We can't dance without each other but we dancers have other overlapping
interests. This happened kind of organically, but myself and a few other
dancers scattered across the country started an ongoing movie night. We use
Kast ( https://www.kastapp.co/ ), which is a program (or browser plugin)
which enables users to stream their webcam or what's on their screen, so
people can share movies and chat. Ours is a smaller private group which
makes communication easier than if you tried to make a movie night with
your whole local dance group (this way also you can find people with your
interests / movie or activity preferences / political leanings).
For musicians in our extended community that miss playing with others,
there's another program that is a little more tricky to use than Kast,
which is called Jamulus ( https://sourceforge.net/projects/llcon/reviews/ ).
It's for jamming in as close to real time as you can get over the internet.
It's a bit harder to figure out but there are guides, maybe read before
downloading to know what you're getting into (
https://www.facebook.com/notes/jamulus-online-musicianssingers-jamming/idio…
)
and I found a FB support group (
https://www.facebook.com/groups/507047599870191/ ) for help using it.
These solutions, I suppose, are best for smaller groups. I like that we
have our respective local Facebook groups open for dancers to communicate
within, but I do wonder about the older dancers and other non-FB users in
our dance group. There's always email that could go out to our dance
members but then what would we say as just an announcement rather than
back-and-forth engagement? And I do know some individuals are regularly
checking up on people, if they have each other's phone numbers. It could be
nice to share dancing videos with each other and talk about dancing, but
for me personally, it usually makes me feel sad. The talking about and
sharing of stories of dancing exist peripherally because of the dancing
itself, which we can't do. In fact, we participate in what I'm convinced
will be one of the last activities allowed again, after everything else has
opened back up again. It's sad and scary and depressing but it's a good
thing that we're trying to stay connected. I am mentioning that because I
know there's a lot of people who dance who aren't as passionate about it as
other people (like myself and other people on this list); so they may not
care to stay in touch or it might make them feel worse to be reminded of
something they can't do. I'm all for creative, opt-in ideas to connect each
other.
Hey, maybe local communities can do a sort of secret santa, except everyone
cooks or creates something with things they have in the house, and then
delivers it to someone else in the community. (People who don't want to
touch things can leave it outside for 3 days, and we can encourage good
hand hygiene during creation). I'm thinking art and food; trading sewing
projects and books.... Just a thought!
Sounds like a great idea Sarah!
A group to work on masks would likely attract a large group... I think many
people are already doing that and I'd like to make a few too.
I think that any way that we can make connections at this time is great and
we can all find different ways of doing that based upon our personal and
community situations. I know that many of our dance organizations are going
to need lots of love in the months to come.
:) Emily in Ottawa
This is Sarah Roberts, using my husband, Larry Koplik's membership. I
know that people do what they need to do to get through this time, which
for many reasons is tougher for some than others, and they help in the
ways that they can, such as delivering groceries for neighbors.
For me, making face masks is a way of coping with a worry by doing
something about it. I worry that medical workers will die, terrible
enough in itself, and then there will be nobody to take care of the sick
people. The doctor who I'm sewing for is a friend, though not a dancer.
Many of our dancers are healthcare workers, and I worry about losing
them. I'm not against people making quilts; that's the way I coped with
two miscarriages. When there are enough face masks, I might make a quilt
from my scraps, or maybe a patchwork dance skirt. We could have a quilt
show in a year or two.
I do sometimes feel lonely and isolated in my sewing room making face
masks, and would love the support of my fellow dancers in this project.
I, and maybe other contra dancers making masks, could use a forum to
share encouragement, advice and tips, supplies, frustrations, triumphs,
compliments, not to mention to recruit more sewers, and any non-sewers
who might be willing to help with non-sewing tasks such as sewing
machine maintenance, drop-off and pick-up, sharing supplies,
pre-shrinking fabric, cutting, pinning, etc. Maybe next year all this
will lead to dancers' sewing classes or quilting groups.
Sarah (Roberts)
On 4/6/2020 7:56 AM, Chrissy Fowler via Organizers wrote:
> Thanks Sarah, for this important reminder! We all need to stick
> together, and remember that there are many many many ways to act
> positively in this unprecedented situation.
>
> Here in Maine, we have all sorts of wackiness going on, including
> vigilantes who are tailing out of state cars for "bringing Covid-19"
> here, and people who are angry at privileged summer residents for
> coming here earlier than usual, from NYC and CT and other
> high-community-spread places. And wackiness of people like me who are
> enraged that access to all Maine beaches is banned -- since seeing
> that water and sand and rock is a necessary balm for the soul. (Yes, I
> ignored that edict, but it still troubles me more than I'd have
> imagined.)
