iLAND: Interdisciplinary Laboratory for Art, Nature, and Dance

04/18/2024

04/09/2024

So inspiring to be working on Environmental Justice issues with Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge and Los Jardines Institute. So much generosity, knowledge and commitment. There is a great line up of events through all of April. iLAND is offering workshops in English and Spanish at the VDO on Saturday, April 20th. Come check it out.

04/09/2024

iLAND is offering workshops in Spanish and English at Valle De Oro Wildlife Refuge on April 20 and at Los Jardines Institute on April 13. Come dance with us!

Join Us for a Month of Environmental Justice Celebration Events!

April is here, and we're thrilled to invite you to our series of FREE community celebration events focused on environmental justice! Mark your calendars and join us as we come together to raise awareness, inspire action, and celebrate our planet. To learn more, please visit: https://losjardinesinstitute.org/ej-days-2024

All events are FREE and open to everyone! Bring your friends, family, and neighbors as we unite to make a positive impact on our planet. Stay tuned for more details and join us in making April a month to remember for environmental justice! 🌍💚

04/05/2024

This is our first performance of "move thing" in New Mexico. Come support us if you are around!!

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"move thing: community dance project, New Mexico"
FREE. No RSVP required.

Date: April 13, 2024, 11am – 2pm

Location: Los Jardines Institute, 803 La Vega Dr SW, Albuquerque, NM 87105

Collaborators: Los Jardines Institute, Jah Truebadoors, youth from South Valley prep, Alex Viteri Arturo, Valerie Oliveiro, and Jennifer Monson.

Conceptual formations: Valerie Oliveiro and Jennifer Monson

move thing is a community-based dance project proposing that the multi-sensory, improvisatory, and choreographic structures of dance contribute to reparative projects in communities that have historically been impacted by toxic contamination due to resource extraction (Uranium and coal mining) and industrial effluents (chemicals, particulates, carbon monoxide, and heavy metals). Resisting all forms of purity, the work proposes that we are all constantly, inherently, and unevenly making up each other and all other animate and inanimate beings. If we imagine ourselves as soluble, always dissolving and reconstituting choreographically, could we move through toxicity and be with and/or absorb toxicity and find new / alternative / old / transformative relationships to its states / tendencies / behaviors / effects / violences / shifts? Could we find intelligences within our bodies and abilities to connect more deeply with the mechanisms for survival and support in sites and systems that we are a part of?

move thing is supported, in part, by the Challenge America grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Campus Research Board’s award from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Puffin Foundation.

Image description is available via alt-text.

04/03/2024

We hope you can join iLAND, Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge and other community collaborators for our EJ Community Celebration taking place throughout the month of April.

iLAND and Los Jardines Institute will be hosting a Move Thing workshop on Saturday, April 13 from 11 -2 pm.

We hope to see you there!

Join us for a month-long celebration of Environmental Justice Community Days happening all throughout April with the culminating event taking place on Saturday, April 20th! Hosted by the Refuge and our valued partners, this year's theme "Connecting Through Our Roots" highlights the deep ties that bind us - to each other, to our community, and to the earth beneath our feet.

From the EJ Paddle Tour to captivating dance performances by iLANDS and Sin Fronteras, and from hands-on educational workshops covering farming, plant restoration, and tile making to immersive Refuge and EJ Toxic Tours, there's something for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Click the link below to learn more about the events taking place on the Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/valle-de-oro/events

Flyer description: Flyer with black and orange font and a drawing of a tree, roots fungi, skunk and a person standing beside the tree. Flyer reads: "Environmental Justice Community Celebration. Connecting Through Our Roots. April 2024- Free Event.
Fun Educational Activities for Family and Friends. Kayaking + Farming + Music + Dance
Food + EJ Toxic Tour +Wildlife Viewing
Art + More!
🌍🎉

04/03/2024

Join iLAND, Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge, and other community collaborators for our Environmental Justice Community Celebration, taking place throughout the month of April.

iLAND and Los Jardines Institute will be leading a Move Thing workshop on Saturday, April 13 from 11 -2 pm MT.

We will also lead two Move Thing workshops at the culminating Environmental Justice Community Celebration event at Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge on April 20th from 11 -2 pm.

We hope to see you there!

