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the bay, ca song circle with ahlay blakely
November 20 @ 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
ahlay teaches songs call & echo. Singing is a birthright and all levels of experience are welcome (including no experience). These songs are sung together collectively as invitations to move stagnated emotions in the body and to be in our bodies as we notice what arises for us as we sing together. Ahlay’s song container invokes connection that serves as a catalyst to digest topics in our culture, and movements for collective liberation.
Come sing some unreleased songs, some old ones and some from the new album WAILS: Songs for Grief.
No matter your gender, sexual orientation, religion, spirituality, abilities, race, housing status, or other unnamed things, you are welcome here.
Arrive and settle in:
6:30-7:00pm
Song container:
7:00-9:00pm
Cost:
$22-66 sliding scale (All sales 100% final)
Thank you for finding the sweet spot that’s both generous & affordable for you! Your support covers ahlay’s travel and allows this medicine to keep serving the collective.
(( If this range is not accessible, please reach out — no one will be turned away for lack of funds. ))
Children are welcome to attend (for free) and play on the periphery of circle / join the circle in singing (please be mindful of distractions).
This circle takes place on the Land of the Karkin and Chochenyo Ohlone People
Accessibility:
Fully accessible building.
Parking:
there is free street parking around the venue space. It is close to MacArthur BART stop (north oakland) so people can use public transportation.
Community care:
This event is an indoor event with up to 140 people. Please come without Covid symptoms. You are welcome to mask and distance to your own comfort level.
What to bring:
Water bottle
Any cushions, blankets, and layers to help your body feel comfortable
Contact your host: [email protected]
ABOUT ARTIST:
ahlay (alexandra blakely) is a dreamer of Whale, Tsunami, and Rain, an apprentice to Lightning and Fire, an artist, singer-songwriter, community organizer and soul guide in training. She is a descendent of Ashkenazi, Scandinavian and British folk and a commitment to breaking the cycles of intergenerational trauma both caused and endured by her ancestors. This commitment unfolds through the mediums of authentic relationship, song and storytelling, ritual and spell casting in ways that acknowledge our varied and intricate histories and identities, emphasizing a devotion to remembering our symbiotic relationship within the natural world.
ahlay has been deeply involved in community activism, communal grief tending and community singing. She is a lifelong student of decolonization, anti-racism and her own ancestral deracination preceeding diasporas. She gets curious about how the individual psyche, embodiment, shadow and trauma responses can be applied to collective and cultural bodies. She has trained with generative somatics, Education for Racial Equity, Animas Valley Institute, The Work that Reconnects, Holistic Resistance, Francis Weller and Laurence Cole. Her community singing albums encapsulate songs for the community to transform, ask questions, and seek to lead lives in service to the future ones. Her 2024 community singing album, WAILS: Songs for Grief was just released on 9.24.24 and recorded with a choir of 200 voices.
To stay informed about her ongoing offerings, sign up for her monthly newsletter.