The Mirror: Anna, how did you decide to become a Vajra Dance instructor?
Anna: The story itself began with how I started dancing. I was introduced to the Vajra Dance in Margarita Island, Venezuela in 2010. I watched people dance the Song of the Vajra, and it was incredibly beautiful. I sat completely spellbound, and I had a clear idea that they were some kind of superhumans, that I would never be able to do this, it was simply unrealistic. I always wanted to dance, but I had never worked with my body, and I was already over 40 at that time. So for me, not only the Vajra Dance, but the ordinary dance was something otherworldly, something I could only dream of. And then somehow this dance began to call to me.
Later I went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to attend a retreat with Chögyal Namkhai Norbu. I was working a lot at the time so I took just a week off and flew across the Atlantic for a retreat. There were some problems: one of our people was attacked with a handgun, someone was robbed, so I didn’t want to leave the hotel where Rinpoche was staying and where the retreat was taking place.
In between Rinpoche’s teachings, a retreat on the Dance of the Three Vajras was being held, and I went to it because I simply had nowhere to escape to. I made my way to the nearest shop in small dashes, bought clean socks to dance in, and then ran back. This was my first Vajra Dance retreat.
And so it went on: circumstances were such that I had nowhere to get away from the dance. For example, when Adriana Dal Borgo came to St. Petersburg to conduct supervision, she stayed at my place, I drove her by car to and from the retreat and I simply had no choice but to participate in it, too. Everything led me there, and, to be honest, I never had any active choice in this.
In 2015, I found myself in Dzamling Gar at the time of the Vajra Dance supervision and exam. Adriana approached me and asked if I would like to participate. I confidently answered “no”, but then felt all day that it was the wrong answer.
Zhenya Rud, who has now, unfortunately, passed away, helped me in this matter. That day, when I said “no” in the morning, I invited friends to dinner, including Zhenya. At that time, I was settling into my home. I had bought a dining table, and in order to have lunch, it had to be assembled. Zhenya Rud had absolutely amazing energy and assembled this table in an hour, and during that hour he told me how important it is to become an instructor, what problems he had when he taught without having become an instructor, and that when you are offered something like this, you cannot refuse. I already had an uncomfortable feeling caused by the refusal and understood that I had to agree. That was the story – nothing particularly romantic, just a lucky coincidence.
Anna receiving diploma from Rinpoche at the authorisation of Vajra Dance instructors in Dzamling Gar in 2015.
The Mirror: How did you start teaching courses?
Anna: All local instructors, unlike international teachers, are tied to one place. Therefore, as a person who is assigned to two places – to Sangyeling, the Dzogchen Community of St. Petersburg, Russia, and to Dzamling Gar, the Gar on Tenerife island, – I have conducted my courses mainly in these two places. In Russia, I have often done joint courses at Kunsangar with instructors from Moscow.
Since I have traveled quite a lot and continue to travel, I periodically give courses in the places I go to. For example, I was at a retreat in China and was asked to teach a course on Vajra Dance, and Vicky, a Yantra Yoga instructor from the USA, gave a short general retreat on Yantra Yoga. It was an interesting experience.
When you conduct retreats in different countries, you are faced with completely different cultures and you need to use different methods of explanation. For example, the Chinese are very methodical, they asked a lot of theoretical questions that had to be answered very clearly, accurately and quickly. But, for example, at my last retreats in Venezuela, at Tashigar North and in Merida, I used a completely different approach. People there tend to connect to the dance not through mind, but through heart, through feeling, through sensation. So there were much fewer theoretical questions there. We just practiced more and entered into this dimension on a different level.
Dancing in Tashigar North, Venezuela, in February 2024.
In addition, I was lucky enough to teach a course at Wangdeling, Slovakia – a beautiful quiet place, with picturesque landscapes and hills, when there was a retreat with Rinpoche and the inauguration of their new gönpa. Recently I also taught a course in Kathmandu, Nepal. This also coincided with my personal program.
