We had Break the Chain flash dances in busy metro locations Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday this week and one location was one of the most expensive boutique districts in the midwest.

Tonight we played music, waved at traffic, and shook our booties and then we did the Break the Chain dance through a couple of times. We listened to a poet do a very impassioned original poem called Neda's Voice, in which Neda (whom you may recall was shot by a sniper in Iran during the Arab Spring) spoke to us about being women and being strong and courageous in women's ways, to free ourselves from and to do the things that women have in their power to do to destroy the culture of violence, to save ourselves and all of the young ones. A bunch of us went back to the curb with our signs, while the rest of us formed small circles and got to know one another and why each of us had come there this evening and we did some very sweet touching experiences and actually really looked at one another quietly and then closed our small circles by putting all of our hands together in the middle and singing a simple song giving our own blessings on one another. Then all of us went back to a local cafe where we had guest-tables for local violence shelters and also the IWW and all of us ate together and listened to a women's guitar, mandolin, flute, and vocals combo.

I saw and hugged several old friends and met many new ones. We agreed to begin to plan for 2014 immediately.

And I LOVED every bit of it!

It won't be enough for me just to attend.

I had spoken to women at work who didn't know about it, and should have. A male friend of men from Gambia would have loved to attend, he is a devout Muslim and completely appalled at some of he things done to women justified by his religion.

Like you, I'm looking foreword to 2014. There's so much to do

thank you ism and patrice.

I'm not shy, I can be forward or retiring depending on what I think is best, so I was out there dancing with all these women, most of them strangers. In fact the opening was a participant dance, with a beautiful song.

Lot's of drummers. All our signs had 'rise' and then a phrase.

So people could go up and and be seen on the Facebook page, we all held one forefinger up to signify 'rise'. There were a few signs, but not as many as I thought there'd be.

My husband recorded as much as he could, so we have a memory record

My sign said I rise up for my friends and family. There was a big banner that was laid down the statehouse steps. Each step had a message. Couple of TV crews.
I watched tonight but didn't see my self. The young kids out front really danced it up.
Those of us on the steps just bounced rhythmically and held up our signs.

Pretty good turn out, too.

At least two or three hundred. There were bigger type cameras, but I don't know it who or what. It was just good being part of something so powerful. Women had voices, expression through dance and voice-- for ourselves, for still suffering women, for healing.

Just by my estimate. The speaker was informative and brief. It was nice to have a good turn out.
When we walked up at noon there were ten or fifteen people and I was a bit dejected. But it filled up fast. I'm always glad to see the young ones, males and females, all dancing creatively and expressively.