WCSHome   Register   Schedule   News   Camping/Facilities   What to Bring   Workshops   Directions   Merchants   Local Accommodations   Info/Policies   Volunteer   Food  Contact Workshops at Wisteria Cornstalk Festival 2008 In addition to two stages full of musical acts, Cornstalk features many opportunities for people to actively participate and learn more about music, art, dance and all sorts of educational and enriching activities.  Following is a list of  30+ workshops and speakers to date.  Check back for updates.    Musical, Performing & Visual Arts McBride's Magic & Mystery School: Magic for All!  Would you like to learn more about the art of magic? Join Jeff McBride, world-renown magician, to learn some new tricks that you can do, and to acquire some of the skills of the conjuring magician. You will learn about the life cycle of the magician archetype, and how to make something appear in mid air and seem to levitate, along with some mind-bending illusions and easy effects you can use to amaze and delight your friends! This fun workshop is open to all, adults, children and everyone in between!  Performer:  Jeff McBride   Crafting: Harmonizing Magick and Art.  A creative process journey through the elements of Spirit, Air, Fire, Water and Earth.  It all starts with a divine idea, tumbling out of the cauldron of infinite possibility, into a whirling, flowing, rippling, growing expression of Spirit. No matter what your medium is, this much is true: You are an Artist and our Earth needs you NOW! In this workshop we'll travel together through the elemental realms of Vision; Inspiration, Activity, Release and Manifestation. As sojourners through these mystical lands, Valarie will act as guide to the deeper mysteries inherent to the creative process as we awaken to our own magick. Instructor:  Valarie Endemann   Body-Mural Painting.  A naked event for 2 people: one body as printing press and one body to be the artist.  The painter paints his desired scene(s) of choice on the body part(s) of the other.  The printer then applies their painted body part on the sheet and voila' -- the printing has begun.  Create as elaborate or minimal picture/design as you so desire - or as minimal. Switch for more fun!  Lots of creative fun.  In choosing your painter and/or canvas --- please discuss any/all body-boundary issues BEFORE painting to keep this activity fun and safe.  Instructor:  GentleBear   The Community Fire: A Community Art Installation.  Detailed description of this interactive event will be posted soon.  Everyone can do art and people help each other!  Instructor: Casey Bradley   Magic Show for Kids.  A magic show for kids of all ages.  Interactive and lots of fun to watch.  Performer: Azar   Hand Drumming.  Learn more skills to become a better hand drummer by learning and practicing some  rhythms and techniques.  Instructor: Randall Moore of “The Ragbirds”   Tabla drumming workshop.  Techniques, rhythms and practice for playing the tabla.  Instructor: Vinny Smith of “Natural Breakdown”   Henna/ Mehndi. Workshop will teach ingredients, how to mix your own henna paste, application and tattoos!!!!  Only temporary (up to 3 weeks), wash hands and wear comfortable clothing -- your paste will need to remain on for at least 5 hours!  Henna Artist Ellie Olin has been working with Henna, or Mehndi, for more than 10 years in the Athens, Ohio area. Donations to cover cost of materials accepted but not required.  Instructor:  Eli Olin   Dance and Physical Arts   Up with the Sun: Morning Yoga.  Ground-based Hatha Yoga stretches focuses mainly on spine flexibility and hip openers.  Short periods of silent/guided meditation will follow each morning's session of stretches.  Adults are welcome.  Teens encouraged to attend if able to maintain a mature level of focus and self awareness. Daily sessions. Instructor:  Adam Hoyt    Contact Improvisation (CI) is a dance style free from the constraints of externally induced rhythm and needing to know the steps.  Generally done in pairs, but not exclusively, CI is an intimate dialog between dancers in which the conversation takes place body-to-body.  The syntax is movement.  The dancers strive to maintain extended phrases together, sharing weight and momentum, using their connection to their partner to know where the ground is and what each of them is doing or capable of doing.  CI will fine tune your proprioceptive senses, and expand them, so you will know where you are in space, and where your partner is.  Our explorations will encourage you to follow your own sense of what each particular dance is, right now, in the moment.  Working with a variety of partners will quickly introduce you to a new way of “listening” to a partner’s dance dialog by using your body to understand what they are saying.  Wear clothing suitable for easy movement, and drawstring waistbands are a plus.  We’ll be using the ground, so you might get dirty.  Daily sessions. Instructors:  Nataraj Hauser and Megan Brown   Dance Workshop for Youth (age  10  to  17).  Join choreographer Christine Far for an improvisational dance workshop and performance.  All skill levels welcome.  Class meets twice to learn dance.   Instructor: Christine Far   Hooping for the Beginner.  This body-hooping workshop is a beginning introduction to what used to be a national hula-hooping past-time.  Gone, though, are those tiny hoops from discount stores!  They are replaced with large hoops that ANYONE can work, from the youngest to the oldest hoopers.  Hoops will be available for use, but participants are encouraged to bring their own if they have them!  Instructor: Shelley Riggs   Beginning Poi.  A beginning workshop teaching the basics of poi spinning. 