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On This Page:

Questions about Leader Guild Fees?

Sufi Ruhaniat International donations and Leaders Guild Fees

What happened to the magazine "We Circle Around"?

Where can I obtain Dance booklets and CDs?

Does DUP International still require tithes from event revenues to be given?

The In-The-Garden Yahoo Group

My membership is current in Dances of Universal Peace North America. Do I also need to pay a $30 annual Leader Guild fee to DUP International?

No, your membership fee to DUP North America includes your Leader Guild fee which they pass on to us. This applies also to certain other DUP regions/networks. See more information here.

 

My spouse and I are both dance leaders. Do we receive a discount, or do we each need to pay the full amount of the $30 US  Leaders Guild fees?

Thanks for asking! We ask you each to contribute the $30 US fee, either through your region membership or directly to us. We currently have approximately 1,200 Leaders Guild members of record world wide. If everyone contributes we will have the resources we need to carry forward the international work. We ask everyone to contribute, regardless of marital status. We of course are willing to make exceptions for financial hardship. Please let us know if this is the case in your situation.

 

In the past my donation to the Sufi Ruhaniat International enabled me to be listed as a member in the Leaders Guild (dance network). Is this being discontinued?

It is true that for some years initiates in the Sufi Ruhaniat International who also contributed to the Ruhaniat were recognized as leaders without paying dues directly to the Dance network.

In the recent reorganization, we are working to build the coalition of all who love the Dances of Universal Peace and want to see the Dance work flourish in its spiritual depth for future generations. We see Ruhaniat initiates as key to this coalition that we are building. At this time it feels appropriate for everyone who represent the Dances in the world to support and further the work through a strong Leaders Guild and international focus.  From now on we are asking all mentored leaders, including Ruhaniat initiates, to support the international work.

We appeal to all Ruhaniat initiates to both support the Ruhaniat and also to become supporting members of the Leaders Guild by joining your DUP region. Ruhaniat Dance leaders who do not wish to join their regional organization may pay their annual Leader Guild fees directly to Dances of Universal Peace International.

Click here to see a letter sent from the Guidance Council, Pir Shabda and Murshid Wali Ali to Ruhaniat Dance Leaders on July 14, 2010.

 

What happened to the magazine We Circle Around?

In the reorganization that has taken place in late 2009, Dances of Universal Peace International functions as the administrative and fiscal arm of the Mentor Teachers Guild and is now concerned primarily with development of the capacity and skills of dance leaders. We also link the worldwide community of dancers, including regions. In the new vision statement and goals we see the primary work of the regions being to serve their wider dance community with coordination, events, activities and publications as best meet the needs of their localities.

We feel we may most effectively achieve this linking work through online resources in multiple languages and through working more closely with the DUP regions.  This new website will eventually point to updates and articles posted by the regions, as a kind of continually updated "We Circle Around." In the end, the immediacy of the web will afford us many more options for linking, communicating and building a collective sense of the worldwide Dance movement.

Eliminating We Circle Around may sound like a reduction in benefit to some members. However, it is actually a redirection of resources so that resources may be used more effectively. A print publication, circulated world wide in English is a very limited tool, costly to produce and distribute, with a short "shelf life". We see many more needs that can be met effectively with these resources.

However, a most useful component of We Circle Around was the practice of including the directory of worldwide leaders inside it. We plan to continue producing the directory as a free downloadable .pdf file, and may also print some copies for folks who would like to have it as a booklet.

We hope that the Leaders will see what we are doing and trust us to make the best decisions in this new framework. In the end, we are still working toward the same goal of linking, only with different means and a differentiated role relative to the regions.
 

Where can I obtain the Dances of Universal Peace booklets and cds?

A limited number of Dance recordings are available from the DUP International Online Store. Martha in our Seattle home office still takes orders and sends out these materials. The Pubs website also contains links to materials previously sold by Pubs.

We are shifting our method of delivery of publications from print media to the on-line resources in the library on this website. Contact the webmaster if you are a dance leader that has not received your user name and password to enter the resource library.

 

Does DUP International still require dance leaders to "tithe" money from event revenues and dance circle admissions?

We strive to cultivate a spirit of generosity throughout the dance network. DUP International relies entirely on revenue from Leaders Guild fees and voluntary contributions to further the international work of the Dances. Present needs far exceed the revenues we have to work with. That said, we do not require donations of any kind from dance leaders, other than the annual membership fee you pay to your region (from which your region forwards your Leaders Guild fee to us), or if you live in the world-wide region, your payment directly to us. See here for more information.

 

FAQs about the In-the-Garden Yahoo Group

What is the In-The-Garden Yahoo Group?

"In-The-Garden" is a moderated electronic email forum which we invite and encourage all mentored Dance leaders to join. In-The-Garden provides a means for us to communicate with each other about our development and training as leaders of the Walks and Dances of Universal Peace. Periodically, the Guidance Council may introduce discussion topics for our collective exploration, and will also use this email forum to announce administrative and structural changes. You may also access the emails of past discussions through the group's home page.

How do I subscribe to the group?

Simply send an email to InTheGarden-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. You are then automatically subscribed!

You will receive a reply from Yahoo with a link asking if you wish to create a user name and password for Yahoo groups. You do not need to click the link and do this if you simply want to receive emails from the group. If you wish to be able to read past emails sent from the group and adjust your settings for In-the-Garden group emails, then follow the link to establish a user name and password for Yahoo Groups. If you have a spam trapper, make sure that you include "InTheGarden@yahoogroups.com" as an exception.

How do I send messages to the group?

To post a message send your email to InTheGarden@yahoogroups.com.

Do I need a Yahoo email address in order to subscribe?

Once an email address has been subscribed to one of the Yahoo Groups, you can send messages to and receive messages from the group WITHOUT a establishing a Yahoo account.

How do I access the In-The-Garden group home page?

When you subscribe to the In-The-Garden group, you will receive a reply email from Yahoo asking if you wish to establish a Yahoo Groups user name and password. If you follow the links and complete this process, you will then be able to manage and revise this and any other of your Yahoo groups and subscription settings at any time. For more information, see http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/manage/manage-17.html.  If you elect not to establish a Yahoo group user name and password, you will simply receive group emails when they go out but will not be able to read past In-The-Garden emails, etc on the group home page.

I sent my email, but it did not show up right away. Why?

This is a moderated group, which means Darvesha MacDonald, Chair of the Guidance Council, reviews all emails sent to the group for accuracy and appropriateness before they are allowed to go through.

Why does the In-the-Garden Yahoo Group not show up when I search for it within Yahoo Groups?

We created the group as a private group that wouldn't show up via the Yahoo search feature to prevent it from being found randomly, and to avoid the moderator from having to deal with requests from those not qualified to join it.

Making it a private/hidden type of group does make it more difficult for new leaders to locate. We ask that mentors direct their mentees to this page so they know the actual details about joining the Yahoo group. It would help us if mentors also follow up on whether their mentees have successfully connected!