Meeting: Mon May 13, 2024 7-9 Zoom
Present: John (Facilitator), Shelagh (Ingathering), Kari (Vibe Checker), Lori (Timer), Tasha (Notes), Andrew, Nate, Mellen, Shelagh, Devorah, Steven, Lesley, Jeff, Kellie, Julian, Jon, Parks, Mark, Sang, Marion, Jason, Deb, Chloe, Sunshine, Lilibrooke
How We Roll
- Call for volunteers for roles
- Ingathering
- Summarize how we roll
- Summarize previous meeting
- Read draft agenda
- Assign times
- Agenda items
- Schedule next meeting
- Evaluation
Agenda
- Review Meraki decision-making - Mellen
- Meraki representation - Shelagh
- Where can we dance? update - Kari
- Proposal: Circle up after warmup - John
- Sharing after dance - Dev
- Pride Parade update - Lily
Meraki decision-making - Mellen 5 min
Mellen: As a reminder, Meraki does its business when we meet. Any decisions we make hold until we meet again. If there's something urgent, then the board can hold a special meeting to make decisions.
So if people bring up topics that question decisions that have already been made at Meraki, those questions should be brought to the president for consideration outside Meraki. They should not be sent by email to people who attend Meraki for a decision.
Meraki representation - Shelagh 10 min
Shelagh: Our current Meraki email announcement states that if you have a proposal, you must be at Meraki to represent it, otherwise it will be tabled. Proposal is that we change the language to allow representation for putting forth proposals.
John: The proposer or appointed deputy can bring forth the proposal.
Deb: But let's remember, that if someone does represent, it must not be vague.
Lori: Suggest that we use the word co-sponsor so that it makes it clear we take proposals seriously.
Kari: We take proposals seriously, so please ensure your representative is well informed about the proposal.
VOTE: PASSED
Where Can We Dance Update - Kari 30 min
Kari: On Saturday, a bunch of us went to see the Baxter Academy gym as a new dance space. It checks all the boxes except doing a sound check, which we did on Saturday with a whole bunch of DJs and others.
John: After the sound check, I drove around the place and it felt "yucky" throughout the day. We gave a thumbs up to giving it a trial at the time. Not sure I want to dance there.
Deb: Were we trying to override what our bodies were saying because it checked all the boxes? Did anyone else have an aftereffect experience?
Chloe: We were in the excitement of it at the moment, but then I had a sinking feeling afterwards. Is this where we want to spend time? It was sensorially intense with the walls and florescent lights. The nuance of song is so important and that gets washed out. I wanted to love it but there's a sinking feeling in my heart. Is there a way that we could dance there on days we can't dance at Waldorf? Could we line it with white curtains? But that would take a lot of effort.
Jason, Mark: I agree with Chole.
Marion: Do we all know about the history of the school? So people know, they had a ritual burning of the buildings.
Lori: And they changed the name as well.
Parks: I'm aware of the history and also aware of the positive nature of the school today. I want to have a place that has more capacity. It's a gym. It's not warm and welcoming like Waldorf or Avant. I want to like this but I'm not feeling it.
Shelagh: I feel more neutral about it. There were fewer people at dance on Sunday, and it still feels like too many people. We have set a few things in motion to try to address capacity, like going back to weekly dances plus it's summer, so maybe we won't have such an acute need for a bigger space.
Nate: Who is using the space now?
Mellen: It's used by Baxter and a preschool.
Deb: Could we change the gym, and have we explicitly asked that? Like could we paint it? If we knew we could change things, would that matter?
Tasha: Let's discuss the sound quality.
Deb: We didn't find a sound that we were satisfied with. It was ok but not great.
John: It's concrete and steel, lots of echoing, not an ideal environment, it's very live, sound gets very muddy.
Parks: On Saturday, we were deciding to move forward with an experiment to see if the sound can work with more people in the space.
Mark: The sound will change when more bodies are in the room. It was fairly horrible in my opinion. No one thought it was good; the question is could it be better.
