Dominique Gabella was one of those teachers for me, and she might not know it.  During my time as a volunteer director for Seeds of Compassion, I was always a little frazzled.  We were building a movement from scratch — we never had enough money and never enough time.   A project that started as a small three day conference took up momentum and transformed into concerts, stadium events, and five days of activities.  We were asking people to donate their talents as volunteers and trying to use everyone’s amazing skills to capacity.  Needless to say, I was stressed, and often falling into a less than compassionate mindset.

Enter Dominique.

Dominique joined the Seeds of Compassion volunteer team early on.  An accomplished dancer and the expertise of a woman who had run her own company for years wrapped in beautiful long hair and a European disposition.  I came across hundreds of amazing volunteers during my work, but Dominique was uniquely helpful to me.   She would walk right across a buzzing room, look me in the eye, and ask with quiet simplicity — “how can i help you?” At moments it gave me such relief I could cry.  She came in several days a week, and did whatever needed to be done without pretense.  The woman probably should have been doing my job since she was a businesswoman who had run a company for years with mostly volunteers — her skills were so far above the work she would do for me.  She organized my volunteer forms, answered emails I couldn’t get to, researched random tasks I had promised to others but had not yet begun.  Honestly, it was grunt work.

But she would smile, take the project from my hands, and glide across the room to return later with a perfect task completed.  Never a complaint.  Never a critique.  Never a drop of ego.  She went on to run one of our biggest campaign — What Does Compassion Look Like.  Working with students and teachers and hundreds of art pieces.  She would arrive early in the morning to set up the artwork, return late in the night to take it all down.  She held each piece like treasure — delicate and golden.

Recounting her help to the project, is not what made her so special.  First, it is no secret that I love to dance.  In fact, in my next life — I’ll devote myself to it.   So, to just have a professional dancer around was wonderful.  The dance lives throughout a dancer’s entire body –  just watch Dominique pick up a pencil or glide across a room.  She is graceful and strong, and to me, that is a deadly combination.  Sometimes, late in the afternoon, when just a few of us were left, she would tell amazing stories of Switzerland or a past show she had done, or her current project she was working on, and just hearing her talk makes you feel like more of an artist.

Second, she was the embodiment of compassion.  She was not always treated with care.  We were all racing with high expectation and she was given several difficult challenges and high maintenance clients — but she always calm, focused, and joyful.  I don’t know how she did it.  I guess that is why I liked having her around.  You couldn’t help but slow down — her personality emanated the energy — “you are going to be fine”  “we are doing the best we can”  “you know this can actually be fun”.  I wanted so desperately to have that kind of presence in my leadership and management (I think the use of the word “desperately” proves I have not yet mastered the skill). I attribute her style to her European upbringing or a life in the theater, but also to her individual soul.

I haven’t seen her much since our project ended, but got an email this morning with a link to an article about her from KUOW about “Old Masters”.   How lucky we are to have teachers and friends who dance into our lives when they are so needed — making us better just by their presence.

Listen to Dominique’s story and look at some of the amazing photos in the slideshow.

Dominique Gabella, Dancer

Friday, April 10, 2009

Dominique Gabella can’t imagine her world without dance. She said that is “like silk; it’s an ingredient of my life.” Gabella has been a professional dancer for more than 40 years. Unfortunately, the older she gets, the less her body is able to cooperate with her creative spirit. Today we continue our weekly series “Old Masters.” It’s about how art shapes artists, and how age influences their art. KUOW’s Marcie Sillman introduces us to a woman who says age won’t keep her from the artform she loves.

• Slideshow of Photos
• Interview  – Real Audio and MP3
• Next Stage Dance Theater
  

Cheers to the dancer in all of us.

Prayer

by Galway Kinnell

Whatever happens. Whatever
what is is what
I want. Only that. But that.

CAYAMO!
I haven’t written about anything for awhile but I want to send my thanks to Laura for getting us a room on this cruise. I haven’t had so much fun in years!

Top of the list:

• Snorkeling
• Great musicians!
• Blue water (so blue that I couldn’t get over it)
• A giant boat with 10 restaurants
• Snorkeling!

I have never seen coral in the ocean – live, up close and personal. I didn’t know that it came in brain versions and purple fan versions. Because I love flower photography, because the color is both extreme and natural at the same time, I was mezmorized by the coral and the fish that had every stripe of the rainbow in them.

There were several memorable moments snorkeling: One was seeing a live octopus, another was being followed by a school of striped fish for the entire time we were in the water, and lastly was watching a school of silver shimmers float ahead of me while the tide pushed them around into strange and elegant formations.

Each day we arrived back to the boat to see, not only music, but some favorite musicians. Our lineup of number ones was the Indigo Girls, Brandi Carlile and Patty Griffin. We luckily managed to see all of them several times in the seven days at sea which was truely ‘totally awesome’.

