Rachael Ormsby
CONTACT RACHAEL ORMSBY
ABOUT ME
My journey into somatic dance was not a linear path; it really has been a deep remembering. It began in my body, long before I had language for it. In the pull of the ocean, the rhythm of breath, and the quiet knowing that movement could speak what words could not.
As a surfer for over twenty years, I have returned again and again to the waters of Hine Moana, where I continue to listen, surrender, and feel the currents within and around me. The ocean has been my first teacher in embodiment, revealing the dance between power and softness, between being held and letting go. Then there came a time when life asked more of me. Layers unravelled, old patterns depleting me, and I could no longer live disconnected from the truth in my body. It was visceral and it was time to move on and let go.
Somatic Dance met me here, at that moment, and I said yes. Through this training and practice, I began to meet myself in new ways: listening to the intelligence of my bones, the language of my nervous system, and the stories held in my muscles and breath. Embodied movement a medicine and a pathway of return, release, and reclamation. As I moved deeper, my voice and my music reawakened.
This passion to sing for so long put aside, waiting in the depths had returned. Rhythms, melodies, songs, language and sound began to flow; embodiment fanning the flame of my creative spark. I came to realise that my songs are not separate from my unique dance; they are extensions of it. Breath becomes tone, feeling becomes rhythm, story becomes sound. This path has been expansive, reawakening creative forces that had long been quiet; once devoted to raising children, creating life, and building businesses. Now they return, ready to be seen and shared. Through this, I have reclaimed the courage and wisdom to be visible, to be witnessed, and to trust my expression. This empowerment does not force; it rises steadily from within.
A reclamation of voice, creativity, and presence. What began as a personal journey opened into something greater. I was called to hold space. Now, I guide others home to their bodies through somatic dance spaces , ritual, and music offerings in my community, at gatherings, and across retreat spaces. Each offering is an invitation to feel, remember, and reconnect with the rhythms of nature and the wisdom within. Spaces where sound and movement become one living language for connection, expression, and transformation. Beyond this, I have stepped into deeper co-creation.
As part of the Scarlet Codes Collective, we collaborate in Prayerformance; embodied dance transmissions that move between worlds. Here, music and movement meet fully. Voice, rhythm, and body become vessels for storytelling, carrying history, memory, and truth. These are not performances, but living rituals revealing what has been hidden, giving voice to what was silenced, and opening pathways to re-imagine and rewrite. In these spaces, dance becomes more than movement. It becomes activation. It becomes remembrance. It becomes truth moving through body and voice.
This journey is taking me into many realms as a facilitator, dancer, musician, storyteller, truth seeker, and so much more; but at its heart is: A devotion to the body as a sacred storyteller. A trust in sound and movement as a way through. And a knowing that when we gather, move, sing, and listen, something ancient awakens. I am still walking this path; still learning, still listening. And I am here, holding the doorway open for others to step through.
What are your specialties?
Mother Musician & Songwriter Somatic Dance Facilitator Artist Storyteller Surfer - Ocean Lover Social Scientist Organic Gardener Permaculture Indigenous Wisdom.
Where do you teach in?
Turanganui-a-Kiwa, Gisborne Aotearoa, New Zealand