Who we are

IntraConnecting: who we are

We are Mel White and Aaron Bailey, a couple based in Cloughjordan Ecovillage in Ireland. IntraConnecting is a weaving together of our different activities and interests, a way to bring them together under one umbrella, to let people know about the events we have coming up, and to showcase some of our arts projects.

IntraConnecting: why we chose the name

Everything we do is rooted in connection.

Nonviolent Communication (NVC) is about creating and sustaining authentic and meaningful relationships: deepening our connection with others and ourselves. It’s about connecting to what really matters to us, and to others.

Ecstatic Dance is about connecting to our bodies and emotions, the inner journey we take as we connect to the music and the movement, and also the connections with others we meet on the dancefloor.

Our activism and our arts practices are also forms of connection: through connecting to the multiple crises we see in the world, from climate change and biodiversity loss to war and the rise of fascism. And connecting to our own creative impulses, then finding ways to express these that can connect with others, ways we can exchange meaning and find common ground.

And everything we, as humans, do is interconnected: all beings and all life are interdependent by nature. Nothing can survive alone.

We chose to use ‘intra’ rather than ‘inter’ to illustrate the complexity and multi-directionality of these connections because we extend as deeply inwards as we do outwards. There are as many connections within things as there are between them. We’re both keen foragers for edible mushrooms, and we think of mycelial networks as perfect descriptors for this - so vast and so complex, and yet we can be unaware of them unless we pay close attention.

A bit more about Mel:

For most of her life, Mel has considered herself an artist - she sometimes used the term multi-disciplinary artist, then she thinks that sounds too pretentious, so she crosses it out! Her various art forms have included oil painting, making costumes and props for theatre, acting, playwriting, and designing infographics. She also makes large scale festival art installations, many of them from recycled objects reclaimed from landfill, and she has created the decor for Global Green at Electric Picnic for over 10 years. She is also well known as a spoken word performer and a page poet - she performs regularly around Ireland, and her first poetry collection is due to be released in 2025. Her poetry can also be viewed on her YouTube channel (melwhitepoetry).

More about Mel specifically as an NVC trainer

A bit more about Aaron: