In February 2023, Learning Courage hosted our third annual virtual event. This year our theme was Hope, a word our team feels fuels our work in many ways. Hope gives us strength. Your hope allows you to move forward and it takes strength to tell your story, to stand up and speak out for change, to shift damaging cultural systems and dynamics that lead to harm, and to heal from sexual abuse and violence. This year our performers were inspired by our theme of hope and showed it through dance, poetry, song, spoken word, and images; several of them even created new pieces, especially for our event. One of our performers joins us as our host this year. Proclaimed as one of the “purest contemporary voices” by National Public Radio, Amikaeyla Gaston is a force for change. She is a nuanced thought-leader, author, public speaker, and performer, and MTV says “her sultry sound is like listening to velvet waterfalls.”

The Embodiment Project is a Bay Area Performing Arts Organization founded by Nicole Klaymoon. For over 13 years, they seek to uplift the power of dance as an act of resistance, collective healing, and social transformation. Drawing on modern dance, poetry, documentary theater, live song, and video art, their work uplifts the narratives of: Black, Indigenous and People of Color, the voices of survivors of sexual violence, youth, and communities impacted by the carceral system. Embodiment Project