Tender Possibilities Session 3 - Devotion with the wind in the leaves collective

'Unless we can restore poetry to somewhere in the center of our universe, we are going to lose a lot of stars, a lot constellations, a lot of light.' — Kamau Brathwaite

For our upcoming session this month, we will explore devotion as attunement, as orientation, as return. A form of presence that moves through the spiritual, the political, and the intimate. Devotion shaped not only by longing and love, but by persistence and the willingness to remain in relation with what transforms us. To witness, and to offer something of ourselves in response.

Participants are invited to consider how devotion lives in the body and moves through the gestures of poetic language. Selected texts will guide our reflections as we weave poetry and movement, exploring how devotion can be expressed, felt, and reimagined through both ancestral and contemporary forms.

This session includes a performance by wind in the leaves collective, with artist director charles c. smith and Ranganathan Rajan.

wind in the leaves collective’s approach provides a unique view into a dialogue amongst artists on contemporary issues where the artists collaborate to create and share. The collective’s interdisciplinary approach allows for such engagement at several intersections, visceral, sensual, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. The themes the collective works on echo those of transnationalism, diaspora, globalization as well as the use/abuse of power and the

marginalization that results from it and wounds both individual and collective psyches.

charles c. smith is a poet, playwright and essayist who has written and edited twelve books and two chapbooks. He is currently working on his next book of poetry entitled Specimens which unearths the connections between western medical science and Black bodies. charles studied poetry and drama with William Packard at New York University and Herbert Berghof Studios, drama at the Frank Silvera’s Writers’ Workshop in Harlem.

Ranganathan Rajan (He/Him) is originally from India and is currently based in Tkaronto. He is a performer and choreographer in contemporary dance, working innately with ideas of stress, resilience, and strength in the body through object work, movement, and mixed media. Ranganathan graduated from the Professional Training Program at Dance Arts Institute Canada (2025) and has completed a Diploma in Movement Art and Mixed Media from Attakkalari Center of Movement Arts in Bangalore, India (2021).

We will be serving food from 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm. At 2pm, we will walk deeper into the park and begin the session there!