Virtual Friday Morning InterPlay

Couple InterPlay!

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:58:26 +0000

Occasionally people meet in InterPlay and not only get playmates but a love mate. (Thanks to Gay Guard-Chamberlain for doll art!) That happened to Leslie and Eris and Jurgen and Debra. Do couples who InterPlay have a better chance of making it through tough times? My relationships with husband Stephen and collaborator Phil are still lively after 30 years.

Tough times? Randall and Sharon are literally InterPlaying in and out of ICU, doctor’s offices and cancer treatment!

Fred and Harriet have also been dancing for a while and sent this youtube to our InterPlay India leader Hazel and her new husband in India!

Even one partner InterPlaying can shift the F factor in a partnership or family. That being said, the more the merrier. If your partner doesn’t want to play like you do, play with that! And then go play. You probably need some laughs, hugs, affirmation, creative energy, and an embodied field of hope.

What’s your favorite InterPlay partner moment?

happy friday!

Witness InterPlayers Break the Chain of Violence! Take the Tour!

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:40:51 +0000

“Dance is one of the most powerful things that we can do.
The women of Congo have really taught me, because they’ve suffered the worst atrocities on this planet,
and yet their capacity to dance and transform their pain into power is remarkable.”—Eve Ensler

Stop 1! Color Lines Online Magazine features Inmates Rising:Click here to Read the Story

or Watch the Video featuring InterPlayer Soyinka Rahim and Cynthia Winton-Henry!

Stop 2! Rise! by Lelavision featuring InterPlaymates Leah Mann, Elizabeth Mendana, Eric Chappelle!

Stop 3! Stories of Creative Courage, Art Addresses Violence

InterPlay Bangalore: InterPlayer Biju Cherayath
I Billion Rising was a fantastic success. I also got a fantastic response to the 50 feet long painting that I initiated. See the pictures!”

InterPlay Mumbai Hazel Lobo InterPlay leader, Board Member
Prabha Desai, Director of Sanmitra Trust said YES to a group of young women, most of them burkha-clad Muslims from the slums, who are a part of the vocational training beautician’s course. InterPlayers Neesha, Omeera, Prashant and I had the privilege of playing with 22 young women who raised their voices and willingness to stop violence and start living – to accept the sacredness of their bodies – to experience their strength and believe that being a woman is a blessing.

Just moving our bodies through the space we became aware of how peaceful it is, how much we hunger for healthy contact, the multiple options and choices available and the joy of being in community as one body. I became aware of how little space these women from the slums have and was amazed how much they do and are in this limited space.

In a small congested room of about 20 by 10 feet with bodies so close to each other, no boundaries, no space to reclaim self and yet we were there all playing together with HOPE in our heart that one day “Sab Mangal ho, Sab Mangal ho, Aurat ka jivan Mang al ho” (All shall be well, all shall be well, the life of a woman shall be well)

InterPlay Boston: CC King, Life Practice Program Leader

Several intrepid InterPlayers were part of an”Instigator’s Team.” We found the phrase: One Billion and One Rising and noted that the “one” was each of us. On V Day, with prayer and then a speaker on violence and challenges in our political system, we stood and reflected on the very snowy front lawn of our local arts center, Emerson Umbrella.

We gathered words of remembrance of violence against women; to the soft musical whispers of Sweet Honey in the Rock, we carried Caution tape among the bodies, and as inspired by Cynthia stood together in witness of the harm to all. To the song “Break the Chain” our bodies began to lift and sway and pulse.
We had 4 lead/follow moves: 1. Step UP!, 2. Push Aside oppression and rage; 3. Break the Chain of violence and intolerance; and 4. Take It Back: safe touch, health of bodies together in community, stillness and rest. WE DANCED!!
Then we pledged: a specific action, large or small, to be taken in the coming year to change the flow of violence. We let these out into the night air.
Then, the privilege of being one of Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologue voices.

Our community arts center answered my calling to host this event with a huge uprising: staging a reception and the Vagina Monologues and really appreciating the opportunity for all of us to stand together and truly act as a community arts organizing energy.

