We believe that the insights of the Swiss LGBTIQ+ Panel and the study on the Marriage Equality Referendum have high practical relevance for LGBTIQ+ and cis-heterosexual individuals, people in the educational context, LGBTIQ+ and other non-profit organizations, practitioners, and policymakers aiming at promoting the health and integration of LGBTIQ+ individuals. Therefore, Tabea Hässler and Léïla Eisner are giving talks/workshops at various institutions (Outreach) and interviews for the media (Press).
If you are interested in a talk, workshop or interview with Tabea Hässler and Léïla Eisner, please write an email: email@example.com
Talks and Workshops
Overview of all our outreach activities: Talks and Workshops
- GLL association (school project): Overview of the Research of the Swiss LGBTIQ+ Panel. Talk.
- City of Lausanne (Department of Security and Economy): Ad hoc Consultation on LGBTIQ+ inclusion and hate crimes
- Art Museum in Langenthal: Art (video) show “Liberty, Love, and Loneliness” (Philip Ortelli) for the Kiefer Hablitzel/Göhner Art Prize (Switzerland, March-June 2021). Interview and participation.
Overview of all our mentions in the Press: Press
- Building Bridges Towards Equality, Tabea Hässler, Beyond Conflict (06.2021)
- “Unsere Erkenntnisse sollen genutzt werden”, Tabea Hässler und Léïla Eisner, Display April 2021, S. 48-50
- Hass gegen LGBTIQ+: Beleidigungen, Spott und Ungerechtigkeiten, Tabea Hässler and Léïla Eisner, SRF (11.04.2021)


Because most dark fantasy contains elements of both, this is an oversimplification, but you can roughly classify such stories as belonging to one of two genera: atmospheric fiction that primarily employs hairs-rising-on-the-back-of-the-neck uncanniness (many classic ghost stories and some recent dark fantasy such as Caitlin R. Kiernan’s novels The Red Tree and The Drowning Girl) or gore-and-splatter festivals such as the vast majority of zombie films and the cheesier horror novels.
While some of the stuff I write includes a few grisly scenes that I would advise tender-minded adults and children to skip, in my own reading I prefer the more subtle, atmospheric tale. The character development in the atmospheric stories is generally much better, and, at its best, contains the finest prose you will find in our genre. Stephen King dedicated one of his books to Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House, because Ms King “never had to raise her voice.”
Ms Jackson’s most famous novel, published in 1959, was contemporary fiction at the time, but the story would be harder to write now except as a period piece. (By the way, if you want to see a film version, seek out the black-and-white original The Haunting, not the appalling, dumbed-down remake from a few years back.)
Our society has changed a great deal since Ms Jackson wrote her masterpiece – some of the comments of the male characters would elicit more than strained smiles from contemporary women — but the primary reason that it would be harder to relate the tragic tale of Eleanor at Hill House as contemporary fiction is that our over-connected lives now lack two important ingredients in classic atmospheric horror: quiet and isolation.
To select an example of atmospheric horror that was consciously done as a period piece, consider the plight of the the young Edwardian solicitor in Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black, which is a good example of classic atmospheric horror. (The film, by the way, does not entirely follow the book in that the film version caters to the cheerful, even-the-dog-makes-it sensibilities of American audiences, particularly by tacking on a happy ending that wasn’t there in the original material.)
His employer sends the protagonist on a journey to sort out the complicated financial affairs of a deceased, elderly client. This task will take some time because the old woman’s filing system was to stuff important papers into random spaces throughout her large, cluttered, and dimly lit home, Eel Marsh House, which is located along an especially bleak stretch of British coastline.
The only time you can get to the house or depart from it – something you will want to do, hurriedly, if possible – is at low tide. At all other times, the property is an island.
Not only is the place difficult to get to or leave, but the residents of the nearest village, which isn’t all that near, shun it.
As in life, in fiction bad decisions drive everything, so the solicitor decides to stay in the house by himself while he sorts out his client’s financial chaos. Before long, of course, he starts to hear the sounds of other people– or, at least, what used to be people — in a place where he knows he is utterly alone. Enter the uncanny.
But would this work as a contemporary story? In the Edwardian era, our solicitor-protagonist would not have a television continuously blaring cheerful idiocy the way middle-aged and elderly people do now. He would not have white ear buds blasting bad music into his ears as the contemporary young do.
The past was a different country. It was a damn sight quieter. Our protagonist would hear those soft, impossible, uncanny footsteps. A modern character might not.
And he would be alone. He wouldn’t be able to take a picture of what rises from the graves and use his smart phone to post it on his Facebook page. He wouldn’t be able to tweet to his thousands of “followers” and insist that someone show up in a helicopter with a news crew and a pizza and get him the hell out of there. If he could do those things, his situation would be no more scary than one of those “reality” shows about “ghost hunters.”
The classic atmospheric story works best in quiet and isolation. In that way, the old-style tales are rather like reading and writing fiction.
You can watch a movie or go to a play or a musical performance and share the experience. To read fiction is to take the script, the short story, or the novel and stage it in your head in a way that can’t be shared. You and I may read the same book, but we will stage quite different versions of the play in our heads.
Reading a book is still, thank God, a private experience, one of the few remaining on this over-connected planet where corporate software monitors and records our every click and keystroke and gesture.
I appreciate a writer who writes for that solitary reader who wants to unplug and drop out and not talk to or be watched by anybody, at least for a little while.


Continue ahead and read about some great money-saving interior design projects you can work on yourself.
An excellent suggestion when it comes to home renovation is always considering the room’s usage. If you are decorating a den that will be used often, don’t make the mistake of using elegant furniture or flooring that will wear too easily. You would not be able to use those colors in a den.
You can also put some new and innovative designs in your rooms. Keeping up with trends makes your room feel modern and relevant. Remember though, pieces that are on trend should be used sparingly. A leopard print lamp shade can be replaced with little hassle if it goes out of style. It’s harder to replace an animal print sofa.
When designing a child’s room, furnish it from a child’s perspective. It can be easy to forget that children won’t be seeing their room the same way you see it. Everything should be easy to reach and easy to store. Aim to view the room like your child would. Most importantly, make sure you eliminate possible hazards.
Many experts have advice when it comes to designing your home. You should consider what they are saying, but you shouldn’t completely rely on them. Following the advice of others instead of listening to your own desires will leave you with a home the reflects the interests and tastes of someone else.
A lot of the time, a simple redesign in a kitchen involves changing out the cabinets. Wood can be replaced by glass for a more modern, airy feel to the room. You can even add accent pieces in the open glass cabinets to give a nice visual appearance.
If you are thinking about painting a room, do not get in a rush! Rushing could cause you to make some poor color choices. Get several paint samples, and apply them to the wall you wish to paint. Then, wait a couple of days. Get an idea of how the different samples appear in different types of light. You may find out that a color you loved at first, is not the right choice after all.
Mirrors are a great way to open up small spaces. Mirrors give the effect that the room is larger, which can help you improve the look of your interior. Invest in mirrors in order for you to be able to facilitate the interior design project you are doing.
Placing a mirror opposite a window is a wonderful way to open up your space. The mirror will reflect light off of the window and into the room. This will make your dull, dark room brighter.
You should try painting your ceiling white if you are trying to create the illusion of space. This shade of high-gloss paint is specially formulated to reflect light effectively. When you use it, you will see a great difference in how well a room lights up.
Your furniture doesn’t necessarily have to face the television set. You might be better served by having a social area with a couple chairs in a different part of the room. This can be a nice little respite area where you can sit and have a cup of tea with some friends.


In 1995, after a year of inactivity, Malice Mizer recruited Gackt as their new vocalist. With a new concept created by Mana,
the band's music became more progressive and complex incorporating even stronger classical, electronic and using instruments
like accordion remembering French popular music of the 19th century. Visually, the band abandoned their 1980s goth look for
colourful historical costumes always with a gothic feel. In 1996, Malice Mizer released their second album, Voyage ~Sans Retour~.
The band became increasingly popular and in 1997 signed with Columbia Records, where they released a number of successful
singles, a short film (Bel Air ~Kuuhaku no Shunkan no Naka De~ de L'Image), and, in 1998, their third album, Merveilles. The
band even had their own radio show around this time. In January 1999, at the height of Malice Mizer's success, Gackt was requested
to leave the band and after just four months he released his first solo album. Malice Mizer left Columbia and returned to
A few months after Gackt's departure, drummer Kami died of a subarachnoid hemorrhage on June 21, 1999, leaving behind
a handful of songs, which the band eventually released as part of the EP/video boxset Shinwa. Kami was never replaced; from
that point on, Malice Mizer would only use support drummers (namely Shue, who is not shown in the band's later and final music
videos, nor credited) and Kami would be credited as "eternal blood relative" on all their future releases.


PIANO TUNING AND MAINTENANCE
If your piano has been regularly tuned (yearly) it should be up to concert pitch and will only need a fine tune. This takes one and a quarter hours.
If it has been much more than a year since your last tuning, your piano may need a pitch raise. This usually takes up to two hours.
Over time, the mechanism inside the piano becomes slacker due to wearing of parts and compression of felt. This slack can be adjusted for by regulation (tightening of the mechanism).


Ellen Meyer joined AGB Search in 2017. She has spent 34 years in higher education administrative leadership roles with 21 years as a college president at institutions including Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, Atlanta College of Art (Woodruff Arts Center), Rhode Island School of Design, and Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is a seasoned administrator in the fields of higher education curriculum development, executive and faculty recruitment and management, strategic planning and partnerships, fundraising, financial planning and oversight, exhibitions, facilities design and construction, and trustee and community relations. She was most recently the president at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in Nashville, Tennessee where she was appointed president emeritus.
Ms. Meyer has served on the Commission on Accreditation for the National Association of Schools of Art and Design; on the boards of the National Black Arts Festival, the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, and the John C. Campbell Folk School (Brasstown, N.C.); as president of the Mid-America College Art Association; and as chair of the board of the Atlanta Regional Council for Higher Education.
Ms. Meyer holds both bachelor and master of arts degrees in art history and theory from the George Washington University. She has also completed graduate work in management at Georgia Tech and in ceramics at Antioch University. She is an alumna of Leadership Atlanta, Leadership Nashville, and Leadership Music.