'Poi' are a traditional Maori dance prop from New Zealand and has given rise to a contemporary style of spinning popular all over the world.  Basic control and tricks will be taught, with the opportunity for spinners to advance as far as they are comfortable during the workshop.  No experience necessary.  Safety and courtesy as a spinner will also be addressed.  This is not a fire workshop - fire will not be taught at Cornstalk.  Sock poi will be available for use during the workshop, but participants are encouraged to bring their own if they have them.  Instructor:  Shelley Riggs   Poi for the Young (and Young at Heart!).  This spinning workshop will focus on the absolute basics of poi spinning - front spins, back spins, basic stalls and crosses, and basic control.  Absolutely no experience or coordination necessary!  Geared towards youth with very little poi experience, adults are also welcome and encouraged to attend.  Safety and courtesy with regards to spinning will also be part of the workshop.  The littlest spinners are encouraged to bring an older friend with them to help them.  Sock poi will be available for use during the workshop.  Instructor:  Shelley Riggs   Soul Belly Basics (Middle-eastern dance). Introduction to basic Egyptian, Turkish,and American Tribal Style (ATS) movement with a choreographed piece to learn.  Curious, beginner and advanced welcome.  Instructor:  Anoushka   Soul Belly Layered Movements. We’ll learn various layering techniques and movements along with a choreographed piece. Will touch on "Tribaret,” all welcome! Instructor:  Anoushka   Soul Belly Tribaret to the Max! Focus will be on developing what was learned in the Soul Belly Layered Movements workshop, again, of course a choreographed piece!  Instructor:  Anoushka    Practical, Community and Esoteric Arts   Learning Survival Skills.  A series of daily workshops teaching basic survival skills. We’ll start with the basics such as finding water, fire, shelter, and food.  Each session, we’ll move forward into more progressive issues like making snares & traps, ropemaking, making gunpowder from nature, how to survive a nuclear incident and other man made disasters, plant medicines, survival secrets about your cell phone, navigation by dead reckoning and stars, and the like.  Each category will be it's own mini session, attend one or all.  Instructor:  Patrick McCollum   Green Burial and Deathcare:  Last Rights and Rites.  As Americans age, many progressive people seek a holistic body of funeral rites and practices that honor our dead and comfort the living in ways that reflect Earth-based spirituality. Join us as we undertake a frank and lively discussion on death, natural processes and current death care practices. We can empower ourselves in caring for our dead (and our finances!) by educating ourselves about our legal/consumer rights and the workings of the funeral industry. What do we really feel about death, the inevitable topic? How do we craft healthy funeral/memorial observances to honor many spiritual paths? We will learn how our death choices continue to affect the earth and also share some new memorial /burial concepts sure to put a smile on your face.  Instructor:  Charlene Suggs Sustainable Urban Agriculture in the 21st Century Covering indoor and outdoor gardening and composting, with a focus on ease and simplicity, this workshop will get you growing.  Layer/Sphagetti gardening, indoor  micro-biospheres, organic and natural fertilizer and pest control, vermi(worm)-composting, container gardening, roof gardens,  rain gardens, and a whole lot more. Born in the city with a heart in the country, Daniel Dixon has been practicing Green Gardening and Sustainable Urban Agriculture for 10 years with a lifelong interest in the agricultural arts. Speaker: Daniel Dixon Women in Community Workshop.  This is a 3-day workshop, each of the three sessions will be 2 hours each.  Designed to give participants the experience of putting together a community of women.  We will share guidelines for participants to provide a way to create safe sacred space where magic can happen! In this workshop we will share The Beaver Woman process.  The Beaver Women have been meeting 4 weekends per year for the last 16 years.  Together we create a safe and sacred space.  In this environment we create and perform ritual.  Through this process we are provided with inspiration to support ourselves, our communities and our friends and families.  We are also provided with a sense of who we really are and time to be no one but ourselves, not Wife nor Mom nor Daughter etc. We empower each other by celebrating the goddess within each of us.  We also provide each other with a network of support throughout the rest of the year.  We have all benefited so much and found so much comfort in our community that we would like to share what we have learned with other woman so they may experience the joy of sisterhood!  That is what this workshop is all about.  In order to fully experience The Beaver Women process, it is imperative that participants attend all meetings unless arrangements are made with the presenters.  It is our hope that our shared experiences and knowledge will provide tools for women to take with them, and to use to form their own groups or help enhance existing groups.  This will be accomplished through the creation and performance of a shared ritual.   The ritual will be available only for participants.  Instructors:  Wanda Pare and Care Calhoun   Tarot Poetry.  Attendees will be taught how to do Tarot poetry to create oracular readings, using an intuitive method of reading. Tarot poetry is crafted by a group of people, though solitary methods will also be taught. Previous knowledge or experience of the Tarot is not needed. Cards will be provided.  