Dance with us
DanceObama: The Pulse for Peace
Over the next few days, change is a gonna come. The change is overt: a new President, a new administration, and it is as-yet-undefined. Some startling clues exist, however: pictures of dead children in Gaza horrify us, creating the clear loud message that brutality and carnage, no matter under what guise, are not to be tolerated. A pilot saves 155 people with calm and skill that reassures us that not all disasters end in total loss and that paying attention and thinking clearly actually works sometimes. A gay bishop and a rightwing preacher both celebrate a new government that is not catering to any one constituency but appears to want to cut a swath across all, and maybe even elevate the country to a higher moral ground, without privileging one belief system or lifestyle over another.
The train rolled into town yesterday, bringing a newly-forceful but always thoughtful guy to lead the changes. He did not bring the change with him on the trip, nor will he deliver it to us with his inaugural address. But over the next few days, through music , art, dancing, sharing food and warmth, change will come to us.
We will create it.
DanceObama: The Pulse for Peace is one of many events planned for Washington DC. It has also inspired people in Boston, Chicago and California to join in, at their own times, in their own celebrations of manifesting hope and change through music and dance. The event in DC is open to all, for a donation of $15.00, and it will happen at the Peace Mural Gallery at 3336 M. St in Georgetown from 4-6 pm Monday, in the midst of stunning paintings by the artist Huong. Hot drinks and small food will be served, and we will have drummers, dancers, and music to move to.
Over 100 years ago, a man named Rudolf Laban began to devise ways of bringing people together through specifically created participatory dance events called movement choirs, in which each person contributed to a communal celebration of harmony. By finding the universal pulse for change, individual voices and collective joy can be heard across the world, calling each of us to thoughtful, aware, and considered action.
Some of the music that we will be using for this event:
Sweet Honey in the Rock: "We Are the Ones We've Been Waiting For"
Kanye West: "Love Train"
Sly and the Family Stone: "Everyday People"
Cat Stevens: "Peace Train"
John Lennon: "Imagine"
Johnny Clegg: "Life is a Magic Thing"
Seal: "A Change is Gonna Come" (or any version)
The Pointer Sisters: "Yes We Can, Can"
U2: "Beautiful Day"
If you can, come down to Georgetown on Monday afternoon and be a part of starting the pulse with us. If you can't, put on the music, be inspired, and begin to move with us. Together we cross the threshold into a new way of being in the world: as agents of our own lives and stewards for peace and hope everywhere.
