Movement for All Bodies with Tula B. Strong

This free community event is a part of Velvet Penny's initiative to offer community care through accessible, all ages, art and wellness workshops. Our mission is to share these workshops to help connect attendees with practices that can help them, grow, heal and find empowerment.

Tula B. Strong is a Liberian-American artist focused on weaving dance, devised theatre, and Traditional American folk music. She creates multidisciplinary performances that center the everyday and supernatural experiences of folk of color, with a specific lens towards Christian "mysticism" and anti-oppressive frameworks in Black and Black Queer communities historically marginalized from institutional religion. Tula has been honored to have her work receive support and recognition from California Art Council's Individual Artists Fellowship, Inland Film Festival, Charlotte Black Film Festival, Blavity’s BlavityTV, the National Black Arts’ Artist Project Fund, San Bernardino Arts Connection's Arts Innovator Micro-Grant, Californian's for the Arts - IE Region's Artists as Second Responder Award, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute’s DEAR Artist Retreat, & Princeton University’s The Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts. As a first generation college student, Tula has earned her MFA in Dance from UCLA, her Masters in Educational Studies from Loyola Marymount University, and her Bachelors from Princeton University. Tula currently serves as a lecturer at Cal State University, Fullerton where she teaches courses on Dance Pedagogy, Choreographic Practice, Dance History, and Black Dance & Performance Studies. Alongside the efforts of LA Based Choreographer Marianna Varviani, she also co-leads LA Dance Calendar: an online platform providing one centralized location to discover all things DANCE in Greater Los Angeles

ABOUT ‘YUDITH’

Yudith is the second Official Music video release for Velvet Penny’s debut record, ‘All the Flowers.’ The video portrays the nonlinear path of healing and addresses the different avenues of self destruction that present themselves to us when lost. Pictured is doe eyed Yudith, as she finds herself in a desolate environment encroached upon by a group of menacing spirits persuading her from the path of self love and discovery.

ABOUT VELVET PENNY

Velvet Penny, is a musical collective, dedicated group of community organizers and artists led by singer/songwriter Marlena Martinez. For her debut body of work, Marlena spent several years creating ‘All the Flowers,’ which was released as an album, community zine, and award winning music video dedicated to preventing and healing domestic violence. ‘All the Flowers’ can most simply be described as an art rock album that explores the sounds of folk, alt-jazz, and psychedelia unified through the complexities of dissonance and the lightness of healing.

As a vocalist and community organizer working at the intersection of activism, wellness, and art, Marlena was awarded an artistic residency at CASA Pitzer in Ontario, California hosted by The Arts Area where her music video for ‘All the Flowers’ was on view from November 2022- February 2023. During the opening, Velvet Penny made their debut as a full band but most critically, Velvet Penny’s residency offered free education, art, and wellness programs designed to create kinder and safer communities. Workshops ranged in topics such as somatic consent, zine making, body and trauma work/healing, and self-defense.

Bandcamp

Music Video

Live Video

Instagram

M I S S I O N

Our future is one where reciprocity replaces competition, every body has the right to movement and the abundant resources to revel in it.

V I S I O N

 Our values are always evolving as we continue to listen to and reflect the ever changing needs and shape of our community and our world. 

JUSTICE: Access, Equity, Safety, Transparency

COMMUNITY: Hospitality, Connection, Reflective and Responsive

CARE: Wellbeing, Generosity & Reciprocity

SOLIDARITY: Among Artists, Genres, & Organizations 

EXPANSION: Broadening the Boundaries of Dance & Dancers

Website

Host or Publisher Velvet Penny