Join us for a month-long celebration of Environmental Justice Community Days happening all throughout April with the culminating event taking place on Saturday, April 20th! Hosted by the Refuge and our valued partners, this year's theme "Connecting Through Our Roots" highlights the deep ties that bind us - to each other, to our community, and to the earth beneath our feet.

From the EJ Paddle Tour to captivating dance performances by iLANDS and Sin Fronteras, and from hands-on educational workshops covering farming, plant restoration, and tile making to immersive Refuge and EJ Toxic Tours, there's something for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Click the link below to learn more about the events taking place on the Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/valle-de-oro/events

Flyer description: Flyer with black and orange font and a drawing of a tree, roots fungi, skunk and a person standing beside the tree. Flyer reads: "Environmental Justice Community Celebration. Connecting Through Our Roots. April 2024- Free Event.
Fun Educational Activities for Family and Friends. Kayaking + Farming + Music + Dance
Food + EJ Toxic Tour +Wildlife Viewing
Art + More!
🌍🎉

04/03/2024

Join us for a month-long celebration of Environmental Justice Community Days happening all throughout April with the culminating event taking place on Saturday, April 20th! Hosted by the Refuge and our valued partners, this year's theme "Connecting Through Our Roots" highlights the deep ties that bind us - to each other, to our community, and to the earth beneath our feet.

From the EJ Paddle Tour to captivating dance performances by iLANDS and Sin Fronteras, and from hands-on educational workshops covering farming, plant restoration, and tile making to immersive Refuge and EJ Toxic Tours, there's something for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Click the link below to learn more about the events taking place on the Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/valle-de-oro/events

Flyer description: Flyer with black and orange font and a drawing of a tree, roots fungi, skunk and a person standing beside the tree. Flyer reads: "Environmental Justice Community Celebration. Connecting Through Our Roots. April 2024- Free Event.
Fun Educational Activities for Family and Friends. Kayaking + Farming + Music + Dance
Food + EJ Toxic Tour +Wildlife Viewing
Art + More!
🌍🎉

04/03/2024

iLAND is offering workshops and performances at this event. Come dance with us!

Join us for a month-long celebration of Environmental Justice Community Days happening all throughout April with the culminating event taking place on Saturday, April 20th! Hosted by the Refuge and our valued partners, this year's theme "Connecting Through Our Roots" highlights the deep ties that bind us - to each other, to our community, and to the earth beneath our feet.

From the EJ Paddle Tour to captivating dance performances by iLANDS and Sin Fronteras, and from hands-on educational workshops covering farming, plant restoration, and tile making to immersive Refuge and EJ Toxic Tours, there's something for everyone to enjoy and learn from.

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Click the link below to learn more about the events taking place on the Refuge: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/valle-de-oro/events

Flyer description: Flyer with black and orange font and a drawing of a tree, roots fungi, skunk and a person standing beside the tree. Flyer reads: "Environmental Justice Community Celebration. Connecting Through Our Roots. April 2024- Free Event.
Fun Educational Activities for Family and Friends. Kayaking + Farming + Music + Dance
Food + EJ Toxic Tour +Wildlife Viewing
Art + More!
🌍🎉

12/20/2023

We at iLAND are sending warmth and light as the earth turns towards the sun, lengthening our days and welcoming winter. We hope that your year is ending with peace and fulfillment and that the new year brings even more opportunities for creative collaboration and experimentation that light up a path towards peace and justice around the globe.

Below you’ll find a score to close out this year. Please consider making a contribution by following the link in our bio. Your support will go directly to our programs and allow us to give free Guía de campo de iLANDing books to the families that take part in our workshops.

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A score for the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024

Held, Hold, Holding. Gravity isn’t everything

Find a bit of a plant - a leaf, a seed, a stem, a root

Find a small rock or object - a pebble, a stone, a rock, a shell, a fossil

Hold the plant in one palm, hold the rock in the other.

Sense the weight of each object in your palm. Listen to the weight through your bones, then through your blood.

Slowly close your fingers around the two objects. How does the closing shift your experience of weight? Open and close your palms as many times as you would like.

Where do you end and the plant and rock begin? Be playful in that boundary.

When you feel complete, put the two objects down and see them in the space and feel their resonance in your palms. Tune into the space between you and the two objects. Move as you wish, feeling how your hands feel both full and empty.