Break The Chain (Photo courtesy of http://www.elitismstyle.com)

As a graduate student busy with work and school, it is often easy to feel a bit disconnected from your community. However here at Columbia College Chicago, there are ALWAYS opportunities to branch out beyond your specific department of study and become an influential person within society. The Department of Creative Arts Therapies is consistently offering these opportunities and many times it is through MOVED, our student organization. MOVED is always involved with branching out to the community with dance/movement therapy and this month we are doing our part for One Billion Rising.

One Billion Rising (credit: http://www.onebillionrising.org/)

Consider this…One in three women on the planet will be a victim of sexual abuse or violence within her lifetime. That is close to one billion women.  

One Billion Rising for Justice is a global call to women survivors of sexual violence or abuse who are entitled to justice and the right to safety when so very often they are not. It is a call to survivors to break the silence and release their stories—politically, spiritually, outrageously—through art, dance, marches, ritual, song, spoken word, testimonies or whatever way feels right.  

One Billion Rising (OBR) takes these topics which as a society we are often forced to keep quiet, and brings them to life for the community to witness. Through these performances, voices are finally being heard and stories are finally being told. This amazing event evokes an air of celebration as opposed to shame as these women feel a sense of empowerment through their incredible vulnerability.  They no longer need to feel a sense of isolation; they can feel a part of a community filled with endless love and support. Event coordinator Chelsea Hill stated that, “We are honoring the fact that these women are being brave enough to take the time to talk about these difficult topics. We are celebrating them!”

[flickr id=”12490074155″ thumbnail=”medium” overlay=”true” size=”medium” group=”” align=”none”]Of course MOVED would like to do our part in speaking up for these women in the best way we know how—through dance. Dance can provide an outlet in which many of these women can fully embody and tell their stories through the universality of movement. This Valentine’s Day MOVED will have the opportunity to be involved with the “Break the Chain” dance at Daley Plaza with One Billion Rising.

“Dancing insists we take up space, and though it has no set direction, we go there together. Dance is dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive, and contagious and it breaks the rules. It can happen anywhere, at any time, with anyone and everyone, and it’s free. Dance joins us and pushes us to go further and that is why it’s at the center of ONE BILLION RISING” – Eve Ensler (playwright of The Vagina Monologues).