Garden Dance Performance: by Sabine Heubusch

December 12, 2007
Time: Afternoon,

What: Garden Dance Performance: by Sabine Heubusch

Please let us know if you will bring your students to enjoy:

- Brief Seasonal Hand’s on Tour of Garden
- Special GARDEN DANCE performance
- Quick Dance/Movement Workshop Exploration

The dancer brings the audience to different places in the garden. The audience has the freedom to place themselves around the performer. The slow pace of the dance provides space for the audience to take in the complexity and details of the garden. Participants connect to Nature’s richness - to its smells, colors, shapes, sounds, and its peacefulness.


RSVP!!!!!!
Depending on the response we will have one or two performances in the afternoon of the 12th.

Please email with your name, school, grade, cell phone and number of students by November 30th.
Heavy rain, and or super frigid weather cancels. Snow is fine!


About the performer:
Dancer Sabine Heubusch received her BA in Music and Movement from the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. After winning a dance scholarship from the Austrian Ministry of Arts and Education, she moved to New York. Sabine has performed in various New York City venues, including Dixon Place, Soho Joyce, Pentacle, and Limelight.
In 2001, she began to focus on site-specific outdoor performances, and in 2005, she founded RASA Dance. Currently she is performing her new piece in Brooklyn Bridge Park. A certified teacher of Alexander Technique, Yoga, and Pilates Mat, Sabine teaches adults, children, and children with special needs in New York and throughout Europe. See: http://www.spinelight.com for more information.

FoBP in El Diario newspaper: Indigenous perspective on what Thanksgiving means

Luto indígena en Acción de Gracias
LOCALES - 11/23/2007
Judith Torrea (Click on the picture for larger image)

http://www.eldiariony.com/noticias/detail.aspx?section=17&desc=Locales&id=1760582

(you can leave a comment at the link)

NUEVA YORK — Sin un pavo ni nada que recuerde que ayer la mayoría de los estadounidenses celebraron Acción de Gracias, Roberto Borrero honró a los indígenas que fueron masacrados cuando los colonizadores británicos llegaron a este país.

Es la otra cara de la historia —la que nunca se cuenta en los libros de texto de las escuelas escritos con la visión de los ganadores— la que conmemoró Roberto Barrero, nacido en El Barrio, de origen Taíno (los indígenas de Puerto Rico y del Caribe), la que poco a poco seduce a más personas.

“Si no celebramos las persecuciones de Adolf Hitler, ¿por qué debemos de celebrar la matanza de nuestros pueblos nativoamericanos? ¿Es que somos menos que los otros? Este día es un día de duelo y reflexión donde se muestra la injusticia global hacia las comunidades indígenas”, explicó Roberto Borrero, miembro de United Confederation of Taíno People (confederación unida del pueblo taíno).

Ayer, en casa de Borrero y su esposa Joselyn, y sus pequeños Nakota (“alguien a que le gusta hacer amigos”, en lengua Dakota) y Mainaku (“jardín sagrado” en Taíno) se abrió un espacio para el recuerdo en torno a una ceremonia. Para ellos, es el Día del Duelo Indígena. “Los mismos parámetros que se utilizan ahora para construir un muro en la frontera con México, en lugar de hacerlo con la de Canadá, se remontan al origen de cómo se percibe a los pueblos indígenas”, explicó Borrero.

Para mostrar la historia de la voz arrebatada, organizaciones como Harlem River Ecology Center descubren las tradiciones de los pueblos nativoamericanos, los que primero habitaron estas tierras. Una jornada de artesanía, con danzas indígenas, la construcción de un Tipi (cabaña) o la degustación de comida tradicional –como la celebrada el sábado- permite a las familias valorar al pueblo indígena.

“Es importante conocer la riqueza de las comunidades indígenas en este país, como la de todos los pueblos. Yo también soy inmigrante”, manifestó Ludger K. Balan, fundador de Harlem River Ecology Center. En las escuelas de la ciudad de Nueva York, la mayoría de los niños aprenden una versión de la historia y para ellos, el Día de Acción de Gracias es la celebración de una cena iniciada por los colonos de Plymouth (Massachussets) en 1621, donde los colonos británicos dieron gracias a los nativos de la zona, los wampanoags, por haberles enseñado lo que necesitaban para sobrevivir en esta nueva tierra.

