Greetings dancing community,
New shoots are bursting forth on so many levels. It is an honor to witness the many initiatives that are blooming out of the seeds of our shared work. Seeing the work translated into diverse languages and contexts is the dream awakening. Thank you for the ways that each of you contribute to this life sustaining cultural renewal!
At Golden Bridge, we keep the drum beat alive, season after season welcoming you and yours at many stages along life’s cycles.
In fact, we began Surfing The Creative for youth 14 years ago. Surfing The Creative is now full on into it’s adolescence emergence, a community birthing it’s collective soul. Wow, do I feel it!
And, I began working with youth 40 years ago. I ran my first summer camp for younger children when I was 12 years old. I have been tending the shores of the next generation for four decades. This is a different sort of coming of age. I am truly ready to share fully what I have learned.
This summer, we will be actively moving these two initiatives into these new developmental stages. If you are called to grow with us, please join us on the dance floor!
For you YOUNG PEOPLE: Of course there are many ways to spend your summers. Yet there is nothing like Surfing The Creative. Hundreds of your contemporaries have honored their passages into young adulthood through this rich process. Many share that this was the experience that changed the course of their lives and turned them on to who they are and what they want to be doing with their lives. Below, you can also meet Meagan and Rafael, two mighty leaders in this work with youth. Meagan began dancing with me when she was 16 years old. Now she leads young people all over the country, not to mention that she is a Rock Star, literally! Rafael is currently working with youth in very complex life circumstances in Oakland, California. Humbly, he continues to share his Golden heart with the world.
For THOSE OF YOU WHO WORK WITH YOUTH (Teachers, Therapists, Rites of Passage Guides, Spiritual Counselors, Coaches): Consider joining us for the Dance of Adolescence training this summer. Here I will begin to transmit the principles and practices that guide all of my work with young people from diverse communities around the world. This is a first time offering and the beginning of a fuller training for individuls who want to work in body centered ways to educate and nourish the creative soul life of diverse peoples and communities.
For OUR WIDER COMMUNITY: This summer, we will offer mini-courses during the month of July, seeding the SomaSource Summer Learning Institute that will be nestled in the Rocky Mountains between our annual youth camp and our annual summer trainings. These day long courses, taught by brilliant leaders in our community, will provide you with foundations into the many teachings that fuel our maps for human and sustainable community development.
Between now and then, so many initiatives are abloom. Dances. Dialogues. Men. Women. Near. Far. Rebirth. Let’s check each other out and have some fun. After all, it is Spring!
I hope to see you soon!
With dedication to a season of re-wilding and re-newal.
Melissa
A few special details
Please check our facebook page for updates about special events that are offered throughout the community: MelissaMichaelsMovementFacebook
Here you will find information over the next month about local presentations by Melissa and Diverse colleagues at The ONEWorld Summit; The Men’s Leadership Alliance Speakers Series; The Stop Trafficking and Oppression of People Fundraiser; and The Grief Support Network, for a few.
Please also join us this coming Monday evening for Women and the Body!
A newly scheduled event with Melissa and Gemma Wilcox.