By Ed Conroy | Houston Chronicle
In his poem “Gulf Music,” former poet laureate Robert Pinsky writes, “The past is not decent or orderly. It is made up and devious. The man was correct when he said it’s not even past.”
While Pinsky was writing in part about the 1900 hurricane that leveled Galveston, he was writing about New Orleans, too.
It’s entirely appropriate, then, that Jason Berry should quote Pinksy — and pay indirect homage to William Faulkner — at the outset of his fascinating, expertly researched and masterfully written history of the city that care forgot.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when some pundits made bold to suggest there was no point to rebuilding the town because of climate change, no doubt many New Orleans natives thought there were far too many people who had forgotten to care about their city at all. Berry, who has been living in and writing about the people, music and politics of the Crescent City for much of his adult life, was by no means among those naysayers. Through his research and reporting, he already knew its pivotal importance as a crucible for the evolution of American culture.
He distinguished himself with his 1986 history of New Orleans music, “Up From the Cradle of Jazz,” as well as through his groundbreaking 1992 book, “Lead Us Not Into Temptation,” which uncovered a pattern of sexual abuse of minors in rural Louisiana. His 2011 book, “Render Unto Rome,” won the Investigative Reporters and Editors Award.
With “City of a Million Dreams,” Berry has turned his considerable reporting prowess toward profiling the city he loves like no other with an abundantly evident, ardent passion.
He begins this extraordinary book with an emotionally moving recounting of famed New Orleans songwriter and performer Allen Toussaint’s funeral on Nov. 20, 2015, when 1,600 people packed the Orpheum Theatre. Numerous musicians and civic leaders saluted Toussaint and his music before the Preservation Hall Jazz Band marched everyone out to the street to send his casket off in a white hearse for what, Berry notes, Jelly Roll Morton once called “the end of a perfect death.”
Poetry, death and transformation, music, dancing and marching are very much at the heart of Berry’s “City of a Million Dreams,” which takes its title, fittingly, from the jazz song by Johnny Wiggs and Raymond Burke.
The result of over a quarter century of Berry’s indefatigable research, this 332-page, extensively footnoted and annotated work captures the reader’s attention with a cavalcade of astoundingly detailed accounts of the exploits and adventures of a cornucopia of outstanding people who have left an enduring mark on New Orleans and the conflicts that have forged its distinctive urban culture.
To Berry, all of New Orleans’ colorful people and their culture have roots in a place once known as Congo Square, named, ironically, for the executioner.
As he puts it, “There was a time, deep in the city’s past, when the reach of African memory cradled a large field that lay behind the rampart of the town. Today, a wedge of that space occupies a corner of Louis Armstrong Park within the Rampart Street wall. The evolution of that land and its African rituals carried a quaking drama of memory and resistance. A culture of spectacle pushed against the city of laws like tectonic plates beneath the earth.”
Perhaps Berry’s greatest achievement in writing this book is to create a seamless, holographic tapestry out of the many disparate threads in New Orleans’ history, tying together stories from its Spanish, French, American, Confederate, Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction periods, during which it reinvented itself in line with the mythology of what 19th-century white supremacists called the Lost Cause — through the civil rights movement and desegregation all the way to Katrina and the city’s rebirth.
Berry pulls no punches in describing the New Orleans of the past as a place where vice was long plentiful and profitable, where police were easily bribed, where political gangs of Irish and Italians clashed with upper-class whites, where city government was a vassal to the governor and state legislature and where school desegregation in the 1960s was fought by many locals, tooth and nail.
At the same time, though, Berry twists his literary kaleidoscope little by little as the book progresses to help the reader see how the culture of jazz, elaborate funeral parades and second lines with their brass bands, indigenous Afrian-American spirituality and the gloriously surreal pageantry of Carnival, with its exotic krewes and their parades, all evolved from the very slave dances through which the people who built the early city expressed their hope for a better future — in this world, and the next.
But Berry also sees New Orleans as a city redeemed by its own art, culture and spirituality. As he puts it, “Music and dancing coursed across the racial divide like a current of electricity charging both cultures.”
He sees that current moving now to inspire its leaders to fully confront the legacy of racism and white supremacy. He eloquently recounts how former mayor Mitch Landrieu and the city council removed the statues of Robert E. Lee and other Confederate heroes from places of glory, at considerable personal risk.
“City of a Million Dreams” is an inspiring response to those who would have left New Orleans to decay away in the wake of Katrina, a tale of resilience and progress in the face of great odds.
Toward the end of the book, Berry describes the colorful 2014 funeral of Black Indian Big Chief Larry Bannock of the Golden Starhunters, where his fellow Indians paraded in their beaded and feathered finery. A man watching the parade yelled, as the hearse rolled by, “Big Chief don’t never bow down!”
Berry convincingly makes the case that, thanks to the collective energy, over three centuries, of all the people whom he has chronicled and celebrated, and many more, neither will New Orleans.
Ed Conroy is a writer in San Antonio


Get the party started!
Enjoué strikes the right note at every stage of your event: classy jazz tunes provide a mellow backdrop for your cocktail or dinner, our swinging live disco and pop tunes get everybody on the dancefloor, and if you want a dazzling finale to your evening, we'd be delighted to send you on your way with a few memorable DJ-sets featuring live saxophone.
From light piano background, through sophisticated jazz to lively pop disco music, you can mix and match to create the right mood.
Tell us what you want and we will tailor a personalised program that fits your unique event and reflects your taste! We also take care of the technical side and provide the music system for a great, professional sound.
Enjoué is a versatile 5-person band of highly qualified musicians from Berlin and Leipzig with a wide experience in a variety of musical genres and events: weddings, celebrations of all kinds as well as corporate events.
Classic disco & soul hits to modern pop tunes with swinging saxophone solos will make even the shyest guests grace the dancefloor!
Cocktail & Dinner
The silky voice of our singer, Karin Peters, bringing classic jazz & soul standards to life, will enchant your guests during a dinner or cocktail party.
DJ & Saxophone
Perhaps you are still hesitating between a band that brings you the joy of authentic live music and the crisp beats of a DJ with added live saxophone. We have the expertise to fulfill both of these wishes so that you can have it all and your event becomes an all-round unforgettable experience!


Dancer’s Gallery was heaven on earth for my daughter. She danced there from the age of 3 until she was 14 years old. The teachers are wonderful. The atmosphere makes you feel comfortable to drop your child off at class and run an errand. My daughter would live there if she could! Ms. Christie was not only one of her instructors she became family. I feel privileged that my daughter had the chance to attend! Dancer’s Gallery helped make my daughter the confident young lady she is today.
I have been a part of Dancer’s Gallery for 18 years and it’s been the most amazing experience. Miss Christie is one of the most amazing people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing. Miss Christie and her entire staff go above and beyond for their students. This new studio in Cooper City is amazing. You feel like home when you walk in there. I wish Miss Christie and the entire staff of Dancer’s Gallery all the best in their new home.
Dancer’s Gallery is the best studio ever! It feels like home. This beautiful arts center is the best place you can ever find in Florida with the best instructors, the best training and the best people.
From the minute you walk in here, it feels like a family environment. My girls have been dancing here for over 3 years and I have enjoyed seeing them fulfill their dreams in dance.
My daughter has been growing up with Dancer’s Gallery since she was 3. She now teaches the next generation of artists. Her career in the arts flourished into: Dancing, Acting, Singing, Modeling, a Marlins Mermaid, Choreography, and has featured as a dancer in the movie “Rock of Ages”. I attribute her talented skills to the training, discipline and opportunities offered in this wonderful environment.
“ Dancer’s Gallery is the best dance studio around. Their facility is like no other and they offer a huge variety of performing arts for children and adults. Each instructor brings their own style and offer a lot of freedom of expression while focusing on technique. I love it there and love the fact that my two boys and daughter can share the experience of dancing at Dancer’s Gallery. BRAVO! ”


Martin Wilson was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
He lived there until he finished high school and entered Vanderbilt University, where he earned a BA in 1995, majoring in English. After graduation, he moved to Austin, Texas, where he worked as an editorial assistant at an educational publishing house. In 1996, he moved to Gainesville, Florida, joining the MFA program of the University of Florida. While at Florida, one of his short stories won a Henfield Foundation/Transatlantic Review Award. After earning his MFA in 1998, he moved back to Austin and, once again, began working for the same educational publishing house as a copyeditor and, eventually, as a managing editor.
In 2003, Martin moved to New York City, where he still lives and works as a publicist in the book publishing industry. His short stories, essays, and book reviews have been published in One Teen Story, Tin House, Virgin Fiction 2, Pieces: A Collection of New Voices, Rush Hour, Publishers Weekly, Austin Chronicle, and other publications. His debut novel, What They Always Tell Us (Delacorte Press/Random House Books for Young Readers, 2008), won the Alabama Author Award for best young adult book. The novel was also a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, an Indie Next Selection, an ALA-ALSC Rainbow List Selection, and a CCBC Choices Book.
His newest novel is We Now Return to Regular Life (Dial Books, 2017).


