Mature Women’s Grant Winner Dawna Hammers Completes Her Video
The winner of NLAPW’s 2019 Mature Women’s Grant competition, Dawna Hammers, has recently released her inspiring, new music video of her wonderful song, “Alive.” It can be viewed on her YouTube channel.
Hammers wrote the song “Alive” back in the late ‘90s after a period of mourning from the loss of several relationships and family deaths.
“Even though they were gone, I am here, I’m alive! This song expresses the hardships of life but also how precious life is and how important it is to celebrate through song and dance. It is an important message after the year we’ve had with this pandemic,” she says.
The grant funds that she received from the National League of American Pen Women, Inc. were used to make the video. NLAPW has been connecting creative women since 1897, amazing women such as Helen Keller, Georgia O’Keefe, Eleanor Roosevelt and Gloria Vanderbilt.
Despite COVID restrictions, Hammers was able to produce the video with the help of local videographer Marilyn Rowland. She invited several dancers and friends to join her on Nobska Beach and other outdoor locations in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Turning Point director and dancer Laura Sciortino, her daughter Cordelia, some of her students, Annalisa Eisen, Mary Swope and African Dance teacher Tara Murphy all answered the call and joined in the simple African-inspired dance to the elements (earth, air, fire, and water).
Hammers learned the dance while studying with world-famous master African drummer Babatunde Olatunji. She shares that all ancient, Native people knew how important it is to sing and drum and dance on the earth every day to give thanks to the elements and directions, to unify, purify, and heal individually and collectively.
She hopes to safely lead more outdoor dances around Falmouth this spring and summer, for, as her other spiritual teacher, the Ven. Dhyani Ywahoo says, “Dancing on the land is like acupuncture for the earth.”
Since receiving the grant funds, Hammers has joined NLAPW as a new member. She hopes her song and the video help to bring healing, hope, and joy to everyone. For more information or to donate to help support her music, please visit dawnahammers.com.