Hello again, MTDubberz! Hope you had an awesome weekend! We're back with another installment of Mover Monday! Today's post comes from Anya Warburg, a PeaceMover in New York. Keep in mind while reading that Anya's story takes place before Move This World's rebrand.
As the Dance 4 Peace annual summit back in September came to a close, Katie told me, “Anya, you have a class. It’s a high school in the Bronx. It starts next week.”
My heart pounded at the thought of actually walking into a classroom to apply this incredibly meaningful curriculum. The theme of the weekend washed over me like a tidal wave: This is real.
Only a month ago I moved from Los Angeles, where I just finished a very challenging year implementing a similar theatre based program at a high school in South Central. I couldn’t help but wonder if I was ready to start all over again. What if I couldn’t do this program justice? What if they didn’t like me? Why did I think I was cut out for this? What if it was just something I wanted to be good at?
A week later, I walked into Bronxwood Preparatory Academy's four story campus gripping tight to the agenda in my hand, running through management techniques and best practices in my head, and tucking the raging nerves and insecurities neatly behind my D4P t-shirt and a smile. I should mention that this was an after school program, so the other lingering fear was, of course, that no one would show up. As Ms. Tirado, the teacher paired with my group, and I stood in the crowded hallway cheerleading Dance 4 Peace, the unmistakable energy of teenage freedom just after the bell rings poured through the building.
“Are you coming to dance?”
“Dance 4 peace!”
“Come to dance!”
The general response was not looking good for attendance when suddenly a young girl appeared in the doorway and quietly but enthusiastically asked, “Are you the dance teacher?”
She went on to tell me that she was "basically the best dancer in the 8th grade last year, even though no one believed her but then she performed in a talent show and proved the haters wrong." She continued, showing me some free style hip-hop moves right there in the classroom as we waited for other participants to show up. In that small moment, my heart became light for the first time all day and suddenly I felt ready. I was present, and every worry hanging over me washed away, because something clicked. Something that I already knew but still struggle to remember: IT IS NOT ABOUT ME! It is about the work. It is about the participants. It is about the movement.
That day and every day since, we never had more than six participants, but those six people wanted to be there, believed in creating cultures of peace, and knew they could change the world for the better.
The girls were only in the 9th grade, but I learned so much from them. Not to say there weren’t challenges; every session wasn't perfect, but overall I feel incredibly lucky. I hope to know those young ladies for a very long time and I can’t wait to see what they do with the future of the world.
Anya Warburg