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Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Phoebe Sinclair Writes

Tag Archives: dancing

Dance It Out In the Boston Dance Underground

19 Saturday Jul 2014

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Community

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Tags

community, dancing, events, jamaica-plain

IMG_9659

Some eleven or twelve years into my Boston life, I discovered what I’ve dubbed the Dance Underground. Not clubs. Not classes. Not weddings or any other official-type events. More like dancing in someone’s living room with a whole host of new friends. Or biking down the Southwest Corridor path and discovering a free dance night hosted in a converted garage. That kind of underground.

Sliding scale cover charge sign

the baby dances

From the annual Cambridge City Dance Party to the Holi Color Festival, there are just so many low (and no!) cost ways to shake your groove thing. Including one frighteningly wonderful offering in my own backyard.

globe string lights

hoola hoops and giant slinky

alison & adreinne at dj station

Modeled after Cambridge’s Dance Freedom and Dance Friday weekly events, Dance JP is the child of two well-organized, tune-toting members of the Boston community. On the third Saturday of each month these ladies and accompanying volunteers rent and set up a function room at the First Baptist Church on Centre Street. There’s food, pillows on which to lounge when not dancing, hoola-hoops, and string lights. And the crowd. Wow, the crowd. Age 0+, age 60+, age everybody-in-between. The smiles and bare feet. The moves and grooves. The leaps and laughter. It’s not something to miss.

See you there?

view of feet in dance space

chatting on the dance floor

out-of-focus dancing at dance jp

balloon and people dancing

When You Wish You Had a Photo, But Are Also Glad You Don’t

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Uncategorized

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as-we-are-living-it, dancing, family, this-moment

As it often happens, one of the most beautiful and magical moments of my life has no accompanying photo.

It’s a gorgeous summer evening. Campus in Rhode Island that I’ve grown to know twice, through the eyes and experiences of a sweet/funny/gentle friend and a dynamic/gorgeous/brainy cousin. This time I’m here for the cousin. Round bulbs are strung, or maybe they’re string-lights. There’s a wide swarth of soft lawn, slightly wet, mite-bit muddy.

People are everywhere. Many younger than me, some older. I feel them more than see/hear them. There’s expectation, joy, excitement.

With my cousin, mother, and aunt, I’m crossing in front of a band on a stage. My slip-on shoes are off. We’re headed somewhere, perhaps to tables to sit. But first we’re going to dance.

Three of us women, traipsing across the lawn. Cakewalking. Skipping, dancing. Perhaps people notice us, perhaps they don’t. For me the world is just us three, the misty night sky, the music. Planet spinning under foot.

The moment was just that – a moment. And, for me, an eternity of joy.

JP vs Somerville Dance Off 2013

12 Wednesday Jun 2013

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Community

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Tags

cambridge, dancing, events

I’m not traditionally competitive . . . I don’t think. However, I will take off across the parking lot with a cart load of groceries to beat you to the car before you’ve registered a race. (Some might label this act with the unfortunate term “cheat.” Thank you, I prefer “strategize.”)

Legs on the dance floor

Perhaps it’s no surprise then, that a dance contest is more my speed.
Dancers in green and blue

The Jamaica Plain vs Somerville Dance Off is organized annually as a fundraiser in support of the inspiring and impressive Girls Rock Boston, a summer program that empowers girls ages eight to seventeen to ROCK, while also growing as musicians, women, and individuals (video-link from Austin Girls Rock ’cause these ladies just blew me away, but you get the picture.)

Jef Czekaj  djs

This event is a bonafide competition with actual winners (2013-JP) and losers (2013-Somerville), but I’m not there to score one for my neighborhood, or even for myself. I go to win it for THE WORLD!!!

Girls Rock banner

Women pose with pom-poms for the camera

Kidding! (But no, not really.)

Retreating to Earthdance

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Green Life, Learnin', Writing Life

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

dancing, goals, travel, trees, writing

Moss at the river side

My favorite kind of learning is the sort that sneaks up on you. You think you’re going to discover one thing and, because you’re receptive, the Universe seizes the opportunity to hand you another. And another. Sometimes the Universe really likes to cram it in.

