Oma Dance Theatre

What is a grandmother?

Why are grandmothers important?

Throughout human history, grandmothers  and elders of the family and tribe have preserved and passed on stories of the family and cultural group; taught traditions, food preparation, crafts, ceremonies, and rituals; assisted in childrearing; and shared the rich treasures of perspective, counsel, and the wisdom earned through decades of experience.

At this time the world is experiencing an unprecedented social catastrophe: the loss of its own wisdom, culture, and history. 

This catastrophe is being exported around the globe as global youth culture hardens into a movement to deny and shame the process of aging and the aged, and to warehouse the older generation away from adult children and grandchildren.

The "old" traditions are being wiped out, replaced by global, watered-down, imported traditions purveyed by American and increasingly other Western media.

The tragedy is manifold, spreading beyond lost wisdom, languages and cultures to the erosion of family, community, and the well-being and preparedness of youth for the challenges of adulthood.

This project seeks to help turn the tide of marginalization of the elderly and loss of language, history, culture, and valuable mentorship and family connections, by offering an opportunity for important stories of elders to be gathered together, told, and shared between generations and cultures.

Through Oma Dance Theatre and the Oma Stories Project, Inventing Earth seeks to “crowd source” stories and traditions from ordinary people that deserve to be told and remembered, preserved and passed on.

It is hoped that Oma Dance Theatre and Oma Stories Project can contribute to the Collective Grandmother Wisdom of Humanity; can become, in a way, a grandmother.  

Like a wise elder, the Stories will be presented in innovative ways that bring the audience into dialogue with the story and offer opportunities to interact. Using techniques of Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed, audience members at performances will be invited to join the dancers/performers after each performance to respond viscerally, artistically, and as a member of community to what they have seen and experienced.

Why Oma?

Oma means grandmother in several European languages. It also refers to the sacred word, Om, which to us, represents the mystic formula by which the Divine, Indivisible of Spirit, represented by the circle, O, joins in divine union with the matter, mater, mother, mountain, M.

As Integral artists, our work is inspired and guided by contemplative practice. At the time of the Winter Solstice in 2010 and for weeks prior to and afterwards, it became to clear to Mary Lin that humanity and Earth would be served if the vision and imagining of Earth’s soul as Gaia were adjusted to recognize the ancientness and a slow-moving vision of the Earth and her enduring patience. 

Gaia was represented by the ancient Greeks as a fertile woman of great energy, creativity, and abundance. By tuning into this energetic archetype, even spiritually sensitive humanity has accentuated and fed into the glamour of energetic industry, busy-ness, procreation, and consumption.

While these are important traits for those in the prime of their creative work years, humanity no longer needs to grow in numbers. Nor do those in the industrialized world need to accrete more material things in order to achieve happiness.

The time now comes for humanity to surrender its focus on this phase of earth life, and to tune into the Ageless Wisdoms of the Ancient ones – an energy more embodied by the archetype of an elder. Thus we envision the earth soul as a contemplative and elder, rather than the fecund and vital visions of Gaia that were so useful for humanity in an earlier time.

Oma Dance Theatre: How it Works

Oma refracts collected stories working with living memory and bringing the wisdom of elders back into the broader culture.

Oma Dance Theatre begins with the process of collecting stories, which we do by visiting elders and performing for them stories previously collected and then inviting people to tell their own autobiographical stories, stories of their own creation, and stories they learned as children from their grandparents. These stories are published in an open archive via inventingearth.org .

We also work with younger generations including children and ask them to contribute the stories of their grandparents online and through school programs. We will develop a school curriculum that any teacher can pick and do a one or two week block on this with their students, followed by an optional artist in residence and performance by Oma Dance Theatre.

Techniques from Playback Theatre and Theatre of the Oppressed are employed in workshops where audience members interact with and enact stories that are brought to the workshop, changing the dynamic of audience and performer.

Audiences include retirement communities, nursing homes, primary and secondary schools, community and church groups, and colleges and universities.

We also publish scripts online for creating your own Grandmother Stories events in your own community and a forum for sharing the results online.

Public performances of the dance theatre also include puppets, from single-finger puppets to 12-foot-tall, several-person puppets, as well as trained, professional dancers, musicians, and storytellers.

Tell Us Your Story

Note: you'll need to join Inventing Earth AND join the Oma Grandmother Stories group to post your story. 

1. The focus of this project is on grandmothers and the stories passed down by women, although some “grandfather” tales will also be considered.
2. Submissions should be from grandparents, aunts, uncles, elders in one's community, or from individuals that the stories have been told to by elders – children, grandchildren, grand or great-nieces and nephews, etc; or community members in a community that recognizes this person as an elder.  
3. Stories should not exceed 5000 words in length.
4. Efforts to verify and validate historical accountings, (bibliography and photos very helpful) should accompany the stories wherever possible.
5. Submitters must read and sign the Intellectual Property agreement when stories are submitted.
6. There is no fee to submit a story; in balance, no fees or royalties will be paid for use of stories used by Oma Stories and Oma Dance Theatre on its website, in promotional materials, in online (electronic) publications, and in performance. Should the stories ever be presented in  printed book (for example, anthology) or any other revenue-generating form beyond the uses described here, use rights can be negotiated at that time.

Parameters for story submission:

Submissions can be

1. biographical narrative;
2. folk tales, myths, parables, or fables passed down in the family;
3. historical period or event that the storyteller or his/her parents witnessed;
4. family stories, passed down through the generations;
5. stories of community.

The written story can be accompanied by

• (short) video or audio; however this does not replace the written narrative.

Also required:

• Sentence of bio from the contributor – real name, real city that you live in, photo of you
• 1-12 Photos of the grandparent, with signed photo releases for each
• Three sentences of bio about grandparent; submittors should include a sentence describing why the storyteller qualifies as a grandparent or elder.
• Web links

Note: 

Submissions will be particularly solicited from classrooms grades 6-12/11 to 18 years. Accompanying curriculum for using oral and written histories in the context of social studies and language classes will be developed and use encouraged.