The Nervous System of a Community: Victoria Mutiri on Ancient Wisdom, Dance, and Finding Your Pathway to Community

For our very first interview, Tambola was honored to sit down with Congolese American superstar Victoria J. Mutiri, based in Paris, France. Victoria is an international student, model, dancer, DJ, and lifelong learner who draws on her life experience and education to help people break free from colonized consciousness, find meaning in the everyday, and pursue joy without apology.

The Temple of Hathor: The Community's Nervous System
Victoria opened our conversation with a topic she's been captivated by lately: the Temple of Hathor. This temple of women once served as the center of society, with women acting as the "nervous system of their community" - guiding, healing, educating, and protecting the people around them. Victoria notes, with a bit of a smile, that this era was also one of the most prosperous in Egyptian history. Perhaps that's not a coincidence.

What made this community so powerful was its devotion to observation, she emphasized. When someone arrived with a problem, the women of the temple wouldn't rush to fix it. They would watch (really watch) everything the person did before offering support through a mixed-methods approach that might include somatic healing, astrological interpretation, or other practices tailored to what they observed.

In today's world, Victoria believes many of these ancient practices are exactly what we're missing in our efforts to build and maintain real community. Observation. Stillness. Slowing down. In a society addicted to movement, achievement, and the constant chase for "more," pursuing connection so intentionally might be the most radical things we can do.

Dance as a Pathway Home
As a dancer and lifelong lover of music, Victoria speaks to how central both were to healing practices in ancient times, and how they remain mainstays of Congolese culture today. Dance was, and still is, one of the ways people heal.

Victoria traces this back to her own childhood, growing up in the church, where she learned to lean on observation as her entry point into dance. Starting from a place of non-judgment as a child gave her the freedom to pursue dancing not as performance, but as a path to freedom and ultimately, as a way to stay connected to her Congolese identity and community.

In this way, Victoria's experience was that dance is a healing pathway both as a solitary practice and a communal one.

Joy & Achievement
Within this discussion came the overarching question: in the pursuit of joy and meaning amidst achievement, where is the line?

The secret is so simple, its maddening. When you are free and fully enjoying something, the result is so good that your next instinct is to put it to use. But that should never be the starting point and if you start there, you're missing the point. Freedom and full expression come first. Achievement is simply what sometimes follows.

Joy as the Goal

This part is for you- our readers, our community. Ask yourself this question and sit with it.

What is the role that joy has in your life? What if you sought out to make joy a specific goal rather than a byproduct?

Here is your homework: when you feel joy, mark it. Notice it. Name it. Let it register.

"Joy is so contagious," Victoria J said, "unless you are a villain."

Pathways to Community
We know that much of the Congolese diaspora is made up of people who are constantly evolving and moving- between countries, languages, and versions of themselves. So we asked Victoria the question at the heart of Tambola's mission: how do you retain your proximity to Congolese community amidst changing environments?

For Victoria, the answer has been music. She has always found her pathway to connection and followed it wherever she's landed. Whether in Dallas, Texas or Paris France; in her bedroom or on the streets of a new city: she always found her way back into her community. 

Question for you: our community- what is your pathway?

The most important takeaway from this first interview is what we want you- our community- to hear the loudest: your connection to your community is something you have the power to both curate and emote wherever you go. Find your pathway.