Description: This workshop is a skill-up space to share everyday practices we use to de-escalate ourselves, others, and reduce harm in our environments and interpersonal relationships. We will use real scenarios specific to arts and cultural organizations, community spaces and public space to equip ourselves with principles and tools of de-escalation and harm-reduction. We will use the workshop as a space for embodied practice and reflection with the overall framework of abolition.
What to expect: This workshop will be based in popular education and require participants to see themselves as a source of knowledge, recollect and practice sharing experiences to inform a larger body of best practices in de-escalation and harm reduction. Principles from Community Alternatives To 911 on de-escalation will be shared, as well as mediation practices informed by training with Transformative Justice Practitioners at Chuco's Justice Center, Mariame Kaba, Vision Change Win, and through Interrupting Criminalization. Participants will be asked to consider their strategies from an abolitionist framework, and will be encouraged to find commonalities and build ongoing practice spaces outside of the workshop. Discomfort may arise given there is no expertise or model that fits all scenarios.
Bio: Shabina values interdependence, care work, and practices creative justice through collaborative interventions, direct action, and believes in working towards a world where we have choices. Her practices and work are informed by histories of disability and transformative justice, transnational feminisms, abolition and are rooted in love. She practices relationship building between people and non-human life as a gardener, aims to build reciprocal relationships with surrounding flora and fauna, neighbors, and loved ones spends much of her time co-regulating with trees
Safety protocols: Masks are required at this event and our Button Buddy system will be used. A rolling garage door will be open to promote fresh airflow in the space.
Consent will be acquired for sharing personal participant information and images.
We will be re-enacting, and embodying both escalation and de-escalation, please bring items and to help you with potential triggers, and practice being accountable for your participation. Ex: Essential Oils, Grounding stones or amulets, breathing practices.
Accessibility Note: Robinson S.P.A.C.E. is wheelchair accessible, including bathrooms and an outdoor space. All physical movement will be optional. Workshop will be in English. Please contact pieterpasd@gmail.com for any access questions or needs.
About JAS Club Presents: JAS Club Presents is a series of monthly trainings intended to hone the anti-violence and community safety skills of LA’s dancers, artists, and healers. At Pieter, we believe that safety facilitates embodiment, and that taking care of one another is a choreography we can all learn. Trainings are designed for people who organize or staff art & performance-based events, programs, and parties in LA with the hope that our learning will ripple across each of our communities through ongoing practice.
This series is guided by the work of Pieter’s Justice, Accountability, & Safety (JAS) Club, made up of staff, board members, teaching artists & other stakeholders committed to shifting the culture of Pieter to center the needs of queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, & disabled dancers.
Image of Shabina Toorawa by Matazi Weathers