COMPANY PROFILE

RULAN TANGEN (Director, Choreographer, Dancer) Rulan Tangen is an internationally accomplished dance artist and choreographer.  She is the Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer DANCING EARTH, noted in Dance Magazine as “One of the Top 25 To Watch”, and winner of the National Dance Project Production and Touring Grant, as well as the National Museum of American Indian’s Expressive Arts award. She is also recipient of the Costo Medal for Education, Research and Service by UC Riverside’s Chair of Native Affairs, as well as honoree by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation for their first dance Fellowship, for Artistic Innovation. As performer and choreographer, she has worked in ballet, modern dance, circus, TV, film, theater, opera and Native contemporary productions in the USA, Canada, France, Norway, Mexico, Brasil and Argentina.

Her work values movement as an expression of indigenous worldview, including the honoring of matriarchal leadership, dance as functional ritual for transformation and healing, the process of decolonizing the body, and the animistic energetic connection with all forms of life on earth. She has recruited and nurtured a new generation of Indigenous contemporary dancers and holds the belief that ” to dance is to live, to live is to dance”.(Photo courtesy Santa Fe Photo Workshops)

In 2015, we continue to develop our multi cycle of work around seed, roots, plants and food, with diverse community members and artists, under the theme of RE-GENERATION.

In our tenth anniversary year of 2014 we celebrated with welcoming International Cultural Ambassadors as guest artist-collaborators for ORIGIN-NATION, ROOTS AND SEED creative incubation, developing solos and duets that explored each artists response to the essential idea of seeds and roots. Some of these works were subsequently developed further as solo works by the artists in their home countries.

Representing Australia/New Zealand, Fiji, Guatemala, Sweden/India, Canada/Mexico, Canada, Philippines, Hawaii and First Nations of Cherokee, Jicarilla Apache, Seneca, Creek, Choctaw, Tewa, Piru, Cree, Metis, Mestizo, Ixil-Maya , Ojibwe, Lakota, Pomo, Ona*staTis ( Michewal Wappo), Dine, Ilocana/Bicolana, Kainai, Papanga, Basque and ancestors from France, Germany, Norway, Ireland, Africa, Spain, Mexico :

Cathy Livermore, Navi Fong, Tohil Fidel Brito Bernal, Maria Regina Firmina Castillo, Maria Naidu , Yvonne Chartrand, Sandra Lamouche, Norma Araiza, Coman Poon, Anne Pesata, Lupita Salazar, Lumhe Micco Sampson, Javier Stell-Fresquez, Trey Pickett, Andrea Rose Bear King, TRia Andrews, Justin Giehm ( Upaya scholarship awardee), and AudioPharmacy collaborators Teao Sense, Ras K’ Dee, Joana Cruz, Desirae Harp and Nikila Badua

Additional 2014 national collaborators: Quetzal Guerrero, John Walking Star Martinez, Daniel Arizmendi, Deollo Johnson, Crystal Worl

SINA-AURELIA SOUL-BOWE’ ( Walking at the Edge of Water’s Music Director, and Singer/Dancer educator) SINA-AURELIA SOUL-BOWE’s shamanic sound is the product of Native, South Pacific & Afro-Latino bloodlines. Hailing from the Western Samoan, Atakapa-Ishak & Dine nations, Soul womanifests song that synthesizes spiritual harmonic healing with an ancestral awakening. Soul’s proliferation as an international underground icon stems from her work as a multi-lingual lyrical activist & multi-instrumental vocalist. Soul is a Brown University Alumna, Zulu Queen ordained by Afrika Bambaata, curandera & griot, named Wumei or ‘beautiful warrior’ by Mokotaidejekan. In academia, Soul-Bowe’s work as an SocioEthnomusicologist, Filmmaker, Writer and Educator specializes in the diasporic, indigenous roots of Hip Hop culture. She conducts international workshops and lectures in conjunction with her musical tours, FROM AFRICAN CROP TO BEBOP TO HIP HOP©®™ and I.R.O.H.H.C The Indigenous Roots of Hip HopCulture©®™ which depict the cross-cultural hybridization, transmigration and ongoing globalization of tribal rhythm and sound. Soul has conducted workshops for youth at all 19 Native American Pueblos and the 3 Reservations in New Mexico, and is an educator at Ralph J. Bunche Academy and the Native American Community Academy in Albuquerque. Her musical work has spanned the globe opening for and performing with RockSteady, K.R.S.O.N.E, Melly Mel, The Roots, the late Celia Cruz, the Marleys, the Wailers, Sister Carol, Cassandra Wilson, Cody Chestnut, DeadPrez, Bahamdia, B.B.King, Zap Mama!, Rochelle Ferrel and touring with Erykah Badu & George Clinton (P-Funk) on The Smoking Grooves Tour.

