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Let's talk about sex - John Bohannon and Black Label Movement

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What would you tell your younger self about sex if you could? (Starting with the big question: Why does it exist in the first place?) Mixing talk and dance, John Bohannon and Black Label Movement explore why sex exists -- and implore adults to talk honestly to the kids in their lives about the confusion and joy of human sexuality.

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John Bohannon is a biologist, science journalist, and dancer based at Harvard University. He writes for Science Magazine, Discover Magazine, and Wired Magazine, and he frequently reports on the intersections of science and war. http://www.johnbohannon.org/ Black Label Movement (BLM) is a Twin Cities based dance theater dedicated to creating wildly physical, naturally virtuosic, intellectually and emotionally engaging art. Led by Carl Flink, this collective of dance artists seeks to push the mind, body, and heart to the edge of what is possible and beyond. http://www.blacklabelmovement.com/While she was involved in the anti-drug cause before reaching the White House, by 1982, the first lady had embraced the campaign with energy and evident feeling. A name for her cause was chosen after she met with schoolchildren in Oakland. "A little girl raised her hand," she remembered, "and said, ’Mrs. Reagan, what do you do if somebody offers you drugs?’ And I said, ’well, you just say no.’" http://www.reaganfoundation.org/details_f.aspx?p=RR1008NRHC&tx=6"Just Say No" was an advertising campaign, part of the U.S. "War on Drugs", prevalent during the 1980s and early 1990s, to discourage children from engaging in illegal recreational drug use by offering various ways of saying no. Eventually, this also expanded the realm of "Just Say No" to violence and premarital sex. The slogan was created and championed by First Lady Nancy Reagan during her husband's presidency. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Say_No "Effective resistance strategies go beyond repeating simplistic slogans at kids,'" says Michael Hecht, professor of communication at Penn State. "Instead, researchers in the field realized a couple of decades ago that we needed to give kids a variety of skills to resist peer pressure, to 'say no,' and to make good decisions. We tried to accomplish this through various structured programs." http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/antidrug.html Here's a news flash: "Just Say No" is not an effective anti-drug message. And neither are Barney-style self-esteem mantras. While most Americans won't be stunned by these revelations, they've apparently taken a few DARE officials by surprise. According to the New York Times, after years of ignoring stubbornly low success rates, coordinators of the 18-year-old Drug Abuse Resistance Education program are finally coming around to the news that their plan to keep kids off drugs just isn't working. That means a whole new DARE program — one which critics hope will sidestep existing pitfalls. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,99564,00.html#ixzz2E07TCvAM Jelloslave, which originally formed as a duo in 2003 by cellists Jacqueline Ultan and Michelle Kinney, has since become an established quartet with the addition of drummer Greg Schutte and Gary Waryan on tablas. Known for their dynamic improvisational compositions, the foursome pours heart and soul into an eclectic original repertoire. http://jelloslavemusic.com/about/

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Black Label Movement, John Bohannon

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