Week 7- My First Flash Mob: One Billion Rising

 

This week's first: MY FIRST ONE BILLION RISING EXPERIENCE!!!! It was awesome. Definitely one of my favorite firsts so far. If you aren't familiar with the One Billion Rising movement, on February 14, 2013 women from ALL OVER the world rose and danced as a form of celebratory protest. 1 out of 3 women alive today will be raped or assaulted. That's one billion women in the world, and as the campaign states, that's an atrocity. So the intent was to get women from all over the world to form flash mobs in their communities and it was a huge success. I get chills whenver I think about it and can watch footage from around the world all day if you let me.

 

This is the video with the theme song and the choreographed dance we all danced:

 

 

 

Debbie Allen helped choreograph and teach the dance. There were tons of instructionals all over Youtube. Though it wasn't the first V-Day ever, it was the first One Billion Rising. There was a lot of celebrity involvement and donation of time. Women like Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, Anne Hathaway, Thandie Newton were out there recruiting and encouraging women to strike, rise, and dance. And they did.

 

There are so many beautiful pictures from all over the world... But I'd be here all day if I didn't just grab a few. So here's a sample of what took place around the world on February 14, 2013. And then I'll talk a little about my own experience. So:

 

Women in Izmir, Turkey:

 

In Congo:

 

 

In the Philippines:

 

Australia:

 

Grandada, Spain:

 

 

 

New Delhi:

 

 

 

Toronto (in the snow!):

 

 













 Peru:

 

 

 

Italy:

 

 

 

And all over the place, including places you might not expect, like this jail in San Francisco:

 

 



 

I'll also include a couple of videos so you can feel some of the energy behind this global event.

 

Here's one from Milan:

 

And Berlin:

 

 

LOL, I'll stop now before I get carried away, but basically you could feel the energy building and building as women in Australia and Asia started it off and then it kept going like waves throughout the world. It was really beautiful and it meant a lot to me to be able to participate. As a survivor of rape myself and as someone who works with many women who have survived domestic violence and rape, I decided to strike, take the day off work, and spend my day participating in the LA flash mobs.

 

This was my first flash mob experience on top of it being my first One Billion Rising (well it was the first time this event took place period). I was pretty excited. I danced throughout the day, joining the different flash mobs in the Santa Monica/Venice area. We would randomly turn on speakers and all start dancing together. I got over any kind of shyness very fast. FLASH MOBS ARE SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!!! My day started off with the CodePink flashmob in Santa Monica, where we did the dance many times on the Third Street Promenade:

 

 

 

In the last flash mob I participated in, we flash mobbed the Apple Store in Santa Monica! I was a little nervous then because there were a whole lot of us and everyone in the store stared while we streamed in. There were a lot of breakables in there. Then someone turned on the speakers, we busted out our shakers, and started dancing (not the full dance, but a Shiva Rea modified version) and chanting. By the time we were done the police were there, but they just watched and laughed.

 

Walking with the yoga crew to the last flash mob of my day:

 

 

 

People were very supportive. My receipt from lunch between flash mobs:

 

 

 

My waiter thanked me for dancing, and I'd like to say "Thank you for dancing!" to all the women and men who participated in this beautiful event. I'd also like to thank Eve Ensler for creating this movement and orchestrating it all. I loved the idea of dance because not only is celebratory and a way of vibrating above the violence and re-claiming your joy, but it's a beautiful way of owning your body again after something like rape happening to you. Belly dance has personally given me a beautiful way of re-owning my body with precise isolations and such..... So I loved the idea from the moment I heard it.

 

I also loved the energy behind the lyrics of the song:

 

"I dance cause I love
Dance cause I dream
Dance cause I've had enough
Dance to stop the screams
Dance to break the rules
Dance to stop the pain
Dance to turn it upside down
Its time to break the chain"

This movement was about joy, celebrating, and BEING IN YOUR BODY. Which, if you've been following this blog, you know has been a big theme for me lately. I don't know how many times I've heard the song by now, but by the end of the 14th, one of the hooks also started having extra meaning for me:

"This is my body, my body's holy
No more excuses, no more abuses,"

I loved that part from the beginning and it was one of my fave parts of the dance (body roll, re-claiming your body, and then namaste hands). But by the end of the day I was also aiming it at me. I started thinking about the different ways I may have abused my body in the past and the ways I sometimes make excuses for it. Such as not having enough time to exercise or drinking alcohol, even though I'm not a big fan, just because I'm at a party and everyone else is drinking, etc. And by the end of the 14th I had re-claimed my body to another level and re-committed to no more excuses or abuses from myself as well.

It was all a beautiful and VERY fun experience. I definitely encourage everyone to participate next year. Thank you to everyone who made One Billion Rising happen.