Climbing Poetree @ La Peña Benefit for Common Fire and Be Present

Spoken Word/Benefit with Special Guests: Climbing PoeTree

The event was wonderful! These are photos of the many artists who shared tonight. There is a Be Present Support Group Development Meeting for anyone interested in forming or joining a Be Present Peer Led Support Group at the Cancer Resource Center, 5741 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609, 1-4 PM For information call: (510) 551-6043.

The evening was an opportunity to share goodwill and love with all present--there was no third wall as poets and singers and musicians and dancers opened or cleared the passages or barriers which often keep interpersonal truth from manifesting. There was a gift shop boutique-thing happening with Climbing Poetree tee-shirts and jewelery by Demetra available.

Alixa and Naima was at the end of a tour which took them to Detroit to the World Social Forum which they said was a wonderful gathering. Alixa's voice was scatchy she said as she stayed close to the mic as she play a flute and recited with Naima who danced and performed. I didn't know most of the other performers and found all of them marvelous, especially Nikila Badua who performed with her son, who played cello with bare feet--the two of them weaving words and melodies dedicated to Leonard Peltier, Native political prisoner.

There are photos of Badua and son here. Afterward Badua created a work of art on stage as other artists performed, her son included with the next artist who played percussion instruments from throughout the world and sang songs in Yoruba calling on Elegua to open the way as he then journeyed to New Zealand where he shared a son from the Maori tradition. He closed with a call and response song performed on djembe.

Circles became more defined as eyes and noses were inserted, Badua's painting emerging from the semi dark stage...the image of a woman and child...perhaps a mother goddess.

After the intermission Climbingng PoeTree performed a long excerpt from their Hurricane Season which they traveled cross country with last year with stops in Berkeley and San Francisco and San Jose. They did a long excerpt from the work which is going to be a multi-media work on sustainable art/media projects that speak to socio-political environmental issues as all Climbing PoeTree's work does, even love poems, which the two also performed.

It was a fun evening of creative networking and rejuvenation as we said a prayer for Oscar Grant's family, especially his mother, Wanda Johnson.

Climbing PoeTree is the expression of a growing movement for radical social change. Alixa and Naima have sharpened their art as a tool for popular education, community organizing, and personal transformation. With roots in Haiti and Colombia, Alixa and Naima reside in Brooklyn and track footprints across the country and globe on a mission to overcome destruction with creativity.

Richelle Evelyn Sigele Donigan's creativity reveals itself as she moves. It erupts and subsides like lightning in a storm. She has performed with Seal, Prince, and Alice Walker. Now home again in the Bay Area, she performs with the Dance Brigade, and is an active part of Common Fire West and Be Present.

Common Fire and Be Present are nonprofit organizations helping people to live our dreams for wholeness, justice and sustainability. We invite you to learn about our community building work here in the Bay Area. We are thrilled to have such inspiring visionary artists as Alixa, Naima and Richelle as supporters and partners and are proud to bring them back to La Peña for this incredible evening. Their show sold out here before - don't miss your opportunity this time!