Ever since I have been hanging out at 333NERGY, my favourite dance space in Vancouver, I met many friends and learned a ton about myself. I learned discipline through movement, just about as much as I’ve learned to let my hair down.
This Halloween party is a great example of the latter, just lying back and connecting with friends. The woman in red, that’s Lisa, we had a party at her place where I got to show off my pole dancing skill. I would love to have a pole at my place like her one day.
Also, Lisa is looking sick in this pic, it had to be said.
Lisa, the undead bride to the left, helped organize this marvellous event, and I am ever so grateful to her.
There is a strong sense of community in this space, one could even call it uncanny.
Which is why the epicentre of it all, Jojo Zolina, more on him later, asked me to donate a free art class, as a charity raffle for a women’s shelter in the area. Without much convincing, I said yes. You see the person with a lamb head piece in the background, that’s Pinia.
Before we move on, I would like to extend a special thank you to 
Hive is another great community that shows me that despite my predilection for in-person interactions, there is an amazingly sweet virtual community out there to connect with.
The party was so cute, with a costume ball in pure queer fashion. When they bring up gay pride, this is the kind of thing that makes me really proud…
Depending on your mood, it can be hard to go to parties, keep in mind that it can be a bit like not being hungry but once you start eating, you find you have an appetite after all. For some, that might not even work, it can be a long-term investment to find out that being social can benefit them. The point is, get yourself out there, meet new people, even if it feels uncomfortable at first, because once you create those bonds, you have caring relationships and potential for growth in your life. Not everyone has the same need for human contact, but we can all benefit from empathy and laughter, in the same physical space.
Soon after, I was having dinner with Jojo when he asked me if Pinia had been in touch, I said no but that I left her an email. He thought I should reach out to her, and then I evoked the fact that I’m very busy and that maybe it would just fall through.
This is the part about being vulnerable because I am in no way shape or form proud of that. You see, I was just grateful for my teacher insisting and facilitating the communication as I used his account to reach out to her. Easy peasy.
This is Pinias work, it is amazing and really captures the sense of scale, as well as the play on tessellation we were going for. Great job Pinia, I hope you keep drawing to your heart’s contempt, and that this class can be like a diving board to make it happen.
This is yours truly.
I began the lesson with a little bit of life coaching, asking what kind of positive impact drawing could have on their general well-being. It was interesting to work on my listening skills and to try not to fix things or explain too much, but I think I succeeded. I think a good life coach has a minimalistic approach and would tend to pepper feedback here and there. What do you think?
Pinia brought up a lot of open-ended questions about a potential positive impact on sleep and finding a way to reduce screen time.
I love that!
Pinia invited a friend with whom I met at the same bar the next day for the comic jam, a monthly drawing meetup. I am beginning to think Jojo’s plan was a stroke of genius if it motivated her to draw. How serendipitous that I would ask her to meet me at the same bar the next day.
In all fairness, it is spacious and well lit, but it was trivia, the night of our casual lesson, so they kicked us out an hour and a half in. Yet we were not done and went to another place to finish and feast ourselves on some delicious nachos.
Our styles blend so well together, wouldn’t you say?
The assignment was to draw big objects in a cartoon style or rather simplified shapes from imagination. Then, medium objects all around, we were making sure to keep turning the page around so things were not all from the same point of view. You can think of it like surrealism. Lastly, small objects were to populate the negative spaces left between, saturating the detail and information. With Pinia’s, the small objects have their own negative space, which was a fun surprise. Art is all about finding clever ways to break the rules!
This is our focussed face.
Here we are, ever focussed, and that’s the end of my story. 333NERGY is an awesome wellness space, and this is a great example of exactly how it is a fertile soil for community and friendship. Jojo and those around him put a lot of work to make sure Vancouver doesn’t have to be a lonely place, which it has the reputation of being.
I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve my community as best I could, I am grateful for the inherent therapeutic aspect of art and for a good time with awesome people.