Dance Temple

Dance Temple

An Evening of Embodied Exploration, Sacred Connection & Liberated Expression

Friday, December 4, 2026
7:00–11:30 PM
Haw Creek Commons | Asheville, NC
Music by DJ Pending

18+

Sensuality Is Our Sacred Connection to Life

What happens when we give ourselves permission to fully feel, fully express, and fully inhabit our bodies?

When we release the expectations of how we should move, how we should look, or how we should connect, something beautiful becomes possible. We begin to rediscover our natural aliveness, our authentic expression, and the deeper wisdom that lives within us.

We invite you into Dance Temple, an intentional evening of movement, connection, sensual exploration, and community.

This is an opportunity to explore your relationship with your body, your desires, your boundaries, and your erotic life force in a supportive, heart-centered environment.

Through guided tantric embodiment, conscious consent practices, ecstatic dance, and collaborative sound healing, we create a space where you are invited to meet yourself exactly as you are.

There is nothing you need to achieve, nowhere you need to arrive, and no particular way you need to be.

You are invited to simply come into presence, follow your curiosity, and allow your experience to unfold.

Whether you're drawn to dancing freely, exploring connection with others, moving through emotional layers, or simply being witnessed in your authentic expression, there is space for you here.

Come as you are. Explore what feels alive. Discover what becomes possible when you give yourself permission to be fully you.

The Temple Experience

Arrival & Community Connection

We invite you to arrive early, settle into the space, and connect with the community before our opening ceremony.

Take time to ground, relax, and begin arriving in your body.

Opening Circle: Tantric Embodiment & Conscious Consent

We will begin by entering the temple space in reverent silence, allowing ourselves to transition from the outside world into a more intentional, present state of being.

Through guided embodiment practices, breath, movement, and awareness, we'll begin connecting with our bodies, noticing what is alive within us, and opening to the possibility of deeper connection.

We'll explore consent and boundaries not simply as rules, but as practices of self-awareness, self-trust, and loving communication.

What does a true yes feel like in your body?

What happens when you honor your no?

How can we remain connected to ourselves while exploring connection with others?

These practices help establish a foundation of trust, respect, and freedom that allows for authentic exploration throughout the evening.

Ecstatic Dance: Erotic Expression & Exploration

Music by DJ Pending

From this grounded foundation, we open into an ecstatic dance journey.

An invitation to move beyond the mind and into the wisdom of the body.

To shake, sway, breathe, play, express, release, and explore.

To allow your movement to arise from within rather than from how you think you should dance.

As the music unfolds, you may find yourself exploring different expressions of your aliveness: softness, strength, sensuality, joy, vulnerability, wildness, stillness, and everything in between.

Throughout the space, there will be different exploration stations, or temples, offering opportunities to deepen into your experience.

These spaces may invite you into greater awareness of your sensations, desires, emotions, edges, and patterns of connection.

Guides will be available to support your exploration while honoring your autonomy and personal boundaries.

You are always free to participate, observe, take space, or simply dance.

There is no expectation to interact with anyone or engage in any particular experience.

Your body, your boundaries, your journey.

Collaborative Sound Healing & Integration

After our dance journey, we will transition into a collective sound healing experience.

This is an opportunity to rest, receive, integrate, and allow the experiences of the evening to settle within your body.

You are welcome to contribute your voice or an instrument to the collective soundscape, or simply lie back and receive.

Together, we create a field of sound, presence, and shared intention.

Closing Circle

We will complete our evening by gathering in circle to share reflections, insights, and experiences.

This is an invitation to witness one another, honor our individual journeys, and harvest the wisdom that emerged through our time together.

Sharing is always optional.

Who Is This Experience For?

This space is for anyone who feels called to deepen their relationship with their body, their authentic expression, and their capacity for conscious connection.

This may be especially nourishing for you if:

• You love to dance and move freely. You want to explore movement as an expression of your authentic self, beyond choreography, expectations, or performance.

• You're curious about tantra, embodiment, and sacred sexuality. You want to deepen your relationship with your sensuality and erotic life force in a conscious, heart-centered way.

• You desire meaningful connection. You're longing for community where vulnerability, authenticity, playfulness, and genuine human connection are welcomed.

• You're exploring your boundaries and desires. You want to better understand your yes, your no, your curiosity, and your edges in a supportive environment.

• You're on a journey of self-discovery. You want to meet different parts of yourself with openness and compassion, including parts that may have been hidden, suppressed, or judged.

• You want to feel more alive. You're ready to reconnect with the pleasure of being in your body and the freedom of expressing yourself.

All genders, orientations, relationship styles, identities, and levels of experience are welcome.

You do not need any prior experience with tantra, ecstatic dance, or temple spaces.

Curiosity, respect, and a willingness to meet yourself authentically are all you need.

