Live Session – Weightless in Mind, Body & Spirit

Speakers

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  Professor S. Ama Wray Professor of dance and creator of Embodiology®
  

  Professor S. Ama Wray

  Professor of dance and creator of Embodiology®

  Dr. S. Ama Wray is an Professor of dance and the University of California, Irvine. She is a former U.K NESTA Fellow (National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts – similar to the MacArthur Awards)—an improviser, choreographer, director, teacher and scholar. She self-titles as a ‘Performance Architect’, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Surrey where she developed her theory and practice of Embodiology®, a neo-African approach to contemporary dance improvisation. Her TED talk articulates its distinctions and philosophy http://www.tedxorangecoast.com/videopick/sheron-wray-bodily-steps-to-innovation/ In 2016 an essay on her neo-African approach to dance improvisation is in Black Dance British Routes, edited by Adair and Burt, 2017 published by Routledge. In 2014 two essays on jazz dance were published in the anthology Jazz dance: A History of its Roots and Branches, edited by Guarino and Oliver.

  As a performer in the UK she danced with London Contemporary Dance Theatre and Rambert Dance Company between 1988 and 2001. Wray is widely known for her role as the leading performer and legal custodian of Harmonica Breakdown (1938), choreographed by Jane Dudley. As its custodian she continues to restage the work globally and has completed a motion capture/Labanotation research project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities research Council 2014-16. The dance is also the title subject of a documentary about Jane and this work. Her other films are for JazzXchange Special Request, depicting a journey from Nyabinghi drums to Hip Hop, shot on various locations in NY; and Red as Expected, an award winning film by Dennis Morrision with music by Byron Wallen. Re-inspired after her solo role in Wynton Marsalis’ Harvard Lecture Series in 2012 and her residency at The Institute of Advanced Study (in Princeton) she re-launched JazzXchange in the USA and is developing an interdisciplinary festival of jazz and hip hop performance in Orange County. Currently her improvisation practice is extending into clinical research with UCI medical centre, using her dance improvisation methods as a form of therapy for patients who suffer from chronic diseases. And in 2015 UK’s National Resource Centre for Dance invited her to place her archive within their permanent collection. In the realm of theatre she has successfully directed two of Mojisola Adebayo’s plays directed Moj of the Antarctic – An African Odyssey and Muhammad Ali and Me which have toured the UK and South Africa supported by the British Council.

  In London between 1992 and 2004 Wray was artistic director of JazzXchange Music and Dance Company, collaborating with musicians including: Gary Crosby – OBE, Julian Joseph, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin and Zoe Rahman. For the UK’s 2012 Cultural Olympiad Festival she was commissioned to choreograph The Brown Bomber, collaborating with Joseph once again, supported by the PRS Foundation. As a result of her 4-year NESTA fellowship, dance of the African diaspora, jazz and improvisation intersect in her concept of digitally enabled improvisation which manifests in the award-winning Texterritory. Texterritory is an interactive performance platform created in collaboration with Fleeta Siegel. Recent productions include Texterritory Congo, Digitally Ever Present and Texterritory USA.

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  Carol Penn DO, Dipl. ABOM, MA, FACCE From Dancer to Doula to Doctor
  

  Carol Penn

  DO, Dipl. ABOM, MA, FACCE From Dancer to Doula to Doctor

  About Dr. Carol

  Dr. Carol A. Penn, DO, MA, ABOM, FACOFP doubly Board Certified in Family Medicine and Obesity Medicine as well as being a Master movement, meditation, and mindset coach brings more than 40 years of experience and expertise in Mind Body Medicine and the movement sciences. Gifted with the ability to inspire and educate about self care, Dr. Penn brings a unique set of skills to her work as a physician. Her work in Mindful Movement and the dynamic small group facilitation work in the Mind Body Spirit Medicine series is designed to assist each participant in their journey of deep self care and in learning how to prioritize themselves on behalf of achieving their best and highest self. In her online Mind Body Medicine series you will learn how to balance your Sympathetic and Parasympathetic nervous system as well as how to uncouple the amygdala and hippocampus regions of the brain from fear based behaviors that hold us back and keep us stuck. Dr. Penn hoping to guide each person on their own unique journey, holds national certifications in Mind Body Medicine from the Center for Mind Body Medicine; Health, Wellness and Fitness Coach from Wellcoaches; and is a certified Personal Trainer from the National Council on Strength and Fitness. Additionally, she has a 500 hour certification in yoga from Soma Yoga and is certified in Organ Cleansing QiGong. She also brings her artistic sensibilities to the marriage of the arts and medicine with her background as a professionally trained dancer and choreographer with the world famous Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and a Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Teaching Fellow, Dr. Penn will get you moving and keep you moving on your path to health and wellness.

  Having achieved a rare standard of excellence in the Academic community, Dr. Penn is a Fellow in the American Academy of Osteopathic Family Physicians and is Clinical Faculty with Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine, the Center for Mind Body Medicine, and the Medical Moguls Academy. She is a recent graduate of the Whole Health Medical Institute and serves as a leader in her community as a member of the Board of Health and in her capacity as a Trustee with Lunch Break Inc. She is also a two time best selling author and her book: Meditation In a Time of Madness, launched in 2019 as a number 1 best seller in the category of meditation and alternative medicine.

  A business woman, servant leader and entrepreneur, Dr. Penn is a Founder/Activist and Chief Visionary Officer of Penn Global Visions LLC, a health and education multi-media firm changing the world one meditation at a time. Soon the doors to Penn Mogul Medical Group, her concierge medical practice will be open! She is a medical correspondent for WURD Radio in Philadelphia where she is a frequent guest and Podcastor as well as the host of her own weekly show and podcast: Weightless in Mind, Body and Spirit. A creative forever, she continues to direct her all volunteer women’s dance ensemble Core of Fire.

  An activist, Dr. Penn has most recently taken on as her mission, ending racism globally. Viewing racism as a chronic disease, Dr. Penn is the content creator for both a seminar/webinar; The Mindful Genogram: The Examination of Ancestral Bias and a course that is gaining national recognition; Unpacking Racism Through the Lens of Mind, Body, and Spirit Meditation and Movement.

  She is super proud wife, mom, and daughter living and loving in the midst of a beautiful blended family, surrounded by a beloved extended family and connections and kinship with friends and colleagues.