Slacking off, Dancing it up & Sweating it out

Since it's my turn to make a contribution to this blog, I'm going post an update of the odds and ends that didn't quite make it into the other posts.

One of the teachers in the community introduced us to her "circus bag", full of fun knick-knacks ready for creative uses. Tangled among them was a (very) long length of climbing webbing and several carabiners. Now, I won't pretend to be an expert, but I knew enough to recognize a slackline when I see one, so we snapped up the line and set out in search of trees.

It's funny how things work out sometimes; of all the things I've learned in the past year, I would not have expected that learning how to set up a slackline would come in most handy. But tons of people have stopped to slack off, and it's been a great opportunity to spend some time with community members, as well as provide a fun challenge for all ages.

In other news, as a lure to get people to show up to the bi-weekly Youth Committee meetings, we have launched Samra's Academy for Hip Hop Dance.

Learning to Dougie, shuffle, cat-daddy and do the running man were so popular, next week we plan to expand the classes to include some square dancing and jigging.

We also were lucky enough to be invited to take part in a sweat, a very important and powerful cultural experience. It was Samra's first sweat, and it certainly was a busy one, with 21 people squeezed into the relatively compact sweat tent to share in the ceremony! Though it was my third sweat here in Dillon, and second with James Sylvestre leading, it soon became clear that every sweat is a unique experience, different from all others. We also got to help James dismantle his sweat and it was fascinating to see all the layers of a sweat tent. We look forward to helping rebuild it in the upcoming weeks!

Some other odds and ends that didn't make it into the odds and ends post: Volleyball, fund-raising garbage pickup along the road, and an evening of Hair Braiding (pictures forthcoming). Up today: fundraising bake-sale and (our first) Floor Hockey Friday!