Facilitators: Nguyen Nguyen & Joyce Lu
Cost: Free; RSVP required
Description: Join us for a guided Movement Choir, then help tend to and decorate the Pieter plot and the adjacent Aloha Lounge at the El Sereno Community Garden. We will come together in the garden just days after the Autumn Equinox, between two powerful lunar eclipses, to plant seeds for the season to come. We will also orient volunteers who are interested in providing ongoing stewardship to the Pieter garden plot.
Flocking/Movement Choir is a structured movement improvisation that allows us to enjoy a personal somatic experience while also connecting to one another through kinesthetic empathy. We take opportunities to listen, follow, support, and lead each other, sharing a collective dance and taking inspiration from the spirits of the landscape, the murmurations of birds, shoaling of fish, and mycorrhizal networks.
What to Bring/Expect: Please bring water, a sunhat, snacks to share, clippers, seeds/seedlings, gloves, &/or garden decorations. Wear comfortable clothing and shoes to move around in, and that you won’t mind getting dirty.
About the Garden: The Pieter Garden Plot was started in autumn of 2020 in the early days of the COVID pandemic, shortly after Pieter was forced to shut the doors of its original Lincoln Heights studio. Members of the Pieter community expressed a desire for an outdoor physical location that would allow us to safely gather and share space. Some wanted to plant food, some wanted to plant memories of those we have lost, and some wanted to plant seeds of hope during difficult times. Over the last four years, the El Sereno Community Garden has provided Pieter members with a plot to plant what they want, but the large communal space also provided opportunities for Pieter members to move and share in collective labor in an outdoor space with a strong community and values.
Bios: Joyce Lu has been enjoying learning life lessons from tending the Pieter garden plot at ESCG. She started practicing Wu-style taijiquan with Patricia Leong in Hawai’i in 1996. From 2000-2007 she studied Yang and Chen styles with Hong Mei Zhang at Pacific Wushu in San Francisco, and she currently studies with An Guang Sun at the Tai Chi Academy of Los Angeles in Alhambra. Joyce is also a certified Feldenkrais Method practitioner and she integrates this work into her taiji classes for seniors at Villa Gardens in Pasadena. She is also pursuing a certification in Tai Chi for Health which is a methodology created by Paul Lam.
Nguyên Nguyên (he/him) is a choreographer and dance educator based in Los Angeles. Nguyên was born in Vietnam and came to the United States as a refugee. Nguyên was a Regents Scholar at UCLA and graduated with a B.S. in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and an MFA in Dance and Choreography at UCLA's Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. His work has been presented at REDCAT’s NOW Festival, The Martha B. Knoebel Dance Theatre, Landis Performing Arts Center, Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, American College Dance Festival, the Guangdong and Beijing International Dance Festival in China, and the International Performance Arts Festival in Thailand. Nguyen was a founding member of Los Angeles Movement Arts and was dance company member of David Rousseve’s REALITY, Maria Gillespies’s ONIDANCE, and Holly Johnston’s Ledges and Bones. He was a performer in the intercultural dance theater work “Soil’ and toured internationally with Michael Sakamoto, Waewdao Sirisook and Chey Chankethya. Nguyen has performed in works by Cheng-Chieh Yu, Heidi Duckler, Katsura Kan, Taisha Paggett, Kevin Williamson and Simone Forti. Nguyên was on faculty at Santa Monica College and Cal State LA. He has taught as a guest at UCLA, LMU, CSULB, Riverside CC, University of Maryland, Montclair State University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and University of Iowa. Nguyên is currently on faculty at RenArts Academy in Glassell Park and is a member of The Rock Collection.
Accessibility: The El Sereno Community Garden is an outdoor space with some uneven and rocky terrain that can be navigated via paved pathways. There is an entrance with a ramp on Huntington Drive that leads directly to the garden plots, which are all dirt ground. There is a portapotty near the entrance on Shelley Street that can accommodate wheelchairs and mobility devices. There are benches located throughout the garden if you need to sit and rest. If you have questions about accessibility, please email pieterprograms@gmail.com
Parking: Free street parking on Huntington Drive and surrounding streets. There are two entrances along Huntington Drive.