This Valentine’s Day will be a day like no other.

On the 14th of February 2013, the world will see a global uprising of love and hope on a scale that has never before taken place on this planet. An event that’s goal is to shake the consciousness of humanity so intensely that, if it existed, it would measure off the charts on the World Awareness Scale, while rocking the Richter to its core.

It’s called One Billion Rising and it’s a global call to action to end the plague of violence against women and girls.

A recent UN statistic bears repeating: “One in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime”. That’s one billion women. It simply cannot continue.
And so tomorrow millions of women, and the men who love them, will rise up and dance together. From Bacavu in the DRC to the San Francisco Bay, from London to Londolozi groups will form and use the movements of their bodies as instruments of protest. At Londolozi we will be ready to add our voice and dance moves to this exceptional and ground shaking protest.

For a long time we have watched the peace surrounding the matriarchal herds of elephant and been aware of the power of the ancient feminine. We have seen the matriarch guide her herd with clarity and we have seen her fierce courage in the face of danger. The elephants have been our inspiration and our teachers. We have been into the villages and seen that the structures for positive change are being built around matriarchs. Women are the spine of Africa, but they are also Africa’s heart………and Africa’s heart is huge.

When we rise tomorrow, along with thousands of people around the world, it is with the knowledge and belief that the time of the matriarchs has arrived. It is the firm, compassionate and brave energy of the sacred feminine that will lead us into the new consciousness and a better world. Women and girls around the world must be set free of the chains of violence so that they can guide us into a new future.

So tomorrow we dance! We sweat into the earth. We shake the tectonic plates with the force of our conviction and we hold a safe space for each other. Men and women together, moving to make a world we can be proud of and where our sacred matriachs can lead us home.

Tomorrow find someone you love, or even have a solo dance in your kitchen. But, whatever you do, be a part of One Billion Rising. What could be a more important act of love!

Written by: Boyd Varty
Filmed & Produced by: Rich Laburn