Social Justice and Volunteer Work
Much of my time and energy is given to social justice and community service work. My most visible work is often through my choreography, but I am also involved as a writer, activist and organizer for different causes.
One Human Race 4 Justice
In March of 2008, just after the premier of “Breaking the Bones: A Plea for Tibet,” I joined Ngawang Losel and four other individuals in founding the social justice group One Human Race 4 Justice. In two weeks, we planned and pulled off Nashville’s first ever Rally for Tibet on the Courthouse steps in Nashville, which drew roughly 300 people from as far away as Atlanta, GA and Louisville, KY and hosted a multi-cultural, inter-faith line up of speakers as well as Action Steps for making a difference. Since then, I have worked as the writer and organizer for the group, and we promote awareness of the situation in Tibet and activism through visibility events, email campaigns, film screenings, lecture/demonstrations and educational booths at events. In March of 2009 Ngawang and I travelled to Washington DC to participate in Tibet Lobby Days, in which we met with members of Congress and lobbied for legislation to support Tibetan refugees.
Uganda AIDS Project, “See Me”
This was a collaboration between me, writer Michael Chavis, and Nerissa Aquino of Nashville CARES for World AIDS Day, December 1, 2009. We worked with a group of dancers and movers to create a dance and spoken word performance telling the story of AIDS in Uganda. This seven-week project incorporated explorations of different choreographic techniques and movement created by the group in weekly workshops, blended with spoken word. It was a diverse group of many levels and ages of dancers. The performance took place at Belcourt Theater, December 1st, 2009. Many thanks to Danika Miles and BareFeet Studios for providing the space for this project to grow.
Collaborations with Organizations
I have collaborated with Global Education Center, Nashville Peace Coalition and Nashville Peace & Justice Center on events. In the spring of 2007, I headed the dance task force panel for the first Nashville Arts Summit, organized by Andy Van Roon of Film Nashville. For a year I served as the chair of the first and only ad hoc Arts Committee for St. Ann School, which created a vision for the arts, arts integration and strategies for implementation of new arts initiatives. For St. Ann Parish, I served on the committee for the International Festival. At the request of Kathleen O’Brien, CEO of TPAC, I served as an Arts Advocate to the Metro Council. I am a member of Nashville Community Organizers and volunteered during our campaign to defeat the English Only Amendment. I have also worked on projects with the Village Cultural Arts Center and am grateful for the experiences I have had with all of these organizations and the community of people with which they are made.