The Spiral Dance
Womyn's Center
&
Bookstore
Welcome to the
Spiral Dance Womyn's Center & Bookstore,  
a multicultural space that nurtures the mind, body, and spirit
of womyn.
    The vision for the Spiral Dance Womyn's Center & Bookstore began on December
21st 2006, when Laurie Kendall & Bobbie DeVoll gathered a few womyn in their
home to celebrate the Winter Solstice.  During the celebration they dreamed of
purchasing a building that could provide womyn with the space, tools, goods,
services, and resources they need to empower themselves in a patriarchal world.  
They visioned womyn coming together and working collectively to build bridges
across their lines of difference.  In early January, they actively began searching for
a property to purchase that would house their vision.  By late January they found
the Oliver street building.  The building was located in a rundown, boarded up,
inner-city, impoverished neighborhood in Baltimore, but they immediately saw the
potential to expand their vision.  If they could gather a diverse group of womyn to
help build a womyn's center & bookstore in this neighborhood, then the collective of
womyn and the building could become a model of what can happen when womyn
work together.  They might even be able to help womyn buy these homes, fix them
up, and transform the neighborhood into a thriving multicultural community of
womyn home and business owners.  
On January 28th 2007, Laurie and Bobbie took the leap of faith and put $1,000 down
on the Oliver street property.  On March 14th they paid the remainder of the down
payment and closing costs ($5,000), and signed the papers.  Work began the very
next day, when they were joined by two womyn who helped remove old furniture
and tear down the first wall.  From that day on, every weekend various womyn from
around the Baltimore and Washington D.C. area came to work on the building.  
Though most of the womyn had never done much in the way of home repairs, let
alone the total demolition and rehab of an entire building, they worked their hearts
out and learned to handle the cold, the heat, the dirt, the pain, and the power tools.
 Laurie and Bobbie supplied the tools and materials, and taught over 21 womyn
how to use them.  At first, the work progressed slowly.  As each of the interior walls
came down, mountains of debris had to be hauled away to the dump.  Also, about
six weeks into the project, the building was broken into and all of the power tools
were stolen.  However, Bobbie and Laurie replaced the tools within a couple of
weeks and the work continued.  By late spring, all of the interior walls on the main
floor were removed, and demolition on the second floor was proceeding.  
By midsummer, the first and second floor were "gutted" and all new doors and
windows had been installed.  By the end of July, the reconstruction phase was
ready to begin; new insulation, paint, wiring, plumbing, bathrooms, kitchen,
bamboo flooring, ceiling fans, etc.  Along the way, all of the work was done by
womyn only.  Though many men offered to help with the project, the womyn stayed
true to the vision of womyn learning to do the work themselves.  Of course there
were times of frustration, pain, and exhaustion as they worked seven days a week
to manifest the dream.  Most of the womyn experienced cuts and bruises, and
Bobbie even broke her leg when she fell from a ladder while bringing down the
ceiling on the second floor.  By August, everyone was pretty tired and ready for a
vacation, so they took the month off for a well deserved rest.          
But in September the womyn began gathering again to continue the work.  In
September they painted and installed new wiring and flooring.  In October we
started installing a new kitchen, ceiling fans, and lights.  And by mid-November they
were ready to open the bookstore on a limited basis, even though there were still
bathrooms and many smaller projects to complete.  With a limited inventory and a
fledgling schedule of events, the Spiral Dance Womyn's Center and Bookstore were
opened for business on November 24th 2007.  
To that date, a total of 30 womyn have worked on the building, helping with various
phases of the demolition and reconstruction.  They worked in a dirty, filthy building
with no heat or cooling, in a neighborhood where most people are afraid to drive.  
Each of them has much to be proud of because of all that they gave.  By the sweat
of their brows, their broken bones, and their bleeding blisters, they gave birth to a
dream.  They dreamed of creating a space where womyn could gather to share
educational programs, inspiring performances, healing work, and relaxing chats
over coffee and tea; a space filled with womyn's music, womyn's art, and womyn's
literature, and a space to celebrate being womyn.  THEN THEY BUILT IT!   
Counter
2505 E. Oliver St.
Baltimore, MD  21213
email: thespiraldancebookstore@yahoo.com
Open Friday, Saturday & Sunday 9:00 to 5:00 and during the womyn's center
events.
History of the Project
Mission Statement
The mission of the Spiral Dance Womyn’s Center & Bookstore is to provide space and
resources all women need to empower themselves educationally, economically, politically,
and spiritually.  Our goal is to model women’s collective work and micro-economic practices,
and to help women develop the practical skills they need to work for both personal and
social change.

The Womyn We Serve
The Spiral Dance celebrates all women, and provides a safe, sacred, multicultural space
where women can gather to build bridges across their lines of difference; differences that
include race, religion, ethnicity, age, ability, social class, and sexual orientation.  While we
recognize the many differences between women, we also recognize those experiences we
have in common as women.  Together, we can weave both our similarities and our
differences into strong webs of connection that empower us to build a stronger women’s
community.

Why is Womyn’s Space Important?
The basic answer is that “it’s a man’s world” and women need spaces where they can
spend time together and learn from each others experiences.  Women need transformative
spaces that allow them to grow through all the stages of their lives.  Women need safe
spaces where they don’t have to perform self-surveillance; where they can think and act
outside of those patterns and roles assigned to them by patriarchal systems.  Women need
sacred spaces where they can explore their spirituality, and create images and rituals that
represent their relationship with the Divine.  Women need educational spaces where they
can learn to work collectively and create micro-economic systems that benefit women.  And
finally, women need creative spaces where they can craft music, art, literature, and
performances that are representative of their experiences in the world.

Our Philosophy
For thousands of years women were told that their role was to nurture & care for others, and
that men were their providers & protectors.  For thousands of years women have waited
while men initiated wars, exploited women’s labor, abandoned children, and ruined the
environment.  In America, a woman is raped every 2 minutes, 4 women die everyday from
male perpetrated violence, children are molested in untold numbers, women earn 70 cents
on the male dollar, and the Earth continues to be damaged by capitalist and patriarchal
institutions.  Therefore, we believe it is imperative that women develop different ways of
thinking and being in the world, and create new ideologies and institutions that value and
support all people.  Our philosophy is grounded in the ideas developed by generations of
womanist & feminist thinkers and activists; philosophies that called women to think in new
and creative ways.  Our philosophy is that women need to create new social, political,
spiritual, economic, and cultural systems, and that they need to create new images of
womanhood in art, literature, and music.  Our philosophy is that all women are valuable and
powerful, and that together we can learn to create both personal and social change.  
The Belly of a Woman: From Motherland to Uncle Sam,
a play written and produced by Margaret Locklear.
August 13th, 2008 ~ 4:00 PM and 8 PM  Shows
Sojourner Douglass Auditorium ~ Baltimore, MD
You can purchase tickets for this play below, or at the Spiral Dance.

4:00 PM Show                         8:00 PM Show