What: LAVA's Annual Handstand-a-Thon
When: Sunday, May 16th, 2010 2-5pm
Where: The LAVA Studio | 524 Bergen Street, Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Who: open to both kids and adults, so anyone can contribute, either financially or by standing on their hands or both!

The LAVA Studio will host its annual Handstand-a-Thon Sunday, May 16, 2-5pm. The event is a fund-raiser for the LAVA Studio scholarship fund and LAVA's community programming. Handstand experts as well as first-timers young and old are invited to come to Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, to log seconds and minutes with their feet off the floor. Handstanders can use the wall, a spotter, or several spotters. All handstanders' total time spent upside down will be added to a collective handstand pool. Our collective time goal is 13,500 seconds; our fund-raising goal is $20,000.

Handstanders are encouraged to download pledge sheets or set up a fund-raising page through firstgiving.com and enlist sponsors for each second they stand on their hands. LAVA also welcomes contributions based on special challenges, such as $1 for every first-time handstander or $200 for 20 people in a simultaneous 20-second handstand. If you would like to sponsor a special challenge, contact Diana Y Greiner at diana@lavalove.org. Nourishment for the hard-working upside-downers will be provided by LAVA's very special taco truck, and a keg of root beer.

The purpose of the Handstand-a-Thon is to raise money to sustain and continue developing the student scholarship fund and LAVA's community programs. The community programs include a weekly community class offered free to kids ages 5 to 12; need-based scholarships for kids ages 3-18; and a work study program for adult students. The LAVA Studio also hosts free community performance nights called Night of Renegades, which has included trapeze, poetry, theater, dance, acrobatics, and clowning performed by adults, students and professionals in a festive, supportive, and extremely diverse atmosphere. Magma, LAVA's junior company, hosts a similar night called Magma Mix where performers include Magma, students and other young people from the neighborhood. LAVA's community programming also includes an ongoing partnership with Public School 9 through which dozens of students from P.S. 9 learn acrobatics from LAVA company members. The LAVA/P.S. 9 partnership includes performances for the students and classes in LAVA acrobatics and dance, both in the LAVA Studio and at the school. Combined, these programs offer performances and instruction for nearly 1,200 people in the Prospect Heights and Crown Heights neighborhoods each year.

LAVA is a performance troupe based in Brooklyn dedicated to creating original, empowering, boundary-breaking performances based in dance and acrobatics. The LAVA Studio is their home base, where they rehearse, train, offer classes to kids and adults, and host several community programs.