2023 Offerings with teachers i’ve worked with at golden bridge & dance the medicine

The Thresholds experience begins on the Equinox, March 21 in two 6-week sessions. You can make the whole journey or simply move with us through the foundational work of the first 6-week session.

Movement Mass continues weekly in Boulder, Colorado at the Avalon Ballroom. Please see our website for dates, details, and to pre-register.

“So what are the rituals that offer youth the deep connections, the challenges, the adventure, the sense of self, the transcendent experiences that they are looking for?” – Melissa Michaels, Youth on Fire

Movement is my medicine, my meditation, my way of being present & self-regulating. The dance has been my refuge & sanctuary. Where I can feel like I belong to something greater. The rhythm, the beats, the lyrics inspire me & uplift me in times of trouble & celebration. A big memory of myself as a youth growing up was me, in my room, walkman on, listening to music. This was my time that I enjoyed and it was also a time when I escaped- a coping skill when things got messy- for better or for worse. I don’t remember dreams much, but I do remember I used to dream in musicals quite frequently- Folks expressing themselves; breaking out into song and dance to solve problems, to express feelings, to declare love. I watched old musicals with my Grandma. I was raised on MTV. I came of age on the dancefloor- a space in the 80's & 90's where my community felt safe to freely express their authentic self, to love and mix sweat with tears of those we have lost. I have evolved from making a mixtape for a friend as a teenager with a decorated cassette to creating journeys through spotify for a larger listening. These impressions created in a young person, impactful after all these years, provide some information that I’m listening to more and more intently and curious how this can be incorporated into meaningful work for social justice & my devotion to uplifting marginalized & oppressed voices, providing a tether to youth through the sounds that move them.  To quote Common, from the lyrics of Glory, in the film Selma, “The movement is the rhythm in us”. Seeking creative and non-verbal ways to engage & connect youth in healthy transcendent experiences + developing contemporary ROP, for me, sounds like a whole lot of fun & a life lived thru a Queer Calling.

queer calling: returning a different way

In 2018 I participated in an offering through Queer Theology, called Queer Calling - READ MORE HERE. The prompt: “WHAT DOES YOUR QUEERNESS OR TRANSNESS CALL YOU TO DO AND BE IN THE WORLD?” MUCH LIKE ENCOUNTERING CHRIST CAN BE CAUSE FOR “RETURNING A DIFFERENT WAY” SO TOO CAN BEING QUEER. HOW HAS YOUR QUEERNESS AFFECTED HOW YOU GO THROUGH LIFE, HOW YOU NAVIGATE YOUR FAITH, AND WHAT YOU ARE CALLED TO DO AND BE? So this is what I offered: Queer Calling: Returning A Different Way & I find making these playlists with an intention, for me, is a healing and powerful modality. I share playlists with friends and find them to tell a story about marking a particular passage in my life. Sometimes I even feel that the songs automatically generated for me through my Spotify account magically play rhythms and lyrics I need in that moment for inspiration and healing. Not to mention, I know for a fact my sister beams Don’t Stop Believin’ down from the heavens just when I need a sibling pep talk. 

I’ll share an example of something I experimented with my students ages 18-24 while still working on the Big Island with Pacific Quest: ‘Sunday Dance Parties” AKA Movement Therapy. They LOVED it as a tool to process emotions. I would show them the video We Came To Dance –to help ground our hour together. They loved sharing songs that elicit an experience in their life. Or a song that they like to listen to focus or one that brings about an emotion of love, heartbreak or what they listen to when they are angry- a way to reclaim that part of themselves in a way that doesn’t involve “talk therapy”. I pretty much would like nothing more than to do this all the time- the possibilities are limitless.

Social & Environmental Justice on the Dance Floor

This document has been created by (my friends and teachers) Melissa Michaels & April Axé Charmaine, and diverse members of the Golden Bridge Social Justice Team / SomaSource community. We are an embodied leadership and rite of passage organization committed to creating safer and inclusive spaces on and off the dance floor.

Winter 2021, landing in Colorado and finding home I received an email to participate in an online version of the Ecstatic Dance DJ School (of my dreams) with Dance the Medicine. I LOVE It & am excited to develop this craft in the second half of my life. The dreams are limitless. From Queer dance spaces to teaching young people how to dj themselves, to having a practice that I LOVE and devote time to listening and learning. It’s all very exciting and I can mark it off my “wish list”!

My first recorded set - Gratitude to my fellow practitioners and teachers with the Intro to Ecstatic Dance DJ School!!

Some things I want you to know about this first ( ahem 3rd) recording ::
- I accomplished this over a 36 hour solo in a quiet & remote part of Hawaii

Equipment used : My 11 in. screen MacBook Air + track pad and/or mouse
- Traktor Pro 3 software
- And an oil lamp for night time practice & solar battery to charge up during the day

Sure, having my Traktor hardware (or even a touch screen!) would have produced the transitions I thought were possible, but I choose set & setting every time. The environment in which to deepen this craft, thank whale medicine for calling me and be in the creative process surrounded by geckos, song birds & coqui frogs.

Some intentions for this set I'd like to share :: playful, uplifting, nostalgia, FUN, mantras
Practice & Process :: Loops, syncs, transitions & samples, letting go

~ dancin' bodhisattva in service to humans rising up & gettin' down.

My first live set and collaborative effort with SOL VIDA™ Movement– fusing the form and freedom of Afro, Modern, Hip Hop and Conscious Dance.

Be in Queer and BIPOC led community
Release your mind, have fun and get free

Make a donation to the Sol Sanctuary Land Project and/or Sankofa Fund.

Unwind and Grind is the official Divine Booty Shaking Experience created by world-renowned dance leader, April *Axé* Charmaine. It’s an inclusive space for adults who identify as 🧚🏾femme, women, gender expansive, BIPoC and/or 2SLGBTQIA. Open to all sizes, styles, ages, and levels. Take advantage of this amazing body liberation workshop.

Stay tuned for event updates via Instagram @solvidaworldwide

20 minute set curated with Trickster for the 3rd 3rd Ear Festival

mixes & Playlists

that inspire...

meditations

myth, story, ritual, and imagination

into the center of modern life...