InterPlay Pittsburgh Sheila Collins: Life Practice Program Leader

The main event attracting over 400 people was organized by an organization that InterPlayer Toni McClendon started, New Voices Pittsburgh: Women of Color for Reproductive Justice. Young mostly African American women put together, with the help of volunteers of all ages, the most soulful, spiritually enlightening, community inspiring two hour event in Pittsburgh’s downtown Market Square. It was a great honor to support these women in bringing their vision to such a spectacular outcome.

On the stage dancers from the August Wilson Center performed and hundreds of women danced Break The Chain,
Another corner of the square contained a tent the size of a solitary confinement space in a prison. The construction held artwork and petitions to obtain release for women incarcerated for defending themselves against the violent acts of intimate partners.
A candled altar space occupied another corner, a place for remembering women from our community who have lost their lives to violence
Another space labeled the Comfort Tent, offered support and respite for anyone strongly affected by this topic of violence against women.

Stop 4! InterPlay Raleigh Moves! Click here!

Stop 5! InterPlay San Francisco joins HerRising team organized by Dancing Beyond Borders

This video was created as a documentary with healing interviews. Soyinka Rahim is featured.

ABC7news.com shows the events at City Hall. Big crowd celebrates One Billion Rising at City Hall Can you find Jonathan, Soyinka, Hanneke, Annie, Phil, Cynthia, others?

Paul Hawkens, thought leader, environmentalist, and author of Blessed Unrest emailed this to the 30 Break the Chain SF teachers:

“I have never seen such joy at an activist/political event or rally. The diversity of participants had permanent grins on their faces. The dancing was tribal and ecstatic. It set the mark for all future events in my mind, no matter the cause. No more tired recycled progressive can’t please. I want joy, dance, embodiment.”

News came from Missoula, Claremont, CA where Penny Mann danced with students, shelter women, and Pilgrim Place Seniors (Click here), Atlanta, Des Moines (click here), and Beyond!

Final Stop! Keep Dancing! Learn the Dance for International Women’s Day and V-Day 2014.

March 8th International Women’s Day:
Caution Dance Meditation download a pdf of this ritual.
Best Break the Chain choreography video

v day … the movement has begun (morvensblog.wordpress.com)
Dancing to end violence against women and girls (mercurynews.com)
San Francisco Jail Inmates Dance to Stop Sexual Violence [Video] (colorlines.com)
1 Billion Rising to raise awareness of violence against women with UM dance (missoulian.com)
One Billion Rising gets SF residents to dance for awareness (sfgate.com)
One Billion Rising global action to reclaim Valentine’s Day – Channel 4 News (channel4.com)
Dance to Break the Chains: One Billion Rising! (interplayfriday.wordpress.com)

Dance to Break the Chains: One Billion Rising!

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:46:18 +0000

There’s a Massive Movement Going On: One Billion Women, victims of gender violence, are dancing to break chains and end their suffering. Dance is power. Give the World a Valentine! Today and on V-DAY!

InterPlay unlocks the wisdom of the body through dance, voice, story, stillness, and connection. It’s keys open the door, the heart, the path to health in kind and fun ways. InterPlayers know that What the Body Wants is to heal and enjoy life without being retraumatized! That is one reason why InterPlay works! Given health the body will rise!

InterPlayers in Bangalore, Claremont, Boston, Raleigh, Atlanta, Oakland, San Francisco, and beyond are Breaking the Chains! My incredible InterPlay colleague Soyinka Rahim and I will lead a flash mob in San Francisco’s Women’s Prison.

You don’t have to a) be a woman or b) learn choreography or c) show up somewhere to break the chain. Today and on Valentines Day put on the music and dance on behalf of mothers, daughters, sweethearts, and girls health. Dance to end this crushing violence. Dance to change the world!

Break the Chain

Lyrics by Tena Clark, Music by Tena Clark/Tim Heintz

I raise my arms to the sky
On my knees I pray
I’m not afraid anymore
I will walk through that door
Walk, dance, rise
Walk, dance, rise

I can see a world where we all live
Safe and free from all oppression
No more rape or incest, or abuse
Women are not a possession

You’ve never owned me, don’t even know me
I’m not invisible, I’m simply wonderful
I feel my heart for the first time racing
I feel alive, I feel so amazing

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
Its time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

In the middle of this madness, we will stand
I know there is a better world
Take your sisters & your brothers by the hand
Reach out to every woman & girl

This is my body, my body’s holy
No more excuses, no more abuses
We are mothers, we are teachers,
We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
It’s time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain

Dance Break Inst.

