Change lives through Dance
MISSION
We are a dance organization engaging with topics of social and environmental justice, reconciliation, healing and peace. We believe in the high value of the art form, and celebrate aesthetic beauty through excellence in dance performance.
We know moral and legal racism perpetuates longstanding global inequities and damages, and we use our platform to fundraise and donate money to create lasting change that responds to the needs of landless and migrant people. We support worthy, sustainable projects initiated by women and their communities in dire need, working where we have partners and support to establish real change and track the progress and effects of donations.
CORE ACTIONS
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Bring attention to important stories through high quality dance workshops and performances
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Collaborate with indigenous elders, artists and activists working toward justice and reconciliation
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Manifest radical change wherever possible, researching projects that empower cooperative economics for women and their communities in dire need
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Collaborate with artists, educators and activists working for these values on all continents
WHAT WE DO
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We create dances about topics that matter
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We employ dance as both a healing art and a life transforming mechanism
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We acknowledge indigenous rights and cultural determination as we work with communities, lands and waters we are connected to
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We collaborate with artists, educators and activists to bring attention to collective stories that help change the negative impact of legal and moral racism, sexism and other damaging doctrines
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We create workshops and performances that help change the story of environmental and cultural destruction into one of hope and a positive global future
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We look for truthful ways to create lasting change that elevates women and femmes
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We fundraise and donate money to urgent causes that affect sustainable results and actions
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We believe in cooperative economics, and we collaborate to assist sustainability where we have meaningful relationships on the ground, and can follow up in a way that works for a sustainable future
DIRECTLY ASSISTING COMMUNITIES
With a mindset to create communities of caring and support cooperative economies, we promote voices that highlight social and environmental justice, and relevant global concerns. Dharma in Motion is about direct action. We support sustainable projects in India, Rwanda, Canada, Los Angeles, and wherever a small donation can change the lives of those with extreme need.
Women thrive when they have the right resources, safe spaces for human connection, and creative spaces to share both culture and ideas. We offer help that enables women to develop practical, creative businesses and places to gather.
FUNDRAISING THROUGH DANCE
We look for cooperative economies and sustainable projects, supporting artists, educators and activists whose visions and missions resonate with our values. We produce immersive dance experiences, dance concerts, and dance events that bring artists together to engage with the wider community. This in turn helps us to raise funds and to raise awareness about important, sustainable causes. We support local artists and small businesses, working from Salt Spring Island at our Salish Seas retreat space, or in Los Angeles where we have roots.
EXAMPLES AND ACTIONS
All funds we raise through our actions and collaborations make a real and lasting positive impact in the lives of women and their communities. We have long term relationships with frontline workers who help us identify community-specific needs with a high return per dollar.
Our project research is focused on learning with our partners about how we can assist moments of real change, doing so in a way that is sustainable and lasting. We often have a more lasting impact when we focus on women's projects, which may often have lasting sustainable impact in communities in need. We are helping to develop small businesses and sustain efforts that offer hope and a lifeline to communities in dire need.
To most effectively invest in a community’s needs and create meaningful and lasting change we help our partners to create places to gather around work, develop effective businesses, and assist individuals’ education.
COVID-19 RELIEF IN INDIA-2021 CAMPAIGN
“Reach out to each other with compassion and focus on what unites us as members of one human family."
--H.H. Dalai Lama, responding to the COVID-19 crisis in India, May 2021
OUR PROJECT IN RWANDA
Dharma in Motion raised funds to help develop a women's business in Rwanda. The Dufatanye women had a vision to start a cooperative, expand their farming enterprises, and send their children to school. In April 2019 we fundraised $7, 500 that enables the women to create a small store in which to gather, and to sell their beautiful hand made items. We believe in sustainable projects, so our fundraising efforts are also to enable financial stability that was to be for two years after the store opening.
We continue to stay close with the Dufatanye and with our partners at WD4H. During the Covid crisis, and because of a flood in the area, we also found ways to support the Dufatanye with food, textbooks, and other needs while the country is in lockdown.
DHARMA
The root of the word dharma is "dhri", which means "to support, hold, or bear." It is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant. The essence of dharma, right action or duty, is living life according to one’s highest purpose all the time. Purpose is dependent on your personal obligations, life force, talents, privileges, and societal duties. Dharma designates human behaviours considered necessary for the universe to function, principles that prevent chaos, and behaviours and actions necessary to sustain all life.
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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