It's almost time for me to gather up my shirts, shoes, and socks and head out the door to the little salon where I learn about tango and milonga. But first I had to check my email. And there it was, an invitation by my professora de tango, to read the blog she's started at TangoCorazon.wordpress.com
What's cool is that she's letting us know what she's going to focus on, and why. Here's a quote that she's taken from somewhere to describe why we're going to be "walking" tonight...
“Tango is like writing a letter, it has a beginning, periods, commas, stops and an end. If you are doing figures and gyros (turns) all the time, people don’t see anything and that is why there is the walk- the invention of the people. In this dance of the people, which is what tango is, all the famous couples have used the walk, and they use it constantly. The tango is on the ground, It is caressing the floor. It is the ball of the foot supporting the weight of the body, right on the axis and each person on his/her own axis. If you make pupils walk at the beginning, they get bored and want to learn steps and more steps – to show off at the dance hall. So you need to have the luck of meeting a teacher who tells you: No. Look. You must walk. First walk.“Tango Corazon, Oct 2009
I guess we're lucky, eh? To walk. Instead of being distracted by all the many (too many!) steps that often keep good dancers from becoming great dancers.
And now, to find those shoes, socks, and shirts (I need a few 'cause dancing – even a slow, meditative dance like tango – is hot stuff, hot and sweaty stuff, for me.)
Shortly after the September 2009 SVI hanspetermeyer interviewed Kate and asked her why SVI is so important in the "conscious capital" conversation, and about her experiences there.
Background on Kate Dugas:
Kate has been building communities on and offline all her life. For the past ten years she has been a pioneer in the online community realm having worked with a broad spectrum of groups ranging from well known international activist groups to smaller community based groups. She has been instrumental in the creation and success of a wide variety of projects including international communities in support of healthy oceans, local action and education portals, and most recently ChangeEverything.ca; an online community all about positive change for Canada's largest Credit Union, Vancity.
She is skilled at facilitating the emergent wisdom of groups, as well as exploring groundbreaking questions often leading projects into fertile and rewarding territory.
As well as her work with Vancity and ChangEverything.ca, Kate is is an energy-healing practitioner and artist who runs Quench Designs, her Vancouver-based jewelery business.
For more information about Kate's work at Vancity Credit Union, visit www.changeverything.ca
Recently, one of the young guys on Courtenay City Council got drafted into the big leagues (yep, the farm club system does work folks; start your political career in your town, village, city, or regional district and, with luck, you'll be noticed by the scouts and head for bigger money, more prestige, and a little more power... maybe). That means we're going to have a by-election this fall. November 7, 2009. That's a Saturday. Enough time in the day to get down to the local polling station and cast a ballot.
I've said it before (and I'll keep saying it): local government may be the minor leagues of political life, but it's where the sustainability challenge gets real, fast. One of my mentors, a former mayor of Nanaimo, called local government the "Hell's Kitchen of Sustainability." So it should mean something to all of us who care about the quality of life in Courtenay, this by-election.
One of the people who's tossed his "hat into the ring" (yes, it's a very tired cliché, and if you watch the interview you'll actually hear me say it as I grope for unscripted words to say) is Doug Hillian. I like Doug. He's a serious guy when it comes to community. He also knows how to play (watch him on Saturday mornings on the soccer pitch). I think he's got some things to offer our town, and I thought it would be interesting to video some little chats on various topics. Here's our first convo, from Studio Willemar...
See you at the polling booth! And stay tuned, Doug and I will be doing this chat on a more-or-less weekly basis. Got some questions for him? Leave them in the "comment" box below.
In this, the 3rd in a series of interviews with SVI09 participants, Rha Goddess is interviewed by hanspetermeyer about her experience at Social Venture Institute 2009 at Hollyhock on Cortes Island, BC.
Rha Goddess is CEO of Move The Crowd, a professional networking, training and development company dedicated to teaching Social Entrepreneurs of the Hip Hop Generation how to “Stay True, Get Paid and Do Good.”
Rha is a performance artist, activist and social entrepreneur. Her work has been featured in numerous international compilations, forums, and festivals. She has received rave industry reviews from Time Magazine, Ms. Magazine, XXL, Essence, The Source, among others. As CEO, of Divine Dime Entertainment, Ltd. she was one of the first women in Hip Hop to independently market and commercially distribute her music worldwide.
In her 30+ year tenure as an organizer, Rha has worked on issues of racial justice and equality, electoral politics, youth empowerment, mental health and young women’s empowerment. She is the Creator and Executive Producer of the Young Woman’s performance movement, We Got Issues! and The Hip Hop Mental Health Project.
Note on the photo:
The cover photo shows Rha on the deck at Hollyhock at the Social Venture Institute 2009 with Suzanne Siemens. (Suzanne provided the photo. She is the co-founder and co-owner of Lunapads. She has attended 4 SVIs, and each time, her experience and the impact it has had on her and on Lunapads is richer than before. Suzanne wrote about her SVI 08 experience on her lunapad blog)
you are doing figures and gyros (turns) all the time, people don’t see anything and that is why there is the walk- the invention of the people. In this dance of the people, which is what tango is, all the famous couples have used the walk, and they use it constantly. The tango is on the ground, It is caressing the floor. It is the ball of the foot supporting the weight of the body, right on the axis and each person on his/her own axis. If you make pupils walk at the beginning, they get bored and want to learn steps and more steps – to show off at the dance hall. So you need to have the luck of meeting a teacher who tells you: No. Look. You must walk. First walk.“ Tango Corazon, Oct 2009
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