Category: Programming

Every other Wednesday at 11am, we stack the chairs and push the tables into the kitchen to make space for Nick Gracenin’s tai chi class. Some guests jump right in, while other require a little nudge before stepping out onto the floor. We are so lucky to have Nick as part of the GMC community. If you have an hour to spare on Wednesday mornings and would like to see the class in action, contact us to find out when the next class is!

Here is a short video of Nick giving a demonstration at the International Chinese Martial Arts Championship in D.C. in 2010.

Happy New Year! We hope everyone’s year is off to a safe and happy start. Here at GMC, we are starting 2012 relaxed and with new programming.

GMC welcomes Nick Gracenin, who has generously agreed to lead a tai chi workshop in our center. Nick has taught tai chi for thirty years, has won several medals at international competitions, and has been named to “100 Extraordinary Chinese Martial Artists of the World” (2007).  We hope that through tai chi,  he will bring help our members relax and improve their range of motion, circulation, and balance.

Keep reading for more pictures and to learn where you can be a member of Nick’s classes.

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Here at GMC, we have several guests whose native language is not English, and we do our best to learn at least “hello” and “goodbye” in their language. We have a few guests who are deaf and use sign language to communicate, and so it follows that we should learn the basics in ASL.

On December 14, Carlos, one of our members, taught a sign language class in our center, which is hopefully the first of many. Watch the videos above for an excerpt from his lesson!

Monday morning, 11am. It is time for our knitting group at GMC. The class usually starts out with everyone showing their progress– a few more inches of a scarf, the start of a hat, ideas of what they want to do next. When Pat, our teacher, asked Sandra what she’s been up to, Sandra nonchalantly replied, “Oh, I crocheted this the other day.”

A day and a half, and she made a multi-colored sweater with a hood, pockets, and ribbed trim. Our members are always impressing us.

We are in the midst of creating an informational video for our website. Nelson, our volunteer who is also a filmmaker, is helping us put together the video, but is also getting our members involved in the process. Today, Nelson came in to show everyone what he’s done so far, as well as to give a short overview about film editing — very handy for deleting all of the “umm”s that permeated staff member Stephanie’s interview!

Nelson projected the movie onto our white wall, which was great for allowing everyone to see the video.

Here, Nelson is explaining certain aspects of editing video. Check our website soon for the final product!