>
> And Bread and Roses is the perfect song for today* As the song goes,
> "Our lives shall not be sweated, from birth until life closes. Hearts
> starve as well as bodies, give us bread but give us roses." and
> "Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew—
> Yes, it is Bread we fight for—but we fight for Roses, too."
>
> Things I'm especially worried about are these:
> -small businesses failing because they are not "essential" (including
> ones that are in the "roses" category)
> -workers in "essential" businesses being put at risk and paid poorly
> to boot (grocery clerks, Amazon workers, mail delivery folks at US
> Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, etc)
> -dance and music and song organizers watching their volunteer
> organizations crumble with crippling financial losses and the
> stigmatizing of all activities that are based in positive human contact
> -at risk children living at home in unsafe conditions when they
> typically would have some sort of respite at school
> -the politics of oppression marching onward, continuing its dirty work
> of dismantling environmental protections, eroding human rights,
> codifying the control of women's bodies, legislating unequal
> distribution of wealth.
>
> I could go on and on.
>
> Anyway, thanks to everyone who's working hard, in whatever ways they
> can, to keep a positive attitude and to work for the common good.
>
> With all good wishes,
> Chrissy Fowler
> Belfast, ME
>
> *April 6, 1882 is the birth date of Rose Schneiderman in Sawin,
> Poland. She was a US labor leader who dramatized the Triangle
> Shirtwaist Factory fire. Noted for phrase "Bread and Roses" associated
> with 1912 textile strike of immigrant women workers.
>
> //** ** **
> //
>
> //Dance Calling//| ////Transcription//| //Belfast Flying Shoes
> //
>
> //chrissyfowler.com <http://www.chrissyfowler.com> |
> westbranchwords.com <http://www.westbranchwords.com> |
> belfastflyingshoes.org/blog <http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org/blog>/
> <http://www.chrissyfowler.com>/
>
> /(207) 338-0979/
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* Sarah Gowan via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> *Sent:* Monday, April 6, 2020 7:25 AM
> *To:* organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
> *Subject:* [Organizers] Re: Maintaining contact with our communities
> Might I suggest that there is no right or wrong way to pandemic - there is
> only taking care of ourselves and each other in the best ways we can. The
> quarantines are likely to last longer than most of us ever imagined and I
> think those of us who have been sidelined from our regular activities will
> find the time for both creative and useful crafting. At this moment I¹m
> gazing at a mountain of scraps left over from making masks and mentally
> arranging the pieces into quilt designs. Oh my, maybe that¹s the project -
> Quaranquilts? Quiltantines? Mask-arade?
>
> As the saying goes, "Bread for all, and roses too².
>
> Sarah G.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Thanks Sarah, for this important reminder! We all need to stick together, and remember that there are many many many ways to act positively in this unprecedented situation.
Here in Maine, we have all sorts of wackiness going on, including vigilantes who are tailing out of state cars for "bringing Covid-19" here, and people who are angry at privileged summer residents for coming here earlier than usual, from NYC and CT and other high-community-spread places. And wackiness of people like me who are enraged that access to all Maine beaches is banned -- since seeing that water and sand and rock is a necessary balm for the soul. (Yes, I ignored that edict, but it still troubles me more than I'd have imagined.)
And Bread and Roses is the perfect song for today* As the song goes, "Our lives shall not be sweated, from birth until life closes. Hearts starve as well as bodies, give us bread but give us roses." and "Small art and love and beauty their trudging spirits knew—
Yes, it is Bread we fight for—but we fight for Roses, too."
Things I'm especially worried about are these:
-small businesses failing because they are not "essential" (including ones that are in the "roses" category)
-workers in "essential" businesses being put at risk and paid poorly to boot (grocery clerks, Amazon workers, mail delivery folks at US Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, etc)
-dance and music and song organizers watching their volunteer organizations crumble with crippling financial losses and the stigmatizing of all activities that are based in positive human contact
-at risk children living at home in unsafe conditions when they typically would have some sort of respite at school
-the politics of oppression marching onward, continuing its dirty work of dismantling environmental protections, eroding human rights, codifying the control of women's bodies, legislating unequal distribution of wealth.
I could go on and on.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who's working hard, in whatever ways they can, to keep a positive attitude and to work for the common good.
With all good wishes,
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast, ME
*April 6, 1882 is the birth date of Rose Schneiderman in Sawin, Poland. She was a US labor leader who dramatized the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Noted for phrase "Bread and Roses" associated with 1912 textile strike of immigrant women workers.