In the hustle and bustle of modern life, we often find ourselves burdened by stress, anxiety, and the weight of daily responsibilities. As we pursue success and happiness, we tend to overlook a fundamental aspect of our well-being: our mental health. While seeking professional help and adopting healthy lifestyle choices are vital, we mustn’t underestimate the transformative power of creativity in nurturing the soul and fostering better mental health.
Engaging in creative activities can be a breath of fresh air. Whether it’s an artistic endeavor, exploring the world of music, expressing oneself through writing, or connecting with nature through photography, each creative pursuit offers a unique channel to rejuvenate the soul. Below are some activities that can offer an escape from stress, foster self-expression, and stimulate the mind in unique ways.
The Therapeutic Power of Art
Art has long been recognized as a therapeutic outlet for emotions and thoughts. Whether it’s painting, drawing, sculpting, or even coloring books, these activities can help individuals express their feelings and gain a better understanding of their inner selves. Engaging with art allows us to release emotions that may be difficult to put into words, acting as a form of non-verbal communication and healing.
The Healing Melodies of Music
Music has an incredible ability to touch our souls and uplift our spirits. Playing an instrument, singing, or simply listening to music can reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. The act of creating music triggers the release of dopamine, the brain’s “feel-good” chemical, providing a natural mood boost. Music can also foster a sense of community and belonging, whether through joining a choir or attending concerts.
The Power of the Pen
Writing can be a powerful form of therapy, allowing individuals to externalize their thoughts and feelings onto paper. Journaling, poetry, and creative writing can help us process complex emotions, organize our thoughts, and gain clarity on life’s challenges. The process of writing can also boost self-esteem and confidence as we see our own growth and self-awareness reflected on the pages.
Dance Your Stress Away
Dance is not only a fun and engaging activity but also a therapeutic way to improve mental health. Moving to music can release endorphins, which act as natural stress relievers. Dance also encourages mindfulness, as participants focus on their body movements and immerse themselves in the present moment. Whether it’s ballet, salsa, or freestyle dancing in your living room, the benefits of dance on mental health are undeniable.
Connecting with Nature through Photography
Photography is a creative outlet that can encourage mindfulness and a deeper connection with the world around us. Taking photographs of nature, people, or everyday objects allows us to slow down and appreciate the beauty in our surroundings. Engaging in photography walks or nature hikes can also promote physical activity, which is beneficial for both mental and physical well-being.
The Joy of Crafting
Crafting encompasses a wide range of activities, from knitting and crocheting to woodworking and DIY projects. Engaging in these activities can be meditative and calming, reducing stress and promoting a sense of accomplishment. The repetitive nature of crafting can also induce a state of flow, where individuals become fully absorbed in the creative process, leading to increased focus and a sense of timelessness.
As with any mental health journey, it’s essential to listen to your own needs and preferences. Experiment with different creative activities to discover what resonates with you the most. Remember, the goal is not to become a master artist or musician but to harness the therapeutic power of creativity to foster better mental health and lead a more fulfilling life.


The Cambridge Sock Company City Guide: Reminiscing with Xu Zhimo
As summer approaches, it’s the perfect season to roam Cambridge’s cobbled streets. This afternoon we’ve pulled on our favourite pair of Wainwrights, to wander the Backs, following in hundreds of famous scholars’ footsteps.
One such alumnus is trailblazer of modern Chinese poetry, Xu Zhimo. His short stint in Cambridge as a visiting scholar inspired both his love of romantic verse and some of his most celebrated works. Although he’s a cult literary figure in China, he’s relatively unknown in this country despite the fact that his best-known poems celebrate the quiet beauty of the city of Cambridge.
His most famous work, 再别康橋, which translates to Second Farewell to Cambridge is learnt by schoolchildren across China to this day. Written in 1928 on a return trip to Cambridge, it depicts an idyllic scene by the River Cam and expresses the poet’s deep nostalgia for his 18-month stay in Cambridge. It was during his first period there Cambridge that Xu became enthralled by the city and by poetry, eventually becoming a close acquaintance of many members of the prestigious literary circle, the Bloomsbury Group.
Take a stroll along the Backs and you’ll find the Xu Zhimo friendship garden. The memorial was constructed in 2018 at King’s College Backs and opened by Xu’s grandson, Dr Tony Hsu, to celebrate both the poet and the contribution Chinese students have made to the university community. The garden’s design was inspired by Taoist and Buddhist principles, incorporating traditional English trees with plants from Xu’s hometown, Haining.
Poetry fans should pay particular attention to the area’s willow trees. Xu celebrated these trees on the banks of the River Cam in Second Farewell to Cambridge, likening the ‘golden willows’ to ‘young brides in the setting sun’. Although the original trees were removed due to disease, the current plants stand in the same place as Xu’s beloved willows. Before the original trees were removed, healthy cuttings were sent to several places in China where the poet had spent time including Haining and his alma mater, Peking University. The importance of willows in Xu’s poetry is also reflected elsewhere in the garden, including on a crescent moon bench with willow leaf decorations and seven pots glazed with ash from the diseased tree.
Xu’s college has also kept his memory alive by raising money to help fund places for international students and by releasing recordings of his poems set to music. It also hosts the Xu Zhimo Poetry and Art Festival every year, which is one of the UK’s biggest celebrations of British-Chinese cultural exchange.
In the 100th anniversary year of the poet’s first stay in Cambridge, now is the perfect time to see the city through Xu’s eyes whilst exploring the Backs. Our Mohair and Alpaca socks are the ideal companion for all your city wanderings, ensuring complete comfort whether for a full day of sight-seeing or a mere evening stroll.


When it comes to fashion, Bonnie Ashley - Creative Director of Australian textile brand Bonnie and Neil - is known for her unique and colourful wardrobe. Over the years she's been asked many times "where did you get your dress from?" but often these pieces were ones Bonnie had designed herself, made by a tailor.
Following a life long passion for gorgeous textiles and beautiful dresses, Bonnie started working on her own Australian luxury resort wear label two years ago.
Inspired by nature, craftsmanship, femininity and colour, Bonne is a flattering range of wearable printed dresses with silhouettes that are designed to be as comfortable to wear on holidays as they are in the city.
The inaugural collection of linen dresses is inspired by vintage florals and traditional English gardens.


Ph.D. (2009), M.Phil. (2007), M.A. (2006) in Sociology, Columbia University
Certificate (2007) in Organizational Performance Management, Georgetown University
B.A. (2003) in Sociology, Yale University
FACULTY / POSTDOCTORAL DEPARTMENTAL APPOINTMENTS
Sociology, Paul McGhee Division, New York University (2014 - )
Sociology, Hofstra University (2012 - )
Social Sciences, Fashion Institute of Technology (2013-2014)
Technology Management, Polytechnic Institute of New York University (2011-2012)
Sociology, Columbia University (2009-2011)
Downtown Superstars: Inside Three Generations of New York Fame examines social and aesthetic lineages among Andy Warhol’s Factory Superstars, Michael Alig’s Club Kids, Lady Gaga’s downtown collaborators, and New York culture today.
I have interviewed Michael Alig, Lady Starlight, Marla Weinhoff (Haus of Gaga), Brendan Jay Sullivan (DJ Vh1), Justin Tranter (Semi Precious Weapons), Breedlove, Darian Darling, Chew Fu, Marty E. (Dirty Pearls), Ladyfag, Becka Diamond, Susanne Bartsch, Steve Lewis, Fenton Bailey (World of Wonder), Keoki, James St. James, Richie Rich, Kenny Kenny, Amanda Lepore, Astro Erle, Kabuki Starshine, Flloyydd, Sophia Lamar, Walt Cassidy (Waltpaper), Desi Santiago (Desi Monster), Ernie Garcia (Ernie Glam), Lollipop, Christopher Comp, Zaldy, Miss Guy, Rob Roth, Linda Simpson, Sushi, Artie Hach, Armen Ra, JoJo Americo, Perfidia, Penny Arcade, and the Warhol Superstars Holly Woodlawn, Bibbe Hansen, Jane Forth, Ultra Violet, and Billy Name, among many others.
My book project was discussed in the New York Times profile of Alig following his release in May 2014.
• RECENT AND UPCOMING PANELS
Panelist, “Music, Fashion, and the Power of (Queer) Nightlife,” American Studies Association, Los Angeles, November 2014, organized by Madison Moore
Organizer and Moderator, “Style, Sexuality, and Spectacle,” NYU, October 2014, with Patricia Field, Bibbe Hansen, Andrew Barret Cox.
Moderator, “The Pleasure Ritual,” THE FUN Conference on Nightlife as Social Practice, The Museum of Arts and Design, November 2013
Organizer and Moderator, “Auras, Apps, ARTPOP: A Gaga Discussion at FIT,” FIT, November 2013 with Kristin Lieb (Emerson), Roland Betancourt (Yale), Alexander Cavaluzzo (FIT)
• PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO BOOK:
“The Golden Kid.” (in Spanish) Crom Magazine. (cover story / profile of Michael Alig).
My Summer with Michael Alig. BlackBook Magazine.
Prison and Pop. Music and Law (Sociology of Crime, Law, and Deviance, Vol. 18). (Mathieu Deflem, ed.), p. 179-195.
Memory, Monsters, and Lady Gaga. Journal of Popular Culture 46(4): 725–744.
Occupy, Gaga. Social Text.
The Techno-Magic of Darian Darling. Vitrine: a printed museum 1(2).
Showtime for Anna Copa Cabanna. Vitrine: a printed museum 1(2).
The Art World’s Blonde Spot. New York Art Beat.
A Starlight Review. Vitrine: a printed museum 1(1).
Empire Girl. Vitrine: a printed museum 1(1).
Road to a Brave New World. Vitrine: a printed museum 1(1).
Inspired Identities and the Imagination of Jane Forth. New York Art Beat.
What Lies in Her Wake. Gaga Stigmata.
Feeding the Future: Bibbe Hansen and the Finding of Fluxus. New York Art Beat.
Fragments of Fashion’s Future by Nicola Formichetti. New York Art Beat.
The Beautiful Memories of Veronica Ibarra. New York Art Beat.
Star Gazes: Re-performing Warhol’s Screen Tests. New York Art Beat.
Starry Nightlife. New York Art Beat.
Born Superstars. Gaga Stigmata.
Mugler She Wrote. FLATT Magazine.
Cherry Vanilla and Other Pop Flavors. FLATT Magazine.
Gotham and the Glitter Way. Gaga Stigmata.
Gloom and Glamour in Gotham. Magazine Americana.
I have produced a stage adaptation of the Valerie Solanas SCUM Manifesto in collaboration with the actress Jocelyn Saldana and a forum on wearable art in response to the Metropolitan Museum’s PUNK: Chaos to Couture exhibition. As parts of an ongoing performance series produced in collaboration with Lady Starlight and Jason Martin, I have also curated three performance nights in Manhattan.
OTHER WRITING ON CULTURE
(with Frédéric C. Godart) Network-domains in Combat and Fashion Organizations. Organization 17(2): 283-304.
Voices and Visions of Lower Manhattan: Organizing Civic Expression in Post-9/11 Public Hearings. Journal of Civil Society 3(2): 119-135.
The Bursting Grids of Steven Bindernagel. TWELV Magazine.
The Other Pop. New York Art Beat.
Anna Evans Is Not Dead! Vitrine: a printed museum 1(2).
The Kost of Transformation. New York Art Beat.
Hally McGehean’s Laminated Luxe. New York Art Beat.
Electric LaChapelle. New York Art Beat.
Kelly Cutrone: Televising Her Revolution. PopMatters.
Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives (Brendan Jay Sullivan, 2013). PopMythology.
The Star as Icon: Celebrity in the Age of Mass Consumption (Daniel Herwitz, 2008). Social Semiotics 21(1): 145-146.
America’s Medicis: The Rockefellers and Their Astonishing Cultural Legacy (Suzanne Loebl, 2010). PopMatters.
Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity (Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, 2010). PopMatters.
Crash: Cinema and the Politics of Speed and Stasis (Karen Beckman, 2010). PopMatters.
The Music Instinct: How Music Works, and Why We Can’t Do Without It (Philip Ball, 2010). PopMatters.
The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol (John Wilcock, Christopher Trela, ed., 2010). PopMatters.
Andy Warhol (Arthur C. Danto, 2009). Journal of American Culture 33(2): 156-157.
The Contemporary Hollywood Film Industry (Paul McDonald & Janet Wasko, eds., 2008). Film & History 39(1): 87-88.
WRITING ON ORGANIZATIONS AND THE MILITARY
Career Patterns in the U.S. Army Officer Corps. Public Organization Review 11(2): 109-134.
Career Rhythms of United States Army Officers, 1870-1960. Doctoral dissertation.
(with Harrison C. White & Frédéric C. Godart) Produire en contexte d’incertitude. La construction des identités et des liens sociaux dans les marchés. Sciences de la Société 73: 17-39.
(with Harrison C. White & Frédéric C. Godart) Mobilizing Identities: Control and Uncertainty in Strategy. Theory, Culture and Society 24(7-8): 181-202.
• Reprint: Stewart R. Clegg (ed.). 2009. SAGE Directions in Organization Studies. SAGE Publications.
Possibilities for Partnerships? The Minerva Controversy. Social Science Research Council.
Political Sociology and U.S.-Latin America Relations: Rhetorics or Research? American Sociological Association Political Sociology Section Newsletter 11(4): 12-13.
Mike Bloomberg: Money, Power, Politics (Joyce Purnick, 2009). Journal of Urban Affairs 32(5): 647-648.
Hog Pilots, Blue Water Grunts: The American Military in the Air, at Sea and on the Ground (Robert D. Kaplan, 2007). Armed Forces & Society 35(4): 754-756.
The War Diaries: An Anthology of Daily Wartime Diary Entries Throughout History (Irene & Alan Taylor, eds., 2004). Journal of Military History 71(3): 972-975.
From Warfare to Welfare: Defense Intellectuals and Urban Problems in America (Jennifer S. Light, 2003). Acta Sociologica 49(4): 467-469.
Sexuality and Society (lecture)
Sociology of Gender (lecture, seminar)
Introductory Sociology (lecture)
Modern Urban Culture (independent study)
Gender, Media, and Fame (independent study)
Creativity and Innovation in New York Culture (honors seminar)
Youth, Crisis, and Culture (lecture)
The Family (lecture)
Sociology of Culture (seminar)
Social Media (seminar)
The Culture Industry (lecture)
American Society (lecture)
Organizations in Modern Society (seminar)
The New York Times
The Washington Post
The Daily Beast
BlackBook (“Goodnight Mr. Lewis” column by Steve Lewis)
BlackBook (Press for “Wearable Art from Warhol to Westwood”)
Hyperallergic (MAD nightlife conference)
Hyperallergic (Nightlife screen tests)
The Hofstra Chronicle
Interviewee, Glory Daze: The Life and Times of Michael Alig (documentary film, 2014)
Fresh Beats (International Association for the Study of Popular Music)
Minding the Campus (Center for the American University, The Manhattan Institute)
National Association of Scholars
The Last Magazine
The California Aggie
The Columbia Spectator
HONORS AND FUNDING AWARDS
Peter Rollins Grant for Early-Career Faculty, Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association National Conference (2012)
Co-Principal Investigator, Seed Grant: Innovation and Identity in Cultural Fields, Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy, Columbia University (2010-2011)
Charles Tilly Memorial Scholarship Prize, Department of Sociology, Columbia University (2009)
Elise M. Boulding Award, American Sociological Association Section on Peace, War and Social Conflict (2008)
Consortium Research Fellowship, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, awarded by Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area (2007-2008)
Fox International Fellowship, Yale University Center for International and Area Studies (2003-2004)
B. Edward Bensinger III ‘51 Prize, Yale University (2003)
George E. Pataki ‘67 Scholarship Trust Award for Public Service, Yale Westchester Alumni Association (2002)
Managing Curator, Vitrine: a printed museum (2012)
Contributor, New York Art Beat (2010-2012)


