10/22/2008 10:01:00 AM Madrona MindBody growing after one year at Fort Worden
More than 100 students participate daily in classes at Madrona MindBody Institute. - Photos by David Conklin
Woodworker Marvin Weaver of the Fort Worden State Park maintenance crew prides himself on helping to preserve and restore park facilities. He did a great job on the gym’s doorway. Madrona MindBody Institute supporters have also helped convert the gym into an active center.
"It's providing a healthy outlook and an amenity for people who are staying here."
Kate Burke
manager
Fort Worden Area Parks
Synergy and energy have helped Madrona MindBody Institute become a rising star as Fort Worden State Park moves forward in its transition to a lifelong learning center.
Program founders Allison Dey and Aletia Alvarez celebrate the first anniversary of Madrona MindBody Institute (MMI) with free classes and open house tours this weekend.
"We wanted to create a beautiful and inspiring gathering place," said Dey. "A sacred space for us all to come together in community, to move and transform our bodies - and our lives."
And the name? "We chose Madrona for our local tree that embodies beauty and strength, and MindBody for the holistic education we value," said Alvarez.
The building
When MMI was looking for a home last year, attention quickly turned to the gym at Fort Worden State Park. U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps posts were equipped with full recreational facilities. Fort Worden opened in 1902, and the gym was built in 1906.
Fort Worden has been a state park since 1973, and the gym has had a variety of part-time uses in the last 20 years: Special Olympics basketball, Twisters youth gymnastics, and a set for two film projects: "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" and "Enough," starting Jennifer Lopez.
When it became MMI's home, volunteers and park maintenance staff began several restoration projects. The work has uncovered the original building number on the front door archway, a marble threshold, original wood floors and banisters, and the dramatic entry archway and spiderweb window. Originally called Building 34, the gym later became Building 310. It is still heated by the original boiler.
The public
An open house is set from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 25-26. Visitors can see the renovated movement studio spaces, meet teachers, and sample classes throughout the weekend. There is a special champagne reception at 4 p.m. Saturday.
A total of 13 classes over the weekend are offered free to the public, including a "New to Nia" class at 8:30 a.m. Saturday with Allison Dey.
Visit www.madronamindbody.com or call 344-4475 for more information and up-to-date class schedules.
MMI hosts a teaching staff of 12 and offers classes in yoga, Pilates, belly dancing, awareness through movement, and Soul Motion dance. In addition to the eight sessions of regular Nia dance already offered each week, "Gentle Nia," "New to Nia" and "Nia's Five Stages of Self-Healing" classes are on this fall's schedule.
The program
MMI is one of the new partners to join Fort Worden's long-range planning efforts to create a "lifelong learning center" that "addresses the whole person."
"It's a good fit," said Kate Burke, Fort Worden Area Parks manager. "[MMI] is fitting in with our mission, vision and values. It's providing a healthy outlook and an amenity for people who are staying here."
Dey, the founder of Nia Port Townsend, began working with the park in April 2007 to find a long-term home for her growing numbers of students. The potential of the underutilized gym inspired a broader vision of fitness and well-being at Fort Worden, and Dey brought on Aletia Alvarez of A3 Resources to assist with business planning. At the same time, Alvarez was exploring a "mystical movement ministry" of her own, studying the Soul Motion techniques of Vinn Marti. She also wanted to teach the techniques, and what better place than at Fort Worden, in Dey's studio?
The two women officially teamed up to form Madrona MindBody Institute and, with strong support from a volunteer start-up crew, began laying the groundwork for its October 2007 launch. A year later, MMI is home to a strong local community of movement practitioners, and last weekend it hosted its first regional three-day dance workshop, with a visiting Soul Motion teacher and more than 40 participants from Washington state, Virginia, Oregon, California, Colorado and Canada.
MMI has a full schedule of movement workshops planned for 2009, including international presenters Debbie Rosas, founder of Nia, and Vinn Marti, founder of Soul Motion.
Alvarez is in the process of completing her Soul Motion teacher certification and teaches one of MMI's most popular weekly classes - SoulFull Sundays - as well as moving meditation classes two mornings a week.
In addition to Dey and Alvarez, MMI instructors include Terry Lynn Wagner, visiting teachers Heather Duffy and Tinker Cavallaro (yoga), Barbara Vane (Pilates), Ingrid Musson (awareness through movement), T'halia DeAngelis (belly dance), Nala Walla (contact improv), Laurie Darleen (beginning moving meditation), Jane Champion, David Conklin, Michelle Hensel and Beth Noelle (Nia), and Heidi Mattern (Gentle Nia).
The drop-in fee is $14 per class, but discounted class cards and memberships are available and are good for any class offered at MMI, with the exception of Peninsula College classes scheduled in the building.
In honor of MMI's first anniversary and the building's centennial celebration, new participants in Jefferson County are offered two weeks of unlimited classes for $25.
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