This summer I’ve taken temporary leave from my job as a Community Liaison (writer, organizer, webmaster, photographer, event planner, project manager, etc.) to complete a novel for young readers. The novel and I have been courting each other since 2006. We dance around the idea of being “done,” and what better place to wiggle our toes than in a space devoted to the form?

Earthdance is many things –learning center, community space for dancers and others who practice contact improvisation, garden/orchard, peaceful oasis-in-the-woods– and retreat for art-types and peace-makers looking to temporarily escape the distractions of everyday life.

Hoping to finally discover the conclusion to my novel, I arrived fully prepared to spend my days whittling away at hundreds of pages of notes containing two separate drafts, and seven years of revisions suggested by myself and members of my Boston-based writer’s critique group.

Earthdance’s lessons were easy-to-miss, so I’m glad I arrived with the intention to listen, to sit quietly, and to treat myself with kindness.

I learned how to share space with a spider . . .

Spider on a pillow

And a butterfly (admittedly, living with the butterfly was easier!)

The butterfly comments

I learned what it feels like to wander into a garden and come out with fixings for lunch, fresh from the soil.

Teeny carrot

I discovered the impact of choosing to begin and end each day with gratitude (more specifically, sleeping in a wonderfully wood-scented dormitory bearing that name.)

The dorm, gratitude

I learned sometimes it’s necessary to move your body in order to move your mind.

Shira swings

David in the woods

I learned, to dissuade a deer from munching the garden, running outside and clapping your hands works just fine.

The deer revealed

I learned that, although we serve different communities, the vision, staff, and mission of Earthdance is ever similar to what I’ve grown to enjoy and deeply respect back at work in Cambridge.

Kitchen moment at Earthdance

I learned to trust that, if I sit quietly enough, watching the woods for creativity’s approach, it may arrive peacefully, timidly, joyfully on delicate feet.

Window on the orchard

Or it may not.

Hard to catch that squirrel

And both are okay.

Thank you, Earthdance. ‘Til we meet again . . .

Cambridge City Dance Party 2012

16 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cambridge, dancing, events

Dear Cambridge City Dance Party,

You rock, but I couldn’t fit. It’s true: I got bumped. Maybe it was the perfect weather; maybe all the thousands in attendance were as in need of “dance therapy” as I. Whatever the reason, first I was on the edge, and then I was edged right out.

I retreated with a few friends to the grassy hill of City Hall and shook my rump between the contact improvisation dancers and the people who probably deserved a much better view than I could offer. It was beautiful though, the sky gone pink and punks everywhere, laying down their posturing to take up shaking. And rattling, and arms-swinging. Babies, mommas, poppas, grams. Every type of person, out in mass, one mass, under stars and spotlights and police patrolling the rooftops.

We were the best of Cambridge.

And while there could have been more Tina Turner, Madonna, and Stevie, I forgive those few lapses. In the end, what really matters is that we got out there, and we danced.

Your adoring,
Phoebe

P.s. Ahem!  Please next year, a little more jam?

The pose

Where's the DJ?

Three stop dance

Watching the dancers

Dancing and Enthusiasm – Considerations

02 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments, With Friends

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Tags

dancing, jamaica-plain, kids

Dancing at the pond

Those who know me well know that I like to dance. Amazingly, going to dance parties around the city has led to my making a good many friends. Which in turn has led to more free dancing opportunities.

I’m not the best dancer -the most skilled, rhythmic, or adventurous but I’ve got enthusiasm. I’ve got laughing. I’ve got style. Leaping and skipping and posturing; all manner of silliness.

Recently, a friend hosted an impromptu dance party at the gazebo on Jamaica Pond. Undeniable beats poured from her impressively loud ipod speaker system, and we were dancing like it wasn’t illegal (park doesn’t close until 11 PM, I hear.) What do we see suddenly but a gaggle of preteen girls swooping in?! The song we had been listening to at the time was a bit chill, a little complicated, so our host made quick dj decision. Beyonce shouts GIRLS! GIRLS RUN THE WORLD. And the girl gaggle before us stops short.

They’re unsure. A group of adult women and a few men dancing on the street at 10 PM. Is it safe, is it scary? To our disappointment, the girls retreat.

