Walking an Ancient Path: Learning, making, and walking a classical labyrinth. With live music and tea!

Saturday, December 2, 2023

2:00 - 4:30 PM PST

In this participatory salon we’ll explore the 4,000-year history of labyrinths, an ancient form found in numerous cultures around the globe. In the lantern-lit sanctuary of Secret Headquarters we’ll sip tea and learn about ancient cultures and the labyrinths they developed from various materials. We’ll experiment with small simple line drawings of various geometric patterns and the mathematical possibilities that grow from them, and we’ll create a large-scale labyrinth in chalk on the floor. Together we will walk and dance this ancient path meditatively and playfully, experiencing how these beautiful, mysterious patterns affect us!

We hope your participation will deepen your understanding of labyrinths and help you prepare to walk the 500-candle Labyrinth of Light at our 30th Annual Winter Solstice Lantern Festival on Dec. 21st.

Event Notes / Be Prepared:

● Tickets are available by sliding scale: $30-$50. Suggested admission: $35.

● Doors open at 1:45 PM and the event will start promptly at 2:00 PM. Please do your best to be on time as late arrivals will be disruptive to activities in progress.

● Space is limited to 20 participants so please register early.

● Your donation contributes directly to supporting our programming to continue ongoing learning and cultural sharing. We thank you for your support. If you have financial barriers preventing you from purchasing a ticket, please email admin@secretlantern.org and we will do our best to accommodate.

Artist Bios

Susan Gerofsky is a UBC professor in math education, working with embodied ways to learn mathematics through the arts and outdoors. She is active as a poet, playwright, musician and filmmaker, and works with dance and fibre arts. She is the Squire of Tiddley Cove Morris Dancers and a member of Sospiro Misterioso, playing acoustic traditional music from Canada and Europe. You'll often find her cycling around town with a baritone horn or an accordion.

Sam Milner is a queer violinist, math teacher, and writer. He performs regularly with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra as well as with various smaller ensembles, including indie folk duo davis & james and tango band Guardia Nueva. Before playing music full time, Sam taught math in Vancouver public schools for three years. He is particularly curious about the intersection of math and the arts in education and community contexts, and he enjoys working with Professor Susan Gerofsky on community math-art initiatives. When not thinking about math or music, Sam might be found writing poetry, working on his novel, baking banana bread, or running in the mountains.

Getting Here: Secret Headquarters is located at 1398 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver, BC. Bus # 22 is within walking distance; VCC Clark and Commercial Skytrain Stations are within 10 minutes' walk. Free parking on the street and in the large parking lot in the alley between 3rd and 4th.

Accessibility: Secret Headquarters is wheelchair and walker accessible. If you have specific accessibility needs, please get in touch with us at (778) 323-9489 or admin@secretlantern.org.

Omi, our lovely resident feline, loves to attend our gatherings. Please let us know if you have allergies and we will gently explain to him why he needs to stay home that night.