“La perspectiva indígena es una que las escuelas pueden decidir presentar a sus estudiantes. Enseñar el contexto histórico y cultural de celebraciones americanas está contemplado dentro de los lineamientos de la enseñanza de estudios sociales, pero queda a discreción de las escuelas decidir que programa específico utilizar”, dijo Maibe González Fuentes, portavoz del Departamento de Educación de la ciudad de Nueva York.

Rodeado de un oasis de encuentro con la naturaleza, en el sur de El Bronx, llamado Brook Park, Roberto Borrero divisa el futuro mirando hacia las entrañas del pasado.

“Debemos seguir trabajando para que las escuelas enseñen la historia de los pueblos indígenas. La opresión actual es reflejo del desconocimiento del pasado”, apuntó Borrero.

FoBP Holiday Annual Appeal

November 2007

Dear Friend of Brook Park:

Once again the Holidays beckon and as usual FoBP is asking you to remember us with your year-end gift. In our advocacy and programming we have achieved many goals as well as being recognized for our excellence – citywide.

Some of the highlights include:

Our leadership, deft strategy and tireless persistence led to an exemplary victory -- the preservation of 26 acres of public parkland on Randall's Island, by defeating the Giuliani-era "waterpark" that many said was a "done deal".

We have served hundreds of youth with our unique environmental educational programming, on land and the waters, hosted indigenous cultural activities that draw world-renowned facilitators and guests and sponsored special events, like the recent Halloween safe haven with Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito and the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation.

FoBP is recognized as a leader in grass-roots visioning and planning, with our Director receiving a Certificate of Recognition through the Yolanda Garcia Community Planner Award of the prestigious Municipal Art Society.

There’s much, much more to write about but you can go to our website and blog for the latest updates, http://www.friendsofbrookpark.org/blog or you can join us for one of our events to see what everyone is talking about.

Your contribution now will ensure the continuation of the initiatives mentioned above and many other FoBP activities that contribute to the quality of life of so many in The South, South Bronx and the entire New York City region. And, if your employer provides matching gifts for its employee contributions, inquire in your office as to how they can add to your support for FoBP. You can donate directly hre:

Friends of Brook Park
PO Box 801
The South, South Bronx, NY 10454

With continuing best wishes during this Holiday Season.

Sincerely,


Harry J. Bubbins
Director

P.S. Please share this with your friends and family with a note of your experiences with us.

If you have further ideas about hw we can generate more resources for our efforts, and want to get involved, contact me today!

646.206.5288

All Things Parks and Environmental

If you are in NYC, please attend....

You can ask/tell the Bronx parks Commissioner as a Friend of Brook Park!

*Move forward with the community design for Brook Park, with the underground
brook, labyrinth, fruit trees and outdoor classroom

*Move forward the south bronx waterfront park on the Harlem River


(Thank Helen Foster for helping to stop the randall's island waterpark)

__________________________________________________________
You are invited to an evening of. All Things Parks and Environmental

Weds, Nov. 14th 6 - 9 PM

Vladeck Hall of historic Amalgamated Housing Cooperative

74 Van Cortlandt Park South, Hillman Avenue Entrance

Appetizers, Finger Food, and Refreshments will be served

Three prominent Bronx Environmentalists as our Guest Speakers :

a.. Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector M. Aponte
a.. Council Member Helen D. Foster, 16 CD (Parks Chair)
a.. Assemblyman Jeffrey M. Dinowitz, 81 AD
Co-sponsored with the Friends of Van Cortlandt Park
For more information, directions or to RSVP, please e-mail:
Karen.Argenti@bceq.org or Christina@vancortlandt.org or call (718)
601-1460

Halloween party success!

We hosted over 300 people for our Halloween party in partnership with Council Member Melissa Mark Viverito. The garden was decked out with hay bails and over 50 pumpkins for the youth to carve and decorate, thanks to the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation. There was apple bobbing with apples purchased form our CSA project, face painting, games and music. Thanks also to Freedom Community Resource Center, and Pueblo En Marcha and all of our volunteers.