Beauty Night Out 2012
February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What Moves You
January 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
By Marlene Amado
The dancing started with a bounce, at least for me, anyway. Admittedly ill prepared, the music I had this week at Beautynight was the radio’s top 7. I was overly confident that my will to move and my passion for inspiring it, would creep into even the most reluctant diva’s psyche, inspiring her to bust-a-move with me. I was proven wrong. The problem was obvious; no one was joining me in dance and while my growing group of volunteer friends and I were killing ourselves dancing the Macarena to the Anthem song (featuring lil Jon) none of the women who were there to benefit from our movement inspirations were!
I decided to go to the source and find out, exactly, why we were alone in our movement experiment. Two of the women I spoke to, BJ and her “mom”, B, were the catalyst for what was to follow. The first question that came to mind was to ask them how I could get them to dance with me. The next question seemed obvious, natural. I followed with, “what kind of music moves you?” I facilitate and lead a number of classes per week. Sometimes there is music, often there is not. Usually I choose the set genre, the pitch and the volume. I consider the audience sounds and the desired effect I want the music to have. Sometimes even when there is music, I do not even hear it because I am so focused on what is happening in my body. So it was interesting to learn what kind of music BJ and B like to listen to and to consider what moves them. It was B’s idea for me to take it to the floor and go around and ask other women what kind of music they liked. Clearly, this is what I should have done from the beginning!
Every single one of the gals I spoke to had no problem telling me what kind of music they liked. Some of the music requests included reggae, Cher, Johnny Reed, today’s country, gypsy-even classical. My friends opened up quickly to my inquiry about what kind of music moves them but what I found most curious was how that discussion lead into their hearts. In fact, out of the dozen women that I spoke to, 9 of them revealed something to me that was personal about themselves-what they love and what moves them the most.
In Natural Movement by Susan Aposhyan she writes, “even our thoughts are molecular movements along nerve fibers between neurons in the brain” and that in fact, “Sophisticated medical imaging devices such as PET scans show that thought occurs along certain pathways making a shape in space and time”. It is very likely that my taste in music is not always congruent with the kind of rhythm and music that others find appealing. That said, my question opened up a dialogue about loved ones, children my friends have had or have lost, partners they have lost or were waiting to be reunited with. The response that I got to my questions reflected an inner physiological movement, in this case in the heart, which could happen routinely throughout the day. How we perceive and move in the world specifically to a favorite piece of music is just a reflection of the continuous sequencing of sensations, perceptions and responses that circulate through our bodies and that usually happen unconsciously, fulfilling dozens of functions in the body. However, Aposhyan links conscious movement to feeling an “aliveness” in the body. Perception and response is movement. What we are inspiring at Beautynight is the possibility for sequencing and syncing our sensations with outer expression. To be fully embodied, alive!
About the Author:
Marlene Amado has been a certified pilates teacher since 2004 and has extensive experience as a movement teacher for over 15 years. Marlene completed her BA in Political Science at UBC in 2008 and continues to explore ideas on the body through various research and written publications. She is curious about new and various ways of teaching re patterning in the body as well as finding the deeper nuances of the pilates method. Marlene is committed to facilitating students’ empowerment and positive experience of self through movement. Marlene is a Pilates Alliance Member and is fully certified in all pilates apparatus equipment.
Power & Groove
January 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Last Monday, I was enroute to Beauty Night when I received a call. DJ had borrowed Tricia’s phone to let me know the power had gone out. A hawk flew into the power line and died. It knocked out the power line. When I arrived to see if it was possible to open, there was a cluster of police men looking up at the power line. They said it would depend on BC Hydro when things were able to move forward. When I walked into the centre, an alarm was beeping. After speaking to staffers at Bridge Housing (which runs the building) and DEWC, we were advised to shut down for the night. Throughout this, many of the participants kept coming up and asking if we were going to open up. We waited until 6pm, put a sign on the door to let everyone know we would not be open. I am sorry for everyone that I was unable to reach before you arrived at DEWC. Hopefully this week, everything will be back to normal.
