A Note of Reflection and Gratitude for 2020

By Timea Wharton-Suri

At the end of 2020, an exceptional year of challenge and change, I am reflecting on dance Immersion’s year.

Shock, fear, hope, strength, questioning, challenging, calling out, calling in, coming together, standing apart: 2020.

I am grateful to have been invited to join the dance Immersion team in the fall. This organization, once again, demonstrated its resilience through significant challenges.

Founder Vivine Scarlett was working in Ghana when COVID-19 hit and had to remain there for six additional months before she could get home. Working with Nicole Hamilton here at home base in Toronto, they planned and re-planned, continued connecting with communities around the world to devise artistic projects, worked with the IABD to postpone the Toronto conference, and kept dance Immersion afloat. They supported community members and one another.

We said good-bye to incredible team member Cassandra Belafonte who helped build and sustain dance Immersion over the past decade. The organization also said hello to Zahra Badua, Jillian Greyson, and me.

We have plans to continue connecting with you through the new Bantaba series, and with livestream presentations and outdoor events in the summer. And we continue to dream for the 21-22 season.

I am so grateful for the dance Immersion community and for this strength in my professional life. And I am figuring out how I want to proceed in my personal life as the New Year approaches.

With so much uncertainty still facing us heading into 2021, perhaps instead of trying to make resolutions that I may not be able to live up to because of external circumstances, I can, instead, ask myself a few questions and let the answers guide me forward:

What is the most important lesson I learned this year?

What am I thankful for this year?

What challenges did I overcome?

What did I do for my physical and mental health?

Was there anything left unfinished that I would like to complete?

I’m sure there are many important questions to reflect on, but I will start there.

 

A NOTE TO YOU:

We at dance Immersion are so thankful for you.

Whether you spoke out, sat up, peacefully paused, kept going, hung on, just survived, or thrived – you made it through. And we did it together.

All the best to you for healthy, peaceful 2021.

XO,

Timea