Join us for a Film Screening + Contact Improvisation
with Amery Kessler & Kelly Hurlburt
When: Friday, July, 18th
Time: 6-9PM
Where: Aikido School of Central Ohio, 4554 Indianola Ave, Columbus, OH 43214
Free Event: We welcome donations to help cover the cost of the space (Thank you to Claude Geeroms & The Aikido School of Central Ohio for hosting us)
We warmly invite you to join us for a heartfelt screening of The Third Harmony—a documentary that brings to life the transformative power of nonviolence in our personal lives and in society.
This 44 min film will be followed by guided movement rooted in contact improv as a way to respond, reflect, and process. Together we will create a space of shared dignity, embodied conversation, curiosity, and open space for play and discovering new potentials in the moment, in the movement.
☁️Come as you are.
Participate with the movement as much as you’d like, or stay to witness, write, draw, be.
☁️What is Nonviolence?
This interactive space is open to all—no prior experience required. It’s a time to slow down, reconnect with what matters most, and explore nonviolence not just as an idea, but as a way of being — in ourselves, our relationships, and our movements for change.
☁️Bring your curiosity to explore:
-What nonviolence means beyond “peaceful protest”?
-How compassion and courage can show up in everyday conflict?
-Which simple practices can help us live more clearly, connected, and grounded in what matters?
☁️Discover the power of nonviolence already within you.
Nonviolence is love in action.
It’s the courage to face conflict with compassion, the clarity to act with dignity, and the power to build a world where all can thrive.
(Inspired by the Metta Center for Nonviolence)
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From the film:
In one striking moment, civil rights leader Bernard Lafayette reflects on how nonviolent action was not just a political strategy—but a way of living with dignity and hope that reshaped history. Stories like his—and insights from researchers, activists, and spiritual teachers—are woven throughout the film to show how nonviolence is both practical and profound.
“To be nonviolent is to be an artist of your humanity.”
— Ali Abu Awwad, Palestinian nonviolence leader and founder of the Taygheer Movement
In a world that can feel heavy with violence, injustice, and division, many of us are holding big feelings — anger, grief, overwhelm, and also the quiet hope that things could be different.
Nonviolence offers us a path to honor all of those feelings — and to respond to the world not with despair, but with courage, compassion, and a deep sense of connection.
This way of seeing and practicing begins within us, shapes how we relate to others, and guides how we act in the world.
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Presenters:
Amery
Nonviolence advocate and facilitator; point person for Metta Center for Nonviolence's Third Harmony project and ongoing Introduction to Nonviolence series. Amery is inspired to discover and share the compassionate and transformative powers that we have available to us when we combine symbolic and concrete action from a place of shared humanity, dignity, and interconnection. Blurring the lines and connecting the dots between the embodied experiences of the arts and our dynamic and unified everyday lives.
Kelly
Kelly is a mover devoted to making art and holding spaces around connection, embodied awareness, and physical inquiry rooted in humanity. Her work often looks for places where the creative process, pedagogy and community can converge and improvisational movement practices have been a home in this effort. For over a decade, Contact Improvisation has been a focal point while Kelly has acted as the primary organizer & facilitator for the Columbus Contact community offering classes, jams, workshops and discussions. Building off of deep admiration and inspiration from mentors Nancy Stark Smith, Bebe Miller, Chris Aiken and Karen Nelson her teaching and creative work has led to opportunities in festivals, workshops, residencies, teaching faculty positions, as well as to her time as co-founder/ director of SeaBus; a group of movers experimenting with the intersection of improvisation and performance.
With a beginner’s spirit and a strong pull towards a deeper understanding of nonviolence and interconnectedness, Kelly is wondering how the tools for connecting, that feel amplified in the practice of Contact Improvisation, might actually be tools for everyday use with ourselves, with each other, and as a way of building towards a nonviolent world.
Wherever you are in your journey, this gathering is for you. Let’s keep becoming more of who we truly are—together.
With joy and anticipation of our time together,
Amery and Kelly--
Image Details: Third Harmony Film poster overlayed with a photo of CI inventors Nancy Stark Smith & Steve Paxton taken by Bill Arnold
Also check out other Entertainment events in Riverlea, Workshops in Riverlea, Arts events in Riverlea.
