“You have to get out of your mind,” says Candice McAdams, participant of Water Dance. “You have to learn to trust and surrender, to connect with yourself and others.”
Marcel takes clients on a spiritual journey around a heated swimming pool, and cites the benefits of his sessions as being “personal growth, development of consciousness and relaxation”.
This new phenomenon could best be described as aquatic yoga. For anybody experiencing psychological or emotional problems or who is just plain worn out this mode of therapy may just be the trick for you. If you need some new direction and want to step out of your life for a while, then Water Dance could be the answer.
Candice was not sure what to expect from the classes. “I didn’t know what it was, but I decided to try. It’s incredible. You feel the effects days afterwards. You feel lighter and liberated. At some moments in the water it’s as if you are returning to the womb.”
Marcel requests that those interested contact him by email and answer a few questions about why they desire the treatment. He insists on speaking to all of his clients by phone to make sure that they are prepared and focussed. A date is set and the participant arrives half an hour before the session is due to start.
You firstly talk about what you hope to achieve from Water Dance. Marcel is open to any themes or moods the subjects wish to concentrate on in the pool. “You can take a theme into the session if you want,” he explains. “Or you can just let yourself go.”
The participant, Candice, is taken alone by Marcel into a heated pool. They share the warmth and ripples of water. Standing opposite each other, breathing in short bursts to calm the mind, the two begin to talk whilst relaxing music creates a mysterious aura.
He then takes control, and she submits her body to him. He places floats under the neck and knees and begins a sensual massage of the toes and legs, sliding her into a dark cave of unconsciousness.
After some ‘play’ on the surface of the water Marcel softly removes the floats, and begins pulling Candice around the pool in graceful, swan-like movements. She seems a corpse floating on a desolate lake; Marcel is almost invisible.
After a while, Marcel gently attaches a peg to her nose so that she will be able to move. He tentatively dips her, each time for slightly longer. He is pushing her to the limit, but she remains oblivious, as if she were a bewitched Sleeping Beauty.
Their bodies are close, the movements are very intimate. Stomach, legs, arms, chest and neck all become one as the model is contorted into various positions above and under the water. Marcel deftly supports Candice’s weight and delicately caresses her body to relax her even further. So smooth are his movements, one imagines them being under the spell of a conductor orchestrating a classical wind performance.
To conclude the session, Marcel pushes her against the pool wall, gently massaging all of her body to bring her back in to our world. On re-emerging Candice says she has a “Where am I?” sensation.
“It’s like getting off a ride,” she muses. “You feel more relaxed and peaceful. This is my second session and it felt deeper. It helps release you from your mind.”
Having shared their emotions, both seem very relaxed and at ease. Marcel explains that some are different people when they emerge.
“You need one session to digest what is,” he explains. “In the second it goes deeper, and from then on you intensely feel it.”
Swimming experience is not necessary, nor does it matter if you are scared of water or breathing under the surface. Gringos are however discriminated against. Argentines pay $100 pesos per session, and foreigners a ludicrous $185. Because they are all stinking rich, no?
Arrange a Water Dance session by sending an email to Marcel at water_healingdance@hotmail.com. Sessions take place at Aguirre 1056, and can be arranged on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 8pm and 11pm, and on Saturdays between 10am and 1pm. Men and women are both welcome.