Dear Drummers, Dancers, Creative People,

Happy New Year! I am excited to share 2010 Drumming the Dream Alive drum sessions & other events with you. Please check the Classes & Performances pages for more detailed information. Below are some upcoming events & links.

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Seattle World Rhythm Fest April 23, 24, 25

The yearly migration. A FREE weekend of rhythm, dance, performances & workshops, with many artists from USA & Canada. Thousands of people go, and yet it manages to feel intimate - a merging of many small communities, also due to the size of Seattle Center and how the events get spread out. Check out this link for a sense of the Sat night performances. It's from several years ago when we played there with Pepe's Drum Prayers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KABS78wlw_M

Also check out this page for some WRFest pics

http://swps.org/swps?dpage=gallery

If a few people are interested in going, you can ride share, share hotel rooms, and make the cost lower. The festival itself is free, by donation. You will get to experience world class players, as well as the warmth of community.
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TA KE TI NA Workshop On the Drive

I love this work. My friends Brian and Shasta will be offering a workshop soon at Open Door Yoga on Commercial. I highly recommend this healing rhythm work and have studied with them. It involves doing vocal clap step rhythms while a Brazilian Bass Drum player keeps a pulsation on drum and anklets in the center of the circle. It culminates in chanting with the drum and Brazilian Berimbau in center (played by facilitators) while participants clap, step, and chant. Powerfully reconfiguring for body, mind, and soul.

TA KE TI NA
A Journey into Rhythm

Saturday, March 6, 2010
2:00 – 5:00 pm
Open Door Yoga Studio, 1111 Commercial Drive

With your voice as your guide and your body as your instrument, relax into a process of rhythmic stepping, clapping and vocal chanting. Discover your own path to stillness within movement and silence within sound.

Experience the joy and vitality of group singing and the transformative power of chaos, while learning to be at ease with uncertainty. No musical experience is necessary.

$40 if paid in advance, $50 on the day of the workshop

Call 604-947-2283 or email jshasta@telus.net or bhoover@telus.net for
more information and to register

TaKeTiNa http://taketina.com/ is a group process created by Reinhard Flatischler that uses rhythm to take us on a journey in which we can:

- learn at our own pace
- find our foundation as we move between the simple and the complex
- open to the joy of group music making

Shasta Martinuk and Brian Hoover are certified Ta Ke Ti Na teachers.
See www.rhythmkeepers.ca for more information on their work

I may see you there!
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Some of my favourite recording artists for drumming are:

Babatunde Olatunji
I recommend Healing Rhythms & Chants, Drums of Passion, The Beat of My Drum
Available at Highlife Records on Commercial Drive, or itunes.

Geoff Johns
various recordings available thru Sounds True Label / itunes (I think)

Chuck Jonkey
great soundscaper - available on itunes

- that's a start.........If you are very curious and have time, spend some time on youtube and search the above, or search African Drumming, Chant, etc. There is a wealth of stuff available!
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Many blessings of body and soul in the New Year,
Navaro

~Spring 2009 Newletter~

Dear Drummers, Dancers,

DRUM CLASSES START NEXT WEEK, March 10, Tuesdays and March 12, Thursdays.

Please register now for new Drum Classes with me. Read below for details,
and for info on lots of great events and classes in our community & beyond....

I am excited about new directions for my Drum Classes. My next classes are going to work toward performances at two wonderful venues: Just Dance, and Little Woo's Healing Garden area at Commercial Drive Car Free Day Festival. It's a lot of fun, it focuses us, and it gives a sense of hugeness to the experience of drumming when we can go out and share it with a dancing, appreciative community. We will experience the drumming fulfilling its purpose - to be shared, as music always wants to be! I facilitated dance and drummed at Journeys with some students last night (thank you Natalie & Elfina!), and it was a lot of fun to power the dancing crowd, and go higher and higher together!

I am late getting this large newsletter out, so please contact me right away if you'd like to join Tuesday class next week on March 10. If you can't make it till the following week I will give an extra hour of intro to latecomers on the 2nd class March 17. There is already a nice sized group registered.

