Five instructors so far have committed to attending and helping out with our First Kids Capoeira Batizado scheduled for Saturday August 28. Our adult CDO Batizado is September 25 but I will not be attending the September 25th Batizado with this group that I normally train with. I want to explain what it is I will be doing in place of attending this event. Next blog I will explain what a Batizado is and why we are having one, however in this blog I would like to clarify where I will be on September 25.
As many of you know I am a Dance Therapist. I will be attending our 45th Annual Conference which is being held on the East Coast this year, from September 23 – 26, 2010. I would like to tell everyone what my course schedule looks like for that weekend. This will be a special weekend of learning and networking for me.
• Thursday September AM and PM
Fostering Global Well Being: Easing Recovery from War and Organized Violence through Dance Movement
• Friday September 24 AM
Dance/Movement/Word Therapy: Dance Activism for Human Rights and Social Change
• Friday September 24 PM
Embodied Learning: Increasing Pro-Social Skills and Decreasing Violence
• Friday September 24 FILM
“Movement (R)evolution: a story of an art form in four acts with discussion on the African modern dance movement and implications
• Saturday September 25 AM
Dance in the Urban Elementary School Setting: It Takes Two to Tango
• Saturday September 25 PM
Speaking with the Body: Helping Young Children Heal from Trauma and Abuse
• Sunday September 26 AM
Preventing and Responding to Challenging Behaviors of Children and Adolescents in Groups
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
It's Been Too Long Sorry!
It's been too long since I have blogged and it's time to get back to it and be more intentional. This blog is something I would like to wake up to or to report to before going to sleep. A stream of conciousness if you will about what is going on in "Mae's" world. Today I registered to attend the 45th Annual American Dance Therapy Conference which will be held at the Marriott New York at the Brooklyn Bridge. The dates are Sept. 23-26, 2010. In the morning I will list what I am taking as my courses and some of my hopes and dreams. But for now I must rest good night!
Monday, January 4, 2010
New Year New Location
Our new location for Kids Capoeira is 701 N. Lime St, St. Andrew United Church of Christ at the corner of Lime and New Streets in Lancaster PA. What an amazing spacious room we have with shiny wooden floors, beautiful white walls with dark wooden trim and a ceiling that goes up to heaven!! So nice to have a warm inviting space on these freezing windy days!! We even have an elevator!
Moving day was Friday January 1rst and it only took 8 capoeirstas and 3 hours to move Kids Capoeira into our new location!! All we have to do is mount the mirrors! But they look great where they are leaning! We held our first two classes on Sat. January 2nd and will be adding our "Me and My Grown Up" class Sat. January 9 at 9:30.
Moving day was Friday January 1rst and it only took 8 capoeirstas and 3 hours to move Kids Capoeira into our new location!! All we have to do is mount the mirrors! But they look great where they are leaning! We held our first two classes on Sat. January 2nd and will be adding our "Me and My Grown Up" class Sat. January 9 at 9:30.
Friday, November 13, 2009
Changes! and Dissapointments, How Do We Deal?
In Capoeira when our feet are taken out from underneath us we fall with a smile knowing we will come up from an unexpected place and use that new position to our advantage. Haha on a good day!! Change is much like that! In social work we call it "re framing" our situation. Change can be good, change can be stressful even PAINFUL change can be the result of a disappointment change can be the result of growth. Change can be as natural or unnatural as we care to see it. I'm not always good with it but nevertheless....Change happens!
I witnessed so much change in my life this year. I saw my father finally released from the hold that alcoholism had on him. I saw him change back to the sweet nature he had before alcohol and war took it's toll on him. This made a bittersweet backdrop,as my family watched him change and die on June 9th one hour after I changed from age 53 to age 54, the day Willow changed from being a High School student to High School graduate. I saw Skyler change this summer from a little boy without his grandfather to a young man living in NYC attending two schools simultaneously. (American Ballet Theater and the Professional Performing Arts School). I saw Willow change from carrying hockey and lacrosse sticks to Sonic trays on rollers skates to carrying a full load at Rutgers University. I watched friends change and disappoint me and I've watched friends refuse to change and disappoint me. Our house could have become an empty nest instead it became a haven for a new household member and a weekend magnet for capoeirstas. It's not only about perspective and how we choose to see things it's about choosing positive change! I'd like to end this blog about Change and Disappointment with three positive quotes that don't even carry these words but say it all! I've had them tacked up beside my computer all year they're great!!!:
1. Greg Anderson--"Stop the mindless wishing that things would be different. Rather than wasting time and emotional and spiritual energy in explaining why we don't have what we want, we can start to pursue others ways to get it."
2. George W. Crane -- "Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act."
3. Nido Qubein "You can't think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking positively."
And you know me I always have a PS: This I just recently learned from a VERY wise friend of mine. He said "No matter what you are going through, everything has a time line, joy, disappointment, pain, even love but the cool thing with love is that it can just keep stretching and bending and growing and getting better and deeper." So I took from this to say: "my friends whatever we are going through in our different walks remember to love each other through the process" and "Every little thing is gonna be alright!"
And now I promise I will really bring this to a close perhaps because I am getting hungry..but my friend also said this... ya gotta rejoice if it's your time to rejoice! Be happy and know when you have done good works! He said ya know it's like we're all makin' a sandwich and then we gotta' eat it! So if you're puttin' good things into your sandwich m-m-m the times gonna come when you're gonna eat a good sandwich but if you're building your sandwich wrong, oh well you're just gonna hafta eat a nasty sandwich for a while hee hee. Ha ha I'm goin' for lunch!!!