What This Space Is Not

Dance Temple is an intentional space for embodiment, exploration, authentic connection, and personal growth.

It is not a space for pursuing sexual gratification at the expense of others, pressuring people into interactions, or disregarding boundaries.

We ask everyone who enters to come with a willingness to practice consent, take responsibility for their own behavior, and respect the autonomy of others.

This experience may not be appropriate for someone currently experiencing an acute mental health or substance-related crisis that would make it difficult to remain present, respect agreements, or participate safely.

Inclusivity, Belonging & Community Care

We believe that every person deserves to feel welcomed, respected, and supported in their authentic expression.

Our intention is to create a space where people of all genders, sexual orientations, body types, backgrounds, and lived experiences can explore their aliveness without shame or judgment.

This includes celebrating LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive identities and honoring the diversity of ways we experience and express ourselves.

We recognize that safety and belonging are not created simply by declaring a space safe. They are cultivated through the ways we show up, listen, communicate, honor boundaries, and care for one another.

Our facilitation team is here to support this environment, and we invite every participant into the shared responsibility of co-creating it.

Discrimination, shaming, belittling, harassment, or disrespectful behavior will not be tolerated.

If you have accessibility needs or would benefit from additional support, please reach out so we can explore what's possible.

Creating a Culture of Consent

Consent is more than asking permission. It is a practice of honoring ourselves and one another.

At the heart of conscious connection is the understanding that each of us has the right to choose how, when, and with whom we engage.

Consent invites us to listen more deeply to our bodies, communicate our needs and desires, and respect the boundaries of others without taking them personally.

We practice honoring both our yes and our no.

We practice recognizing that our boundaries can change from moment to moment.

We practice taking responsibility for communicating clearly, checking in with one another, and remaining curious rather than making assumptions.

When we create a culture where saying no is welcomed, saying yes becomes more meaningful.

And when we know our boundaries will be respected, we often discover greater freedom to relax, connect, play, and explore.

Our intention is not to eliminate every moment of discomfort or uncertainty, but to create a supportive environment where we can meet ourselves and one another with awareness, compassion, and accountability.

Consent is an ongoing conversation, not a one-time agreement.

Our Community Agreements

These agreements are here to support trust, respect, freedom of expression, and the well-being of everyone who enters the temple.

We invite you to read them carefully and come prepared to participate in upholding them.

1. Presence & Intention

Once the temple doors open at 7 PM, we will enter in silence and gather for our opening circle.

This is an opportunity to leave the outside world behind, arrive in your body, and enter the experience with intention.

2. Respect & Compassion

We treat ourselves and one another with dignity, kindness, and respect.

Shaming, hate speech, aggression, violence, harassment, and behavior that disregards another person's boundaries are not permitted.

We welcome differences while remaining accountable for how our actions impact others.

3. Consent Is Essential

All interactions involving touch or personal engagement require clear, freely given, ongoing consent.

A no is always respected. A maybe is not a yes.

You never need to justify your boundaries, and you are always free to change your mind.

We encourage everyone to honor hesitation and wait for a clear, embodied yes before proceeding.

4. Honor Your Own Experience

You are responsible for listening to your body, communicating your needs, and making choices that support your well-being.

You are welcome to participate, observe, rest, or step away at any time.

There is no expectation to push beyond your boundaries or participate in anything that doesn't feel aligned.

5. Confidentiality & Privacy

What is shared or experienced in the temple stays in the temple.

Please do not identify participants or share details of their personal experiences, appearances, or interactions outside the space.

You are welcome to share about your own experience while honoring the privacy of others.

6. No Phones or Recording

Phones, photography, and video recording are not permitted within the temple space.

This supports privacy and allows us to remain present with one another.

7. Clothing & Nudity

Underwear must be worn at all times to cover the genitals, except during specific ceremonial experiences where nudity is explicitly permitted.

Any such experience is completely optional.

Everyone's choices regarding clothing and participation are to be respected.

8. Erotic Exploration Without Goal-Oriented Sexual Touch

This is a space to explore erotic energy, sensuality, and authentic expression, rather than pursue orgasm through direct genital stimulation.

Lingering genital touch and touch intended to stimulate genital orgasm are not permitted.

We invite you to explore the possibility that erotic energy can be experienced throughout the entire body, through movement, breath, sound, sensation, connection, and presence.

There is no particular outcome we are trying to achieve.

9. Sobriety & Clear Presence

We ask participants not to consume alcohol or recreational drugs during the event or within the six hours leading up to it.

Our intention is to explore the naturally expansive states of consciousness available through breath, movement, sound, connection, and embodied presence.

We invite you to discover what becomes possible when you allow your body and your experience to be the medicine.

10. Self-Care & Nervous System Awareness

If at any point you feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, or simply need some space, you're welcome to step away from the temple and rest in the designated cozy room.