June Drum Class Performance at Little Woo's wondrous Healing Garden: The whole block of Grant St. just East of the Drive is full of healing practitioners and demos of different kinds. Visit these pages below to have a little sense of Woo's Healing Garden and Drive Fest. It is huge, has many different areas and aspects to it, and is a lot of fun. Each year it shows the incredible arts community that exists here in the East End (I say 'here' because that's my neighbourhood!)

http://2008.carfreevancouver.org/healing-garden-commercial-drive-festival

http://www.changeeverything.ca/blog/kate/commercial-drive-festival-it-car-free-day-Sunday-June-17

CONTENTS OF THIS EMAIL

1) New Drum Class Sessions in West and East end with Navaro, March & April (register now)

2) Deep Rhythm & Tribe dance facilitation with Navaro at Just Dance / Journeys March 6, 9pm-12midnight.

3) Deep Rhythm & Tribe Dance Workshop with Navaro, at Open Door Yoga March 28 2-5pm
Poster Attached

4) Children's Rhythm Circles, family learning & facilitated music making inspired by principles of Homeschooling. Material is African rhythm, chant, handheld percussion.
Open to all. March 10 - Apr 6 Mondays 11 am-12 noon. Pre-reg required.

5) Navaro with DivaDrum & others, at Chai Gallery, Global Peace Network Benefit, Sunday Apr 5 (and the first Sunday of every month, and 3rd Wed of the month.

6) Info on Related Community Connections & Events in Rhythm & Dance:

- VRAD Vancouver Rhythm And Dance website
- Seattle World Rhythm Festival Apr 24, 25, 26
- Women's Spirituality Celebration March 13, 14
- Ta Ke Ti Na Rhythm Workshop
- Dido Honoring Drum Circle July 25 at the Anchor
- In The House Festival's Circus Astoundicus
- Birthfest 2009
- Chai Gallery, Kits
- Waldorf Hotel
- Work Less Party: The Enchanted Forest
- Drum Cafe
- Raw Food Website
- My Personal Health Tips

7) A personal note from Navaro

8) Closing Poem

1a) DRUM CLASSES WITH NAVARO East Side Join Mar 10 or 17

Mar 10 - Apr 21
Tuesdays 7-9pm
at 1461 Venables
Register now please

Exciting new session of solid drum pieces. Focus on this session is learning pieces in community, and clarity of direction & form in our music & class time together.

Mixed levels. Parts will be given to beginner to advanced level sections in the group. We learn in community.

Option to perform with group to power the dancing crowd at session's end at Just Dance!

Please note: I am allowing new people / latecomers to join in class #2 on March 17, with a catch up hour before that class (no extra cost), due to the lateness of my advertising the class (Issues with my business mail server). There is a core group of about 10 people so far registered.

$99 for 7 weeks if you have your own drum.
$110 if you use a drum. $18 drop in.
Payment plans can be arranged if you need, for 2 payments, with a postdated cheque

register with me by email or phone
navaro@tribal-bliss.com

from a student: "It is bringing me a kind of connection and grounding that I have been missing in my life for the last little while and teaching many things about myself. I am having many revelations during the classes." E.L.

1b) DRUM CLASSES WITH NAVARO

Downtown / West side (easy access from West Van. Very close to West End)

Mar 5 - Apr 2
Thursdays 730-915pm
at Coal Harbour Community Center West End

An exploration of Drumming & Healing Energies of rhythm. New material this session.
Traditional Rhythms & Chants & original compositions
Option to perform at Just Dance with Tuesday Drum Class group at end of April

Register with Coal Harbour online
www.westendcc.ca

info:
navaro@tribal-bliss.com

2) DEEP RHYTHM & TRIBE DANCE WORKSHOP

Join us for an afternoon of diving deep into drumming and dance.

Being in Rhythm creates an inner strength, an alignment of body, mind and spirit....and also physical vitality thru greater connection to the body.

Deep Rhythm & Tribe
A Healing Dance Workshop with Navaro Franco

Learn to dance and be in deep rhythm individually and as a collective moving body. Live Drumming as well as amazing deep rhythmic tracks. Rhythm supports the structures of matter from the microcosm of molecules and atoms, to the macrocosm of solar systems and galaxies. We will learn to internalize and anchor rhythm consciously in our bodies thru movement, let its healing power move thru us, become conscious of moving in and with it, and also spend time in rhythmic chant sitting in circle. We will also learn techniques to dance tribally together that allow for spontaneous synchronized movement.

