The horrors of a slave ship and an exploration of wellness seem to be the subjects of very different events, but both served as the foundation of the MGH Institute's Juneteenth Lunch & Learn last Thursday in Shouse 305. Hosted by the Office of Mission, Values, and Community Excellence (MVCE), the interactive event explored the connection with the help of invited Speaker Anthony "AM" Andrade, Jr., a member of the Haus of Glitter Dance Company. 

Processing a heavy history and reckoning with the weight of one's own tensions is a challenge the Haus of Glitter Dance Company is not only familiar with but has pursued artistically. The company originated from shared dance floors and community arts education to a convening of talents that led to a residency at the historic Providence home of Esek Hopkins, commander of the slave ship Sally.  

Andrade shared that during the pandemic, the performers responded to the log of travelers from  Hopkins' voyage that listed enslaved people under jarring names such as "woman hanged between decks." In response, AM and his fellow dancers reimagined the woman's story, considering her legacy through poetry, choreography, and their own ancestral dreaming — reclaiming the space through cultural celebration. Andrade told the Institute gathering that this work laid the foundation for the Haus of Glitter's success, which went on to win the National Dance Project. 

"It was really powerful, how you turned that story into such a glorious, gorgeous one,"  Director of Community Excellence Education, and Programs for MVCE Callie Watkins Liu told Andrade. "I was struck by the fact that this female slave wasn't even named in the logs. I think when I'm interacting with different institutions, I kind of get stuck at the painful part. I don't think I'd ever actually considered how it can be made into a transformational journey. That was really, really striking." 

Participants engaged with their own transformational journeys through a collective wellness practice, taking part in discussion, personal reflection, and breathwork rooted in the dance company's care-centered philosophies. Participants were challenged to go deeper, exploring their own stress responses (fight, flight, fawn, or freeze), what nurtures them, and how they can use these reflections to build their own wellness plans, whether in their personal lives, schooling, or work. 

"Urgency is one of the symptoms that capitalism supplies in organizing work," Andrade noted. "Wellness is not something you reach. It has to be a practice — something you do every day, every hour." 

For those in the room, the exercises brought something real to the surface. 

"These kinds of exercises help me remind myself of things that I know but seldom tap into," said Gayun Chan-Smutko, associate professor and associate chair of genetic counseling. "Sometimes I worry that I'm not focusing on myself. The word I'm taking away is attending. Paying attention to myself, my body, my emotions." 

Kathleen Socha, clinical education placement and systems associate in the School of Nursing, found her own takeaway in the collective experience. "A support system can be formed by shared circumstances," she said. 

For Watkins Liu, the wellness exercises opened her mind to being present, allowing her to sit with tension rather than avoid it. "When I'm present in myself, and someone's being present in themselves, then I can sit with whatever tension comes up," she noted. 

The session came full circle by starting how it began, with a breathing practice, this time offered in honor of the land, Indigenous communities, ancestors, and the act of knowing oneself. 

Andrade closed by emphasizing the practice's longevity. "So much of our practice extends into the everyday," he said. Thanking participants for their time, he added, "It's really sweet to know that any institution is offering an opportunity for us to pause, slow down, think about wellness — and maybe step away with some tools to support us in our lives."