Berlin based Spanish dj and producer Guiamm, started in the late 90’s his dj career in Valencia, his hometown. In 2001 became part of LIO, an underground techno collective, organizing many free parties as well as club parties. In that time Guiamm was very influenced by the London techno and Acid techno scene and was often present at free parties and teknivals from different collectives and sound systems over the spanish territory.
In 2003 became a member of Komakino, one of the main techno Sound systems of Valencia. While they were still making the Free party scene bigger, Guiamm started to be part of the Main Techno clubs and parties of the city, exporting the underground techno sound to the club scene. He started to be a regular on the line ups of the city. Moving slowly to a harder style, started to use the AKA Guillemotik, playing and producing Hard Techno.
It was in 2006 when he founded his first vinyl label, Painkiller rec. together with his brother in arms Dj Txuki. They released 4 vinyl releases as well as many Digital releases in other labels. Dj Txuki and Guillemotik played together for years, as a duo, called painkiller, playing four turntables and two mixer sets at many parties and festivals around Spain.
In 2014, on a way back to their roots, Guiamm and Txuki founded his second label: Electronic Punk Music, in 909 London, an english community and digital music store. 2 years later, in 2016, Guiamm made one of his most important steps forward, moving to Berlin. He started to play often in important clubs of the city such as Mensch Meier, Sisyphos, Bucht, and releasing tracks in labels like Sisyphon or Techsound. In 2020, and after playing often and being an active part of the xXETEXx parties he became an official member of the german collective.
His sound evolves around different Techno substyles, but always plays overwhelming dynamic sets. He is working at the moment on his hardware live set, as well as on the release of his new label, which will be out soon.”


Music Director Job Description
Church of the Epiphany
Job Description: Music Director
The Music Director works under the direction and supervision of the Rector.
- The ability to play the organ, piano, keyboard and sing.
- The ability to read music proficiently and sight-read music as needed.
- Knowledge of music theory and music history.
- Knowledge of The Episcopal Church theology, traditions, liturgy, music, and lectionary cycles.
- Ability to direct a choir while accompanying them.
- Ability to support the Rector’s leadership, and the congregation and choir’s needs and expectations.
- Ability to work collaboratively with a variety of people in the choir and congregation.
- Ability to select a variety of music to suit many levels of musical ability in the choir and the diverse musical tastes of the congregation.
- Ability to make a commitment to be present and assist at all regular services and special services other than planned vacations and illness.
- Completion of The Episcopal Church “Safe Church Program.” The church will pay for the costs to complete this program.
- Select the music and hymns to be used at the 9:15 A.M. & 11:00 A.M. Sunday services and all other services where music is included.
- Provide organ, piano or keyboard accompaniment for the 9:15 & 11:00 services including hymns, liturgical music, preludes and postludes.
- Plan, direct and lead rehearsals the musicians before the 9:15 a.m. service and accompany them during the service.
- Plan, direct and lead the Adult Choir rehearsals and accompany the choir when they sing anthems. (September through May)
- Set up and take down the sound system for the 9:15 service.
- Put hymn numbers on the board for the 11:00 service.
- Maintain a filing system of church music and ensure that the choir loft area is maintained and organized.
- Ensure that choir robes are clean, serviceable and organized.
- Ensure that the church abides by appropriate copyright laws in the selection, printing, playing and singing of service music.
Duties as needed or requested:
- Coordinate with the Rector and Worship Committee.
- Act as liaison between the Rector and the Youth Choir.
- Provide keyboard accompaniment for the Youth Choir for rehearsals and anthems as needed by the Youth Choir Director.
- Plan choral music for special services throughout the year including Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, Epiphany, Holy Week and the Easter Vigil.
- The Music Director may be asked, if he/she is available, to provide organ or keyboard accompaniment for special services including funerals, memorial services, weddings, Bishop’s visit and any other special services as requested by the Rector. If the Music Director is not available then a substitute will be hired.
- Purchase new music as needed or requested.
- Arrange for maintenance of musical instruments.
- Write the Music Program Report for the church’s annual report.
Vacation and Sick Leave: The Music Director is entitled to 4 Sundays of vacation annually and 2 Sundays of sick leave. The Music Director is to arrange for a substitute organist when he/she is going to be absent, except in cases of sudden illness or personal emergency.
Salary: The Music Director is paid a stipend of $13,630.00 annually for approximately 10 hours of work a week. The Music Director may be asked to play for funerals and weddings, but if he/she is not available another organist will be hired. If the Music Director plays for these occasions then he/she will be paid an honorarium of $150.00 for the service and an additional $50.00 if he/she plays for a rehearsal.
To apply, please contact the Very Rev. Mack Olson at email@example.com or call the church office at 707-448-2275


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Graphic design is a serious work that involves a lot of aspects, such as researching a company’s business and representing its brand message. Good graphic design balances text and images to show a clear message.
Any mistake in a design such as a logo, business card, website, brochure, etc. can even potentially damage the prospects of a company. This is because most of the consumers make buying decisions directly or indirectly on seeing a logo, brochure, website, blog, packaging, and other designs. These designs have colors, shapes, etc. elements that evoke some intended emotions from the consumers. For example, a casually designed logo may indicate the audience about the unprofessional approach of the company. But a well-thought-out graphic design can turn a company and its business into a trustworthy brand in the eyes of the target audience.
Here are some of the most common mistakes made in graphic design:
- Fonts boom. It happens when a designer uses a lot of fonts of different types, sizes, and colors, etc. It is always better to stick to minimalism with fonts since it adds continuity and strengthens brand identity.
- No proofreading. This one, especially when combined with the fonts issue, creates a deadly combo. The visual part of the design may be genius, but poor spelling and grammar will ruin everything.
- Colors boom. As with the fonts, a mishmash of the colors will surely attract attention but most likely in the wrong way leading to ineffective design.
- Neglecting versatility. When working on graphic design, especially when it comes to a logo, designers should ensure its multi-purpose. How does a design look in one color, full-color and black-and-white? How does it look on different backgrounds? Will it fit on something small but still be distinguishable?
High-quality design avoids mistakes to get the expected message across without confusion. Be patient and pay attention to details, and you’ll deliver projects that please clients every time.


