History

Moving Dharma arrises from the confluence of over ten years of dance and Buddhist practice.  As a dancer, I find my home in the free-form dance jams of Dance New England, complemented by an affinity for breakdancing and contact improvisation.  My study and practice of Buddhism has been informed by academic courses, meditation retreats, and travel through Nepal and India.  At present much of my own practice orientation is within the Theravada Insight tradition.  I am currently pursuing a Master of Divinity degree in Buddhist ministry at Harvard, and will begin Spirit Rock's Community Dharma Leader 4 Program this fall.

 

In 2004 I began teaching children's creative movement and dance.  Two years later I expanded into teaching breakdancing fundamentals to all ages and facilitating a spiritually oriented dance jam series, Dance Path, in Boston.  With these elements of hip-hop warm ups, creative movement exercises, and interpretive dance, I have since designed and taught a host of thematic workshops with a diverse clientele.  My Master of Education thesis work at Lesley University focused on kinesthetic learning and embodied spirituality, deepening my work in these fields and laying the foundation for The Embodied Path, a three day seminar on the intersection of religion, spirituality, and dance I organized and co-taught in August, 2007.

 

In early 2008, under the name Dharma Dance Company (DDC), I focused my work on movement and dance as Buddhist practice, leading workshops at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center and the Insight Meditation Society's family and teen retreats.  In the fall of 2008, I planted roots for the DDC in Boston through monthly Dharma Jams and a weekly labbing group, which culminated and performed in May, 2009.

 

While the scope of this work in some ways falls under the capacity of a dance company, it is also at times more broad, personal, or amorphous.  I have thus adopted Moving Dharma as an umbrella name for my ongoing projects.  I offer this site as a means to share both my work and resources in moving dharma practices.

Artist Resume

H. Blum artist resume.doc
Microsoft Word Document [574.5 KB]
Download

Ministry Resume

Available on request.

Interviews

Visit the Planetary Spirit internet radio show website to listen to an interview on the wedding of Buddhism and dance conducted in February of 2008.