In addition to being a good arts partner in Fort Wayne, FWDC is a nonprofit organization and tries to be a good partner to the nonprofit sector, arts organizations and social service orgs alike. To that end, I am a member of NeXtGen Fort Wayne, a discussion and networking group for young professionals in the nonprofit sector. It’s a lot of fun, and I get to hang out with really cool people, like Andrew Hoffman from NeighborLink, Jennifer Renner from CANI, and Lettie Haver from the Nonprofit Resource Center, among others.
I know that a lot of people we serve at FWDC are nonprofit professionals, or just parties interested in nonprofit service. I figured although this doesn’t specifically relate to dance, the FWDC blog might be a good opportunity to share this with you.
I’m excited about the discussion NeXtGen Digest is having this month —We’re meeting with Monica Freeman, the Vision Coordinator for the Northeast Indiana Fund, a foundation supporting the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and its mission. She will be talking to us about the massive project they are undertaking — creating a community vision plan for Fort Wayne and the region. As a nonprofit professional, I feel that I need to be part of this, as my organization has a responsibility to serve those in the community. As a young person, in my late-20s, I feel a responsibility personally because I will likely one day inherit this community, and want to be part of shaping it.
Check out the NeXtGen blog for more information about the event, and email me if you want to be part of the discussion. I hope you can make it!
One of my favorite blogs, Boing Boing (“a directory of Wonderful Things”) recently highlighted a great video featuring a modern dance piece that is based on principles of fluid dynamics, which are the physics that predict the movement of liquids and gasses.
Dancer Hope Goldman worked in collaboration with visual artist Andrew Moffat to create this piece. What’s amazing to me is that this was created with a $40 webcam, some cheap software, and a projector.
Take a look, I hope you like it as much as I did!
We had such a great community response this past weekend to TAIKOPROJECT. Lots of photos are coming (I still have to sort through them all!), but I wanted to share a few testimonials.
From Liz Monnier, our Artistic Director:
Wow, what a weekend! It’s amazing the energy that our guest performers bring. My favorite moment was watching Maz perform their final number at the Cherry Blossom Festival. I wanted to internalize the sensation of what he was doing…so intense, his whole body flowing with the rhythms and the look on his face, totally immersed in the moment. I also think it’ s funny how many people I’ve seen air drumming!
From Mary Marino-Strong, a FWDC volunteer and patron:
Saturday’s TAIKOPROJECT performance was unforgettable! It was so fabulous. I had no idea that a few people playing some drums would be as great – nor did I understand that the drummers bodies are as much a part of the music as the drums themselves. It’s a joy to watch a performer who has reached a level of real mastery in his art, and their leader seems to have done that big time! I also enjoyed seeing them at the Cherry Blossom Festival. So enthused were we that we participated with FW Taiko at the Festival as well. Its leader, Allison Ballard, did a great job of creating a format that allowed even musically-impaired audience members like moi to play along. Great fun!
From Rob Mican, a taiko drummer from Chicago who came to see the performance:
My family & I drove down from Chicago specifically for this TAIKOPROJECT performance. I’ve had my eye on TAIKOPROJECT for the last year or two, hoping they would eventually come to the Chicago area. This is the first chance I’ve had to see them live. “Awesome” does not come close to describing how awesome they were. My son & I have been playing taiko for five or six years now, and TAIKOPROJECT’s energy and passion for taiko are amazingly infectious. They love what they do, they have loads of fun on stage, and it shows. The way TAIKOPROJECT puts a modern spin on a traditional musical art is downright enlightening — I’ve never seen any other taiko group do what they do with their impeccable musical skills. Our new taiko semester has just started, and my son & I can’t wait to start pounding on the drums again.
From Allison Ballard, FWDC teacher and Director of Fort Wayne Taiko:
TAIKOPROJECT’s performance(s) this weekend was yet another life-changing event sponsored by FWDC! Thank you, thank you, thank you! This community is so fortunate to be blessed by FWDC’s progressive programs. A common quote in the taiko community is that taiko is not meant to awe, but to inspire….I am inspired and humbled and excited to grow as a taiko drummer. Towards that aim, FW Taiko has two drummers attending the Memorial Day Weekend Intensive with San Jose Taiko in San Jose, California and I will be attending the Portland Taiko’s week-long intensive this August in Portland, Oregon. As always, we look forward to bringing new skills back to the FW Community. I must say that playing at the Cherry Blossom Festival with Taiko Project in the audience was one of the more challenging and humbling things I have done in a while….good grief. But I am so grateful to have the chance to grow as a taiko drummer right here in Fort Wayne. FW Taiko welcomes people interested in exploring the art form to join taiko classes held at FWDC every Friday, 3:30 to 5:30. Come check it out! And remember taiko is a drumming and movement form–the movement is as important as the rhythm being played. Come prepared for a full body aerobic workout! And a load of exhilarating fun!
