik are delighted to be returning once again to Wales, to a land and a community very close to their hearts. We are looking forward to dancing with you!

www.dancesofuniversalpeace.org 

Dancing in the Sacred Manuscript of Nature – Annual DUPAustralia Retreat 2025

Annual DUPA Retreat 2025

Dancing in the Sacred Manuscript of Nature

with Jilani Cordelia Prescott

April 21-29 2025

Yarrawarra Retreat Centre, Corindi, NSW

3 days Dance Deepening and Leadership Training, and 5 days Retreat.

Yarrawarra is an indigenously owned retreat centre in a stunning location near the beach. Nearest airport is Coffs Harbour. We will also enjoy cultural activities.

All welcome! No experience required.

For registrations and enquiries contact the Registrar: Sabira Jane +61 499 652 804

sabirajane@gmail.com

Early bird by 21 March!