Keep Mt Shasta Ecstatic Dance Alive 4 Community
Donation protected
Sound Sovereignty:
Mt Shasta Ecstatic Dance plays a vital role in our small mountain community, offering a weekly drug and alcohol-free, all-ages dance for well-being and supportive connections. We have been on-going since 2015 in various forms, always dependent upon borrowed sound equipment. For video and cost breakdown - scroll down. We are also open to equipment donation (excellent condition) in leu of funds.
It has become clear that our community will benefit from owning its own sound equipment. Sound Sovereignty means that we will be able to continue offering our weekly Thursday ecstatic dance, without the possibility that an equipment owner will suddenly make their equipment unavailable, leaving us stranded or scrambling from week to week. We will be able to better manage the storage and timing access of this equipment, better able to hold our events in a reliable and professional way, and create the strength to continue through potential adversity of change.
Value to the community:
- We welcome anyone who wants to move to music. We have simple guidelines we ask all to follow, here.
- We create an environment that encourages healthy exercise, body awareness and acceptance, creative expression, emotional expression, boost of feel-good neurochemistry, and community participation and connection via music and a format inspired by Gabrielle Roth's 5Rhythms (not facilitated as 5Rhythms).
- Many tell us that ecstatic dance is their weekly "savior", getting them to be with others, bringing them to a place of energized calm, centered, mind and heart open coherence, and for some - literally giving them more hope to live each day.
- A positive, sober and safe environment alternative to night clubs and bars.
- An opportunity to help each other thrive in their small businesses and living needs through supportive circle and connections.
- High spirited fun!
Get an idea of our dance in this video:
Financial profile of the community:
- Population in the entire Siskyou County of approximately 39,200,00, *
- 14% of the population in poverty *
- Median per capita income in past 12 months (in 2019 dollars) of $28,615 ($36,955 being the median for the state of California) *
- Our dance asks for a donation sliding scale of $10-20, suggesting $15 per person (children free) to help cover our rent, DJ base fee and incidental expenses.
- Our average dancer pays $10 so they can attend more often and keep within their budgets.
- After a year of difficult transitions from Covid-related venue changes, to cancellations due to fire smoke, to equipment needs, our expenses rose from saving about $1200 in 2020 + spring 2021 to spending about $1500 on new floor for outdoor venue change and new cables for more speakers.
THE DEAL:
In order to maintain the integrity of the dance, we will make public statements about the dance equipment belonging to the Mt Shasta group of ecstatic dancers for the use of ecstatic dances, along with provisions to disperse the equipment for community service projects if ecstatic dance eventually ends. Equipment would be donated in such circumstances, except that any equipment that needed to be sold to cover any potential but rare debt at the time (such as rent, DJ fees, personal expenditure of needed dance equipment), would be sold to cover debt and the remainder of the equipment donated.
Ideal Equipment Breakdown:
Here's a list with links to options for the main components we'd need to add with what we already have to get our Sovereign Soundsystem operational. This is using the existing speaker stands and the subwoofer that belong to the dance. This doesn't include any microphones.
The total to get operational with these exact components is $1,670 (Not including shipping charges/tax). We are not attached to these specific pieces of equipment, they are examples of a mid range system. Not the best, but not the cheapest, yet can last.
Speakers with Bags = $1270
8 Channel Mixer = $200
5 Pack 20 ft XLR Cables = $120
Laptop stand = $90
Taxes approx = $133
Total estimated = $1,814
Ideal Equipment Breakdown:
Here's a list with links to options for the main components we'd need to add with what we already have to get our Sovereign Soundsystem operational. This is using the existing speaker stands and the subwoofer that belong to the dance. This doesn't include any microphones.
The total to get operational with these exact components is $1,670 (Not including shipping charges/tax). We are not attached to these specific pieces of equipment, they are examples of a mid range system. Not the best, but not the cheapest, yet can last.
Speakers with Bags = $1270
8 Channel Mixer = $200
5 Pack 20 ft XLR Cables = $120
Laptop stand = $90
Taxes approx = $133
Total estimated = $1,814
We are also open to equipment donation (excellent condition) in leu of funds. Contact us at [email redacted]
Our team: Blissa (finances), Damien (sound), Megan (promo), myself (Elizabeth/Lisa) (graphics and a bit of everything).
Our team: Blissa (finances), Damien (sound), Megan (promo), myself (Elizabeth/Lisa) (graphics and a bit of everything).
Our volunteers (esp. Cody, Taiyo, Brendan for their long, consistent service)
And our dancers!
We all thank you in advance, with ecstatic hearts!!
And our dancers!
We all thank you in advance, with ecstatic hearts!!
Co-organizers (3)
Bee Well Hive NFP
Organizer
Mount Shasta, CA
Damien Balderrama
Co-organizer
Blissa Nizzoli
Co-organizer