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

Sister won’t you help me, sister won’t you rise (x4)

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

Sister won’t you help me, sister won’t you rise (x4)

This is my body, my body’s holy
No more excuses, no more abuses
We are mothers, we are teachers,
We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
Its time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain

(Repeat chorus)

Now let’s Dance!

Set up a Caution Dance Meditation to move from fear to connection before free dancing Break the Chains. download a pdf of this ritual. The song “I’m Gonna Lift My Sister Up” is included in the ritual. Download this mp3 file of the music.

To learn the choreography this is the best video:

Please help us support the work of InterPlay to Break the Chains and Donate here.

Watch: A Video Message from Eve Ensler – 1 Billion Will Rise in 1 Week (alternet.org)

We Leap into a Future Grace

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 02:08:43 +0000

It was New Years Eve in Oakland. People were spry, full of flavorful food from GraceHearth. They had on their “I Survived 2012″ Doodle and Destroy T-shirts. see InterPlay New Years Eve

We were in a good mood in spite of fiscal cliffs when Laurie said her grandma always jumped off the sofa on New Years eve saying, “One should leap into the new year!” Amos said, “Yes, like jumping into gratitude gulch!”

Though we might be unsure about 2013.

Whatever we put passion into will increase gratitude. So lets slide down into the green gulch of gratitude and grace, dance, sing, go out and play for keeps. People the world over will do just that.

Grateful for InterPlay, for playmates, for creative energy, for food, for shelter, for beauty in so many forms. What makes you sing and want to move toward grace this year? Check out InterPlay to see what you can find. I’ll make grace and a few messes in Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Oakland, Healdsburg, Boulder, Santa Fe and on some virtual wave length where even more gets dreamed up.

As Soyinka says, Peace and Many Blessings.

Sing for a New Day! 12/21/12

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:26:08 +0000

OH AUSPICIOUS DAY! Let’s sing a Yoruba Love Song to the Earth “Ise Oluwa”.

Sing synchronously at 9am (22nd) in Australia, US-4:00pm Central 5pm Eastern, 3pm Mountain, 2pm Pacific) OR ANYTIME!!!!!!!!

Ise oluwa, koley bajey o.

Pronunciation: eee-shea oh-lu-wah, koh-leh bah-jey-o.

Translates: That which Creator has made (or that which has been created)

can never be destroyed.

Watch the video and dance or croon to the tune
with Gratitude to Shyla Nelson and the Good Earth Singers for putting forth this call to listen and sing.

Make wide the pivotal moment,
Breathe deep in times of change.

Return to the wisdom of the body.
Our CPR for the planet: Create, play, and rest MORE.
Do less. Make space for synchronicity.
Surprise and Spontaneity are how the light gets through.
Learn how to InterPlay everyday

Landfill-harmonics

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:14:01 +0000

InterPlayers are A OK if our only entertainment is each other. Every bit of us is usable. Better yet, all movement, voice, story, stillness, heart, and soul can get offered up for joy, love, and truth no matter how banged up we are.

What landfill have you overlooked? What if its the source of new music?

Check out InterPlay.org to learn how a family reunion, party, business meeting, retreat, or snow day can be transformed into a hilarious, hopeful harmonic convergence! Talk about the SHIFT of the Ages!

Step one: Take a deep breath and let it out with a sigh…….
Step two: Shake out whatever you are sitting on……
Step three: Make sounds like a fake violin for 20 seconds AND change the way we all see the day!

Arty Hand Dance

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:00:36 +0000

Hands Dance. Shake em. Smooth em. Shape em. Shoot out some Magic!

Hands have brains. It turns out they give away the truth. We are experts at expressing ourselves. Get those hands out of your lap. Dance!

