Sun Moon Dance

July 24 - 27, 2026

The ceremony of the Sun Moon Dance was given to the people in the form we dance at Center for Peace by Grandfather Joseph Rael. Known as “Beautiful Painted Arrow”, Joseph Rael is a Native American of the Ute and Tiwa people. While this Dance has its roots in Native American teachings, the Dance stretches back even further to ceremonies in Crete and Mycenae. This dance has now been held all over the world.  The Sun Moon Dance is a Visionary Dance, comprised of movement, fasting, and prayer. We dance for inspiration, clarity, and to break forms. When we dance, we are the truth of breath, matter, and movement, or Wah-Maa-Chi. The dance itself is a Prayer. Fasting, when the body is not focused on digestion, opens and expands one's energy. This allows one to become aware of Light that is moving through the body, it lifts one’s vibration, and it allows for deeper connections with Spirit.  By dancing and fasting, we heighten our awareness and allow ourselves to remake our personal world as we call the vibration of peace to the land we dance upon.  To Dance helps us to break the crystallization of forms that keep us stuck and stagnant. Drumming and chanting in the Tiwa language are Medicine for the dancers as they dance to and from the tree at the center of the arbor. The tree represents Source, the Divine, or Great Spirit, and dancers dance back and forth from the tree to connect and merge with that energy. The people then become a hollow bone through which vibration is called into this plane as sound and movement. In this way, we connect the up above and the down below.         The Sun Moon Dance is an opportunity to clear, release, pray, to receive Visions or healing. During the Dance, you are invited to work through layers of the self, which helps you to become a clearer and more connected Being. This is a very profound experience that looks different for every person. The Dance is grounding and expanding for anyone who attends or serves. Every role contributes to and benefits from the dance. The requested Dancer Donation is $750. Support Crew donation is $50. 

For those with questions about Dancing or support roles, please contact Dance Chief Teresa Hutson: sunmoon.tennessee@outlook.com 

“In July 1999, this Journey of Service began as I attended the Sun/Moon

Dance at the Center For Peace in Seymour, Tennessee. That first role was that of a Dancer’s Support Person. Little did I initially understand about what I had witnessed during those four days. It touched and opened my Heart. Complete strangers welcomed and embraced me. It was such a profound and heart-opening experience that I felt an immediate Call at a deep level. A Call to Dance… and, two weeks later I was dancing my first Sun Moon Dance in West Virginia.” “Since attending that first Sun Moon Dance as a support person, I have served many dances, in these last 26 years. That includes all of Grandfather Joseph

Rael’s Dances as well as the Women’s Web Dance, For The One Dance, Fire Dance, and the Dragon Dance. Many Dances and many forms of Service through them. I have served Dances in Germany, Norway, South Africa and in various locations in the United States. When I think about it, I recognize that it has been a continual Call that has given me the opportunity to heal, to learn, to grow, and to expand as a Human Being. It

is now and always has been about personal healing and growth, as well as Service for the Greater Good.”
“It is because of these experiences and the Healing that I have received, 

that I am able to step into that place in the east gate to serve the Tennessee Sun Moon Dance, as Chief. It is with deep Gratitude for Chief Steve Citty and his trust in my ability that I’ve accepted this role. It is because of him as well as every other person I have ever served with and learned from since 1999, that I am able to do this. Yes, I am able to do this…      ‘With help’, as Chief Steve would say!”.

The requested Dancer Donation for the 2026 Sun Moon Dance is $750. Support Crew donation is $50. Please contact Teresa Hutson for more information sunmoon.tennessee@outlook.com.