Value Statement

Value Statement:

Here at Oula, we are uniquely ourselves. We invite people to come as they are and embrace feelings, fitness, and fun. We value supporting both individuals and the community connections that form through moving together.

We are made up of independent, thinking, and feeling people who enthusiastically embrace our shared core values: support, empowerment, connection, creating safe spaces, and being carefree. These are the pillars of our movement.

Among our core values we emphasize creating safe spaces in order to empower individuals. Our instructors embrace this value for their participants. Safe spaces are more important than ever as we move forward in an increasingly divided, often volatile landscape.

Oula is a human-centric, feminist, and anti-racist organization. We trust that Oula spaces will include all people and embrace them as they are. People of all genders are an important part of Oula, including women, men, trans, and non-binary individuals. We actively invite people of all races, identities, and countries of origin to move together. All abilities and disabilities, including invisible ones, have a home with Oula. We value what makes each of us unique. This is not identity politics. This is genuinely who we are as an organization–caring, compassionate, and capable.

We do not perpetuate hate. We challenge our organization and all associated with it to continuously learn, grow, and do better each day. We attempt to spare marginalized peoples from carrying the burden of others’ ignorance. We lean into new environments and we walk unfamiliar paths, reassured in the knowledge that we can build love, empathy, and understanding–creating spaces for all to move and to feel a sense of belonging. We will do our best to simply do what we do best: use music and movement to explore feelings and ideas that may promote healing for us all.

So, we will keep remembering who we are: movers moving together. We are humans embracing humanity in all its complexity. We are free to experience our feelings through movement, and we create safe spaces for people to experience their feelings. We reject any notion that we must suffer without hope or without the ability to create–and be–the change we want to see in the world. 

We are the change. We hold this as paramount in our Oula practice. We sing. We dance. We yell. We share. We play. We create and hold our own safe spaces. We live our values. We unite and move together. With every Oula class, we demonstrate our strength and support and courage. Together. Individually. Humanely. 

We will move forward with irrepressible joy. 

We can guide ourselves through any darkness. 

We are radiant beacons.

We are so powerful individually.

We are so much more together.

Let’s continue to remember and be who we are: Oula.