The
INSIDE Letters to the editor
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 2
Community briefs
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3 George Willis photo
Father’s Lunch
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 6
www.islandsweekly.com 360-376-4500
The magic of dance By Erinn Nelson Special to the Weekly
As a girl Thea Huijgen knew she wanted to be a dancer. She recalls her fascination when watching Olga de Haas, a Dutch ballerina. “When I first saw her dance, I knew what I wanted to become,” said Thea. And so she did. Thea has
been dancing for about 50 years and teaching for more than 40 years. You can see Thea’s students and Thea performing an Armenian Bridal Dance in “An Evening of Dance” on Friday, March 21, 7:30 p.m. at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. Tickets are by donation at the door.
Lopez Center Community Performance Night
Friday, March 21st, 7:30pm
Dance & Music for all Seasons Over 30 Lopez dancers of all ages
Songs by Mamatamba
By donation • Directed by Thea Huijgen
Home & Garden April 2014 Providing a full schedule of activites and events plus, informative feature stories. This special section of The Journal, The Sounder, & The Weekly will be distributed to over 7500 readers throughout San Juan County and also online in our new Green Editions!
Copy & Sales Deadline: Monday, March 31, 2014, 12 pm Publication Dates: Week of April 15, 2014 For more information call Cali Bagby at the Islands’ Weekly 376-4500
Islands’ eekly W
VOLUME 37, NUMBER 11 • MARCH 18, 2014
Contributed photo
Dancer and teacher Thea Huijgen. Born in the Netherlands, Thea attended a school for dance and became a professional dancer, performing with the Folkloristish Damstheater in Amsterdam. Thea later moved to California and then after living in various locations in Washington, she took a bike vacation to Lopez Island. After that visit she decided to make Lopez her home. She now teaches several ballet classes a week at her home studio on Lopez. She sometimes teaches folk dance sessions at the Grange on Lopez, and has been teaching folk dance workshops across the U.S. The most important thing she teaches her students is the reward of good work
ethic. “If you apply yourself, you will experience the great joy dance brings,” said Thea. “With practice and dedication most anyone can gain dance ability, and enjoy and appreciate the art of dance.” Her favorite part of teaching is to see students make progress, and the “aha” moment when a student gets a movement or combination just right. Thea loves teaching all age groups
from toddlers to elders in their nineties. People who are interested can try or watch a class by contacting Thea at 468-4407 or at thea@zumzizeroo.com. Her students, ages three to 68, will join her in the second show she has put on at the Lopez Center for Community and the Arts. She has also previously produced a few smaller shows at Woodmen Hall. This “Evening of Dance”
A look into managing a monument By Scott Rasmussen Journal editor
The amount of acreage in the newly created San Juan Islands national monument totals just about 1,000. But that number itself does little justice to the character or landscape of the monument – the only one maned by The Bureau of Land Management in
Washington state. That’s because the monument is comprised of no fewer than 31 small islands and 40 different groups of rocks and reefs, some of which nearly disappear at high tide. It stretches from the northernmost corner of San Juan County (Patos Island) to one of the southernmost (Iceberg Point), as well as from its west-
Spring Tide
STOP
ernmost (Turn Point) to beyond the county’s eastern border to include low-lying rocky features and several islands in Whatcom and Skagit counties. More than half of the land mass of the monument is concentrated in three distinct areas; 400 acres at the southend of Lopez Island, 80 acres at Kellet Bluff on Henry Island and 80 acres at Turn Point on Stuart Island. The rest is scattered all across the archipelago. So, how does one go about managing and keeping track of such an extend-
• 2014-15• Contact elected officials NOW A delegation is going to Washington DC on March 23 to ask our Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representative Larsen to help move the EA-18G Growlers to a more appropriate location. Now is the time to call, write or email. Email us at lopezjetnoise@gmail.com for addresses and suggestions or pick up a flyer at Vortex or the Lopez Bookshop.
will feature many styles of dance, including ballet, folk dance, contemporary dance. There will be live music and Mamatamba will provide singing under the direction of Kristin Fernald. “There is so much talent here on Lopez, and it is very inspiring to see so many people getting involved in putting on a show together,” Thea said. “When the dancers make a connection with the audience, it’s magic.”
Islands’ Weekly ’ Sounder and Islands, Islands of the San Juan The Journal Published by Cover painting
by Beth Hetrick
60,000 uted to Distrib Each Year! s Visitor
©
Ad Sales Deadline: Glossy: April 1, 12 pm; Non-Glossy: April 22, 12 pm Publication Dates: May 21, 2014 For more information call Cali Bagby at the Islands’ Weekly 376-4500
468-2203 This concert is possible by a grant from WESTAF and NEA Free Workshop 2-3pm
ed and far-flung enterprise? In a word, it’s “partnerships,” or so says Marcia deChadenedes, the monument’s newly appointed manager and veteran administrator with the Bureau of Land Management. She notes that a longstanding partnership with Washington State Parks and with Keepers of the Patos Light, a grass-roots group devoted to maintaining the island’s historic lighthouse, has proven instrumental in helping BLM manage and SEE MONUMENT, PAGE 3