Then we caught a few acts late at night, like everyone else, joining the exhilarated crowds looking for an opportunity to witness performers inviting favorite performers onstage with them. My heart is still sitting on the floor with a cheap camera shooting video of Vienna Teng and Brandi Carlile doing a lovely rendition of ‘Let It Be’.

I was a little overwhelmed by the experience of this cruise. I guess that is why I have to apologize to Brandi Carlile. As everyone was heading off the boat and dragging they’re luggage behind them, Laura and I happened to be hoping for an elevator. She was waiting nearby for one or two of four doors to open, I was at door number four. At that moment it opened and there stood Brandi Carlile and entourage heading to the exit with luggage. I sincerely wanted to thank her – for her music, her shows and her love of singing and supporting other musicians.

So, of course I said, ‘Hey Brittany – thanks…’ – for everything.

She kind of scowled at me.

The elevator doors closed and I realized I had called her Brittany too late to take it back. I have been tortured by that moment for two weeks now. I have also laughed about it in the parking lot of an Everglades overlook with Laura to the point of physical disability and tears. We couldn’t drive our rental out of the lot.

So, sorry Brandi Carlile. I called you Brittany. I was nervous. Sorry.

But the real star finds of the cruise were the lesser known artists playing into the wee hours of the morning.  You could find them in the atrium, lounges, and out by the pool playing away.  Many of them really had a unique talent, creative use of instrument, and above all you could feel their passion for music.  I linked the bands below so you can go to their site — go hear their music and see where they are touring.  Many play local clubs or bars and would be a great evening out.  Here are a few of my new favorites:

• Vienna Teng (honestly, probably my favorite new artist on the cruise, she is a must!)
• The Greencards
• Girlyman
• Oakhurst
• Roddie Romero & the Hub City Allstars
• Katie Herzig

Now take a listen to a single or two:

Michel Eubank Spruance has a great website with her upcoming Retreats, Classes and Services — Check it out!  I was so grateful for the opportunity and for the first time I feel like I “got” why everyone was so transformed by yoga.  Thanks Michel.

But just as important as the yoga retreat was a poem that was read as we began our early morning meditation walk on the beach. I can literally hear myself reciting certain lines occasionally in my mind. Normally, any poem with the word “God” in it sends me running for the hills, but somehow the humor and joy was too hard to resist.

So I’m trying to move my body a little big more, and trying to learn to bend — physically and spiritually. Enjoy.

You are the Sun in drag.
You are God hiding from yourself.
Remove all the ‘mine’ – that is the veil.
Why ever worry about anything?
Listen to what your friend Hafiz
Knows for certain:
The appearance of this world
Is a Magi’s brilliant trick, though its affairs are
Nothing into nothing.
You are a divine elephant with amnesia
Trying to live in an ant
Hole.
Sweetheart, O sweetheart
You are God in Drag!
from The Gift — Hafiz

  Cargo Container Living.

Lapster and I saw a post a few months ago about using cargo containers as a house, and we have been a little obsessed ever since.  So cool.

  DIY: Wine Glass Candle Lampshades.

I think I’ll do this for Lapster’s birthday party in July.

  Blackberry Hints.

I bought my blackberry for a project I just completed, but never had a chance to pimp it out.  Now is my time!

article:

“A city board stunned developers, preservationists and Ballard residents Wednesday by voting 6-3 to designate the boarded-up Denny’s Restaurant at Northwest Market Street and 15th Avenue Northwest a landmark — based largely on the visual punch the structure’s Googie-esque roofline delivers to passing motorists.”

I can’t tell if this is a good idea or a bad one. Besides the building having a hint of ‘Googie’ architectural style, there’s very little left to recommend it. The gentleman who renovated the Majestic Bay Theater just down the street thinks the owners don’t have the interest in making the building live a new life. My question is: Why would you designate a building a landmark and leave it’s future to a disgruntled corporation, in this case, the venerable Benaroya Companies? They wanted to to sell the property for condominium development.

I’ll keep you updated if there’s any kind of news…

My work schedule has taken me away from time to blog, but please take a moment to click through the Bsuit site and admire Lapster’s beautiful new design!  I just love it — clean and sexy.  Thanks for all the great work!  Enjoy.

I wasn’t having fun with it until I found a new Jabber server to link up to (xochat.org).

Now, I have a community! We’re all hippy gadget freaks!

The computer is supposed to last for 5 years. Originally, it was supposed to have a crank on the side to juice the device up. That proved problematic and so a battery was installed instead.

It’s very easy to use, and comes with a built in camera, a microphone.

Here are a few links to what it’s all about

• The OLPC Wiki
• Info about the GREEN MACHINE
• The processor designer and 50×15 supporter: AMD

Stay tuned for more…