Party Soft #2

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On February 22, 2023, we had such a wonderful second gathering of ease & care! Thank you to Heather Cohn, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Rebecca Ana Peña, Corinna Schulenburg, Isaiah Tanenbaum, and Salma Zohdi for co-creating and facilitating this event. In the spirit of our commitment to Open Source theatre, we’re sharing the run-of show and key resources.

PARTY SOFT RUN OF SHOW:

  • Introductions

    • Name, pronouns, land acknowledgment, one word to describe the energy you’re coming into the space tonight, and pass to someone else
    • Party Soft and ROAR—what are they? “Party Soft is part of a new body of work Flux is making called Rituals of Abundance and Renewal, or ROAR. Our first Party Soft was in June of last year, and just as we did then, this party will unfold in five parts. Because we love alliteration, all five parts begin with the letter P: Prepare, Praise, Presence, Practice, and finally, because we’re a little silly, Potpourri. (Maybe we’ll make the fifth one Play, maybe we’ll keep it Potpourri.)”
    • Flux’s Core Value of Collective Care: Our commitment to supporting each other extends beyond our professional collaboration. We’re dedicated to the well being and thriving of each Creative Partner, both within Flux and in our lives. This collective care extends in concentric circles to our wider communities.
    • The introduction of Pingo
    • “How can we access pleasure, joy, and liberation if we’re too tired to experience it? If we’re so exhausted, how would we be able to recognize that we’ve reached our liberation? Will we be too tired to know it?” -Tricia Hersey 
  • PREPARE, led by Rebecca Ana Peña
    •  Box breathing, music, and vocalizations of intention for the night.
  • PRAISE, led by Heather Cohn
    • “I am dust and I am stardust,
      A fragile collection of glitter crumbs,
      Ages-old, already honed by countless
      supernovas,
      Who decided to come together and dance,
      For a short, sacred time,
      As one magical me-made shape.” –Micah Bucey for Ash Wednesday
    • Writing exercise, “Ode to Our Body Part”
    • Inspiration from The Best Part of Me by Mercena West Schulenburg, 8 years old: “My feet are very useful. They help me in many ways. Here are some of the ways they help me. They help me roller-skate on the pavement. Without my feet I couldn’t put on my rollerskates and skate around. Without my feet I couldn’t stand and I would fall over. My feet help me run as fast as a cheetah and win every race. My feet help me dance gracefully in ballet and leap quickly through the jungle like a tiger. My feet help me tiptoe when my baby cousin is asleep. These are all of the many things my feet help me do.”
    • Call and response of sharing the odes and praising the body.
  • PRESENCE, led by Lori Elizabeth Parquet
    • Story sharing: What is something that feels difficult right now? Please let us know how you’d like us to receive it. Do you want us simply to witness? Would you like comfort? Or solutions?
  • PRACTICE, led by Corinna Schulenburg & Salma Zohdi
    • “Ours seems to be a world that values ‘strength.’ We want ‘hard’ bodies, ‘strong’ minds, ‘tough’ wills, ‘hard as nail’ determination, ‘rugged’ personalities, ‘sturdy’ character, and so on. I wonder if we have confused hardness with the strength it takes to truly give and receive love. Let us praise softness.” -Omid Safi
    • Sharing of self and collective care practices
    • Collective action: #FreeAlaa @Freedomforalaa (IG): “I have decided to start an open hunger strike until I am free. The health of my body is of no value as long as it’s forced to submit to an unjust power in an open-ended imprisonment that has nothing to do with the law or with justice.”
    • Ritual of the water glass and self/collective love.
  • POTPOURRI, led by Isaiah Tanenbaum
    • Share filled-out Pingo cards
  • Closing with shared breath

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