Jeff: Could we do a one-time trial or once a month? Also I advocate involving the entire community to allow ownership in the decision. It feeds into the question of how we promote PCD. We want to keep the dance manageable at Waldorf.
Shelagh: For background, change is hard so the idea was to give everyone an opportunity to try it out a couple of times. Also, this has been an ongoing process since after covid because we lost our old dance space. The committee has reviewed 62 venues over the past 3 years.
John: Propose that we consider having one dance to try it out.
Kari: We talked about having one dance but we decided that wasn't enough to really get a feel.
Jeff: How is the parking?
Kari: Some of us stayed and counted, and we had the feeling there was enough. I have not had a chance to call Dean to confirm the number of parking spaces.
Parks: Our decision to give it a try was pending parking, and I thought there were plenty of spaces.
Sunshine: It would be worth trying it for 3 dances in my opinion.
Various: Is there a list of places we've looked at?
Lori: Posted the Where Can We Dance committee spreadsheet with all the dance spaces we've looked at. (You can request access as needed.)
Shelagh: Should we do a trial consecutively or alternatively?
Steven: What was the environmental link that Jason sent out all about?
Jason: I don't know anything about it, but it's my suspicion that that era building has environmental issues. Is it a sick building?
John: What I'm hearing is that we should try it for somewhere between 2 - 8 times.
Parks: I think we should try doing it once.
Deb: How do we communicate to the community effectively? First time what are your complaints and second time the question is can they be mitigated.
Chloe: Could we consider having a currently not scheduled Sunday as a trial?
Nate: As a reminder, we danced on a cement floor at UFF and had a good time.
Mellen: July 7 and 21 are currently unscheduled so those are potentials for experimenting at Baxter. But July 7 is July 4th weekend. Also, we have 2 dances in June that aren't schedule that we could do the trial.
John: Propose that we dance June 23 and 30 at Baxter, and we'll work on how to present it to the community and logistics. Mellen, Chloe, Deb, Kellie will craft the email announcing the trial dances. And then we evaluate after that.
VOTE: PASSED
Deb: And if it's an obvious no, then we can cancel the second dance at Baxter.
Kari: Remember, it's a causeway, so there will be traffic coming in especially in the summer.
Deb: We will have to set up a system that each person shows something that allows us to pass through the gate.
Shelagh: There will be a lot of logistics to be worked out.
John: Propose that we can work out these details in a subgroup.
Mellen: The search committee will deal with the logistics. We have the WIZ for support too.
Deb: We talked about setting up a google doc with all the logistics so we can all contribute to that and support the committee so they can delegate to get support.
Mellen: We will need 2 new DJs for these dances.
Proposal: Circle up after warmup - John 15 min
John: Many people leave before dance is over and that's when we share important announcements with the community. Also people often don't read email. We have concerns about safety, consent, etc. So these announcements are being missed. So the proposal is to circle up after a warmup. This would mean breaking up the DJs set, similar to other dance groups do it. Let's begin the conversation with DJs and not take a vote tonight but just open the conversation.
Deb: Let's get a general feel from the group about how much we each support this idea. Show of hands high, middle, low.
Group: Generally mixed feelings.
Dev: Let's also hear some other ideas about the benefits of change.
Jon: I'd like to hear the benefits and downsides. There would be an opening ritual. I feel it's very important to bring up consent. So propose a 10 minute warmup, then circle up, then full dance.
Nate: I support that.
Mark: I have a strong visceral reaction against breaking up the flow of our beautiful dance.
Chole: I very much value safety and consent especially for new people. It's been huge for me since the beginning. And we've talked about many different ways of doing this over the 10+ years of PCD. And it would feel very disjoined for me as a DJ and as a dancer to break up the dance. Are there other ways to address it?
Jeff: Proposal for next time. Learn by doing. Include the greater community. Propose doing it one time. And get a show of hands after dance. And then take it up at next Meraki.
