Hi everyone! I’m on the east coast of Turtle Island as this heads in to your inboxes, hanging with one smaller sliver of my large multicultural family, most of us living far apart, which can break my heart if I think about it too much, but also staying connected, always. There is a lesson there in how we migrate and grow and move and stay connected to how culture travels, and how that comes out through dance and music.

(Yes, I can connect anything to dance and music.)

Each of us is made up of all the people we’ve known and of all the people they knew who came before us. We’ll leave our marks on everyone we meet and those who come after us. It’s beautiful and it’s messy and it’s human. Loving, practicing, considering, and witnessing cultural dance is like that, too. We know what we know, we learn it from other people who learned it from other people, we practice it and we do it, and then we meet others and we learn or see or think about or add or consider something else, and so we practice and we do differently, or deeper, or wider, or smaller, or more publicly, or more privately. Hopefully we are able to connect and integrate all the inspiration that has crossed our paths, paying homage to those who created and continue caretake it, honoring the thing itself, and bring additional parts of who we are and where we are in to it, too.

My partner is a lifelong musician, and early in our relationship shared that their ethos, and their goal, is to serve the song. Serve the song. I loved and adopted it immediately, and it has ultimately changed how I saw my own work. It reminds me to take my ego out of it, to connect the song (the dance, the art, the work) to something bigger than myself. I find it liberating, and if I feel competitive or left out or uninspired or arrogant or overwhelmed or unworthy or scared or bored or manic or zealous or cynical, or any and all of the ways we can sometimes feel in the arts, I can use that it a touchstone. Maybe serving the song means my not being involved at all, maybe it means following someone else’s vision for a while, maybe it means stepping up for a bit, or maybe it means going for it even if no one seems interested. It definitely means getting out of my own way.

Lately it also means creating space to bring together folks who want to dance. My upcoming class is not going to be this heady - we are gonna move and dance and do all the things - but also? This is for sure part of where I’m coming from.

We are going to serve the song!

Still with me? If so, read on for some inspiration - writings, music, films, videos - as well as upcoming events, classes, and other projects. As always, thank you for being here, and I’d love to hear what you are up to if you feel like sharing.

Classes

I’m teaching an in person class in San Francisco. Monthlies with Monica ~ Mediterranean Movement, the Second Saturday of each month. We start July 11 at Danzhaus, which is located at 1275 Connecticut Street. There is plenty of free street parking, and it is near a few MUNI lines (the 19 and 48) that connect easily to BART (the 48 from Mission and 24th and the 19 from Civic Center). If you ride a bike you are welcome bring it into the studio for safekeeping (note we are up one flight of stairs).

Info on what to expect and how to register is here. If you are able to pre-register for each class please do. It helps the brain squirrels to know that people are coming! Drop-ins are welcome, and if you want to register for all six classes to be held this year, you can do that, too.

I cannot wait!

Events

Gruppo Pizzicato at Vino Rosso
629 Cortland, San Francisco
Saturday, July 18, 5 - 7 PM
Italian music with mandolin, guitar, percussion, and voices. Come for yummy food and drink or just to hang out. We play outdoors with really good space heaters (it is summer in San Francisco, after all).

More events are or will be on the calendar

Inspiration

Good stuff out there among the overwhelm.

Conversazioni in Sicilia: Prima spedizione etnografica per un documentario sul Tamburo a Cornice / Conversations in Sicily: A first ethnographic expedition for a documentary on the frame drum

Sicily is such a diverse place and its tambourine and frame drum styles are no exception. I play several styles these days from all corners of the Mediterranean, and so far Sicilian styles use more of the drum face than any other I’ve met. To me, Sicilian frame drumming is referential to many other styles while also being its own thing, and is wild and free while also boundaried - just how I like my art! This is a sweet and inspiring look at a few Sicilian players and makers and thinkers, including some of my own teachers. Note: You can turn on English subtitles in the settings section.
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Y’ALL - this is a 2008 throwback to a gigbag check Debbie Smith and I did for Gilded Serpent. Who is that person? What happened to that big hair?! ; ) Ah well, I’m still hanging with the big earrings, at least.

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I really want to see this exhibit on punk at the Skirball in Los Angeles if I can get down there before September.

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My friend Laura Ruberto has a great instagram called Migrant Screens. A recommended follow for films that resonate.

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I’ve been on a real snail journey for a minute now, and am enamored by the American Society of Naturalists logo.

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I’m watching two new-to-me shows, Patience and Inspector Ricciardi, through my PBS Passport subscription.

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I’m helping to coordinate the next Howard Zinn Book Fair. Maybe you are a writer who wants to offer a panel or workshop?

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Finally, I’m also reading about climate and earth and animals and humans and ecology, and remembering things I once learned but kind of forgot about ecofeminism, and my head is a jumble. I may have more to share on it down the line, but if you have any reads or listens that you think I might want to check out, send them my way? Evviva the earth!

Thanks if you made it this far. See you in the studio July 11, at an event, or back here next month. Mwah!