Dream On

For those seeking something different, try visiting Dreamtime.

Comments (0) By Amber Taufen Thursday, Jul 14 2005

If you know a better way to spend the weekend than creating a four-day mini-utopia in the Colorado mountains near Paonia, we'd like to hear about it. Starting Thursday, July 14, dreamers will converge in the remote spot as part of Dreamtime to share music, dancing, interactive sculptures, fire performances, theater, costumes and creative fashion, theme camps and educational workshops. Everyone contributes something to the whole, forming, organizers say, an isolated, vibrant community for all to enjoy.

Christopher Smith

Details

Thursday, July 14-Monday, July 18, Paonia, $60, www.dreamthe future.org

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Jennifer Baccellieri, the director of The Art of Living Wellness Center in Boulder, is one of organizers. She's been involved with the festival for a little more than a year. Four years ago, Dreamtime "started off as a party," she says, and it's grown each year since. "We wanted to create a gathering that is more conscious, that is more organized on a larger scale, and drawing in people from not just this town but all over the state and all over the country, focusing on the themes of social change, community and self-expression," she says.

Those who have been to Dreamtime before will notice a few changes this year, such as the new stage, an expanded site, bigger and more abundant workshop spaces and an information booth. Newcomers may have a tough time deciding what to do and where to go, she says. The music will be a blend of jam bands, hip-hop, funk, bluegrass, acoustic singer-songwriters, turntablists, psychedelic funk and sounds you simply can't classify (such as Ganga Giri, the didgeridoo-wielding percussionist). There are workshops on everything from healing to finding your inner mate to constructing all-natural buildings, and you could spend all four days exploring the theme camps. Questers will find entertainment, education and perhaps even enlightenment somewhere between the solar energy camp, the henna camp, the Casbah (North African oasis), the Blue Door (specializing in kava tea and organic sun tea), the female-friendly Red Tent, the Cuddle Cavern of Sensual Earthly Delights and Divine Heavenly Bliss and the Biodiesel-run International Film Festival (films projected onto an inflatable screen).

So start your own journey toward making the world a better, dreamier place.