Soul-Bowe’s original compositions have been produced and performed on stages throughout the nation including George Houston Bass’ Rites & Reason Theater and The Blue Note (NYC) and she is the Founder of New Mexico Musicworks, a 501c3 that uses Music to educate and heal. She is Strategist and Foundation Director for DC Roots’ Roots International Sustainable Enterprises, an Advisory Board Member/B-Girl with P.A.T.H. Preserving, Archiving, Teaching Hip Hop, performs with SWEETLIFE, is Architect of THE AFRICAN ROOTS OF JAZZ Project and Musical Director for Rulan Tangen’s Indigenous Native American dance company, Dancing Earth Creations. Soul is the mother of two boys, Solomon Apiliato Marley & Justus Ramses Vailoa; and the wife of Jazzmaster/Producer Rodney Bowe. www.sinasoul.info ( Photo by Paulo T Photo )

NICHOLE SALAZAR (Dancer) is from Santa Fe, New Mexico where she trained and performed with Moving People Dance Theater. At age 17 she was a all category  finalist in a national dance competition which earned her an apprenticeship with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble of Denver. She soon became the company’s youngest principal dancer and toured internationally performing a vast repertory including Milton Meyers, Rosangela Silvestre and others. She also  performed in New Work with the Michael Mao Dance. She has performed in Rulan Tangen’s choreography as a soloist since high school, and joined DANCING EARTH for performances at Idyllwild Arts, CA, Santa Fe Dance Festival,  Arizona, and Alaska, in recognition of her Shoshone/Chinese/Latina heritage. (Photo by Colleen Minkius-Sperry)

DEOLLO JOHNSON (Outreach Coordinator, Dancer, Musician, Aerialist, Rehearsal Assistant) has been practicing martial arts and dance for over 30 years. During that time Deollo has studied West African, capoeira, Urban Contemporary Dance, Haitian, modern, jazz, Latin and other dance styles, various styles of martial arts and qigong, and is proficient in the instrumentation of capoeira and West African drumming. He has taught capoeira as an adjunct faculty member at Meredith College in Raleigh, NC, as well as at the American Dance Festival, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, in Hayti at the Haiti Baptist Mission, and at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where he taught several dance styles. Deollo has performed in countless venues including performing with Laura Dean Dancers & Musicians, Djembe Fire, the African American Dance Ensemble, Cyro Baptista/Beat The Donkey, George Clinton/Funkadelic, and currently with the Santa Rueda Performance Team. He began with DANCING EARTHat the Santa Fe Dance Festival in 2007 and was the Rehearsal Assistant for the male dancers for “Of Bodies Of Elements.” As part of DANCING EARTH’s Cultural Creative Movement outreach program, Deollo taught capoeira at La Mariposa’s Montessori School in Santa Fe for two years and taught classes and choreographed a flash mob performance for native youth in Coeur D’Allene, Idaho. ERIC GARCIA LOPEZ (Dancer) was born and raised in Arizona, of the Tarasco First Nation. A inspired student of the arts with special interest of photography, film production, painting, creative movement , music and the many different native cultures/traditions. He has been dancing for many years under the style known as b-boying (break dancing) and street dancing . He has taught and perform for non-profit, intergenerational, Arts and Educational Outreach under Michelle Ceballos Michot, and also trained under the guidance of Hodge Jo and Dance Worldbeat with street performances all over Phoenix. With the love ofdancing, he continues to explore the many realms of the performing arts.

RIA THUNDERCLOUD (Dancer) of HoChunk/Sandia-Taos was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin and later moved to New Mexico where she grew up.   Ria devoted her young years to dance by attending local dance schools, and began to compete in local, state and national dance competitions.  She has won several awards and recognitions including National champion for solo dance artist and regional competitions.   As a solo dance artist, Ria has performed for Gathering of Nations, 1st Annual Native E Music Awards,  Moving People Dance Company, Dancing Earth, Robert Mirabal, Moving People ,  Brule, and guest appearance  at several tribal resorts,colleges and universities.  Ria is a champion pow wow fancy shawl dancer, and also dances Jingle and Ho-Chunk Applique. Ria is pursuing a BA in Dance Kansas University where she is a member of the First Nations Club and is also training with Haskell Boxing Club. ( photo by Paulo T Photography)

DANIEL ARIZMENDI joined the word renowned indigenous dance company Dancing Earth in 2011 after meeting at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. He performed for Dancing Earth for Bioneers, and was subsequently invited to represent the company for the 2012 Hemispheric Encuentro of Performance and Politics. An international martial arts champion, he began his vocational ballet training with a full scholarship at Redding Ballet Academie in their Pre-Professional program, and he also was privately coached by Natasha Morken. For six years, he was a principal dancer with Redding City Ballet as well as a resident choreographer for both the company and the school. In 2008, he founded Belariz Ballet School, performed for FACT/SF’s Home Season 3.0, was a founding member of Artesan Dance Company. Daniel currently teaches ballet for The Dance Zone in Cupertino, Poise Ballet (Royal Academy of Dance) of Sausalito, Cuicacalli Escuela De Danza in San Francisco, and Cuicacalli Dance Company.As an indigenous choreographer and teacher, he creates original works and teaches master classes for dance companies, schools, and universities.