** ** **
Dance Calling | Transcription | Belfast Flying Shoes
chrissyfowler.com<http://www.chrissyfowler.com> | westbranchwords.com<http://www.westbranchwords.com> | belfastflyingshoes.org/blog<http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org/blog>
<http://www.chrissyfowler.com>
(207) 338-0979
________________________________
From: Sarah Gowan via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2020 7:25 AM
To: organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Organizers] Re: Maintaining contact with our communities
Might I suggest that there is no right or wrong way to pandemic - there is
only taking care of ourselves and each other in the best ways we can. The
quarantines are likely to last longer than most of us ever imagined and I
think those of us who have been sidelined from our regular activities will
find the time for both creative and useful crafting. At this moment I¹m
gazing at a mountain of scraps left over from making masks and mentally
arranging the pieces into quilt designs. Oh my, maybe that¹s the project -
Quaranquilts? Quiltantines? Mask-arade?
As the saying goes, "Bread for all, and roses too².
Sarah G.
Might I suggest that there is no right or wrong way to pandemic - there is
only taking care of ourselves and each other in the best ways we can. The
quarantines are likely to last longer than most of us ever imagined and I
think those of us who have been sidelined from our regular activities will
find the time for both creative and useful crafting. At this moment I¹m
gazing at a mountain of scraps left over from making masks and mentally
arranging the pieces into quilt designs. Oh my, maybe that¹s the project -
Quaranquilts? Quiltantines? Mask-arade?
As the saying goes, "Bread for all, and roses too².
Sarah G.
On 4/6/20, 2:48 AM, "Larry Koplik via Organizers"
<organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
>How about, instead of sewing quilt squares, people who know how
>to sew could be making face masks and donating
>them to hospitals and other health care providers to save lives?
>
>My wife, Sarah Roberts, has made over 150 masks and also has passed
>along fabric to others who are making them.
>
>Larry from Princeton
>
>On 4/6/2020 2:04 AM, Emily Addison via Organizers wrote:
>> Hi Bob, Liz, and others.
>>
>> Very cool idea Bob!
>> If you set that up with your group, can you share the messaging???
>> I shared Sam Bartlett's Stuntology on our Ottawa Contra FB group page
>> this week and suggested we all watch it together. Nothing's been
>> formalized here though.
>>
>> Re your question about a calendar of online events, CDSS has this one:
>> https://www.cdss.org/covid19/online-events. It requires folks to post
>> their events and so there isn't a lot up there yet. However, I think
>> that there will be more promotion of the calendar in the next little
>> while.
>>
>> Belfast Flying Shoes is encouraging some online jamming along with the
>> Belfast Bay Fiddlers. I've got something similar in the works here in
>> Ottawa but need to test some stuff first.
>>
>> I think there's so much more that we could be doing too... like
>> encouraging folks to sew quilt blocks that can be assembled later.
>> (Thinking back to when I got married, we had a theme of HEARTS --- all
>> blocks had to have a heart(s). The only other thing we stipulated was
>> the size of block and encouraged folks to use bright colours. The end
>> result was a super lovely colourful quilt.)
>>
>> Anyway, would love to hear what others are doing!
>> :) Emily in Ottawa
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>_______________________________________________
>Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
>To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
How about, instead of sewing quilt squares, people who know how
to sew could be making face masks and donating
them to hospitals and other health care providers to save lives?
My wife, Sarah Roberts, has made over 150 masks and also has passed
along fabric to others who are making them.
Larry from Princeton
On 4/6/2020 2:04 AM, Emily Addison via Organizers wrote:
> Hi Bob, Liz, and others.
>
> Very cool idea Bob!
> If you set that up with your group, can you share the messaging???
> I shared Sam Bartlett's Stuntology on our Ottawa Contra FB group page
> this week and suggested we all watch it together. Nothing's been
> formalized here though.
>
> Re your question about a calendar of online events, CDSS has this one:
> https://www.cdss.org/covid19/online-events. It requires folks to post
> their events and so there isn't a lot up there yet. However, I think
> that there will be more promotion of the calendar in the next little
> while.
>
> Belfast Flying Shoes is encouraging some online jamming along with the
> Belfast Bay Fiddlers. I've got something similar in the works here in
> Ottawa but need to test some stuff first.
>
> I think there's so much more that we could be doing too... like
> encouraging folks to sew quilt blocks that can be assembled later.
> (Thinking back to when I got married, we had a theme of HEARTS --- all
> blocks had to have a heart(s). The only other thing we stipulated was
> the size of block and encouraged folks to use bright colours. The end
> result was a super lovely colourful quilt.)
>
> Anyway, would love to hear what others are doing!
> :) Emily in Ottawa
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
> To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Hi Bob, Liz, and others.
Very cool idea Bob!
If you set that up with your group, can you share the messaging???