Hand Dance – Excerpts

Want to know a secret? InterPlayers become fearless dancers, almost as good as David Parsons Dance Company, by doing 5 hand dances. It doesn’t take long to figure out that your hand is connected to your heart. Next thing you know a hand just isn’t enough. Or is it? Learn the power of hands and a whole lot more at InterPlay.org

To share hand dancing with others here are the full directions.
Lie down on the floor. (You may also sit or stand if that is more comfortable for you.)
Bring one hand into the air.
For 30 seconds, do some smooth movements with your hand.
Now do smooth and fast.
For 30 seconds, do some jerky movement. Now do jerky and slow.
Make a shape with your hand and hold it. Make another shape…and another…and another. Bring your hand in contact with your body or the floor.
Move it to another point of contact.
Now one more point of contact.
Now take up as much space as you can with one hand.
Find out how far your arm can go. And take a deep breath.
Now I am going to put on a piece of music and I invite you to play around with the movements of one hand. (after the music) What did you notice? or Scoot around on the floor until you are near another person. Take 30 seconds to talk with your partner about anything you noticed in that dance of one hand.

Rise!

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:00:30 +0000

Did anyone ever rise without gratitude or love? In ancient Aramaic the word joy means leap! As Eve Ensler says, “Dance is dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive, contagious, it breaks the rules. It can happen anywhere, anytime, with anyone and everyone, and it’s free. Dancing insists we take up space, we go there together in community. Dance joins us and pushes us to go further and that is why it’s at the center of ONE BILLION RISING” a Dance to end violence against women, Feb 14, 2013.

Why wait? Dance to the music NOW! We don’t need choreography if Freedom is in us!

BREAK THE CHAIN

InterPlay’s improvisational action tool kit helps us tell our story, sing, AND Dance to unlock chains that keep us from health, life, and each other. That is why InterPlay is spreading in Mental Health, Empowerment and Bridge Building activities like OneBillionRising.org.

Take a deep breath, let it out with a sigh, RISE, shake it out. Then write a love note to dance in the comment box.

Share this with someone. If they sign up for InterPlay e-news they get InterPlay goodies.

Art is heaven’s oven. That’s why we rise.

Union

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:18:46 +0000

How do wild, wooly, free spirit types create union?

In the moment AND one step at a time.

In InterPlay we discover that bodies love Incrementality. To

Breathe into and say YES to the union that is here now.
Follow.
Connect to our feet, not just our heart or ideas.
Celebrate the little UNIONS!

You can get up and walk to this song. If you feel like dancing, DANCE! Imagine others moving step by step right alongside you! This is a striking coal miners song from Kentucky.

Step by Step

Take a deep breath, let it out with a sigh. Need to celebrate comething big or little? Put it in the Virtual Friday Blog comment box .

Pass this on along with email sign up gifts at InterPlay.

PS. The fastest way to union is through the body: Sing Dance Make Love. Also, the fastest way to separation is through the body: Violence and Judgement. InterPlay teaches the power of being you moving into UNION! We gotta improvise.

Ha—–lelujah

cynthia winton-henry — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:04:52 +0000

How do you get to Ha Le Lu Ya?

Is it in Ha? or an Ahhhhhh?

Your body knows.

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

Can a whole life be a Ha Le Lu Ya? A whole group or nation?
The body knows. So does the poet. One clue: Force never works.

Hallelujah is about ground. It’s about spontaneity and connection in how we move, breathe, give voice, tell, and hang together. Love-making from the ground up. Do you see a little hallelujah around you RIGHT NOW? Be with it a minute. Hallelujah.

Share noticings in the Virtual Friday Blog comment box.

Take a deep breath. Let it out with a sigh.

Here’s to InterPlay Leaders around the world hot on the track of Hallelujah lives.

PS. I saw Leonard Live this week. So inspired to perform with Wing It! in Red Blue and Purple and teach How to Improvise Your Life!

K.D. Lang Sings Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah [Video] (shiftfrequency.com)
Leonard Cohen Does Not Disappoint (lenleatherwood.wordpress.com)
Leonard Cohen’s hallelujah moment (telegraph.co.uk)

Virtual Friday Morning InterPlay

Couple InterPlay!

Witness InterPlayers Break the Chain of Violence! Take the Tour!