This work is inspired by tribal traditions which keep the village whole individually, collectively, and in balance with Earth and cosmos. (please note this is not an African Dance workshop, but an Ecstatic Dance workshop: ie letting your own dance arise from within, inspired by the facilitator's words and direction of attention).

Sat March 28, 2-5pm
At Open Door Yoga at Commercial and Parker
www.opendooryoga.bc.ca

$27 paid in advance, $35 at door

info & reg.
navaro@tribal-bliss.com

3) JOURNEYS at JUST DANCE
Theme: Deep Rhythm & Tribe. Lightly facilitated by Navaro, with 2 DJ's

(Please check out this monthly event, as well as the Just Dance nights. They are a great place to dance freely to excellent music in a safe and joyful community environment. No alcohol.) Fri March 13 9-12 midnight 2114 W 4th Ave, at Arbutus
Come at 9 and be part of Opening Circle, or join us later in the evening.

Deep Rhythm & Tribe will be lightly facilitated by Navaro giving ideas for your dancing periodically thruout the evening, based on letting the healing power of rhythm 'in' to your body, and dancing with awareness to the 'tribe' around you.

This is a dance, usually about 100 people in the room, free-form movement with inspirations offered by Navaro, chill spaces to relax in, community, lots of fun!

$10 tix / $5 students

http://www.justdance.ca/journeys.php

4) TOTS & PARENTS RHYTHM CIRCLES with Navaro

This is a new class that I am excited to be offering.

Children's Rhythm Circles, family learning & facilitated music making inspired by principles of Homeschooling. Material is African rhythm, chant, handheld percussion.
Open to all. One parent is asked to accompany each child so that the adults support their children by making music with them. Drums & handheld rhythm instruments provided or bring your favourites. Navaro will teach rhythms and songs. Ages 5 to 8

March 10 - Apr 6 for 4 Mondays
(5th class Mar 16 extra & optional for those here for Spring Break)
11 am-12 noon.
Course Fee $60 pre-paid.
Location between Main & Cambie on 23rd Ave.

register with Navaro
navaro@tribal-bliss.com

5) Navaro with DIVADRUM & OTHERS AT CHAI GALLERY

Global Peace Network Benefit, Sunday Apr 5, 6pm till late, bring your family

This is my favourite venue in town. It has beauty, comfort, community, great food, ethics, great music and dance performance all night long, and authentic Eastern all you can eat salad, main course and dessert buffet. Not to mention the best Chai Tea in town. Please check these link to view a video of these performance nights (and many others). My women's collective DivaDrum plays here the first Sunday of each month at a night called 'Chai Imin Shekere'. (It means 'you are the sugar for my tea').

Once you come you will return over and over!

http://sites.google.com/site/chaishekeresite/Home for video clip

http://www.eastiseast.ca for info on the venue

6) RELATED COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS & EVENTS IN RHYTHM & DANCE:

~ VANCOUVER RHYTHM & DANCE WEBSITE & NEWSLETTER

http://www.vrad.ca

The best resource for info on drum events, classes, teachers in town.
If you are a drummer, you must get on their newsletter for occasional announcements. A wonderful organization!

SEATTLE WORLD RHYTHM FESTIVAL

http://www.swps.org

April 24, 25, 26 Fri eve thru Sun eve.

The yearly migration. Essential for drummers, dancers, and rhythm people!
Free workshops and performances all weekend long with world class teachers and performers, at Seattle Center just across the border. Check the website for info.

I will be teaching 2 workshops at World Rhythm Fest:

- Dancing Shekere
- Shakin' Shekere Seattle Monday, 27th April 6-8pm $25

My women's drum trio / collective DIVADRUM will open the big dance evening on Sat night mainstage!

WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY CELEBRATION 2009

Relearning Ancient Wisdom: Reclaiming our sacred & sensual feminine

This is a really beautiful weekend gathering on Fri and Sat March 13, 14, with circling, workshops and being in community with lots of other women! There will be many talented women there sharing their creativity. Brochure attached. It is at the beautiful Centre for Peace, at 16th & Burrard.

I will be teaching a Deep Rhythm & Tribe Dance workshop Sat afternoon, playing for opening ceremonies, and there are also many other offerings thru-out the weekend.

