Shouts

Out

I wish you could be there and I wish you could see.

I wish you could dance with us, then sit in the circle with us, because in that circle these are some of the things that are said:

“The Sky Inside has reborn me in a way.”

and

“Dancing is life.”

and

“The greens we wear — they are a brand. When we dance, we break that brand — we go beyond it. Become bigger than the brand of the greens we are wearing.”

And this:

“It’s like they put a chip in your brain when you come into prison, so that you act in a certain kinda way. But when we dance The Sky Inside, the chip gets taken out and we don’t act that way. But then I get confused, because when I leave The Sky Inside and go back to my cell, I dunno what to do. Should I put the chip back in my brain? Is that what I should do? Or do I leave it out?”

This was said by one of the newest guys in our class, and when he said it, he looked at me, terrified. He was honestly asking, and he wanted an answer: should he put the chip back in, or should he leave it on the table?

~

I took a dance workshop last weekend with Keith Hennessy (which is a whole other newsletter…maybe at some point), and I brought in one of the dance exercises we did in the workshop, and that exercise goes like this:

With a partner, touch the backs of your hands together.

Sequence the touch through: back of hands, back of arms, back of bodie, back of other arms, other hands, while rounding your front body over an imaginary giant ball, so that the contact with your partner stays smooth.

Reverse it and go back from where you came.

Once the pattern is felt and the listening is clear, the dancing then grows. Maybe you slide down each other’s back bodies, then come back up. Or maybe you both reach up and over, hold hands for a sec — let go, turn — then find the back part of each other’s bodies again.

This is the song that The Sky Inside Dance Team danced to on this day, while touching and making contact with the backs of each other’s bodies. Inside the clouds, outside the clouds. On the ground, under the ground. Making our way above the ground and into the trees.

What had been muted, unmuted.

Made small, now unsmall.

Stilled. No longer this way.

The fear in the room — which is so ever present in a prison — fell right away, because in a state of awe we were. A state of rapture.

With massive muscles and closed fists that slowly unclench and open whenever we dance, this group of 15 men danced softly on this day. Tenderly, lovingly, with each other and with me.

You are not allowed to hug inside of a prison. It’s a hard and fast rule that everybody knows: “NO HUGGING.” Only fist bumps, high fives, and hand shakes.

But after class on Sunday, with the room in quiet reverie, as I was getting my bag and saying good-bye, a few of the men came to me, which they generally do when I leave, for a fist bump/high five/hand shake.

And on this day when they came, they pulled me in for a side hug, ignoring the cameras and pretending they weren’t there. I hugged back, risking the cameras, because by hugging what we were saying — to ourselves and also to the cameras was:

“We did this. We danced this, and we are now changed.”

Shout outs to:

The Helpers and the Givers:

Jacky Morales Ferrand: Consultant, advisor.

Lilly Stannard: Collaborator, co-facilitator.

Drummond West: Volunteer, filmmaker.

Stephen West: Assistant, volunteer.

The Givers and the Helpers:

Anonymous x 16

Jun Akiyama

Jackie Ashley

Stephanie Barrs

Giulia Bernadini

Lucy Braham

Laura Brenton

Nancy Byron

Tricia Chambers

Barbara Dilley

Gabrielle Edison

Liz and Brian Erley

Heather Gardner and Alan Muir

Matthew Garland

Stephanie Gottlob

Alicia Grayson

Becky Gruber

Sarah Hallowell

Margaret Harris

Marita Hoeh

James Hoskins

Culture In Place

Griffin Jensen

Sophia Koh

Yunus Kürk

Cynthia Lewis

Kelly Manley

Diandra Masuda

Lyra Mayfield

Betsy Elliman

Jacky Morales Ferrand

James Marienthal

Johannah Franke

Griffin Jensen

Nina Kalen

Wendy Kass

Joe Kelly

Kissinger Family Foundation

Sue Lauther

Teagan Lehrmann

Darlene Lorrain

Sharon Mansur

Lisa McDonough

Rivvy Neshama

Ben Oliver

Beth Osnes

Alana Phinney

Jenn Platt

Crystal Polis

Barbara Popken

Annemarie Prairie

Tyr Pinder

Iayana Rael

Jenny Raybin

Kathy Raybin

Karla Refoxo

Gwen Ritchie

Nancy Ruff

Ann Scarritt

Nicole Setty

Judy Strahota

Bri Ana Steel

Gretchen Spiro and Steve Homsher

Janet Stormes

Betsy Tobin

Tara Tull

Renae Vagher Quinn

Bethany Wall

Julia Willis

Mary Wohl Haan

Janice Zelazo

~

With Love, great love,

From The Sky Inside Dance Team

And yes, the fundraiser is on-going, so if you’d like to be part of this heart building work, you can still donate to The Sky Inside Prison Arts Program. We appreciate and are moved by your generosity of spirt.