Connecting Dots: Ancestral Embrace: Through Grief and Joy

A contemplative afternoon | IN-PERSON + ONLINE

Please select which option you prefer at the "get tickets" button.

Anjalica Solomon, a genderfluid Desi poet and multidisciplinary performer, sets the tone for this afternoon with heart-centred poems and songs exploring themes of grief and joy.

Following their performance, Masa Ketab (Quantum Care), a Traditional Syrian Storyteller and Equitable Justice Activist from Damascus, Syria, shares reflections on forced migration, home, peace, and purposeful healing.

The afternoon concludes with healthcare innovator, Eda Ertan (Quantum Care), leading attendees through somatic practices based on ancient and modern sciences for regulating nervous systems, followed by a brief therapeutic sound bath.

There will be live transcription for this event using Otter.ai.

Limited in-person capacity: 40 people

Graphic design by Xuân Phan

ABOUT MASA KETAB

Masa is an Equitable Justice Activist and a 'Hakawatieh,' a female-storyteller from humanity's most ancient capital city, Damascus, Syria, preserving her heritage by offering fresh perspectives on Syrian/Arab culture and healing.

Masa co-founded Quantum Care, where she coaches on Leadership and Growth and advances a holistic health practice that's been transformative to her active healing-and-growth journey on the shores of the Salish Sea.

Her background spans business administration, journalism, leadership, marketing, team sports, and community development. She founded Awzan Events, manages Still Moon Arts Society's marketing and communications, and served on various boards and committees for a higher purpose.

Sunset walks and starry skies bring her peace.

ABOUT EDA ERTAN

Eda is a Turkish-Canadian healthcare innovator and founder of Quantum Care. With a decade of experience in Canadian healthcare, she passionately advocates for preventive medicine and health promotion for diverse populations.

As Executive Director of Brock House Society, her focus is the well-being and active living of older adults in Vancouver.

She embodies a holistic approach to coaching by seamlessly integrating psychology, neuroscience, mindful movement, meridian therapy, yoga, sound therapy, and Earth Medicine into her practices and teachings.

Eda serves on the Board of BC Hospice Palliative Care Association, is a Sufi whirling dervish, and weaves frequencies and motion.

In addition, Paris-based psychotherapist Hiu Chan (Room of One’s Own/What Can You Do For Me?) leaves participants with reflection questions and resources for mental health in the form of a letter with a link to an audio reading. If you are joining us online, we will email this letter to you after the event.

As a treat, Victor Tran (pdx_baobuddies) generously shares homemade baos inspired by his grandma’s recipes.

ABOUT HIU CHAN

Hiu Chan is experienced in working from an Intersectionality-focused lens with predominantly people of the Global Majority with different neurotypes, who identify as queer and have ongoing relationships with grief. Continuously working through her own intergenerational, racial, and relational trauma, they privilege a person’s survival story and relationships to their agency, emotions, boundaries, and people.

ABOUT VICTOR TRAN

Victor is an urban planner by day and one half of a clothing brand (lying_vs_rhetoric) at night. He also makes baos just for the fun of it. Come try them out!

Connecting Dots is supported by the British Columbia Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.

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Venue & Accessibility

TICKETS

Entry is FREE or by donation.

🍉 All ticket donations from the Connecting Dots series will go towards Tamam: Fine Palestinian Cuisine's mujaddarah fundraiser for Gaza.

Recognizing the intersectionality of our identities alongside our privileges, we understand that financial contribution alone is not enough. We encourage everyone to engage in actions available to them in addressing injustice.

LOCATION

The event is hosted at Atelier254, the exact address will be disclosed upon registration.

Atelier254 is located on the second floor of a heritage building in Vancouver's Chinatown. The space is up a flight of regular width stairs. However, the main door on street level is narrow.

ENVIRONMENT

• The space is not wheelchair accessible. There are 23 stairs (107 cm wide) with a handrail along the right hand side.
• There is one single stall gender neutral washroom
• Scent-reduced

SPACE

As a semi-private space, entering Atelier254 feels like stepping into someone's living room loft. The space has high ceilings, brick walls, and four large windows that let in natural light and air circulation.

• To maintain cleanliness, the venue kindly ask that shoes be removed upon entering and socks be worn.
• There will be a variety of seating options: wooden chairs, plastic folding chairs, and floor seating with bamboo mats and cushions.
• Please feel free to bring blankets or anything that would make you feel more comfortable.
• While we do provide coat racks for your convenience, please be aware that there is no formal coat check available.

MASK POLICY

While wearing masks is not mandatory at this venue, we advise all attendees to consider the well-being of themselves and others by wearing masks when participating in activities. We encourage respecting everyone's decisions regarding masks and engaging with empathy and understanding.

WHAT IS PROVIDED

• Vegan and meat bao buns by Victor Tran
• Coffee & Tea
• Vietnamese desserts
• Complimentary masks
• Drinks available to purchase

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Community Agreement

As BIPOC and 2SLGBTQQAI+ organizers, we are dedicated to creating safe spaces where all members of our community feel valued and respected. Our harm reduction and safety policy prioritizes the well-being of every individual, and we unequivocally denounce all forms of racism, discrimination, and oppression.

Find our statement on accessibility and harm reduction protocol at linktr.ee/vongvong.
If you have any questions or concerns, or if you have feedback please email us at hellovongvong@gmail.com

Vòng Vòng acknowledges these activities take place on the traditional, ancestral and unceded land of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and Səl ̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

ABOUT ANJALICA SOLOMON

Anjalica Solomon is a genderfluid Desi singer, songwriter, loop pedalist, poet, spoken word artist, organiser and multi-disciplinary performer based in what is colonially known as Vancouver, BC on the stolen and unsurrendered territories of the Coast Salish, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and MusqueamNations.

Their poetic work often seeks to proclaim the possibilities of love and resilience. Anjalica is a poet of startling emotional intellect and candour whose work testifies to a deep faith in beauty, the power of nature, and ultimately, the human capacity to salvage integrity, radiance and joy from moments of struggle. In this way, Anjalica Solomon's poems and performances offer robust visions of hope, tenacity, and love.