Sylvia & Carla join in a movement prayer on Carla's back deck By The Rev. Sylvia Miller-Mutia
One month ago Carla De Sola gathered eight friends and dancers at her home in Berkeley, CA to ask that question: "What's next for Omega West?" Is it time to plan a reunion concert? Retire? Refocus? Redistribute leadership? Recruit new dancers? Renew our vision?
Each of us, in our own ways, is struggling to honor the competing demands of work and family, aging bodies and artistic vision, spiritual practice and practicalities. In a few weeks I'm moving with my family to NM to start a new job. Jenny is giving birth to her third child. David is working more than full time and finishing his degree. Claudia is trying to grow her yoga business.
What's more, each of us is inspired by a different aspect of Carla's work. David H. and Karin are passionate about recruiting new dancers and continuing to perform Carla's new choreography. David M. is passionate about preserving and reviving Carla's older works. Sabine and Enver are passionate about exploring dance as a key to interfaith dialogue and understanding. Claudia is passionate about using movement to support pregnant women in the spiritual and physical transition into motherhood. Sister Martha Ann is passionate about documenting the impact Carla has made on the church and the world through dance over the past half-century. And I'm passionate about helping people pray and worship in more full and embodied ways--wherever and whenever I can!
We left the meeting at Carla's house unclear about our next steps, but very clear on this: We are a family of artists. We have each been formed in important ways by Carla's spirit, life, and work, and we are eager to continue sharing in that spirit, life, and work.
Over the past month two "next steps" for Omega West have started to emerge.
First, we started developing this new website: Spirit Moves Omega. We're thinking of this as our emerging "online studio": not only a site where people can learn more about Carla & Omega West, but a place where people can go to learn more about liturgical dance, movement meditation, creating sacred dances, sacred dance for healing and a variety of other practices that help connect spirit with movement; a place where people can go to learn about and practice dance and prayer; a place where we can share videos of our rehearsals and new works in progress, as well as performances; a place where we can blog about our latest thoughts, experiments, ideas, and insights about spirituality and dance.
Second, last week we got the incredibly exciting news that Omega West has been invited to present Beyond Words: An Interfaith Ritual for Peace at the 2015 Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City. Now all we have to do is raise the money to get there! You can help by contributing to the Omega West Go Fund Me Campaign--every dollar counts towards our $10,000 goal!
I still can't say what Omega West will look like in five years, or even in six months! But I can feel the energy building around these first two projects that are just peeking up over the horizon. And I am beginning to feel both curious and excited about what might be next!
One month ago Carla De Sola gathered eight friends and dancers at her home in Berkeley, CA to ask that question: "What's next for Omega West?" Is it time to plan a reunion concert? Retire? Refocus? Redistribute leadership? Recruit new dancers? Renew our vision?
Each of us, in our own ways, is struggling to honor the competing demands of work and family, aging bodies and artistic vision, spiritual practice and practicalities. In a few weeks I'm moving with my family to NM to start a new job. Jenny is giving birth to her third child. David is working more than full time and finishing his degree. Claudia is trying to grow her yoga business.
What's more, each of us is inspired by a different aspect of Carla's work. David H. and Karin are passionate about recruiting new dancers and continuing to perform Carla's new choreography. David M. is passionate about preserving and reviving Carla's older works. Sabine and Enver are passionate about exploring dance as a key to interfaith dialogue and understanding. Claudia is passionate about using movement to support pregnant women in the spiritual and physical transition into motherhood. Sister Martha Ann is passionate about documenting the impact Carla has made on the church and the world through dance over the past half-century. And I'm passionate about helping people pray and worship in more full and embodied ways--wherever and whenever I can!
We left the meeting at Carla's house unclear about our next steps, but very clear on this: We are a family of artists. We have each been formed in important ways by Carla's spirit, life, and work, and we are eager to continue sharing in that spirit, life, and work.
Over the past month two "next steps" for Omega West have started to emerge.
First, we started developing this new website: Spirit Moves Omega. We're thinking of this as our emerging "online studio": not only a site where people can learn more about Carla & Omega West, but a place where people can go to learn more about liturgical dance, movement meditation, creating sacred dances, sacred dance for healing and a variety of other practices that help connect spirit with movement; a place where people can go to learn about and practice dance and prayer; a place where we can share videos of our rehearsals and new works in progress, as well as performances; a place where we can blog about our latest thoughts, experiments, ideas, and insights about spirituality and dance.
Second, last week we got the incredibly exciting news that Omega West has been invited to present Beyond Words: An Interfaith Ritual for Peace at the 2015 Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City. Now all we have to do is raise the money to get there! You can help by contributing to the Omega West Go Fund Me Campaign--every dollar counts towards our $10,000 goal!
I still can't say what Omega West will look like in five years, or even in six months! But I can feel the energy building around these first two projects that are just peeking up over the horizon. And I am beginning to feel both curious and excited about what might be next!
April 2015 meeting of Carla with Omega West friends and dancers (L-R Sabine, David M, Carla, Sylvia, Claudia, Karin, David H., Sister Martha Ann, Enver)
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