Women's Spirituality Celebration
WOMEN'S SPIRITUALITY CELEBRATION

Relearning Ancient Wisdom – Reclaiming Our Sacred & Sensual Feminine

Friday Evening, March 13th & all day Saturday March 14, 2009

Small workshops & large group multi-faith gatherings designed to nourish women of all faith traditions as well as individual spiritual seekers.

www.wscelebration.com
604-327-9273
wspiritc@yahoo.com

Canadian Memorial Church
Centre for Peace
1825 West 16th Avenue

TA KE TI NA with Brian & Shasta

I love this work, and my friends Brian and Shasta are the only teachers of this healing rhythm method in Western Canada. I highly recommend them. They teach workshops locally.
Brian and Shasta's website: http://www.thelisteningwell.com

For info on the method and its Austrian founder, highly accomplished world musician Reinhard Flatischler: http://taketina.com

Ta Ke Ti Na is an amazing healing rhythm method that involves polyrhythmic layers of vocal, clap, & step rhythms in circle, with facilitators playing deep bass drum and Brazilian Berimbau (rhythmic bow & gourd instrument) and doing call and response singing in the center of the circle. Ta Ke Ti Na will enhance your rhythmic skills and also is a tool for personal growth.

UPCOMING VANCOUVER WORKSHOPS IN TA KE TI NA:

Certified TaKeTiNa teachers Brian Hoover and Shasta Martinuk will be leading a series of workshops at the Crossreach Seniors Centre on West Broadway March 27 – 30. TaKeTiNa is a rhythmic process which uses simple stepping, clapping and vocal chanting to invite participants into a journey towards inner stillness. The journey presents ample opportunities to learn at your own pace, accept where you are in the moment, find your own foundation as we move between the simple and the complex, and open to the joy of group music-making.
Cost of the workshop is $30 for Friday night (6:30 to 9:30 pm)
Saturday 9:30 – 5:30 $95
($110 for both Friday and Saturday)
Sunday 9:30 – 5:30 $95
Entire weekend $185

Group discounts available for groups of 3 or more who register together
Call 604-947-2283 or email jshasta@telus.net <mailto:jshasta@telus.net> or bhoover@telus.net <mailto:bhoover@telus.net> for more information and to register

HONORING DIDO DRUM CIRCLE THIS SUMMER July 26

Many years ago I came across a drum circle in Jericho Park. This was my introduction to the drum, which I felt an immediate passion for. It was Dido leading a drum circle at the beach, in 1982. He was the first one to do regular circles here, and one of the only drummers in town. He began what today is a rich and vast network of drummers in Vancouver (and also Montreal). He recently died. Dido was my first teacher, and for many others that now have successful careers in rhythm in Vancouver. His wake happened last month, and attracted hundreds of people.....We listened to those close to him speak of him and his life. We feasted, visited, and played music. Vancouver's finest came out to honor Dido, and performed in a huge drum jam on stage....and then we played in community in a circle of about 100 drummers for hours into the night, as dancers, led by Jacky Essombe, danced up the energy in the center of the circle. It was heartwarming. Wonderful. Inspiring. I was deeply nourished by this evening. Mahara Brenna facilitated with beauty, power and grace.

There will be another opportunity to honor Dido, with a kick-ass fun community drum circle, this coming summer:

Sunday July 26, 3pm
At the Anchor, Spanish Banks

-drive past Jericho on the way to UBC. Follow 4th Ave past Jericho Park and take the R turn off 4th Ave just at the Western end of the Park. Follow that road to the last parking lot, park and walk toward the water.

If you missed the last Drum Circle, come out to this one, and celebrate Dido's life and legacy! :-)

Check out this event, with some of my favourite performers. I will be there playing with Carnival Band.

In the House Festival’s Annual Fundraiser: Circus Astoundicus

Saturday March 21, 2009

March 21st is not only the first day of spring, but it’s the In the House Festival’s (in)famous fundraiser! This year we are presenting “CIRCUS ASTOUNDICUS.” Animals, clowns, acrobats, jugglers, puppeteers, musicians, dancers – in a word, all the right ingredients for a circus – will be present to provide you with an evening of ribald fun, laughs, and pure unadulterated joy.