Chad and Meg Gleason met at Iowa State University while pursuing careers in furniture and graphic design, respectively. They fell in love and were married before their last year of college. They spent countless hours scheming about the possibility of working together someday. Sadly, the Great Recession had other plans (the year was 2008). Instead of moving to NYC after graduation as planned, they took the more promising opportunity to join Chad’s family’s farm business in Chad’s hometown—Audubon, Iowa. Chad worked with his father and brother on their grain and livestock farm while Meg started a letterpress stationery business called Moglea in the basement of their farmhouse.
The Moglea name was created during a very memorable car trip around Lake Michigan in 2009. The name is a mix of the GLEA from the Gleason’s last name and the M from Meg’s name. The name represented the letterpress stationery business initially but Meg wanted the name to be very non-specific, making sure that the brand could incorporate any design object that the Gleasons created under the Moglea umbrella.
In 2012, Meg exhibited the first Moglea stationery line at the National Stationery Show. Meg sought to bring paper goods to the wholesale market that used unique production processes that she hadn’t seen other lines using. That first line used hand applied paper collage, brightly colored hand painted neon edges on super thick card stock, and cards dipped in Kool Aid and natural dyes. The line was so successful that a larger studio space outside the home was needed for Moglea. Chad designed and helped build the first Moglea studio on the same property as their farmhouse in 2015. The studio was built adjacent to a river so it was designed with stilts to avoid any possible flooding. Through the design of the studio, Chad’s passion for designing furniture was reignited. He eventually exited the farm business in order to help design and direct Moglea in 2016. Their goal was to create a line of furniture and other home goods under the Moglea name.
A design business is challenging to keep staffed in a small town, so the Gleason’s decided to move Moglea to the much larger city of Des Moines in 2018. Located in the west end of downtown Des Moines, the DSM studio contains all operations of Moglea —design studio, wood prototype shop, pressroom, production studio and fulfillment. Chad and Meg are still creative directors for the line.
Moglea's artful stationery is created by using hand-applied production processes to add one-of-a-kind elements to each product. The production team thoughtfully applies layers of paint to extra thick sheets of paper before cutting them down, yielding completely unique compositions. Each piece is finished on one of their antique presses where it is foil stamped, printed or die cut using traditional letterpress printing processes.
The Moglea line is a joyful exploration of composition, pattern and color. For each new release, Chad and Meg intentionally focus on adding unexpected production processes or visual ideas to the current collection. The result is a product line in which each piece feels like a work of art that is meant to be shared.


