First Quarter Report to My Shareholders

Dear Friends:

I can't believe I have been at this venture of dancing and living and connecting without a net (aka a full time job) for one full business quarter.

I am grateful to all of you for supporting me in my efforts over the past three months. Some of you gave me money for travel, some of you donated to True Body to support our work, some of you gave me gifts for the girls in Cambodia, and all of you supported me by reading this blog and letting me know that it matters to you. I can't tell you how much all of this has meant to me these past few months.

I am now about ready to jump off the cliff in earnest. My financial resources are depleted while my "possibility" resources are overwhelmingly full. This is the moment of real faith. So here is my report. If any of these things strike you ... as in you think "Oh, I can help with that," or "My friend needs a freelance writer," please let me know. But most of all, keep reading. I appreciate that most of all.

True Body and Transitions Global

I turned 50 in Cambodia on Jan. 23 and kicked off my work with Transitions Global girls on Jan. 24th. We spent every night for a week in workshops together. It was life altering for me and I am hopeful that it made a difference for the girls and for Transitions Global.

As a result, we are creating a workbook for girls who are survivors of sex trafficking and/or other significant traumas. We hope to distribute it widely and make a real difference in trauma therapy, for future girls at Transitions Global and around the world. James Pond, director of Transitions Global, and I will discuss this and more on April 14th at 7 pm at Lululemon, Cincinnati. We will be doing fundraising to help get this workbook to as many girls as possible.

True Body and Teens

We kicked off our spring Teen Class at WWfC. The teens are engaged in a five-week curriculum and will create a blog/website that includes their work. Allison Caller is leading the charge and a wonderful group of guest artists including Radha Chandrashekaran, Tara Poynter, Suzi Istvan and Pattie Byron joining. I will post their work soon!

True Body meets Neuroscience

I was so overwhelmed with Dr. Antonio Damasio's book, SELF COMES TO MIND, that I wrote to him. He agreed to meet with me last week in LA. It was a wonderful meeting where my thoughts about how important the body is to the creation of self and how mind/body patterns work to create wellness or unwellness were met with complete acceptance. I am working on a proposal to further this dialogue with Dr. Damasio to see if we might create a research project that measures posture and movement and correlates it with states of mind.

True Body Workshop for Women

I am conducting a workshop for women next week, hosted by ActThree, entitled the TRUE YOU, FINDING YOUR AUTHENTIC VOICE. I promise you a revelatory time. And fun too. Visit ActThree for info on this April 6th, morning workshop, to be held at the Cincinnati Ballet.

True Body Movement Sessions

While my weekly class at the Yoga Bar (Saturdays at 11) is a great place to start to understand how I approach movement (balance, alignment, patterns - getting smart about your own body to be able do do more in all disciplines of movement and life), I love to have the opportunity to work privately with clients. We can design a session or two to meet you where you are. Call me or write me. We will make it work for you financially and schedule-wise.

Freelance Writing Projects

What has been sustaining me financially is the ability to work on collaborative projects. I have helped CEO's create internal and external communications, done web-based writing, reviewed strategy and created narratives to help position products and services, and facilitated internal workshops to help staff create more compelling writing on behalf of their clients. In short, I love to write and I love to figure stuff out. So if you have something in mind, I would like to have a chance to talk to you about it!

Personal Work - Publishing, Plays, TV

Within the month, my novel NEBRASKA will be available via Amazon and Kindle. Hopefully SWIMMING NAKED too ... am working with the original publisher to sort out the rights for that. THE VIVIAN GIRLS: A MUSICAL, is a semi-finalist for the O'Neill this summer and we wait with crossed fingers to hear about that. I am also waiting to hear back from Samuel French regarding the publication of my play AS WHITE AS O, which premiered in LA in 2009.

Finally, I am working with a lovely and talented and accomplished film and TV director on my pilot script. Next step - it goes to his people for a review. Which is good since I don't have people. Except for you guys, my shareholders, my friends.

Dance

I kicked of my 50th year with a Heather-Britt choreographed dance and a kick-ass party and I have been taking classes in Cincinnati, LA and Asia. I am grateful to my teachers who have met my serious enthusiasm for dance with serious enthusiasm about my dancing. Without this part of my life, all the rest of it would be folly.

Whew.

As you can see, I've been busy. And as I hope you can also see, I am lucky to engage myself in wonderful projects with talented people.

If anything comes to mind for you or you have a question about anything above, send me an email at stacy@truebodyproject.org.

With true gratitude, I'm off to turn possibility into reality in the 2nd quarter of The Year I Danced.