Instructor:  Ocean Star    Teaching and Healing Arts   Native American Spiritual BeliefsThis workshop will survey some Native American Spiritual beliefs and practices, with particular emphasis on  the Pipe and the Sweat Lodge. Speaker: Nemique    Native American Prophecies and the hopeful Future. Prophecies from five Native Traditions (Dakota-Hopi-Navajo-Seneca-Ojibwe) are discussed and compared.  Speaker: Rainbow Eagle   Maya Prophecy and the 2012 Stargate.  It is very important to place "Natural Spirituality" within the significate Maya teachings surrounding the years 2011-2013.  Speaker:  Rainbow Eagle   Ancient Native American Peace Shield Revealed.  An old drawing will be discussed that will help to bring Humanity and Mother Earth back into a relationship. Book signing will follow talk.  Speaker:  Rainbow Eagle   When Ghosts Speak. Mary Ann Winkowski is the consultant to the CBS hit television show Ghost Whisperer. She has appeared on numerous TV and radio news programs, and spoken at countless lectures. Mary Ann shares a lifetime’s worth of information about the spirit world and reveals her often surprising interactions with some memorable ghosts. When Ghosts Speak: Understanding the World of  Earthbound Spirits is her recently released book about  her experiences with the (usually) unseen worlds. Books signing will follow talk.  Speaker:  Mary Ann Winkowski   The Healing Plants.  This informational talk focuses on the historical uses of plant medicines and how they may be utilized as valuable resources today.  Much of this information is the result of oral tradition kept alive by the strong and resilient people of the foothills of Appalachia.  Despite their geographical isolation and poverty, their sense of self sufficiency, modesty, and faith have created a connection with the earth that embodies herbalism as a precious way of life.  Speaker:  Cindy Parker   The Divinity of Nature.  Rev. Ron Neff, an ordained Unity minister from Orlando, Florida shares with us his views on why and how spirituality plays a significant role in the healing of our planet.  To be responsible stewards of our environment, he feels that we need to understand and be much more aware of not only our own divinity but the divinity of nature and everything on this earth and in our universe.  This awareness, regardless of one’s religious affiliation, is key to stimulating and accelerating the progress that we need to make in order to return to a healthy planet.  It is an “evolution of consciousness” regarding the environment that Rev. Ron speaks about that will insure future generations their place in a world that can be peaceable and livable.  Speaker:  Ron Neff   The United States of Appalachia. Few regions in the United States confound and fascinate Americans like Appalachia, and yet no other region has been so misrepresented by the mass media. With humor, intelligence, and clarity, Jeff Biggers's groundbreaking work shows how a remarkable procession of innovators from the hills of Appalachia have defined and shaped America. Beyond its mythology in the American imagination, Appalachia has long been a vanguard region in the United States-—a cradle of U.S. freedom and independence, and a hot bed for literature and music. Some of the most quintessential and daring American innovations, rebellions, and social movements have emerged from an area often stereotyped as a quaint backwater. In the process, immigrants from the Appalachian diaspora have become some of our nation's most famous leaders.  Learn more about this amazing region and its accomplishments from a distinguised  scholar, traveler and writer and NPR guest.  Book signing will follow talk.  Speaker: Jeff Biggers   Fire Magick: From Bone-Fires To Burning Man  (Precursor to the big bonfire on Friday night). Tribes have gathered around fires since the dawn of time.  To prepare for this weekend’s bonfires,  Jeff and Abbi, along with special guest and drum facilitator Michael Wall, will take you on a journey through the history and mystery of fire celebrations and rituals from around the world. Jeff and Abbi have participated in fire rituals all over the world: Asia, India, Europe and across America.  In this fun and informative workshop, you will experience the tools of the shaman: drumming, dancing, chanting, and how energy is raised ritually to create transformation and healing.  Jeff and Abbi will share their experiences, show films and offer techniques for you to utilize at the BonFire celebration!  Instructors:  Jeff McBride,  Abbi Spinner and Michael Wall.   The Magic of the Alchemical Fire Circle.  Since the dawn of time humans seeking spirit-vision have drummed, danced and chanted around the fire developing many diverse ways of contacting Spirit. This hands-on workshop will provide you with experiential techniques and a theoretical background that will help you on your personal quest while providing an outline for the kind of magic that happens around the Alchemical Fire Circle.  Together we will blend drumming, movement, sound and trance techniques to create safe, sacred space, and expand our state of consciousness. Please come prepared to open your mind and your heart as we delve into the mysteries of modern trance-formation. Open to all regardless of experience. Please bring drums, rattles, singing bowls, digeridoos and other acoustic and percussion instruments. The workshop will be followed by the preparation of the ritual space and set-up for the evening’s Sacred Fire Circle Ritual.  Instructors:  Jeff McBride, Abbi Spinner and Michael Wall.