REID HOFFMAN: Hi listeners. It’s Reid. You may have noticed we’re in your feed a day early. That’s because what you’re about to hear is a special crossover episode with our sister podcast, Spark & Fire. And it features cello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma.
Spark & Fire brings you stories of creative journeys, from first-class artists and innovators at the top of their game. These are stories of building from the ground up — with all the entrepreneurial thinking you hear on this show, applied to creative fields. And it’s hosted by our own executive producer, June Cohen.
Season 2 has just launched.
So what you’ll hear now is one part of a Spark and Fire episode that we think will resonate with our community of entrepreneurs and business leaders. But you can listen to Yo-Yo’s full episode right now. Find the link in our show notes, or at sparkandfire.com. Make sure to subscribe, so you never miss a show.
We’ll be back to our regular schedule next Tuesday, with a new classic episode of Masters of Scale.
YO-YO MA: You go to a public beach, it’s filled with people. You go a hundred yards away, it’s fewer people. You go 500 yards, it’s absolutely almost nobody. Now, any one of those people that are at the entrance of the beach can go to the place that’s 500 yards away, but they don’t. And that’s the tension that we all have as human beings. We want to congregate together. We want to be part of a group, but we also want something special. By making that extra effort and walking those 500 yards, you get to something special, but not everybody wants to do that.
HOFFMAN: That’s world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. And across his career, he’s built a reputation for always going that extra 500 yards. He’s recorded more than 90 albums and won 18 Grammys. And he’s played for audiences all over the globe.
But the story you’re about to hear isn’t about what Yo-Yo accomplished on his own. This is about Yo-Yo co-founding the musical collective The Silk Road Project, named for the ancient trade route that ran from China to the Mediterranean. Silkroad brings together musicians from wildly different traditions to write and perform original music. Performers don’t always speak the same language — musically or literally — but in this ensemble, they manage to come together and create something totally original.
There’s a lot entrepreneurs and business leaders can learn from the Silkroad story, which was originally captured on our sister podcast, Spark & Fire.
Right now, what you’ll hear is a taste of that episode — how Yo-Yo recruited the right people, leveraging his network to form a team. And you’ll see how that team had to improvise and pivot while building the Silk Road MVP. These are all essential lessons of entrepreneurship. And I’ll come back in key moments to talk about them, throughout the show.
Now, here’s June Cohen, to welcome you to Spark & Fire.
[SPARK & FIRE THEME MUSIC]
Why Yo-Yo Ma started the Silk Road Project
JUNE COHEN: How do you build a creative vision? Look for signs that the world is changing, and then look for the scouts who can help you lead the way.
MA: In 1996, someone says to me, “You got to think of something to do for the Hong Kong changeover. It’s British colonial rule. It’s 150 years of humiliation, so we’re going to kick the British out, and this is the return of Hong Kong, it’s going to be … “
And I thought, “I can’t participate in that because, obviously, Britain and China are more than that moment of history.” Because I loved archeology, I knew that there was a set of huge bronze bells that were discovered in 1978. There was something in the technology of the alloy that when you play it, it actually has two tones, which nobody’s been able to replicate since that time.
I thought, you know, they’re 2,500-year-old bells. If we could play this piece with the bells, with a children’s chorus from Hong Kong, then you have 2,500 years of history, and you have the future. All of this fueled the Silk Road because it gave experience of saying, “okay, well, we know about these traditions and that traditions, and what else don’t we know?”
In 1998, we formed the Silk Road Project. We raised money so that we could find the scouts that would go to Central Asia, that would go to Mongolia, that would go to China, that actually know the territory, can gain the trust of the local people. They went for years, scouted and found composers, and then we commissioned them to write pieces, find the musicians, and bring them over.
HOFFMAN: What jumps out to me from Yo-Yo’s story is how the moment he got the idea for the Silk Road Project, he started thinking about how to recruit others to his mission. He would need scouts, who would be trusted by local communities. He’d need to fundraise to support this multi-year project. And he’d need all of these stakeholders to recruit from their networks, communicating that same passion for the mission.
In fact, let’s hear some of that passion from a few Silkroad members, in their own words. We’ll start with founding member, Wu Man. She’s a pipa player, one of the best in the world. (And if you don’t know what a pipa is, that’s a great reason to check out the full episode of Spark & Fire in their show feed!) Here’s Wu Man, describing her own recruitment story, back at the very beginning of Silk Road’s journey.
Why Wu Man and Joseph Gramley joined the Silk Road Project
WU MAN: The first time I met Yo-Yo. We played a lecture concert together. That was about: what is traditional, what is contemporary? What is East, what is West?
During that very interesting lecture concert, Yo-Yo told me he wanted to found this group called Silk Road. He said, “Well, I just want to have a band. The band is like mixed instrument, mixed musician, all from a different country, that kind of international band, so we can tour.” And then I look at him. I said, “Wow, that’s kind of my dream. That’s my mission. I want to do that too.” So of course I said, “Wow, let’s do it.”
HOFFMAN: Yo-Yo recruited Wu Man by sparking her passion for the mission — that is, to assemble a one-of-a-kind international band. Then Wu Man took that spark and recruited another key co-founder, percussionist Joseph Gramley.
JOSEPH GRAMLEY: I play basically anything you can shake, scrape, or strike. I was trained to play in an orchestra. I went to Julliard, and I should have ended up in an orchestra, and for a while, that was my dream, but as I started to play more instruments from around the world, I started to branch out and play a lot of new music, a lot of global music, a lot of world music.
We went to lunch one day. It was myself, the famous pipa virtuosa Wu Man, and the composer Bright Sheng.
We were at a table near the back, and that was when Wu Man mentioned this project I had never heard of. “Hey, Joe, we’re doing this project with Yo-Yo Ma, and we are interested in finding percussionists who play both Western and non Western instruments. Now, listen, Joe, there’s no pay, and you’re going to have to stay with a host family, maybe sleep in the guest room, maybe sleep on the floor. Would you be interested in joining us?”
I found myself two months later driving every instrument I owned — Chinese opera gongs, tam tams, which is just a massive gong, the marimba bars, they’re made of rosewood from Honduras. They were very delicate. I’ve usually rolled them up in a blanket, and I put them on the front seat, so I could take care of those two little bundles of joy. It’s a beautiful drive. Big blue sky, bulbous, round, full green trees up the highway. I could hear the rattle of the gongs and the tam tams in the back of the car. I was nervous. I was excited. I didn’t know what I had gotten myself into.
HOFFMAN: That feeling of “I didn’t know what I’d gotten myself into” is so familiar to entrepreneurs, leaping into the unknown. Yo-Yo was essentially asking these best-in-class musicians to co-found a startup. But their first proving ground wouldn’t be in a garage in Menlo Park, or a dorm room at Stanford or Harvard. Where Joseph was headed in his car full of delicate instruments was to the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, nestled in the Berkshire Hills.
The Silk Road Project’s first gathering
COHEN: Tanglewood, the first gathering of the Silk Road Project.
GRAMLEY: Tanglewood is an arts center in Western Massachusetts. They have now three or four concert halls. There’s a lake nearby. There are rolling hills. It’s absolutely beautiful.
MAN: Tanglewood. It’s like, oh, my gosh. As a young musician, just landed in this country, and playing this weird pipa instrument, and then wanting to go to a Tanglewood. It’s like a dream place, heaven.
MA: The Western musicians all volunteered. They were interested because they’re curious.
GRAMLEY: I arrived to Tanglewood, and I unloaded. And then I went to meet the bus. The bus hadn’t yet arrived from JFK.
MA: Drivers volunteers would get lost and finally get to the house at midnight.
GRAMLEY: And then I see, from about a hundred meters away, the bus turns into the parking lot, comes straight towards us, then parks right in front of all the people. It turns out these folks were our host families.
MA: We had no money, so people opened up their houses. This was like a family affair.
GRAMLEY: And then, people started to introduce themselves to each other. At this point, there was a massive language barrier.
MAN: I met so many musicians, composers from Mongolia, from Azerbaijan, China, Japan, Turkey, Iran — and so many musicians and composers there.
GRAMLEY: We went from there to a group picnic at one of the host families’ homes. There began just the process of getting to know each other.
MA: You know, my poor family. I have to apologize and thank them. Jill went out the day before and bought pounds of rice and rice cookers. The Mongolians, turns out, eat quantities of meat that you would not believe. Steaks, three pounders, gone. Sixteen eggs. Halal. There were non-meat eaters. People only eat rice. They’re in strange territory, so we have to win their trust. We have to give them the things that they operate from. And did we know? No. Did we find out quickly? Yes. Was it scary? Yes.
MAN: I can feel that happiness there. We know something’s going to happen. We’re going to try something very different.
HOFFMAN: What is so vivid in this story — besides the image of musicians tearing through heroic quantities of meat and eggs — is how Yo-Yo and his co-founders leveraged their networks to recruit people to the cause. Host families opened their doors. Drivers volunteered to make runs from the airport. And musicians hopped on planes and traveled halfway around the world.
This incredible gathering was only possible because each new team member reached out to their networks, recruiting more and more people to the mission. The result was a flywheel of excitement, gathering speed. It gave the Silk Road Project momentum as they headed into their first rehearsals at Tanglewood.
Whether you’re a start-up, or a newly formed orchestra — once the team is assembled, the real work begins, and new challenges rise to the surface. That’s what you’ll hear as June leads us into this next segment.
How The Silk Road Project addressed language barriers
COHEN: The first terrifying rehearsal. How do you overcome group fears? Find a common language and listen for that transcendent moment.
MA: At Tanglewood, the great challenge was fear. The fear that it would be a disaster and that things would fall apart, it wouldn’t work, people hated the music, and it’s a bust. That would be a legitimate fear.
We had a lot of pieces to rehearse in 10 days. Tanglewood, they were very generous with giving us rehearsal space and barns.
MAN: Like, wow, how can we rehearse there? You’re just in this box. There’s no floor, it’s just dirt, it’s just the grass. It’s very much like summer camp.
First rehearsal was tough because there are a lot of different languages going on. We have so many translators as well. It’s like in, I don’t know, the UN.
GRAMLEY: The language barrier was something that we addressed on a case by case basis, depending on who was in the group and which common languages they might have. For example, I played in a group with Kayhan Kalhor, who’s Iranian. He had studied in Canada and spoke … his English was good at the time, but he also spoke Italian, and I spoke Italian, so we would use that commonality to then translate for other people. One of the violinists spoke Russian and English and that was incredibly helpful for the artists from Central Asia, because they had spoken Russian there. It was our way in.
MAN: After the worst rehearsal, all the mosquitos, I remember so clearly the first Tanglewood workshop, the mosquito just bit me the whole body, but that was so memorable, and that’s the happiest time for me. After a few days, we don’t need a translator anymore. The room started empty, and there started to be only musicians there. I was very moved by that.
GRAMLEY: I was in a rehearsal at the East barn, and all of a sudden, I heard this voice and a style of singing I’d never heard before. So we literally all stopped. It was the voice of Congrazole Gongbatar, a Mongolian long song singer who had such power that her voice went from the West barn all the way up to the East barn and forced us to stop our rehearsal. And we just listened.
MAN: Somehow we just communicate without language. We understand each other. That’s the beautiful thing.
HOFFMAN: This moment, where the need for translation stops and your team starts understanding each other fluidly is a magical one in any scale journey. It’s a moment every global business aspires to, as well as every coding team, design team, and product team.
When everyone in your organization is dialed-in on a mission, it helps every team member get on the same page. And the more everyone works together, the easier fast communication becomes.
But of course, even when your team is communicating perfectly, that doesn’t mean the road ahead will be smooth. Anytime you’re trying to innovate something the world has never seen before, there are going to be some setbacks.
Learning the music of The Silk Road Project
COHEN: How do you inspire a group to go beyond what they thought was possible? Honor every contributor. And laughter always helps.
GRAMLEY: A lot of times, if you’re not ready by the first rehearsal, it’s too late just because there’s such limited time to learn this music. I had the music now for about three weeks. I was playing six new commissions. The majority of the pieces had multiple percussion instruments.
I would practice late into the night. I’d get up in the morning before rehearsal to practice my parts. I was a little anxious about if I was going to be good enough, if I was going to be able to keep up with artists that Yo-Yo Ma had selected.
MAN: You have to learn the piece quickly, and some pieces are very contemporary. It’s just very microtonal, very new, it’s so hard.
GRAMLEY: The music was really hard. These composers who Yo-Yo commissioned really threw a lot at us. So the notes were hard; the notes were fast. I’d never played in ensembles with these instruments. I had never heard of some of these instruments.
MAN: And also play with so many different people from different countries and different instruments, which a lot of instruments you never see before, that’s quite challenging.
MA: We wanted to honor traditions. Persian tradition is very specific. Mongolian long song tradition is very specific. It’s amazing. Also very loud.
MAN: The pipa sounded very different with this huge percussion and how we balanced.
GRAMLEY: Now I need to balance my sound with that instrument. I need to morph and merge my groove and my time with artists who have a different sense of groove from their culture. We had to find the musical connection to successfully bring to life the visions of the composers. That was the hardest thing. There were moments when one might think, this is not going to work. You might be panicked. You might be in the middle of a piece of music, and you have to stop because people are in different places, and you’re never going to get back on. A lot of my training in chamber music, in Western classical music, comes from the musical score, and you study the score, and then if there’s an issue, you can jump to where that is. Not possible with the music of Silk Road because it’s so new.
The first open rehearsal was in the brand new Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood. That was a dry run. Mostly, it was the host families, maybe 75 to 100 people, all seated up pretty close. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. There was a lot of laughing, but there were more than a few times where folks had to stop or someone would look across the ensemble, and someone was in a completely different spot, and they’d have this moment of, “uh, what do we do? Who do I go with?” And we smiled, and we laughed, and Yo-Yo would say something funny and bring us all back together.
MA: Not having control of your environment and somehow staying focused and resilient. If you control something too much, you’re delivering a product, and that’s not what live performance is about.
HOFFMAN: If you’re listening as an entrepreneur, what Yo-Yo just said might sound a bit strange. Because the “product” of the Silk Road Project was, in fact, the live performance! Including all the imperfections and hesitations along the way.
When Yo-Yo says the word “product,” what he means is something that feels manufactured and uniform. And in any field, when you’re building something new, there’s tension between creating a structured and stable environment for your team, and leaving room for accidental discoveries. Too much control, and you stifle innovation. Too little, and you risk falling into chaos.
You can hear how that tension continued, from the “dry run” rehearsal into Silk Road’s first performance for the general public.
GRAMLEY: We had grown close over two weeks. We had struggled with the music. We had worked really hard.
MAN: You have to learn many pieces in 10 days. And then on the last day, you have to present those piece in the concert with a public audience, and they’re all musicians. That’s kind of nervous, like college exam day.
MA: At the end, we were having all these managers and presenters come in from around the world to create a moment where we can actually show what these things were.
GRAMLEY: Managers were there, agents were there, conductors were there to hear this music for the first time. What was at stake was a belief that this music needed to be heard and that if we didn’t play it well, we might lose the opportunity to play it again. If we played the music well, would people accept it? Would they want to hear more of it? To see if it could tour.
MA: They’ll have to figure out how to market this idea for their local audiences to see whether we were trustworthy enough to make the leap.
HOFFMAN: The Silk Road Ensemble had done their best, and gone on a series of sprints to get ready for the performance. They were about to debut their minimum viable product to the music world. Everything was on the line.
And it’s at this moment that we’re going to leave their story. To find out what happens next, subscribe to Spark & Fire, presented by WaitWhat. You can hear the full Silk Road episode, and others by legendary creators, telling their stories of their most iconic works. Each lesson is its own study in scrappiness and grit, applied to fields we don’t always get to cover on this show, from graphic design to stand-up comedy.
Season 2 is out right now. Spark & Fire is a WaitWhat original in partnership with the BBC.
Find the link in our show notes, or at sparkandfire.com.
I’m Reid Hoffman. Thank you for listening.


Thanks for stopping by!
My name is Cory Miller and photography is my passion.
I live in the city of Westerville, Ohio with my beautiful wife, Lauren and our chocolate lab, Whitman.
My photography is focused on capturing the world around me and preserving it for the future. It could be a specific location, life event, or just a feeling that I want to capture. My camera permanently records that fraction of a second onto a piece of real, tangible film that I'll have forever.
I shoot primarily 35mm and medium format film. I make my own handmade silver gelatin prints in my darkroom and process them for maximum archival permanence.


