Calling culturally specific artists, healers, and organizers into the GEM ensemble to support fat and disabled leadership in the us south!
Get Embodied Soul Movement (GEM)
GEM is an arts and culture incubator rooted in Black American and Pan African principles for personal transformation, leadership development that centers the knowledge and wisdom imbued to those of us most impacted by body fascism .
Body Fascism as defined by Da’Shaun Harrison is “the promotion of an "ideal" body type as a symbol of patriotism —conceived of as the pinnacle of health, discipline, credibility, and worth—in service of a nationalist agenda, while "non-ideal" bodies experience increased violence and erasure.”
GEM is a container that honors the realities of creating, dreaming, innovating, paying for basic needs, protecting technologies and knowledge, and network making across access needs, race, class, and gender - all under body fascism. especially for artists, healers, and organizers who have been historically left out of ‘main stream, body essentialist, developmental processes like residencies, fellowships, academies and certification programs OR artists, healers, and organizers who find themselves struggling to navigate these types of developmental environments and processes. At GEM, we endeavor to build our own network of FAT and DISABLED makers, writers, dancers, mystics, ritualist, culture workers, creative directors, curators, trainers and teachers, and opportunities & practices to develop and showcase our talents and cultivate our brilliance.
through artistic and creative public offerings, group and teams based consulting and coaching, and project or community based paradigm shifting training - GEM is a hub for the directly impacted divergent body and those that serve and or work with us, to offer and receive the incredible world that is possible when divergent bodies are at the helm and working from a place where our true genius can be explored, gain momentum, and soar.
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The Get Embodied Soul Dance class (formerly All Bodies Centered (ABC) Soul Dance class) started in February 2016 as a dance space to center big bodied, curvy, plus size, BBW/BHM, fat* and all ranges of larger body sizes, people with disabilities and those with chronic illness, pain, and other bodily challenges that make movement spaces difficult and often, unsafe.
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We see a world where embodied Fat, Black, and Disabled people are leading wellness and artistic efforts on their own terms without the oppressive influences of ableism, racism, healthism, sizeism, and cis-sexism.
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The mission of Get Embodied Soul Movement is to support the leadership and creative brilliance of Fat, Black(IPOC) people and Disabled Black (IPOC) people to create, lead, and take up space in their work environments and community.
We seek to increase access to healing, wellness, and the joy of movement, through practices and tools that are rooted in Pan African teachings that are inherently disability justice and healing justice centered. We work to reimagine how to lead and show up fully for ourselves and others without the pressure to change our bodies in order to access care, community, and leadership opportunities.
We create accessible spiritual, creative, and wellness spaces that center Fat, Black(IPOC), and Disabled people in their own narrative about health, well-being, leadership, liberation, and joy.
GEM Values
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The body is sovereign.
We honor our bodies in all of it’s versions and respect it by being in partnership, not at war with it.
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Wellness spans disability, size, race, and class.
We must be invested in a concept of wellness that does not require us to reach goals that put us at war with y/our race, size, or disabilit(y/ies).
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Joy is a personal, sacred state.
We will engage in practices that support us in being with our pain, suffering, discomfort, and grief in ways that allow space for joy, but not at the expense of our dignity nor to negate the challenges of the human condition.
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Play is an access point to creativity, spaciousness, and connection.
We prioritize staying curious about our body’s limits and allow that to influence our way through theory and practice.