My friend Lorraine Gaultier, a Vajra Dance instructor, suggested teaching a course there, and said that she would bring a mandala, because there were no mandalas in Kathmandu. We decided to try and started looking for a place to do it and a person to organize it. Ultimately, a wonderful variant self-manifested – to conduct this course at Tsoknyi Rinpoche’s nunnery, which kindly gave us such an opportunity.
Initially, representatives of the nunnery wanted this course to be only for the nuns, because they did not have any precedent for a course with people from outside. At that moment there was a group of people from the Dzogchen Community in Kathmandu who were making a pilgrimage to Maratika. Many of them wanted to take part in this course, and we asked permission to have a mixed course. We were kindly allowed to do this, which ultimately led to a very interesting effect, when beautiful young nuns, who had been in the nunnery since the age of 9, danced on the mandala with members of the Dzogchen Community, some of whom had some experience of the dance, and others not. The way the nuns listened and trained was different from the way the other half, mostly Europeans, learnt the dance. In their method there were no noticeable complex concepts, reasoning, doubts. They simply repeated the movements in order to memorize them.
Vajra Dance course in Kathmandu, Nepal, in April 2024.
Many of the participants still write to me, asking for the music, for example, for the Dance of 12 A, and I feel that everything is not in vain. A course itself is very good, but you cannot learn everything in a single course. In one course you can only enter this mandala, and then you need to practice.
To practice Vajra Dance, you need a mandala. Many people live where there is no mandala, so it is very important to have in your tools of the trade the Dance of 12 A, which does not require any additional conditions, which can be danced anywhere, anytime, even to any music. We dance it to the music of the six spaces, but this is completely optional.
The course in Kathmandu was an amazing experience. Firstly, simply bringing the Vajra Dance to Nepal, where Buddhism is the basis of life, connecting traditional practice with the teachings that Rinpoche received in his dreams, and realizing that it is all connected – this mission itself was very important to us. On the course there were nuns who apply traditional practices and at the same time they danced. So this openness, this non-sectarianism in relation to this method, which also works with the body and is not common in other traditions, was very important. We exist at the level of body, speech and mind, performing sitting practices is working with the mind, while Vajra Dance is, first of all, working with energy and with the body, too. In this way, all three aspects of our existence can be harmonized.
Vajra dancers in Sagyeling, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Mirror: What do you think is needed for the Vajra Dance to develop and continue?
This is a rather complicated question; I am against any missionary work. I believe that if anyone has a connection with this dance, it manifests despite the obstacles. Regular training is absolutely necessary. Coming on a retreat, doing a course, and leaving is great, but there must remain a person or group of people who will organize the classes. Therefore, we need enthusiasts, course organizers, and certain advertising. In the past, people would bring piles of gold to ask for valuable teachings. The Vajra Dance is a valuable teaching and people should come themselves. Unfortunately, many people now have a consumer attitude and the emphasis is shifting from the importance of the product to the importance of consumption itself. Making some kind of commercial project out of the Vajra Dance is a thankless task, but if you want to organize a course, it makes sense to ensure that the practice is then continued, so that it is regular, because the method works when you use it regularly, you definitely can’t learn the Vajra Dance in one go.
The Mirror: Any plans for the future?
It’s quite difficult to make plans nowadays. Tanya Gerasimova and I are now planning to conduct a joint course in St. Petersburg. It’s always interesting to do something together because new aspects manifest. I really love working with other instructors because we can complement each other, support each other, and correct each other’s mistakes. Such teamwork is always inspiring.
I’m also planning to travel next year. This year I have enjoyed South America very much. I’m thinking of going to Baja California in Mexico, I’ve never been there, and to Tashigar South, where I met Rinpoche in 2008. I have absolutely fantastic memories of this place. On the other hand, when you come to Tibet, Nepal or, as now, we are in India, in Bir, these places are very inspiring – I have been to Asura Cave, Maratika Cave, tomorrow or the day after tomorrow I will visit Tso Pema. All this helps to replenish energy and connect with the original source, so that later there will be an opportunity to carry it further and share it with others.
The Mirror: Thank you and good luck!