Guardians and facilitators will be available to offer support.

We encourage you to move at your own pace and honor the natural rhythms of expansion, contraction, and integration.

11. Honoring the Facilitators & Guardians

Our facilitation team is here to help uphold the agreements and support the well-being of the community.

If a facilitator or guardian needs to pause an interaction, offer guidance, or intervene in an experience, we ask that you remain open and respectful.

Our intention is not to police anyone's experience, but to care for the collective space and respond when something may compromise another person's safety or boundaries.

We appreciate your willingness to collaborate in creating an experience rooted in awareness and mutual care.

Thank you for co-creating a culture of consent, connection, and authentic expression.

Meet Your Facilitator

Uni (also known as Richie Parrella)

Uni is a somatic therapist, Reiki Master, sound healer, intuitive massage practitioner, and community event facilitator with a deep passion for helping people reconnect with themselves and one another.

For over a decade, Uni has been creating and facilitating transformational community experiences throughout Philadelphia, Princeton, Washington, DC, and Asheville, North Carolina.

His work weaves together somatic awareness, tantric embodiment, mindfulness, breathwork, sound healing, and conscious connection. Through workshops, ecstatic dances, sacred sexuality spaces, and community gatherings, he invites people to explore the wisdom of their bodies, open their hearts, and discover greater freedom in their authentic expression.

At the heart of Uni's work is a devotion to creating spaces where people feel supported in meeting themselves more deeply, moving beyond limiting patterns, and opening to the natural intelligence of the body, heart, and spirit.

He believes that when we come together in presence, vulnerability, and authenticity, we create opportunities not only for individual transformation but for deeper community connection and collective healing.

Music by DJ Pending

Our ecstatic dance journey will be guided by DJ Pending, inviting us into a musical exploration of movement, sensation, and liberated expression.

Sliding Scale Contribution

Creating Accessibility Through Community Care

We believe experiences of embodiment, connection, and personal growth should be accessible to people across a range of financial circumstances.

We also recognize that facilitating intentional experiences requires time, energy, resources, and care.

Our sliding-scale contribution model is designed to honor both realities.

By choosing the contribution level that genuinely reflects your financial circumstances, you help create a more accessible and sustainable community.

We invite you to approach this choice with honesty, compassion, and awareness of your own resources.

In Abundance — Full Contribution

This level reflects the full cost of offering the experience and helps sustain the facilitators, space, and resources that make it possible.

We invite you to choose this level if you:

• Have reliable financial security, savings, or access to additional resources.

• Can comfortably meet your basic needs and have money available for experiences, recreation, or personal growth.

• Are generally not worried about accessing necessities such as food, housing, health care, or childcare.

Your contribution helps support the ongoing sustainability of these offerings and makes lower-cost participation possible for others.

In Balance — Supported Contribution

This level is for those who have their basic needs met but for whom the full contribution would create financial strain.

We invite you to choose this level if you:

• Have a relatively steady income but are navigating debt, limited savings, or living paycheck to paycheck.

• Can meet your essential needs but have limited flexibility for additional expenses.

• Would benefit from a more accessible contribution while still being able to offer meaningful financial support.

This contribution honors your circumstances while supporting the shared resources that make the experience possible.

In Flow — Accessible Contribution

This level is for those experiencing financial hardship or circumstances that significantly limit access to paid community experiences.

We invite you to choose this level if you:

• Are having difficulty consistently meeting essential needs such as housing, food, health care, or childcare.

• Are unemployed, underemployed, living paycheck to paycheck, or navigating significant financial stress.

• Experience systemic or personal barriers that affect your financial resources and ability to access experiences like this.

We particularly recognize the financial barriers that may affect historically marginalized communities, including BIPOC, LGBTQ+ individuals, sex workers, disabled and neurodivergent people, caregivers, and others experiencing economic inequity.

Your presence and participation are just as valuable as anyone else's, regardless of your financial contribution.

A Shared Practice of Honesty & Generosity

When we each choose the contribution level that truthfully reflects our circumstances, we help create a community rooted in mutual care and shared responsibility.

If you have the means to contribute at a higher level, doing so directly supports accessibility for those who do not.

If you need a lower contribution, we invite you to receive that support without shame.

We all have different resources at different times in our lives.

Together, we can create a culture where generosity flows in many directions and where the value of our presence is never measured solely by the amount of money we contribute.

An Invitation

There is a particular kind of freedom that arises when we feel safe enough to be ourselves.

When we no longer have to perform, protect, or pretend.

When our bodies are free to move, our hearts are free to open, and our authentic expression is welcomed.

Dance Temple is an invitation to explore that possibility together.

To meet yourself with curiosity.

To practice connection with consciousness.

To celebrate your aliveness.

And to remember that your body is not something to overcome, but something to listen to, inhabit, and enjoy.

We look forward to sharing this journey with you.