NCPC: In Community

NCPC Vice-President Joy Loupe, aka green muffin, writes:  

heya, my sisterbrothers… in my 26 years of dancing, i’ve had many people ask me why i’m so committed to the dance. i can sum it up in one word: community.

the community created as we gather around the tree and as we dance together. the community held and supported by our prayer list, by our connections to each other. the new community we find when we go to dances we’ve not attended before.

the joy that arises whenever we make and/or sustain connections feeds our hearts. these can be deep connections with decades of history, brief ephemeral ones at street corners or parks, with trees and places and humans and ceremonies.

it is vital that we continue to find joy and connection in all walks of our lives. we are currently in a timeline where division is trying to take centre stage, a timeline of fear mongering, othering and isolationism. while we mustn’t ignore what is happening in the world, we don’t have to give it any power over us and our thoughts. there are few better counters to that division than staying connected with defiant joy.

what does staying connected to community feel like? my experience of the dance community is filled with both caring and being cared for. so much is healed in the knowing, the grokking, that there are people who will read our prayers and pray with us, knowing that we share spiritual mutual aid.

we endeavour to share in practical ways as well. one facet of this mutual aid is caring for our elders, and for elders in the communities of people from which our dance traditions are inspired. this is but one of the areas where the ncpc helps, by facilitating aid getting to elders in need.

ncpc is grateful to be able to provide funds for a vast range of elder needs, from firewood to dental work. grateful because it is only possible through the generosity of this dance community. as we ramp up our summer fundraiser, here are some of our dance elders to speak about community…