An Evening of Storytelling in Harlem

On a cold evening in Harlem, we gathered.

Inside a warm room on 126th and Amsterdam, voices rose, laughter moved through the space, and stories—tender, honest, and alive—were offered and received with care.

On Wednesday, February 25, Anna Dao participated in Can We Kick It Live, an evening of storytelling rooted in community, truth-telling, and shared experience. Inspired by the musical pairing of “Gonna Love Me” and “Love on Top,” the night invited each storyteller to explore love in its many forms—its depth, its challenge, its return.

But more than a theme, what unfolded was something older.

Something remembered.

A Space to Speak and Be Heard

There are spaces where people speak.

And there are spaces where people are heard.

This was the latter.

Can We Kick It has cultivated a gathering that feels less like an event and more like a return—to voice, to presence, to one another. Each story carried something distinct, yet together they formed a collective rhythm: one of vulnerability, courage, humor, and truth.

To stand before others and share a personal story is no small act. It asks for openness. It asks for trust. It asks for a willingness to be seen.

And in that room, that offering was met with care.

Storytelling as Remembrance

Storytelling has always been a way we remember who we are.

Long before platforms and performances, stories were how wisdom moved—through elders, through communities, through lived experience. They carried lessons, preserved history, and created connection across time.

In spaces like this, that tradition continues.

Not in the same form, but with the same spirit.

To speak one’s truth aloud is an act of grounding.
To listen deeply is an act of honoring.

Together, it becomes something more:
a shared remembering.

Honoring Harlem, Honoring Community

To gather in Harlem is to gather on sacred ground.

There is a legacy here—of expression, resistance, creativity, and cultural brilliance. A legacy that continues to live through spaces that center voice, story, and community.

Can We Kick It honors that lineage by creating room for people to show up fully, speak honestly, and be witnessed without condition.

There is intention in that.

And there is care.

A Return to Ourselves

The evening was not about performance alone.

It was about connection.
It was about presence.
It was about returning—again and again—to the truth within.

In a world that often asks us to move quickly, to filter, to perform in ways that disconnect us from ourselves, spaces like this remind us of something essential:

We are allowed to speak.
We are allowed to feel.
We are allowed to be witnessed as we are.

And in that allowance, something softens.

Something opens.

Something finds its way home.