Deb: We can't finish conversation tonight. I am interested in preserving the 2 hour uninterrupted set.
Shelagh: Was there a specific instance that brought this up?
Deb: We've been having multiple conversations 0ver the past many months about loss of culture of our dance community and this is one of many ideas we've put forth to address that.
Jon: As a new person to dance, I wouldn't know how to do this (enter into our dance) without having gone to other ecstatic dance groups. So for me this piece is missing.
Nate: Good to have ideas to talk about now. I have noticed that there are a lot of new people and they are mostly leaving before closing circle. So there's a significant gap about knowing what this community is about.
Parks: As a dancer, I don't like a circle at the beginning. People are not there at the beginning either. The spiritual experience of a 2 hour set is what I come to dance for. I think there are other ways that don't infringe on the spiritual juice that is PCD.
Jeff: Let's try it and see how it goes.
Deb: Maybe we can come up with alternative ideas and take them up next time. So please think about it and bring ideas for next time. How do we orient people more fully so we all feel good!
Sharing After Dance - Dev 10 min
Dev: I'm both quite experienced having danced in many places and still consider myself new. Personally, it's hard to "get it" with this very formed group as to what the norms are. After a couple years of dancing with PCD, I'm still sitting with a longing for a group sharing in some form to harvest the gems that come up during dance about what it means to be human. It's a way of getting to know people's heart and soul. And I also understand that opening up the circle at the end is opening up a lot especially with so many dancers. I trust and believe that there's a way we could do it well. And if it's a no, is there a way I could hold space for that at the end, which is not my preference. I want to hear what your discoveries were at dance. It's my professional and personal selves that are asking for it.
Nate: Do you feel the large circle is the only or best way to get what you're looking for?
Dev: I like the idea of it coming into the big circle. I'm open to other ways.
Marion: I love the idea about sharing ways to remember how to be human. This speaks to our culture and what it our dance is all about. And it's such a grown up dance, not mediated or facilitated, which means we're all there to do our own work within ourselves. I really value the sacredness of my own processing, kind of like church. Could there be a solution that embraces both?
Shelagh: I hear something about belonging and what are the norms. We've addressed that in the past by having potlucks after dance, for example. It's come up over time and has taken different forms.
Chole: I love the idea of having reflections. We've kept it to 2 hours historically but could we consider extending the time? It can be hard to open it up to the whole circle since people talk on and on.
Jeff: I tried doing after dance discussion circles in the past but not many people came. But that's when we were a lot smaller.
John: Let's continue this discussion in a future Meraki and come up with a proposal.
Pride Parade - Lily 10 min
Lily: Last time we thought PCD might be a good contribution to the parade. There was a question about whether PCD should align itself with any groups. We haven't come to any conclusions. Parade is June 15.
Jason: It's probably closed at this point. If we want to be in it, it feels like not enough time to plan.
John: Our policy doesn't prohibit our participation. Maybe we can do something official next year.
Please reach out to Nate, Jamie, Lily, Cory if you want to join the parade unofficially this year.
Tabled
- Process for addressing high volume during dance - Mellen
- Dog policy for service dogs - Tasha
- Update on age limit - Kari
- How We Roll - John
- Revisit Evaluation description to be more accurate
- Revisit process to see if it can be streamlined (eliminate summarizing previous minutes, eliminate assigning roles at the meeting, streamline agenda setting and time assignments)
- Retreat Planning - John, et al
- Long-term planning retreat - Tasha
- How to involve more people in leadership - Mellen
Retreat planning - John 5 min TABLED
Send Announcement Emails for Dances - Tasha TABLED
Dog policies - Tasha TABLED
Age related policies - John TABLED
How We Roll update - John TABLED
Process for addressing high volume TABLED
Long-term planning retreat - Tasha TABLED
How to involve more people in leadership TABLED
Next meeting
- Sunday Jun 9 after dance in person
- Tuesday July 9 ZOOM