Amazingly Fun Things To Do include : watching performances, dancing to great music, pinning-the-tail on the donkey, kissing a mermaid, playing games, interacting with roaming characters, and so much more! We will also be doing the raffle draw. If you don’t have your tickets yet, this will be the perfect opportunity to get them and potentially win one of these fantastic prizes: 2 Superpasses and 2 t-shirts to the Fringe Festival, 2 tickets to Vancouver Opera’s production of “Salome,” a 10-ticket pack to the Vancouver Film Festival, 2 tickets to a concert at MusicFest, Dinner for 2 at Waazubee’s and 2 tickets to a show at The Cultch, dinner for 2 at Divino’s and 2 tickets to the Vancouver Symphony or 2 weekend passes to the In the House Festival in June. (Thank you to all those wonderful organizations who donated these tickets and dinners!)

By the way, although totally not obligatory, costumes are highly encouraged. Dress up as your favourite clown, animal, or circus character. Add flavour to the event in your own special way.

Date: March 21st, 2009
Time: Doors at 6:30 pm
Show at 7:30 pm

Where: St. Mary’s Ukrainian Centre, 3150 Ash St., Vancouver

Tickets: $20 advance tickets
$25-50 sliding scale at the door
Tickets are available at Highlife Records on Commercial Dr. or on-line at www.inthehousefestival.com. Sorry no reservations for this one.

Feel free to send this announcement to friends, family, co-workers and anyone you think may be interested.

Performers:
Ringmaster: Naomi Steinberg
Little Woo Mermaid Kissing Booth
Vitaly Beckman (International Magician)
Ariel Amara
Hobo, Bobo and Lobo the Bonobos (aka Tami, Colleen and Ian)
Ilya Parizhsky, Kat Single and others
Kesseke Yeo
Travis Jones
The Carnival Band

For more info the performers, In the House and upcoming shows, please visit the website at www.inthehousefestival.com

You can also email info@inthehousefestival.com or phone 604-874-9325.

If you are not able to make it to the fundraiser, but would nonetheless like to support the festival, you can go to https://www.canadahelps.org/DonationDetails.aspx?cookieCheck=true where you can make your contribution. You will get tax receipt emailed to you within minutes of your donation. You can also mail us your donation to 2256 Parker St., Vancouver, BC, V5L 2L9. We will send you a tax receipt for donations of $25 or more in the mail.

Myriam Steinberg
Artistic Director
In the House Festival
www.inthehousefestival.com

BIRTHFEST 2009

Celebrating Bellies, Birth, & Babies
Sat March 14, 10am - 3
Brittania Center Gym D
1661 Napier St.

This is a sweet little festival co-organized by my dear friend and ex-housemate Sarah Juliusson, of Dancing Star Birth. There will be live music throughout the day, tables with birthing practitioners, information, and other lovely presentations. For new or prospective parents, or those just dreaming...... I will be there playing some music at 10am. Gentle Mbira (thumb piano) and maybe some drumming. (Babies and tots love drumming!)

Also contact Sarah for Dancing Star Birth info on her company's excellent classes & Birthing Support work.
www.DancingStarBirth.ca

Sarah Juliusson, (604) 254-1100
infro@birthlounge.com
www.birthlounge.com

7) A PERSONAL LETTER FROM NAVARO

Dear Drummers,

I'd like to share with you some of my favourite things lately. These are things that have been nourishing me, bringing me joy, expanding me, comforting me. Check them out:

~ Little Woo - Private healing sessions and classes in Epic Alchemy, Burlesque Performance, Shadow Puppet Plays, and much more! I have experienced Woo's work in her Epic Alchemy Classes and in performance. She is amazing!
http://www.littlewoo.org
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CHAI GALLERY IN KITS

Two nights ago I went to Chai Gallery for the Enlightened Cinema night. You should go! It was so cosy and relaxed. I went with a bunch of friends and it is so nice to hang out in an atmosphere that feels like home but where someone else makes you comfy! There was delicious Chai tea, communal bags of popcorn around, and we, a small group of about 25 people, watched the movies laying on low couches and cusions. The facilitator for the evening had several movies to present. Short films about children, and a long feature about Indigo Children (the phenomenon of children who come in with great intelligence and awareness, past life memory, and a clear knowing of their higher purpose here on the planet). Super inspiring. Check the Chai website for a calendar of all their events.
Film night is by $5 donation.

Chai also nourishes me on the music nights that I play (info above in section # 5), and sometimes I just enjoy going to their connected restaurant on Main St. East Is East, for the best food and atmosphere, as well as live music and dance. There was flamenco the night we went, on a Friday.