Tuesday night brought some new faces into the Beauty Night arena. When everyone arrived, Alice, the program coordinator from DEWC came up to speak to me about the power outage. There were several things that we had to adjust as the power had not been restored completely. Whether or not it was because they missed us on Monday or due to adjustments during the day at DEWC, we had a full house on Tuesday night. Thank you for everyone for pitching in and making the night flow as smoothly as possible.
One of my favourite parts of the evening was having the dance area. Debbie, one of our yoga instructors and Marlene, one of our pilates instructors and movement teachers encouraged the ladies to dance. Based on the ladies requests for dance classes, Marlene and Debbie (similar to Lauren & I a few weeks ago) asked the ladies to dance. I could hear tons of laughter as the women grooved and moved. At the end of the night, Debbie and Marlene suggested using gentle music for the last hour of the night to get the ladies to stretch and relax. I think this will be a great way to get some of the ladies to try pilates and yoga movement. Most of this will be done in chairs as some of the ladies can not get down to a mat on the floor. Marlene wrote a beautiful piece on our blog about the experience: Connecting Through Movement
If you are interested in writing a blog post for our site, please let me know. We are always looking for volunteers to share their experiences about Beauty Night.
Connecting through Movement
January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Connecting Through Movement by Marlene Amado
The experiences of the first few years of life set the stage for how capable our immune systems are, how we cope with stress and even our ability to find meaning-worth, in our lives. Research that has emerged in psychophysical therapy and within Laban Movement Analysis supports “the interrelationships of anatomical functioning, personal feeling …and also with the awareness that movement both initiates and changes emotional feelings and about how we think…”[1] When the experiences of everyday life continue to be a place of struggle as well as living in poverty, where do you turn and who can you trust in a world that has placed you in a category that has no formal affiliation, but is set firmly at the margins of social welfare and wellness?
I had a first hand opportunity to join Caroline’s team of volunteers this Tuesday. Amongst the various services provided such as a hot meal, massage and beauty there was an area at the far end of the room designated for dancing. Music wafted from the boom box that rested on a worn piano. My favorite CD was No Doubt and later, some garage rock. The energy in the room was decidedly enthusiastic. There were smiles as the women were pampered and especially once I introduced myself. I teach pilates in Vancouver to a diverse group of people who can afford to willingly pay to be lead through a series of movements designed to help re-align the spine and correct poor movement patterns. This was a far cry from the usual demographic that I cater to. There is no lush flooring to sprawl on or high-end equipment on which to prop ourselves. My role was simply to invite some of the women up to move and dance to the music. Our goal was to offer the opportunity to move-without judgment and without set standards or expectations. What I saw was a very open group, and an accepting cohort of women. While I was unable to get everyone in the room to join the dancers at the front of the room, I noticed from those that were dancing, pure delight. There were many who, for personal reasons, did not get up and dance. One woman expressed how absurd it would be to get up and dance after the day she had had. After further inquiry she revealed to just having quit drugs.
When I think of connection in the body as I teach I am considering an individual’s relationship within and to her or himself. “To connect is to link, to establish communication… to associate mentally or emotionally”[2]. Considering the daily struggles these women experience that I take for granted, and the necessity of dis- associating oneself from inner/outer in order to survive, it is painfully obvious why so few feel compelled to join our group. Beauty Night is about offering a safe place where even the most seemingly frivolous approach to wellness is imagined and available. Perhaps my friend may not find it absurd to dance once she has successfully gotten through the hours that lead to another day without drugs. If she is not successful, I will still be there next week offering a safe space in which to move.
[1] Hackney, Peggy. Making Connections. Total Body Integration Through Bartenieff Fundamentals (New York: Routledge, 2002) 33.
