Dearest Community,

UNMATA has been invited to travel to Taiwan to teach and perform in March of 2008. We would love to make this trip together as a complete troupe. As all of you know it is nearly impossible for any gracious host to put up the travel funds for a troupe of six. You also know how tight of a family UNMATA is, and we would like to use this international opportunity as a way to see a new part of the Earth together.

We still need to find the funds for 4 airfares, and have decided to hold several fundraisers in the next few months to help us. I hope you will participate with us in this venture in whatever way you can. 100% of the proceeds will go to this trip. We put on our thinking caps and tried to think of things we could offer our community that would be different and fun.

We decided the first fundraiser should be a series of workshops that highlights the individual talents of the UNMATA team. We are pleased to announce the following classes:

Saturday, Dec 8

11:00am
Magick Veil
Taught by Luna Taylor

Learn to understand and wield a veil by making it your instrument of magick. In this class we will work with 4 movement variations that combine basic bodywork with veil embellishment. We will work with poise, posture, nuance, and other invisible secrets to understanding veil time and space. After learning a short choreography influenced by bellydance and escuela bolera, we will practice stirring up a particular veil mood by bringing all of our magick tools together. We will be using rectangular veils in this class. I will have a few veils to lend, but please bring your own if you have one—silk flies best!

1:30pm
Reworking Your Wardrobe
Taught By Casey Staub

Ever wanted to make your not-so-cute clothes into something you love and would actually wear? Learn to turn an ordinary t-shirt into a skeleton back tank, a skirt, and a pair of sleevies. Come ready for a cut and tie bash with your scissors, safety pins, 2 t-shirts, clothes to take apart, and anything else you want to recycle. We will also serve you hot tea to keep your busy fingers toasty!

Sunday, Dec 9

11:00am
Womyn's Self Defense
Taught by Shelly DeCant

In this workshop I will present the foundation for physical and psychological self-defense techniques for a single unarmed attacker. Participants will work with me to set up role-playing scenarios that address their specific concerns (such as dealing with a potential assault while taking care of small children or being confronted by an angry customer in the workplace). We will focus on awareness, boundary setting, verbal self-defense, and de-escalation techniques as well as basic physical defense skills. I hope to see you there. =)

Saturday, Dec 29

11:00am
Indian Temple Dance : Bharata Natyam
Taught by April Rose Wilson

We will learn the traditional hand positions of BharataNatyam done with a single hand (asamyutahastas), basic posture (deep sitting/ardamundi and arm positioning), and the first 5 stomp/step patterns (ardavus). We will learn how to layer the ardavus with the hastas. After learning the combinations, we will put them in order and practice the sequence. I will use traditional phonetic verbal cues to signal the movements. We will also learn and open the class with a basic BharataNatyam prayer.

1:30pm
The X's & O's of Poi
Taught By Luna Taylor

Dancing with poi is about layering your body movements with outer body orbits. We will spend a good amount of time in this class swinging practice poi and conceptualizing about weight, time, and space. By exploring the weave and the butterfly while adding bodywork, we will build a basic combination. Then we will enhance it by dancing the same combo first under an energetic nuance and then under a lyrical nuance. I will provide practice poi.

Saturday, Jan 5

1:30pm
Flamenco Fusion
Taught By Kari VanderZwaag

In this class we will learn to pull the vibe of flamenco into your fusion dance style by working with posture and presence, breaking down a 12 count marking, and tuning-up your armwork and floreos. You will also learn about the concept of duende and how it can bring magic to your I.T.S. or A.T.S. nuance. Movements, gestures, and concepts will be built into an attractive and strong flamenco-bellydance combination.

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These workshops will be available on UNMATA-dot-com tonight at soon as I can wrangle Pay-pal button code into working with the page :-)

You will also be able to make a donation of any size to our fund if you are unable to join us for this or any of the following fundraisers... we've got some GREAT ideas that will keep us all out of the winter doldrums!

Luv all of you and thanks for helping us achieve this goal!
Luna Taylor