InterPlay with Ruth Schowalter

-I feel love and peace in mind. I feel like I am standing in front of God and dancing happily… -I felt light and warm with gratitude.    I felt grace... On May 20 th , 2020, a few days before Ramadan concluded for 2020, the Zoom chat box was filled with comments from 7 women from Turkey, 2 from Iran, 1 from India, several Americans and others – most of us currently living in the United States.  It was at this moment that I had two InterPlay worlds – Dance Chapel and Sustaining International Sisters(SIS) – collide to honor Ramadan, a deeply religious time period for Muslims, the religion of my Turkish and Iranian friends.  I began leading the Wednesday night  Dance Chapel in Cynthia Winton-Henry’s Hidden Monastery at the beginning of April because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. There were so many of us sheltering at home, that Cynthia expanded these interfaith dance chapels from only Monday and Thursday to every day of the week. Our Dance Chapels us...

Atlanta InterPlay's Sustaining International Sisters (SIS) met together on Saturday, May 18th, 2019, to break the fast during Ramadan with their Turkish Muslim sisters. More than 30 women from Pakistan, Israel, Canada, Iraq, Libya, China, Brazil, Spain, Ecuador, and the United States came together at one of the Turkish SIS InterPlayer's home in Alpharetta, Georgia. Two Turkish women drove in from the Atlanta suburb to midtown and filled their cars with SIS participants who were experiencing an Iftar for the first time.  The large spacious home had four tables set for a feast to share their tradition of breaking the daylong fast of Ramadan. The abundance of delicious food spilling off of kitchen counters and tables filled everyone with gratitude. But first we gathered in a large comfortable bonus room to meet one another through the forms and tools of InterPlay. Canan Arikan, co-founder of SIS and InterPlay Leader-in-Training, welcomed everyone and informed them of our...