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      • Building Cultures of Dance
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Archived Topics
Jochelle Perena
September 11, 2012

A New Era

Summer is always intense for us at Luna.  We hold week-after-week of dance camps for youth and week-after-week of workshop intensives for teachers and dance professionals.  This year stretched our small staff to the brink as we added to the usual load a move to our “forever” space in West Berkeley and an intense hiring process.

But, ahhh, here we are.  The beginning of semester, with those shadows already shifting and the weather hot, is showing the promise of what is possible for Luna in our new space.  Nearly 40 professional educators and dancers launched their school year the Tuesday after Labor Day at a cocktail party to introduce folks to Luna’s Professional Learning services.  This past Saturday, September 8th, approximately 70 families danced and played in our space.  The group varied from families new to Luna, who happened by as they were out for a weekend bike ride, to MPACT veterans, to our staff’s families, to supporters from Luna’s inception.  A fun time was had by all.

Today, after a recovery Sunday, I reflect on how far we have come, our place in space & time and my own mortality as a creator, teacher, director and dancer.  Witnessing the shared ownership of Luna’s programs and activities by an extraordinarily competent staff, I feel excited for Luna’s future.  I see that Luna will continue to evolve beyond the limits of my imagination, yet without veering too far off from its founding values.  The goals of this year are to stabilize Luna in our new home, continue to build leadership capacity (with Staff and Board) and to establish our West Berkeley space as the dance village it has the capacity to be.  [Read more about our village http://dancersgroup.org/programs_articles.php]

I now have the opportunity to reflect, articulate and begin moving toward those projects that I still wish to manifest before I retire.  It is one of Luna’s greatest accomplishments that we are in a place that I can do so.  So, I get to begin by writing the second edition of Body, Mind & Spirit IN ACTION, as well as its 3-volume companion on Dance in Early Childhood, Family Dance, and The Rigor of Creativity.  We get to move toward our goals of starting the charter school I’ve dreamed of since I was a teenager and strategize a capital campaign to eventually purchase our home.  All of this celebrates Luna’s adulthood.  At 21, we’re old enough to gamble, but we’re placing safe bets on a foundation that has always done what we said we would do to bring the joy and power of dance to every child.

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