Chai Gallery in Kits has many music nights, dance nights, and other special kinds of gatherings that are open to the community.

http://www.eastiseast.ca
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WALDORF HOTEL - great venue!

Another fun thing I did recently was to go out to the Waldorf Hotel to play with Carnival Band and see my fave moving percussion group, SWARM, and dance up a storm! We went to the after party at DJ Timothy Wisdom's house. Music was amazing, tribe there was cool and still dancing. Check out the Waldorf Hotel on East Hastings St. It is often a venue for great shows.

http://www.waldorfhotel.com
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WORK LESS PARTY: THE ENCHANTED FOREST

Also check out the Work Less Party parties. The next one is this coming Saturday March 7, and the theme is THE ENCHANTED FOREST.
Lots of fun and wildness, great DJ'd music to dance to, some live music, body painting, shows of different sorts, and much much more!

Sat March 7
487 Alexander St, doors at 8pm.
check this page for more info, and link to promo
http:/www.worklessparty.org/

I'll see you on the dance floor. Don't forget your costume!
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DRUM CAFE Corporate Drum Group

I am still loving working with Drum Cafe. My first gig with them last month was at the Whale Festival in Ucluelet. Beautiful community and wildness.

Check out Drum Cafe and if you have a corporate or large community event that you want an amazing facilitated DRUM SHOW & CIRCLE at, Sarah and Munkie Ncapayi's show is the best I have experienced. I am part of the band 'team' for facilitations.

Munkie is also a great teacher and is available for workshops, classes, lessons.
Munkie also does excellent drum care: Re-heading drums.

www.drumcafe.ca
sarah@drumcafe.com
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RAW FOOD WEBSITE LINK
- & my personal health tips!

For those of you who can't believe that I am 47 years old at this point.....Check this raw food website out.
http://www.rawfamily.com
These people introduced me to Raw Food, are doing a workshop in April here in Vancouver, Who knows....this could be a fun source of info for you, or the beginning of a path to greater health, vitality, and beauty!

People often, when they discover my age (- Should I be hiding my age at this point? The number seems to alarm people :-) - want to know everything about what it is that I 'do'.

For those of you that are curious, here are some of my keys.

~ Lucky genes (Mom & Dad / Dutch and Philipeno respectively.....grew up in their countries of origin and traditional diets...mom is feisty and fit in her 70's).

~Lifelong interest in nutrition and health. Especially the Raw Food diet (I don't eat 100% raw but incorporate the knowledge into my diet to a high degree).

I have also have been informed greatly by Food Combining/Acid Alkaline knowledge, and by Ayurveda and Macrobiotics. I draw from those systems of knowledge and translate for my own particular mix of diet.

~Yoga all my life (I am a member right now of Open Door Yoga on the Drive. Highly recommend getting a pass there). Great prices when you buy a pass, and excellent choices of teachers all day long, also 2 other studios on Main St. to use passes at. http:/www.opendooryoga.bc.ca

~ Dance - The purifying sweat regularly thru my life, and o, the joy!

~ Drumming the fire thru my body regularly.

~ Happy family life ( I love my daughter, who is 19 now, and her dad and their new family, including my Godchild Coco. I also am greatly nourished by all my new family and tribe that I have encountered over the years)...and happy community life.

~ Connection to the Earth, spending time outside, receiving fresh air, sunlight, starlight, moonlight whenever possible, awareness to the aliveness of all the elements that move around the planet, recycling thru our bodies and the bodies of all the planetary beings. eg. I thank the water when I let it out of my bath, and know it returns to cycle in rivers, oceans and rain.

~ Sleeping on a hard bed, on my back.

~ Energy work, visualization

~ Currently, the teachings of Abraham-Hicks

http://www.abraham-hicks.com/lawofattractionsource/index.php

There is lots more, but that's good for starters!
_______________________________________________________________

CLOSING POEM

Dancing with Drum
December 17,2008
By Motoko Hanyu

Let your body & soul free
Listen to the sound of drum
Sound of drum circled around me
Dancing with drum
Sound of drum swept me away to the sky
Dancing with drum
I reached the stars and grabbed the stars
Dancing with drum
Pockets full of stars, full of twinkling stars
To share them with my loved ones
Dancing with drum

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Inspiration: December 17,2008 (Drum & Healing dance class (closer of a series) with Navaro)

A heartfelt thank you for the very beautiful poem, Motoko!