I witnessed so much change in my life this year. I saw my father finally released from the hold that alcoholism had on him. I saw him change back to the sweet nature he had before alcohol and war took it's toll on him. This made a bittersweet backdrop,as my family watched him change and die on June 9th one hour after I changed from age 53 to age 54, the day Willow changed from being a High School student to High School graduate. I saw Skyler change this summer from a little boy without his grandfather to a young man living in NYC attending two schools simultaneously. (American Ballet Theater and the Professional Performing Arts School). I saw Willow change from carrying hockey and lacrosse sticks to Sonic trays on rollers skates to carrying a full load at Rutgers University. I watched friends change and disappoint me and I've watched friends refuse to change and disappoint me. Our house could have become an empty nest instead it became a haven for a new household member and a weekend magnet for capoeirstas. It's not only about perspective and how we choose to see things it's about choosing positive change! I'd like to end this blog about Change and Disappointment with three positive quotes that don't even carry these words but say it all! I've had them tacked up beside my computer all year they're great!!!:
1. Greg Anderson--"Stop the mindless wishing that things would be different. Rather than wasting time and emotional and spiritual energy in explaining why we don't have what we want, we can start to pursue others ways to get it."
2. George W. Crane -- "Act the way you'd like to be and soon you'll be the way you act."
3. Nido Qubein "You can't think your way into acting positively, but you can act your way into thinking positively."
And you know me I always have a PS: This I just recently learned from a VERY wise friend of mine. He said "No matter what you are going through, everything has a time line, joy, disappointment, pain, even love but the cool thing with love is that it can just keep stretching and bending and growing and getting better and deeper." So I took from this to say: "my friends whatever we are going through in our different walks remember to love each other through the process" and "Every little thing is gonna be alright!"
And now I promise I will really bring this to a close perhaps because I am getting hungry..but my friend also said this... ya gotta rejoice if it's your time to rejoice! Be happy and know when you have done good works! He said ya know it's like we're all makin' a sandwich and then we gotta' eat it! So if you're puttin' good things into your sandwich m-m-m the times gonna come when you're gonna eat a good sandwich but if you're building your sandwich wrong, oh well you're just gonna hafta eat a nasty sandwich for a while hee hee. Ha ha I'm goin' for lunch!!!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Fantastic First Day of Little Kids Capoeira
Today was fantastic! It was like teaching in a one room school house where all the ages are there to learn. Each age group had age appropriate tasks but the older kids helped the younger ones and the younger ones inspired the older ones just by being so cute sincere and eager! The older capoeira kids affectionately known as SLAM Kids (students learning alternative movements) were helpful in every way making the little kids program tremendously successful today. The "Me and My Grown Up" and the "Kids Basic Capoeira" classes were so lively and fun in large part due to everyone's kind attention to details and willingness to pitch in. SLAM kids made sure the bathrooms were tidy and the studio was "red up" for our first time visitors! Parents were talked to with great respect. Norborto is so good with the little ones, Mia and Lagartixa handled the registration table, all the kids were right on point with whatever prop I needed, the sound of the CD player turned up or down or repeated, rhythmical leads played on the Atabaquqe etc. No matter where I turned Norborto, Mia and Largatixa seemed to be right where I needed them. There reward was lots of sweat in the SLAM kids class ending with Mia teaching her favorite cartwheel game. Elise and her family and Erika and her family helped me out so much with necessary taxi service that I am humbled by their kindness! Thanks to all of you! If I forgot to mention something huge you all did for me attribute it to fatigue. Almost the same crew joined us for a very well received Capoeria Demo at the Roller Derby this evening. I will sleep well tonight!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Standing Up to Violence Demo
Wednesday evening's Kids Capoeira demo at the Standing up to Violence conference at East Chestnut Mennonite Church was well done and well received! I'm so proud of you all! In the words of John K Stoner organizer of this conference on local and global peacemaking: "Kids Capoeira was great last evening, just what we hoped for, good audience engagement, with the clapping etc. Those young people showed dedication, focused attention, skill, purpose and cooperation. I wish you all the best!" Wow what a GREAT review! East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, true to the congregation's generous spirit, fed us warm sweet pancakes in the church basement after our performance. Yum! Thank you Naomi, Sheri, MaryLou and all the other kitchen volunteers. As one of our capoeirstas summed up this day "Mae this was the BEST DAY EVER!" Ha Ha I'm glad it was but I am very confident we will have many many "best days" ahead. I have a grateful spirit today.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Cityscape Mural Status
Thanks to Brenda we have some really nice looking cardboard for our Kids Capoeira cityscape mural. The adult capoeira class was kind enough to pitch in and help paint the base coat. Getting to know each other and our new student Alice while painting was really fun and added to the energy we brought to our 'slammin' music class! Thanks to Alice, Sarah, Bruno, Brenda and Robert! And thanks to everyone for helping John to keep the beat, he was working so hard he was sweating!!! By Jove I think he's got this! With Bruno and Sarah on either side as training wheels how could he NOT!!! You guys were relentless! Great team work!!
A tip from Sarah, want to make that great little rumble sound when you play the pandero? Just squeeze your middle finger to thumb really hard 'til they sweat THEN when you drag your fingertip along the skin it will stick a little bit and sort of bounce it's way across the head. Remember you gotta squeeze your fingers 'til they SWEAT that's her secret!!! And she swears by it! All those with naturally sweaty fingertips need not read!
Peace to you this day! Mae
A tip from Sarah, want to make that great little rumble sound when you play the pandero? Just squeeze your middle finger to thumb really hard 'til they sweat THEN when you drag your fingertip along the skin it will stick a little bit and sort of bounce it's way across the head. Remember you gotta squeeze your fingers 'til they SWEAT that's her secret!!! And she swears by it! All those with naturally sweaty fingertips need not read!
Peace to you this day! Mae
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