“Dance is one of the most powerful things that we can do. The women of Congo have really taught me, because they’ve suffered the worst atrocities on this planet, and yet their capacity to dance and transform their pain into power is remarkable.”—Eve Ensler

Stop 1! Color Lines Online Magazine features Inmates Rising:Click here to Read the Story

Stop 2! Rise! by Lelavision featuring InterPlaymates Leah Mann, Elizabeth Mendana, Eric Chappelle!

Stop 3! Stories of Creative Courage, Art Addresses Violence

Stop 4! InterPlay Raleigh Moves! Click here!

Stop 5! InterPlay San Francisco joins HerRising team organized by Dancing Beyond Borders

News came from Missoula, Claremont, CA where Penny Mann danced with students, shelter women, and Pilgrim Place Seniors (Click here), Atlanta, Des Moines (click here), and Beyond!

Final Stop! Keep Dancing! Learn the Dance for International Women’s Day and V-Day 2014.

Related articles

Dance to Break the Chains: One Billion Rising!

There’s a Massive Movement Going On: One Billion Women, victims of gender violence, are dancing to break chains and end their suffering. Dance is power. Give the World a Valentine! Today and on V-DAY!

Break the Chain

I raise my arms to the sky On my knees I pray I’m not afraid anymore I will walk through that door Walk, dance, rise Walk, dance, rise

I can see a world where we all live Safe and free from all oppression No more rape or incest, or abuse Women are not a possession

You’ve never owned me, don’t even know me I’m not invisible, I’m simply wonderful I feel my heart for the first time racing I feel alive, I feel so amazing

I dance cause I love Dance cause I dream Dance cause I’ve had enough Dance to stop the screams Dance to break the rules Dance to stop the pain Dance to turn it upside down Its time to break the chain, oh yeah Break the Chain

Dance, rise Dance, rise

In the middle of this madness, we will stand I know there is a better world Take your sisters & your brothers by the hand Reach out to every woman & girl

This is my body, my body’s holy No more excuses, no more abuses We are mothers, we are teachers, We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love Dance cause I dream Dance cause I’ve had enough Dance to stop the screams Dance to break the rules Dance to stop the pain Dance to turn it upside down It’s time to break the chain, oh yeah Break the Chain, oh yeah Break the Chain

Dance Break Inst.

Dance, rise Dance, rise

Sister won’t you help me, sister won’t you rise (x4)

Dance, rise Dance, rise

Sister won’t you help me, sister won’t you rise (x4)

This is my body, my body’s holy No more excuses, no more abuses We are mothers, we are teachers, We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love Dance cause I dream Dance cause I’ve had enough Dance to stop the screams Dance to break the rules Dance to stop the pain Dance to turn it upside down Its time to break the chain, oh yeah Break the Chain, oh yeah Break the Chain

Now let’s Dance!

Please help us support the work of InterPlay to Break the Chains and Donate here.

Related articles

We Leap into a Future Grace

Sing for a New Day! 12/21/12

Landfill-harmonics

Arty Hand Dance

Rise!

Union

Ha—–lelujah

Related articles

“Dance is one of the most powerful things that we can do.
The women of Congo have really taught me, because they’ve suffered the worst atrocities on this planet,
and yet their capacity to dance and transform their pain into power is remarkable.”—Eve Ensler

I raise my arms to the sky
On my knees I pray
I’m not afraid anymore
I will walk through that door
Walk, dance, rise
Walk, dance, rise

I can see a world where we all live
Safe and free from all oppression
No more rape or incest, or abuse
Women are not a possession

You’ve never owned me, don’t even know me
I’m not invisible, I’m simply wonderful
I feel my heart for the first time racing
I feel alive, I feel so amazing

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
Its time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

In the middle of this madness, we will stand
I know there is a better world
Take your sisters & your brothers by the hand
Reach out to every woman & girl

This is my body, my body’s holy
No more excuses, no more abuses
We are mothers, we are teachers,
We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
It’s time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

Dance, rise
Dance, rise

This is my body, my body’s holy
No more excuses, no more abuses
We are mothers, we are teachers,
We are beautiful, beautiful creatures

I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I’ve had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
Its time to break the chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain, oh yeah
Break the Chain