Blessings,
Navaro

NAVARO'S 2008 NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER OF EVENTS

Dear Drummers, Dancers, Friends & Community,

It's been a long time since I wrote a letter to you, in my class listing. I wanted to not overwhelm you with information and more writing, so haven't been adding this lately, but noticed how I do enjoy receiving personal news from other such newsletters, and had a request from a friend, so.....Here is some sharing from my life - Windows into our city and what I have been up to in it.

I am loving being in Vancouver. This marks the beginning of my fourth year here in town. This community is so rich and diverse! I love the level of creativity, and how much people show up for art and spirit events here. Two of my favourite events this last month were Parade of Lost Souls on Commercial Drive, and the last Work Less Party in Japan Town - which I attended with my darling daughter who just turned 19! www.worklessparty.org This was Willow's first adults only event, and she chose to be there with her mom! How's that for pretty cool?! We danced for hours and hours. And enjoyed, among other things, a body painting contest, a band called the Furry Animals, great burlesque by Little Woo, music by an awesome DJ - best I've ever danced to! - DJ Timothy Wisdom.

At the Parade of Lost Souls, I loved dancing with the Carnival Band Dancers, who I recently joined. (A beautiful community of musicians and dancers), and playing Shekere with the band as they paraded. One creative household along our band parade route thru the neighbourhood had created a red fabric backdrop for a stage in their house's huge wall of windows. They danced in fun costumes as we passed, creating the impression of a sexy theatre stage in the middle of the residential neighbourhood of quaint old homes. We were accompanied by torch bearers and incredible stilt walkers in masks that added a mythical element to our parade. Fire and music and costume in the dark spoke to my subconscious and stirred ancient forces within me. Delight and wildness!

I also loved catching some of Little Woo's Shadow Puppet Show, www.littlewoo.org and hearing her silky voice crooning the delightful rhymed verse / voices of her characters. The crowd was tightly milled around her tent in Grandview Park as an archetypal drama played out in shadow and light. I looooved seeing all the costumed people. One of my favourite costumes: 2 Barbie women in boxes head to hip with windows to see them in, and on the boxes it said 'Mattel' & 'Barbie'. I loved hearing the faint strains of Sambata thru the crowds. Trying to find them was fun, too.....following the ghostly strains of music, yet never quite finding them.... The fire dancers in the tennis courts at the evening's grand finale was very different this year, as I was inside playing with the band. Last year pressing up against the fence surrounded by hundreds of costumed parade goers somehow made it even more magical!
If you haven't attended the Parade of Lost Souls, you must next year! I think of it as our own West Coast kind of creative craziness along the lines of Brazilian Carnival :-) (I just wish it went on all night like it does there!).

I just started training with Drum Cafe, www.drumcafe.com -headed by Munkie Ncapayi & his powerhouse wife, Sarah. I am blown away by the positive energy of their team (in the office and on the drums) and so impressed by the amazing Corporate show that they do. They bring drumming to the business world on an international level. There are so many niches of the world of the drum, here in Vancouver and all over the planet. I am very moved by the movement of the drum and all the tribal wisdom that it carries into our modern world. What Colonialism did its best to erase on a global level can never be held down or back! As father of the community drum scene in the West, Yoruba land's Babatunde Olatunji liked to say: 'One day there will be a drum in every household" (of N America). - A side note for drum fans: 'Babatunde' in Yoruba means 'the return of the Grandfather spirit. Like many other peoples connected to their ancient wisdom, African tribal people believe that the spirits of ancestors keep reincarnating down the family line. What better place to be!? - than with those you have loved over and over again, and who love you... What better place to bring forth knowledge held by the soul, than in the family lineage that understands and can best uphold it, continuing and strengthening it over and over again! For more info along these lines check out one of my favourite writings, currently: www.anastasia.com
In the book about Anastasia called The Book of Kin, there is fascinating and resonant info about lineage and the history of our planet.