[2] ibid. 233
About the Author:
Marlene Amado has been a certified pilates teacher since 2004 and has extensive experience as a movement teacher for over 15 years. Marlene completed her BA in Political Science at UBC in 2008 and continues to explore ideas on the body through various research and written publications. She is curious about new and various ways of teaching re patterning in the body as well as finding the deeper nuances of the pilates method. Marlene is committed to facilitating students’ empowerment and positive experience of self through movement. Marlene is a Pilates Alliance Member and is fully certified in all pilates apparatus equipment.
2011 Year Round Up Part One
December 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Thank you for a fantastic year! As we look back on 2011, it is serves as an example of how community can work together to build evoke change. Thanks to your support, we have given over 16 000 makeovers in the past 11 years. In 2011 thanks to over 500 volunteers, we have given over 5000 makeovers.
Volunteer Management
Thanks to Julia Pon, Vickie Chow, Aayusha Koirala, Lucinda Yeung, Erin Samuda, Erin Brown, Elise Tan, and Christine Schultz for volunteer management and facilitating the events. Thanks to you we’ve been able to train more people.
Vancouver Foundation Invests in our Life-Makeover Program
One of our biggest goals this year was to find a way to lead and support our 500 plus volunteers to build self esteem and change lives through wellness, life skills development and makeovers. Thanks to the Vancouver Foundation, we were able to continue to have Caroline MacGillivray lead the program coordination of our life-makeover program. Since 2010, Vancouver Foundation has invested $45, 000 over 3 years to our Life-Makeover program. Working with our participants, volunteers and community partners we were able to see where we could strengthen the program.
YVR Twestival 2011
To have one staff member lead 500 volunteers can be a daunting task. When we spoke to our supporters, they rallied the community to get involved in raising the money so we could develop the leadership to offer our programming to more women. In March 2011, we were chosen of charity of choice for YVR Twestival. We were thrilled to have Vancouver’s twitter community come together in a huge tweetup. An evening of mingling and meeting people off line was held at Vancouver Lookout. Led by Miss 604 and Marc Smith from Amuse Consulting, YVR Twestival was a success. They raised over $8000 through ticket sales and silent auction to help us train 3 facilitators to expand our programming. Mayor Gregor Roberson made the opening remarks. Companies such as London Drugs, Lonsdale Rentals, Libre Tea, Dragon Truck and many more helped make this event happen.
A Website Makeover Thanks to Design Faire
Erika Harrison from the IABC/BC team of volunteers from the social media community grant we had received in 2010 spoke to Vanessa Chu from Design Faire to see if she could help us with our website. In less than 14 days, Vanessa had a new website up that reflected our new branding. * The branding was through our promotions committee and IABC/BC during our 10 year anniversary planning. We realized our branding did not reflect the work our society did. Thanks to founding board member, Pamela Lelong we revisited our bylaws and rebuilt our brand based on the cause that we build our society on and the work we continue to do.
With a new website and print materials (thank you Heather Vince) to tell people about our cause, we continued to let people know we were aiming to train 3 facilitators. Three groups of high schools students approached us to be their charity of choice for their YPI (Youth Philanthropy Initiative) project. Honoured to be chosen, we sat down with each group. The students had to create a video and do a presentation about their charity. The winning charity would receive $5000 for it’s cause. We were thrilled to be the recipient of Balmoral Secondary’s charity of choice for the YPI award.
Partnership with UBC Learning Exchange & Chapman Grant
Thanks to our partnership with UBC Trek/ Learning Exchange, we were told one of the students who volunteered for us through this program could apply for a Chapman grant to help us with a student driven program. We told them about our wish to train 3 facilitators and create training materials to continue to build leadership. Lucinda Yeung, one of our UBC Trek students applied for support for our cause. Her proposal was accepted. Through the Chapman Grant, we had an additional $4000 to train 3 UBC Trek students to facilitate our programming.
Canadian Medical Association Invests $2500 in Our Cause
Julia Pon applied for support from the Canadian Medical Association to train 3 medical students to facilitate Beauty Night programming and to educate volunteers in trauma awareness.Through the trauma awareness training, many of our health care volunteers say the training has helped improve bed side manner while working with patients and our participants.