We also got a lot of media attention for the residency as well. Some links to see our press coverage:
- Dumming Japanese tradition by Steve Penhollow at the Journal Gazette
- Dance, drumming mix in ancient art form from the News-Sentinel
- A video at the News-Sentinel’s website at the Cherry Blossom Festival
- Drumming Up a Storm by Michael Summers in the Fort Wayne Reader
We get a lot of questions here at the office about Dances of Universal Peace. What is it? What do you do at the events? What are the other people like? We answer the best we can, but the best way to find out is to experience it for yourself. The next best thing is this firsthand account from Liz Monnier, our Artistic Director.
Liz Monnier
I started doing Dances of Universal Peace about a year ago, April 2009. I jumped right in with a weekend retreat with the famed Nyrayan from Bozeman MT who was leading the dances at Paula Saffire’s lovely home studio in Indianapolis.
I was the only newbie in the group and so there were some awkward moments for me at first, like not knowing the proper way to hold hands in the circle ( left palm up right palm down). I got a hint from someone that it is “both thumbs to the left.”
Ah. Thank you.
I loved returning to the land of singing which I left long ago in high school. Some of the songs are in Hebrew and seemed hard to learn but if you said it wrong it was OK. Now a year later, the Hebrew is much easier to learn and seeing it in writing helps, too.
The first thing I noticed at this retreat was the openness of the other dancers; looking you straight in the eye (a stranger, no less) smiling and seeing people transform into cosmic beings. I did this first retreat as an experiment of sorts, but it didn’t take long before I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to do it again, but I wasn’t sure why.
We started weekly circles in Fort Wayne last summer and I looked forward to the each one. Sometimes it seemed like waiting forever for the next circle.
What was it about these circles? I’ve started formulating my own theories. It’s the community of people I look forward to seeing. It’s the singing and the dancing at the same time. It’s the unconditional acceptance I feel from others and enjoy giving to others as well. Last week our leader Jessica said, “vibration, feel the vibration.” I then realized that yes, I feel the vibration, the energy in the room was electric, and warm and inviting and peaceful. It was an energy I want to feel always. So, I try to take this energy into my daily life and wait until the next circle to get the renewal again.
Now in the circles I too can look at other people, strangers, straight in the eye and feel amazed at the energy that comes back to me, fills me. When we do a song/dance that I’ve done before it’s exciting because I can focus on the energy and not on the steps and the words.
This is why I see myself doing Dances of Universal Peace for the rest of my life.
— Liz Monnier
Artistic Director
Visit our DUP page if you want any additional information about Dances of Universal Peace. We have a monthly circle gathering on the second Saturdays of the month, except in June, where we are holding a special weekend event with special guest Eric Narayan Waldeman.
Karen Gibbons-Brown
For a town the size of ours, Fort Wayne has a vibrant dance community. We like to think that we play a part in its diversity and excellence, but today Fort Wayne is put on the world’s radar because of our colleague over at the Fort Wayne Ballet.
Karen Gibbons-Brown, the Artistic and Executive Director of the Ballet, was recently honored in the new book, On Technique by Dean Speer. According to the Ballet’s website, the book features eighteen of the world’s most respected ballet masters, principals and artistic directors.
Check out the Ballet’s website if you’d like to order a copy of the book, or to check out their upcoming events.
And thanks for supporting the dance scene in Fort Wayne!
We’ve been hard at work over here at the Dance Collective, updating our website and making it easier and quicker to get around. Now, instead of an iWeb file, our site is built on the powerful WordPress content engine. We hope it can do a number of things for you better than the old site:
- Compatibility with all web browsers, even older stubborn versions of Internet Explorer.
- Easier, cleaner navigation
- Better social media integration (go ahead! Take a look at the icons at the top of the screen!)
- Integrated news and blog
- Better event management
- Easier to navigate class schedule
- Easier to interact with site and contact FWDC.
We are not done yet! Eventually we plan to use a bonified web developer and find some awesome functionality and fancy graphic interface, and be the best darn small arts nonprofit arts website out there. Keep in touch, and meanwhile, stay updated on what we’re doing. Click the little orange button in the top left corner to grab our RSS feed and get notified every time we update!
The Fort Wayne Dance Collective is funded in part by