Coming up for me that is exciting: My next Earth Prayers Ecstatic Dance Journey. (Nov 22). I am looking forward to the sacred-sweat and the moving-as-one-with-the-group..the exalted moments as we dance to live drumming (this time with a wonderful new musical connection (the very sensitive and dynamic percussionist, Robin Layne of Kocassale Dioubate's Jarimba). I am waiting to 'download' the themes for this November's Journey. Dancing to drums is my bliss. Dancing in an intentional group of people and having a mini experience of tribe in the ancient sense of the word, as well as the kind of 'Tribe' that we can be when we gather in this day, age, and gorgeous city of Vancouver, is something I await with pleasurable anticipation. I will send out an individual email soon with details. We will dance, raise our voices in song, and share deeply thru dance and community. Check my site for info on previous Earth Prayers (Posters in recent events & plenty of letters about it in my Testimonials Page Hope to see you on the dance floor!

May the fall find you enjoying the fruits of your year's learning and labour, and all the seeds that you have sown, as we approach the deep gestation and reflection of winter.

deep joy to you,
Navaro

September's AfterGlow, October's Vision

~ EARTH PRAYERS OCTOBER ~
next journey: Sunday, Oct. 28, 3-530 pm,
Indigo Yoga $20 * RSVP required *

Earth Prayers September AfterGlow
Greetings, beautiful dancers! It was such bliss to move with you all... I look forward to ever deepening journeys together. Many of you who were present have shared with me since the evening about how you were affected. I am grateful and humbled to hear your experiences, and want to share this with the group, because I believe it adds so much to our experience to know how we are being affected.

Different people expressed the following.....feeling energized, re-vitalized, relaxed, able to see and sense energy in a powerful, real, and new way......getting connected with blocked areas inside, seeing oneself anew.....experiencing incredible connection with community

....seeing such beauty and power in each other....feeling cleansed by the clean clear sweat.....injuries surprisingly not being bothered by the 1 & 1/2 hours of solid dancing, but actually feeling good............feeling fatigued but carrying through and finding new energy of opening from it.....feeling the power of the healing energy moving out of the hand chakras.....and the power of receiving energy from other's hands......feeling love and warmth from the energy in the room, from me, from the music.....experiencing harmony and unity in the group and in the space.....

For me, I am so honoured to be doing this work, and so excited to explore attuning to Earth voice & prayer to Earth, through ecstatic dance with you. I have been exploring Trance Dance & the healing power of movement since 1981. For 5 years before returning to Vancouver in 2005, I held twice weekly ecstatic dance classes. Since coming to Vancouver, and focusing on performance of ecstatic dance & drumming for the last 2 years, there has been a shift in what is moving through me, and I am truly excited about this new phase of my work. There are many ideas that are coming through, incorporating chant, dance, and healing music.

We are supported in the way that we have all known as humans, somewhere back in our lineage......describing pulsation and cycle, the building blocks of the manifest world, with our dance.....

Sept Earth Prayers was another beautiful, deep and joyous experience. It is good to dance on the land of our neighbourhood. After living here for 2 years, I am now feeling like my roots go into the land here and I feel the resonance of this neighbourhood. It is also valuable to be a very full group in the space. The concentration of energy supports a powerful experience. Sometimes dancing in a larger space that has emptiness in it can drain energy. It is also extremely helpful that Madhuri and Chai have created the space themselves, putting in the floor, painting, etc....and that they use it with a strong healing and sacred intent. That vibration makes it all the easier for us to walk in and do the work that we do.

"The ancestors are alive now in the land, alive in us.....We can hear their voices in the wind and water, in the soil and trees, in the voices of the animals....in our own bodies and spirits. When we resonate with the longer, deeper rhythms of Earth, we have access to All Knowledge, All Memory, all Knowing.

Gaia's (Earth's) body is strengthened by our physical joy, and by our awareness of her as a living, conscious being. Her strength is our strength. Her health is our children's legacy."

~ Navaro

Call or email Navaro to facilitate events in Corporate, Community, Festival, and Retreat Center settings: Workshops, Performances, School Shows, Dance Events & Private Instruction in:
~ African Hand Drumming & Chants
~ Mbira (the 22-key African Thumb Piano)
~ Healing Movement / Ecstatic Dance, and Tribal Dance.

Click to Join my One With Drum Facebook Group to get my Event Invitations!

CONTACT INFORMATION

Email : navaro@tribal-bliss.com
Address : Vancouver Canada
Cell: (778) 239-8444