I'm just back from a week-long course in London for work and whilst there managed to slip off to as many of the haberdashery departments, ribbon shops and millinery stores I could squeeze into evenings and weekends. My idea of heaven! Here's what I came across....
MacCulloch and Wallis, 25-26 Dering Street [Oxford Circus Tube] http://www.macculloch-wallis.co.uk/
This place doesn't look like its changed much in 50 years. Its a real mis-match of 4 floors of fabrics, trimmings, appliques, ribbons, buttons, bindings, and so on. You definitely have to hunt or ask if they have it. I picked up some crin, sinamay fascinator bases, arrowheads, single feathers, feather trimmings and buttons. Unfortunately they didn't stock sinamay rolls or veiling when I visited. Worth a visit; set aside some time for a browse.
Atelier Millinery, First Floor, Kingly Court (off Carnaby Street) [Oxford Circus Tube] http://atelier-millinery.com/
If I was ever to own a millinery shop, this would be my ideal one. I literally had a smile on my face when I came across it. Small and perfectly formed, located in an open, quirky three-storey building off Carnaby street, Atelier Millinery is a friendly and inspiring place to visit. I came across some beautiful antique veiling, vintage ribbons and unusual appliques. Definitely worth a visit for the trimmings for that extra-special piece and for inspiration for your next design. The shop offers classes also (there was a 1-to-1 ongoing whilst I was there). Friendly and helpful staff. Check out the vintage and beading stores in Kingly Court also.
VV Rouleaux, 261 Pavilion Road, Sloane Square [Sloane Square Tube] and 102 Marylebone Lane [Bond Street Tube] http://www.vvrouleaux.com/
The creme de la creme of the ribbon and trimming shops, VV Rouleaux is certainly not cheap but what it does offer is a huge range of high-quality ribbons and trimming, coupled with some quirky and interesting appliques for your projects. I picked up some gorgeous velvet ribbon that I'll make into bows, some fabric butterflies and birds and strings of beads. I've definitely picked up some ideas from looking in the window displays alone, including an idea for how to complete a birds nest hat I had been hoping to make for some time... You'll likely come across some interesting characters browsing here also.
John Lewis, Several branches around London. I visited 300 Oxford Street [Oxford Circus Tube] and Peter Jones, Sloane Square [Sloane Square Tube] http://www.johnlewis.com/
The Oxford Street branch of this famous department store was far superior in terms of supplies to Peter Jones which was quite disappointing. I was quite surprised that I managed to pick up a few bits and pieces in the Oxford Street branch. I had wandered in here for a different purpose and left with some beautiful cream and black lace, some braiding to line the inside of the headpieces and some beaded appliques. The lace was on sale which was an added bonus. Helpful staff and a nice buzz about the place on a Saturday morning.
Overall a successful trip - now to the making! Photos of the creations to follow once I get my camera working!


"Five Shapes" is a suite of duo improvisations for oboe d’amore and percussion, recorded at Salem, Oregon’s Hudson Concert Hall on August 16, 2014.
released June 1, 2015
Formed in early 2013, the Lee/Hannafin Duo—Catherine Lee (oboe d'amore) and Matt Hannafin (percussion)—combines an austere New Music sensibility with the openness of free improvisation and the elemental power of world double-reed/percussion traditions.
Dr. Catherine Lee has performed extensively as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn, in settings from classical to contemporary to free improvisation. She is principal oboe with the Salem Chamber Orchestra; has played in the oboe sections of many orchestras, including the Oregon Symphony, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Portland Opera, and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal; and has performed in ensembles led by improvisers John Gruntfest, Gino Robair, and Tatsuya Nakatani. She holds a Doctor of Music in Oboe Performance from McGill University and a Master of Music and Performer Diploma from Indiana University, and is a member of the music faculty at Western Oregon, Willamette, and George Fox Universities.
Matt Hannafin is a New York–born, Portland-based percussionist active in contemporary solo percussion, free improvisation, and Iranian classical and traditional music. His teachers included composer La Monte Young, Indian vocal legend Pandit Pran Nath, Persian tar and tombak master Kavous Shirzadian, and percussionists Jamey Haddad and Glen Velez. An active solo performer, he’s also played with a wide range of collaborators, including shakuhachi master Jeffrey Lependorf, Sun Ra altoist Marshall Allen, trumpeter Nate Wooley, multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Borbetomagus guitarist Donald Miller, and electronics players Brian Moran and Doug Theriault. He’s appeared at venues and festivals around the USA, from the United Nations General Assembly Hall to the Miami Iranian Cultural Festival to CBGB’s.
Information at www.catherinemlee.com


Groundbreaking visual effects artist Ray Harryhausen refined and elevated stop-motion animation to an art. His Dynamation technique of matting animated creatures into live-action settings revolutionized the use of stop-motion visual effects in feature films.
Ray Harryhausen's creations aren't the most realistic in the realm of special effects, but Ray's touch is instantly recognizable. His creations are absolutely alive; in each frame his creatures move, twitch, breathe, act with personality and pathos. Few other low-budget monster movies of the time match the technical competence and respect for the subject as Mr. Harryhausen's films.
The Ray Harryhausen Creature list emphasizes Ray's work in feature films. Not included are his early Mother Goose shorts; test reels and unrealized projects; some stop-motion effects shots (like the discus toss in Jason and the Argonauts); live-action effects (like the Iguana stand-in dinosaur from One Million Years B.C.); miniatures (including the Mysterious Island balloon); makeup & prosthetics, and animated replacements for humans caught in creatures' clutches. Ray Harryhausen deserves further credit for his groundbreaking work in composite effects, demonstrated to great effect in The 3 Worlds of Gulliver.
Joe, the title character, is a tamed gorilla brought to Hollywood. Ray Harryhausen assisted his mentor Willis O'Brien (King Kong) on Mighty Joe Young and animated most of Mighty Joe Young's performance.
A fictitious species of dinosaur, awakened from a 100,000 year hibernation in the Arctic Circle by an atom bomb test.
A 200 foot long, radioactive, mutated Octopus that wreaks havoc on San Francisco.
"Engineered by nature in a freakish manner so that she can hardly support her weight in land," as described in The Animal World.
"Mortal enemy of the Bronty," as described in The Animal World.
"The prehistoric sun incubates one of the few remaining Bronty eggs."
From the film: "A dinosaur of gentle nature, even though 20 feet long and 10 tons weight."
This sceraptosaur battles with both a stegosaur and another sceraptosaur.
"One of the species fated to disappear from the face of the Earth," as narrated by The Animal World.
"Deadly enemy of the Triceratops," as narrated by The Animal World.
Saucers soar, land, battle, and smash buildings into stop-motion animated rubble.
The crash-landing of the first Venus expedition on its return trip.
Never named in the film, the Ymir is a native of Venus. Returned to Earth as an egg, the Ymir rapidly grows to monstrous proportions in Earth's atmosphere and runs amok.
The Ymir tangles with this elephant on the streets of Rome after escaping from captivity at the zoo.
Mr. Harryhausen imagined the mythical cyclops as a goat-legged, horned, wild creature. Two cyclopses appear in the film: The first is defeated by Sinbad, and the second is killed by the fire-breathing dragon that guards Zokora's cave.
Princess Parissa's waiting woman Sadi, transformed into a dancing serpent woman by Zokora's magic.
Discovered while seeking a Roc eggshell, a critical ingredient for the potion to restore Princess Parissa to her proper size. This hatching is attacked and consumed by Sinbad's famished pirate crew.
Payback for the slaugter of her Roc hatchling.
Brought to life by Zokora's magic to steal a magic lamp, this skeleton swordsman fights Sinbad in Zokora's cave.
Guards the cavern entrance to Zokora's liar, slays a cyclops, and attacks Sinbad's crew before being slain by giant crossbow.
Lost in Brodbdingnag, a land of giants, the newlywed Gullivers are menaced by a giant squirrel.
The king of Brobdingnag forces Gulliver to battle his "miniature" crocodile in a fight to the death.
Attacks the castaways on Mysterious Island. After the battle, the castaways cook the defeated crab in a convenient hot spring.
A giant, scrawny, prehistoric bird that threatens to trample the castaways of Mysterious Island.
The nautiloid cephalopod is a gigantic prehistoric mollusc. The cephalopod attacks Captian Nemo's diving crew as they attempt to raise a sunken pirate ship.
This bee drives two members of the Mysterious Island party into its giant honeycomb and seals them in with beeswax.
Massive statue on the Isle of Bronze who guards over a treasure chamber of the gods. Talos comes to life when Hercules steals from its treasure.
Two harpies are assigned by Zeus to torment the blind prophet Phinneas for abusing his power of prophecy. Phinneas agrees to help Jason in exchange for the harpies' capture.
Jason slays the mythical Hydra to steal the Golden Fleece. The Hydra comes from a different myth (the twelve labors of Hercules), and appears in Jason and the Argonauts short two heads (the Greek myth had nine).
Seven "Children of the Hydra's Teeth" fight with Jason and two of his crew. Four are defeated in swordfights, and three plunge to their deaths following Jason off a cliff into the sea.
A hypothetical United Nations moonship service module lands on the moon's surface.
A Victorian era spacecraft, patterned after a diving bell and covered with railroad bumpers, powered by Professor Cavor's anti-gravity paint.
Both a moon cow and moon bull appear (both are the same stop-motion puppet), each a gigantic centipede-like beast with fierce mandibles and bad tempters.
Kate Calendar is observed in an X-ray observation chamber by the Selenites.
Insect-like inhabitants of the interior of the moon (most appearances of the Selenites were costumed actors).
The leader of the Selenites, encased in a crystal sphere. The Grand Lunar is sentient, and interrogates Professor Cavor.
This Brontosaur makes a brief appearance as Tumak wanders the wasteland after being expelled from his tribe.
A giant prehistoric turtle menaces the Shell people, who drive it into the sea.
Attacks the peaceful fishing village of the Shell people, but is impaled and killed by Tumak in a ferocious battle.
Gives chase to Tumak and Loana when they strike out on their own.
Attacks a Triceratops during Tumak and Lona's journey. In the chaos, Tumak and Lona are separated.
A Pterodactyl that suddenly drops from the sky and flies off with Lona in its talons.
A flying reptile that attacks and kills the Pterodactyl to steal Lona.
The mother Pterodactyl attempts to feed Lona to her ravenous offspring before being attacked by a Rhamphorhynchus.
A brief animation of T.J. performing a stunt on her horse: Diving from a tower into a water tub.
Named "El Diablo" by its captors, Eohippus is a miniature prehistoric horse. Its escape leads to the discovery of Gwangi.
Attacks Lope when he, Professor Bromley, and the cowboys first enter the forbidden valley.
A small dinosaur chased by cowboys while searching for El Diablo in the Forbidden Valley before being captured & consumed by Gwangi.
The title character of Gwangi is an Allosaur from the Forbidden Valley, an isolated spot where prehistoric life still flourishes. Gwangi is captured by a travelling Wild West show, but escapes and wreaks havoc.
Attacks Gwangi while Professor Brombely watches, and later interferes during the lasso-ing of Gwangi.
This performing elephant panicks and is slain by Gwangi after escaping from its cage.
A small humanoid, bat-winged creature who serves as an extension of Prince Koura's eyes and ears. The Homonicus is spontaneously generated from blood and sorcery.
The figurehead of Sinbad's ship, brought to life by Prince Koura's magic to steal Sinbad's navigation charts.
Six-armed statue of the god worshiped by the Lemurians. The statue comes to life with a potion from Prince Koura, and fights Sinbad's entire crew with a sword in each hand.
"God of the Single Eye," who resides in a pit leading to the Fountain of Destiny. The centaur represents the powers of evil, and is defeated by Sinbad with the aid of the Griffin in the film's climax.
Representing the powers of good, the Griffin battles the Centaur to defend Sinbad.
Three torch-wielding ghouls are summoned by Queen Zenobia to kill Sinbad and his crew. They are defeated by Sinbad's quick-thinking action when he crushes them under a pile of timbers.
Queen Zenobia puts a curse upon the future Caliph, Prince Kassim, turning him into a Baboon. Sinbad transports Prince Kassim to the land of Hyberboria to restore him.
A golden mechanical Minotaur created by Queen Zenobia for muscle in her pursuit of Sinbad.
After miniaturizing herself to spy on Sinbad, Queen Zenobia's restoring potion is consumed by a hornet while Melanthius interrogates her.
Named Walrus Giganticus by Melanthius, this giant beast attacks Sinbad's crew as they trek across the ice to Hyberboria.
Encountered by Sinbad's crew in Hyberboria. Melanthius identifies the Troglodyte as an ancestor of humans, and it accompanies Sinbad's crew to the shrine where Prince Kassim can be restored.
A Sabre-toothed cat, encased in ice and later possessed by Zenobia to kill Sinbad after losing her son in the Shrine. The Guardian does battle with — and defeats — the Troglodyte, but is later killed by Sinbad.
Carries Princess Andromeda's spirit away to Calibos, where she is given a new riddle to ask potential suitors. (The penalty for guessing the wrong answer is death by burning at the stake.)
The last of the winged horses. Perseus captures Pegasus to follow the Giant Vulture that abducts Princess Andromeda. The airborne Pegasus animations were accomplished by Jim Danforth.
Deformed by Zeus as punishment Calibos' unrequited love for Princess Andromeda drives him mad. In dialog scenes, Calibos is played by actor Neil McCarthy.
A mechanical owl created by Haephestus as a replacement gift for Perseus after he loses his helmet of invisibility in Calibos' swamp. Most shots of Bubo were animated by Steve Archer.
The two-headed dog which guards the entrance to Medusa's lair on the Isle of the Dead. Dioskilos animation was accomplished by Steve Archer and Jim Danforth.
The mythical serpentine woman whose gaze turns men into stone. Perseus must obtain her head so that he can defeat the Kraken and save Princess Andromeda.
Three giant scorpions are spawned from Medusa's dripping blood after Calibos punctures the bag containing her decapitated head.
The last of the Titans. Goddess Theta demands that Princess Andromeda be sacrificed to the Kraken, claiming offense when Princess Andromeda's beauty is compared to her own.


