To learn the dance for the flash mob, there are instructional videos on the website (www.onebillionrising.org) and all over YouTube, but better yet, Coracci is teaching the dance to anyone who wishes to participate in rehearsal sessions at the college all week before the event. Practice sessions will be held on Thursday, Feb. 6; Sunday, Feb. 9; Tuesday, Feb. 11; and Wednesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. in Esopus Hall on campus. Given the weather conditions in February, it’s advisable to check for cancellations first on the Hudson Valley Rising Facebook page, or call event organizer Mary Goggin at (845) 702-4506.
And whether people are interested in doing the flash mob dance themselves or not, says Coracci, everyone is invited to attend. “Come out and watch,” she says. “It’s for the entire community; not just students and not just women, but also the men who love them.”
It’s for men, too
Organizer Johanna Longbotham says that when they did an anti-violence flash mob in Rosendale in mid-January, “there were fathers there who danced with their young daughters; that was very powerful to see.” They would love to see the day when boys dance alongside the girls at the annual One Billion Rising events, she says. “We haven’t gotten to that point yet, but so much of it comes down to education; how fabulous would it be to have boys raised up in a world where they realize that [violence against women] is completely unacceptable.”
In the meantime, they’re gratified to see more young girls this year come out to learn the dance with their mothers, says organizer Goggin. “We’d like to give a shout-out to the middle schools and high schools to get involved with us.”
Longbotham agrees. “The song we dance to is very powerful, and when you see young girls doing the dance, you realize it’s sort of changing them at the cellular level to not accept violence in their own lives. People can certainly change the course of their lives when they get older, but to go into it at a young age looking around at strong people in the community who all believe this is something that shouldn’t happen to you — for a young girl, that’s tremendously powerful.”
Dance as a form of solidarity came into the picture through Ensler’s work in the Congo, where the author and activist helped raise funds to build a healing center there, says Goggin. “The women danced, and she experienced this incredible way of healing and bringing women together; it’s the life-affirming power of movement and celebration of the body, spirit and soul.”
The speak-out and flash mob event at SUNY New Paltz will also have information available to people on ways in which they can support local women and children’s domestic violence shelters and female and child anti-violence movements locally and throughout the world.
A related event will take place earlier that morning at 9:30 a.m. at the Old Dutch Church at 272 Wall Street in Kingston, where Natalie Merchant will screen the premiere showing of Shelter, a documentary film about domestic violence she made last year after becoming inspired by the 2013 Kingston One Billion Rising events. Merchant put together a benefit concert and filmed it, accompanying the footage with the words of domestic violence survivors, criminal prosecutors and advocates who all took to the stage on June 2 at Bard College. The proceeds of that concert benefitted two local domestic violence shelters, the Washbourne House of Ulster County and Grace Smith House in Dutchess County. The screening on Friday, Feb. 14 is free, although donations are welcome. Early arrival at the church is recommended as space inside is limited. More information is available on the Hudson Valley Rising Facebook page.
“It’s really about breaking the isolation that comes with silence, on all levels,” says Longbotham. “Women who experience violence don’t talk about it; they don’t know how to share it. But when the silence is broken, it’s less likely to happen again. And I do think once you do the dance, you’re less likely to keep it to yourself. It opens up a bigger dialogue.”
