Pride and Solstice Blessings/ radical celebrations/ Queen
"Because we're standing in the way of control, we live our lives."
Hi Ponies! Happy Pride! Solstice Blessings!! We will be gathering to celebrate both occasions in dance aerobics ritual tomorrow, Saturday 1:45pmPT. I don’t tottttttally know how the summer solstice magic will work into class, but I have faith that it will become known.
You KNOW we have a code for tomorrow’s class! $10 (+ fees) in-person ticket code for self-identified queers, the code is doyouwanttofunk. And you KNOW, you can feel free to use this code if you financially need it regardless of how you identify! And you KNOWWWWW, YES, all are welcome! All livestream proceeds will go to benefit an org working toward safety and liberation!!
It’s important to celebrate Pride, however we want to and choose to. June is the time we come together collectively in rituals that honor our queer ancestors, and rituals that invoke community-care. We participate and show up at events for the “newcomers.” We participate at parades+protests+picnics+parties, we let our freak flags fly to demonstrate living openly and authentically and united against oppression.
Pride gatherings were religious experiences for me as a baby-queer. The power of a bunch of queers convening is awe-inspiring! god is present. No wonder the christian-right thinks we have an agenda! Our collective energy is irresistible! We don’t actually have to promote a single goddamn thing! Just look at us! We’re fucking fabulous and free. FWEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! Why wouldn’t a person want what we have? We got drag, care circles, bodybodybody-positivity, consent, sex-positivity/neutrality, mutual aid, gluten-free and vegan options, haircuts, and astrology!
Many people skipped Pride festivities to go protest I.C.E. in other parts of their cities! YES! It’s been proven through hxstory, we are organized and we know what to do! The energy of hundreds or thousands of folks across the LGBTQIA2S+ spectrum and our allies gathering in visibility and protest and celebration is fucking powerful and life-giving!! The most jaded of us cannot deny that we need this. We need to be around people who don’t believe in a gender binary, people who yell Fuck ICE and Free Palestine. You will find these people at Pride. I love Pride! Happy Pride!
SALE! Across Time + Space! BE A JOINER!
Thank you to all you Ponies who subscribe to Across Time + Space! We are so grateful for your participation and support. <3
We are having a subscription sale til the end of the month! 25% off our Sliding Scale $15-30, which brings it as low as $11.25/month! AND 50% off yearly subscription (with code LEZDOIT50)!
“That’s a good-ass sale” as Michella put it and we hope you agree! If you have the means to subscribe, please support this Queer-owned and Queer-run business! Across Time + Space includes over 100 videos of your favorite songs and routines to revisit whenever you want, as well as movement modalities and containers that are not taught at any in-person classes ever!
The Pony Sweat subscription is very much expressive of our Core Values, philosophies, music fandom, + art aesthetics— these are the parts of Pony Sweat that I think connect all of us the most!
AT+S subscribers have access to my weekly online strength-+-mobility-building class, Exercising + Listening 2 Records. Yesterday I brought Aaliyah’s self-titled album in honor of Summer Solstice, and Pony Carolee brought The Blow (a band I hadn’t heard in SO FREAKING LONG and it was so exciting to hear them again! This happens a lot at EL2R— revisiting old faves and hearing artists some of us have never heard!) We did mat pilates and a lot of arms with light weights. My triceps and inner thighs are feeling it today!
If you can’t make it to our weekly 9:30am class live, you can do the recording that’s included in your video library. ICYMI, I put time-stamps in the description of every EL2R vid so you can skip the start-of-class music chitchat and get right to the warm-up, or skip to a different section of the workout if you want a shorter container! Everything we do in EL2R is appropriate to repeat 2x a week (or even 3), especially for folks wanting to build strength and mobility, which is imperative for those of us who plan to do emotive dance aerobics for a long long time. Forever, please!
“I love the listening to records class. It feels like I am in the same room! Stronger and calmer afterwards.” -real-life beloved Pony TESTIMONY
Pride Bangers Mixtape
Tomorrow I’ll debut our Pride Bangers Mixtape at the “gayest class of the year!” Come one, come all, and participate in some much-needed gay revelry. I’ll be teaching this mixtape starting Saturday and then at every single in-person class til the end of June!
Blind (Frankie Knuckles Remix)- Hercules + Love Affair
Come Again- Au Pairs
She Doesn’t Like Men- Soltera
High Energy (almighty definitive mix)- Evelyn Thomas
Standing in the Way of Control- Gossip
Hit That Perfect Beat- Bronski Beat
Givin Em What They Love- Janelle Monáe w Prince
Technicolor Lover- Romy
I Want to Break Free- Queen
Future Crimes- WILD FLAG
Living it Out- Planningtorock
Stand By Me (live)- Tracy Chapman
Power to the People- Octo Octa
I’m revisiting some Pony faves here, AND dancing to Queen for the first time ever. Mi esposa, Lisaida, loves Freddie Mercury’s performance at the LiveAid concert, and her cute Freddie-fandom inspired me to include “I Want To Break Free” this month. I came across this article about the controversy surrounding the song, which included some typically annoying homophobic reactions from the U.S. over the band donning drag in the video that attempts to convey the potential trappings of monogamy (or rather heteronormativity, I interpret.) The most interesting part of the article was to learn that when they performed this song in Rio de Janeiro the crowd got very upset that Freddie was wearing drag bc they felt that he was not conveying the true meaning of the song— which to them was a song about resisting dictatorship.
Either way, it’s a beautiful song, and a tender moment to dance to its message— however one may interpret it.
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Resources
Malia shared a couple of Pro-Bono therapy services. Please share with your folks!
And ICYMI, in Isabel’s newletter last week she shared a bunch organizations to support— here are some that are still timely:
LA Taco and LA Public Press - news by the people!
Feed the Streets LA - donate and volunteer to deliver meals/essentials to folks at home
The Relational Center is offering free therapy for those directly affected by ICE raids and riots
CHIRLA / Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights has been leading this fight in LA since 1986 and is doing amazing work
Critical Resistance LA -
We Keep Us Safe virtual Zoom training on identifying ICE and protecting our communities, Monday 6/16 from 6-7:30PMCheck them out anyway even if you missed this event!National Day Laborer Organizing Network - bilingual guide on what you can do to protect immigrants and monitor ICE
Flyer distribution effort happening: You can also access @Koreatown folder of flyers HERE and put them up in your neighborhood whenever you want! (did you know you can print for free at the library using your library card?!).
Thank you Ponies <3
I hope to dance with you real soon! I’ll be teaching all the next week at Pickle Factory— tomorrow, Monday 7pm, Wednesday 10:15 am, Thursday 7pm, and again next Saturday! Would love to see you.
I’ll leave us with a few of the Core Values that guide our aerobics practice:
We uphold a philosophy of abundance. There is enough space for everyone when we share it.
We care for ourselves in order to care for others in our communities.
We believe in catharsis as a path to transformation and action.
Every Body is a different Body. Every Body is a great Body. Fuck a universal standard. Fuck white supremacy. Fuck transphobia. Fuck fatphobia. Fuck colorism. Fuck ableism.
And Fuck the gender-binary! Yippeeeeeeeeee yupyupyup!!!!!!! Happy Pride Ponies! May the goddexx rain Solstice blessings upon us all.
Sending you all so much Love!
<3,
Emilia