Dance is a universal art since the old times. Dance studios with online presence with hosted websites are popping up in many parts of the world, and several people are investing in dance and dance studios as a revenue-generating activity. The competition is also getting stiff with many people launching dance studios every day. It is common to see a dance studio without students. If you are in this competition, there are several ways you can market your dance studio. Print advertising is becoming outdated and digital, and online marketing is taking over. Here are ways you can use to attract students to your dance studio through online platforms.
Create A Website
One way to market your dance studio is through a website, but you should make sure you use a reliable web hosting company. It is rare to see someone walking around town looking for a dance studio. Instead, people resort to Google. Create a website that is easy to use where people can tour your studio and register at the comforts of their home. The website should also be compatible with mobile platforms since many people are always on their phones.
Choose a theme that relates to the concept of dance, and ensure you update the website regularly. Also, remember to make sure you choose a web hosting company that has excellent 24/7 support to resolve any issues that might arise. Make the website a one-stop shop where people can access all the information about your studio.
Use Social Media
Today, many companies have official social media pages. Social media is no longer a place where people just socialize and share pictures; it has become a very useful marketing tool. You should also have social media pages including the most popular such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They make it easy for you to spread the news about your studio.
Use Email Marketing
Email is a valuable marketing tool for your dance studio. Collect emails and create an email list where you can promote events, prices, updates, newsletters and any other information you would like to put out there.
You should subscribe to an email marketing service. Some web hosting companies offer email marketing services which you can use for when your email list grows to a big number.
Do not fill your clients’ inboxes with emails they might get overwhelmed with and start trashing them. This will not help market your dance studio effectively.
Create A YouTube Channel
Many consider YouTube as a social media platform, but for marketing dance studios, it would be very effective to make it a marketing tool on its own.
A YouTube channel can help you demonstrate what your dance studio teaches. You can create a series of documentaries to show the development of a rookie dancer developing to become a pro. YouTube is somewhere you can upload tutorials and give people a taste of what you teach your students.
Online marketing is a blessing to many businesses, and you should not ignore using it to market your dance studio. Use the best online marketing strategy and market your studio for all dancers to know.


Moving History Returns: Saving Our Magnetic Media
An Archival Screening Night
February 17, 2017
8:00 PM (Happy Hour at 7:00 PM)
Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave, Seattle, Washington 98122
Moving History is back with new selections from Seattle-area heritage organizations, including dance troupe the Sally Sykes Group, Scarecrow Video, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle Public Schools, and the Wing Luke Museum, as well as previous participants King County Archives, Seattle Municipal Archives and the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Featured moving image material includes glimpses of rare feature films, historic Seattle, oral history interviews, dance performances by Pacific Northwest artists and much more (emceed by Spencer Sundell).
This archival screening night is presented by Moving Image Preservation of the Puget Sound (MIPoPS) to showcase analog videotape digitized with funds from 4Culture.
Seattle Municipal Archives and University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections will also feature selections digitized from 16 mm film.
For more information about MIPoPS, please visit our website: mipops.org
To view video digitized by MIPoPS, check out our collection on Internet Archive: archive.org/details/mipops


We took a quick trip to Portland for a wedding, and got in some good exploring in a new city.
We stayed at a great downtown hotel called Hotel DeLuxe. It is done up old Hollywood glamour style--lots of marble, gold tapestry, and sparkling chandeliers. Every floor is dedicated to a director or group of directors. We stayed on the 'rebels' floor. It is a gorgeous place.
Driving in Portland was no problem, parking on the other hand was too complicated for us. After lunch, we stuck to walking.
We had lunch at the Bijou Cafe, an all organic bistro:
BVZ had the house specialty, the Bijou Burger....
I had the vegan tomato soup and heirloom salad.
In Washington Park we visited the Japanese Tea Gardens. Unbelievably beautiful and tranquil. It was early on a Friday afternoon and we literally had the place to ourselves. Such a nice change from the SF gardens, where you are elbow to elbow with all of the noisy tourists. The garden is a masterpiece, each plant deliberately placed in the perfect place.
Across from the tea garden is the International Test Rose Garden, where hundreds of varieties of roses are grown with extra loving care. Free to the public, it is a delight to all the senses. Undeterred by the rain, we stopped to smell the roses, and enjoyed hot coffee in a serene, grassy, amphitheater.
After the gardens we gave ourselves a self-guided tour of the heart of Portland, through downtown and along the riverfront. Of course stopping in many of the local pubs along the way.
We ate dinner that night at Clarklewis, a trendy, red brick, exposed kitchen space with modern art and a great wine list.
Dinner was extraordinary, food that rivals anything we've had in San Francisco lately. The perfect piece of salmon...
Chicories salad with dried prosciutto...
Diver scallops in a cucumber medley....
And a mint chocolate plate of heaven.
After dinner, we did some bar hopping and got right in the middle of a block party that was going on outside Powell's bookstore in anticipation of the midnight release of the Harry Potter book.
We ended things back at the hotel, at Gracie's Lounge for a nightcap and some jazz.
Saturday morning was all about exploring our surroundings. We took a great walk to Pioneer Square and beyond, stopping to admire the local art scene...
We found the very popular (ie, hour long wait) Mother's Bistro and Cafe.
Breakfast was outstanding.
On Saturdays and Sundays all of downtown Portland comes together for an open air market. There is beer, meat on a stick, and dozens of local artisans peddling their goods. We got some high grade catnip toys for Loretta from a woman who had spent way too long around high grade catnip.
We ended our afternoon tour of downtown Portland with a stop at Powell's City of Books, a place that restores my faith in humanity. Literally ACRES of books, and books, and more books. You need a GPS device to make it from one end to the other. It is awesome.
Later that evening we met up with the entire VZ clan for cocktails and dinner before heading to the wedding site.
The wedding of BVZ's cousin Lee and his beautiful bride Sarah was lovely and romantic (although you probably can't tell from my horribly blurry pictures). After a touching ceremony, everyone celebrated with dancing and a stellar dessert reception. All in all, a wonderful evening.


A PASSION FOR SUPERIOR GEMS
At Gems Copenhagen, we have an exquisite selection of gemstones, learning opportunities, appraisal and the possibility for designing jewelry.
We take great pride in preserving ancient and traditional Indian methods of cutting, polishing and handling our gemstones.
Gems Copenhagen is your place for finding your dream gemstone, and a place where innovation and exquisite design comes to live.
More than gemstones
Alongside selling gemstones, Gems Copenhagen also designs jewelry, cuts gemstones, offers appraisals as well as courses.