I shared Sam Bartlett's Stuntology on our Ottawa Contra FB group page this
week and suggested we all watch it together. Nothing's been formalized
here though.
Re your question about a calendar of online events, CDSS has this one:
https://www.cdss.org/covid19/online-events. It requires folks to post
their events and so there isn't a lot up there yet. However, I think that
there will be more promotion of the calendar in the next little while.
Belfast Flying Shoes is encouraging some online jamming along with the
Belfast Bay Fiddlers. I've got something similar in the works here in
Ottawa but need to test some stuff first.
I think there's so much more that we could be doing too... like
encouraging folks to sew quilt blocks that can be assembled later.
(Thinking back to when I got married, we had a theme of HEARTS --- all
blocks had to have a heart(s). The only other thing we stipulated was the
size of block and encouraged folks to use bright colours. The end result
was a super lovely colourful quilt.)
Anyway, would love to hear what others are doing!
:) Emily in Ottawa
A lot of folks have been posting such things on the Social Disdance Facebook group. Just a start.
Liz Sturgen
On Saturday, April 4, 2020 B Fabinski via Organizers <bobfab(a)aol.com> wrote:
Hi all,
We had our monthly planning meeting here in Rochester NY, and were thinking of ways to maintain a connection to our dancers during this hiatus.
A thought we had was to try and keep people in the habit of thinking of Contra every Thursday between 7:30 and 10:30, by finding bands who are doingwatch parties at that time. We would use our social capital to email our members to check our website for a passthru link to the events.The dancers would be able to "click thru" to the watch party and donate (some of?) the money they would have spent on the dance, to listen to the band play some contra tunes,via the Tip Jar. patreon, or venmo, whatever is on the watch party page.
Does anyone know of a central location for these watch parties, so we can connect with performers who are already picking our time slot, orscheduling with them to plan future events? It would be a great way to get people to hear bands that I would not really be able to book for our small local Thurday night contra.Might be fun to connect with other groups that dance on Thursday nights, too.
Any variations on these ideas would be greatly appreciated as well.
Stay well, and keep dancing.
Bob Fabinski
_______________________________________________
Organizers mailing list -- organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net
To unsubscribe send an email to organizers-leave(a)lists.sharedweight.net
Hi all,
We had our monthly planning meeting here in Rochester NY, and were thinking of ways to maintain a connection to our dancers during this hiatus.
A thought we had was to try and keep people in the habit of thinking of Contra every Thursday between 7:30 and 10:30, by finding bands who are doingwatch parties at that time. We would use our social capital to email our members to check our website for a passthru link to the events.The dancers would be able to "click thru" to the watch party and donate (some of?) the money they would have spent on the dance, to listen to the band play some contra tunes,via the Tip Jar. patreon, or venmo, whatever is on the watch party page.
Does anyone know of a central location for these watch parties, so we can connect with performers who are already picking our time slot, orscheduling with them to plan future events? It would be a great way to get people to hear bands that I would not really be able to book for our small local Thurday night contra.Might be fun to connect with other groups that dance on Thursday nights, too.
Any variations on these ideas would be greatly appreciated as well.
Stay well, and keep dancing.
Bob Fabinski
I'm glad we are sharing information about how we are taking steps to avoid being part of the problem, in terms of being a disease vector.
Our group got this from the New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), which I have found very useful. There are links to New England CDC/DHHS sites, and a bunch of other important data. Check it out.
https://www.nefa.org/covid-19
Our traditional participatory dance culture has such potential to spread joy, in part because of close proximity and a whole lot of touching hands. We build community through connecting -- metaphysically and literally -- with everyone in the room. This is definitely the dark side of all that beautiful touching and connection.
Let's keep taking care of each other and our communities!
Chrissy Fowler
Belfast ME
** ** **
Dance Calling | Transcription | Belfast Flying Shoes
chrissyfowler.com<http://www.chrissyfowler.com> | westbranchwords.com<http://www.westbranchwords.com> | belfastflyingshoes.org/blog<http://www.belfastflyingshoes.org/blog>
<http://www.chrissyfowler.com>
(207) 338-0979
________________________________
From: Greenleaf via Organizers <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2020 9:37 AM
To: organizers shared weight <organizers(a)lists.sharedweight.net>
Subject: [Organizers] Cancellation list AND a way to donate
CDSS has set up a national cancellations page, and what is useful is that each event can add a donate button to support performers and venues. This button directs you to a page that the individual group has set up (ie CDSS doesn’t set this up for you).
https://www.cdss.org/covid19#cancellations
I encourage you to set up a donations page, let your community know about it, and then get it added to the CDSS page.
BTW, the above CDSS link also has good info about what organizers need to consider when cancelling events.
Lisa Greenleaf
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