Oops, I thought. Was our response too enthusiastic? Enthusiasm and vulnerability, walking hand-in-hand. It was too much, I think, for these young people who have probably been drilled on the importance of safety -physical, emotional, and otherwise.

My theory is, if they’d been just a little younger, or a year or two older, the girls would have embraced our cheerful enthusiasm for what it was: an invitation to dance their hearts out, safely, among friends.

IMG_6487

It Warms Up

12 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life, Boston Moments, Green Life

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Tags

arts, bike-love, cambridge, dancing, events

It warms up and we start moving.

Young women hoop

Bikes Not Bombs Green Roots Festival

Dance partners

Dance for the World Community

JP Spring Roll

JP Spring Roll Bike Ride

Dance Hyperfast, Hyperslow

26 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments, Learnin'

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

dancing, events

My week has been bookended by the fastest dance footwork I’ve seen since my job’s annual Hip Hop Festival for children, and also the slowest dance I’ve seen probably ever.

First, the fleet: My partner and I were invited by a friend to check out India Jazz Suites, showing at the Boston ICA.  All I knew about the show was that it featured a contemporary of Savion Glover, one of my favorite dancers.  First we attended a half-hour lecture on the two choreographers, including a description of a classical Indian  dance form called Kathak. Next, we were charmed and blown away.

Second, the slow.  Part of Harvard University’s ARTS FIRST festival, Slow Dancing is an outdoor video installation by David Michaelek shown from April 20 to 29 (7-11 PM) in front of the Widener Library in Harvard Yard.  I stopped by on a chilly Tuesday, just to take a peak, and stayed an hour.  Lucky for me, I had an apple in my backpack and the folks running the show were kindly offering wool blankets to keep warm.  As the artist explains, at first it’s excruciating to watch something go so slow (snails, anyone?  paint drying?), but then the magic happens and you are transported to a place of exquisite observation.

Two women

Fan dance

Dancer in red

{This Moment} Annual Agassiz Baldwin Hip Hop Festival

02 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Boston Moments

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

dancing, events, this-moment

{this moment} – A Friday ritual (joining Soulemama.) A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week.

Breakdancing at Hip Hop Festival

A Few of My Favorite Things: Boston’s Best Underground Events

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by Phoebe (she / hers) in Bike Life, Boston Moments, Learnin', Skillshare

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

bike-love, cambridge, dancing, events

Part of my intention in creating (and sustaining) this blog is to crow about my favorite Boston-area events.  The four listed below are my long-standing loves.

Boston Skillshare: I learned of the Boston Skillshare as a result of my volunteering with Boston NOW.  My first Skillshare (I’ve been attending for about seven years) was a wonderment -free learning, for real, of the most random assortment –knitting, soda brewing, spoon whittling, home schooling, time management?!  At my second skillshare, I taught a class on letter writing.  Now everyone I meet, practically, I attempt to sway to the way of the Skillshare.  I’ve won lots of folk over, including my own mother.

Boston Pride Parade: I’m not sure how I learned about the Boston Pride Parade, but I’ve rarely missed a year of standing along the route, clapping and shouting and jumping for beads.  In the time that I’ve been attending, the LGBT community worked towards and won the right to marriage equality in Massachusetts.  And it might just be my opinion/experience but I believe, the Parade has since “cleaned up” just the tiniest bit, with fewer men shaking-their-rears on the elaborately decorated beds of semi-trucks to club beats.

Cambridge Citywide Dance Party: I’m only a three-year veteran of the biggest free dance party in Cambridge, where the city closes down one of its busiest streets, pumps up the music, and sets out chairs in front of the Senior Center for folks to enjoy watching the dance mayhem.  Want to see how well your city councillor dances, conga with strangers, or steal some new moves from a four-year-old?  This is your party.

Bike By Bike, At Night: I’ve only made it to two of these all-night rides that are so underground they don’t have a website (just flyers posted around the neighborhoods.) Begun in 1989, this annual tour is organized by the Back Bay Midnight Pedalers and features stopping points at historic and architectural sites of note in Boston, Brookline, and Cambridge. I haven’t yet made it to sunrise due to the lack of bathroom breaks combined with no published route, but once I figure those two issues out, I just might!

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