Ritual VI

Reunion: Elegy for Erica

Grounding

Speak these words. 

Return to them again and again. 

Speak these words. 

Let them work on you. 

Director Niegel Smith offers today’s grounding.

Mantras

I am compassionate and vulnerable, and move in love.

I am connected to all life, and come together with others for the good of humanity.

Questions

Might it be possible for us to come together?
Why or why not?
Who/what is served by our aversion to it?
What/who might we support or be supported by to overcome that separation?
How might we claim reunion & integration with one another—and ourselves?
These questions are offered by the Black Liberation Collective. View their Liberation Vocabulary, crafted to accompany the project.

Recitation & Procession

Today we continue to practice our rituals in community.
We will gather in front of the Hopkins Center for the Arts (the plaza on East Wheelock St.) at 6:45 PM.

If you are unable to join us, you can modify this prompt to do in a small group or solo before arriving at Spaulding Auditorium. 

  • Make a copy of the libretto from Movement 7 or pull it up on your portable device

  • On your way to The Ritual of Breathe Is the Rite to Resist meet up with another person or a group

  • Gather the group together, and, outloud, read the libretto for Movementt 7

  • When the text asks you to pause for breath, take a deep breath

We are breathing into this moment 

with you in mind.

[pause for breath] 

We claim your breath and ours and

we will never stop

[pause]

we will never stop

taking up each other’s breath. 

[pause for breath]

Lifting from the body the spirit that made you brave,

the spirit that makes us so much more than they 

could know,

[pause for breath]

those who would silence you if they could

but they cannot. 

[pause for breath]

The last word is ours. 

[pause for breath]

So many have died,

But we will hold their names.  

[pause for breath]

Many more will live to

to stop this. There’s no telling

what we won’t do. For those 

who no longer breathe but tonight

we breathe in. We breathe out.

[pause for breath]

Together, we will 

breathe forever. 

As a group, walk in contemplation to the venue