EAGLE YOUNG (Dancer) has trained and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Los Angeles and South Coast Repertory in Orange County. He’s performed professionally in New York at the world famous La Mama Theatre and in North Carolina in the oldest outdoor drama The Lost Colony.He has recently enjoyed his collaboration with Native Voices at the Autry and Performing with South Coast Rep this past spring. His favorite roles include Jean in Miss Julie and the Stage Manager in Our Town.  He’d like to thank his family and friends for their endless support. Watch for his upcoming first feature film Montana Amazon, starring Haley Joel Osment and Olympia Dukakis. He joined DANCING EARTH for the premiere «OF BODIES OF CLAY» in Arizona. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

“SHUGA SHANE” MONTOYA, a Native New Mexican of Hispanic and Diné heritage, has been dancing for the past 14 years and teaching for the past 8 years. Aside from teaching, choreographing, and performing he organizes hip-hop based community events in Albuquerque. Originally a b-boy or break-boy, Shane represents the United Hip-Hop Family and Chief Rockers (Native based performing arts group). Throughout the years he has also expanded his dance disciplines to various styles such as Ballet, Jazz, and Latin. Shane has danced with various companies such as Festival Ballet Albuquerque,  and Musical Theatre Southwest. Traveling and meeting new people has played a vital role in his growth as a dancer, street performer, and mentor. He joined DANCING EARTH in 2012 and his performances with the company include Albuquerque, California, New York and New Zealand.

LUMHE SAMPSON is a dancer from the Mvskoke Creek and Seneca tribes of North America, specialized in Native styles of Hoop and Grass dances. Starting as an infant being engrossed in culture, dancing was a part of life and inevitably became a way of life. What started out as a means for cultural connectivity and pride soon became an exhibition and educational tool for his peers of all ages, performing for countless schools throughout his lifetime. Hoop dancing has been his life for over 23 years, bringing him to many venues and opportunities throughout the world to share and receive knowledge from all those he comes across; which is what hoop dancing is all about: sharing and learning from one another. Growing up in Los Angeles, he was exposed and steeped in a myriad of dance influences from the Latin communities, African peoples, Asians, Europeans and the eclectic variations of modern dance styles like Jazz and HipHop. Today, Lumhe exhibitions his high-energy ageless Hoop dance, oftento contemporary music, as he is part of the HipHop group, “Nake Nula Waun”. The group has set out to break the negative stereotypes of Native Americans and re-instill impeccable pride and strength to our indigenous people and communities. “We are still here. We are still dancing.”

LEXI HODELL is Chiquitano from Santa Cruz, Bolivia and has over 16 years experience working as a dancer in styles such as popping, house, breaking, freestyle and hip hop choreography. Lexi has been teaching workshops, master classes throughout the U.S. and performing in flash mobs, music videos, and concerts., including Kansas City’s TigerStyle! Professional Performance Company since 2011. Lexi Hodell has traveled throughout Europe battling and street performing as well as doing commercial work for the Cabaneli Clothing line in Paris, France. His clothing line today, L.T.M.D Brand, the motto “Less Talk More Dance” inspired him to share with dancers who express their hearts through movement and music. Lexi’s accomplishments with L.T.M.D. Brand and TigerStyle! were featured ABQ Live Magazine 2013. Lexi continues to work hard as a Choreographer and a Dancer but most importantly to push and inspire dancers of all ages.

GUEST CAST MEMBERS FOR PREMIERE OF WALKING AT THE EDGE OF WATER

SANDRA LAMOUCHE (Dancer) is a Nehiyaw Iskwew (Cree woman) from the Bigstone Cree Nation in Northern Alberta. She has fifteen years experience in ten international styles of dance. She specializes in the hoop dance, as well as being a professional Indigenous Contemporary dancer and an emerging choreographer.

NAKOTAH LARANCE (Hopi, Tewa, Assiniboine) (Dancer) was dancing by age 4 in Pow Wow and Hoop Dance contests and is considered a master Hoop Dancer with 6 world championships. A talented actor with many credits in Film and Television, his first love has always been dance. Nakotah enjoys all physical movement of the body including Hip Hop, Break Dancing and Martial Arts. He recently returned to New Mexicoafter a 2 1/2 year World Tour as a principal dancer for Cirque Du Soleil’s “Totem” show.

JAVIER STELL-FRESQUEZ ( Dancer, IDA Intern) received a fellowship grant from Stanford University’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts to intern with Dancing Earth and facilitate their first dance intensive this summer. At Stanford, Javier majors in Earth Systems: Anthrosphere, and his experience with Dancing Earth will contribute to his minor in Chicano Studies (focus: Decolonizing Art Practice). Javier began dancing Mexican folklórico at age five and is now a professional flamenco performer and instructor. Other genres he practices regularly include Vogue, blues, Latin social, ballet and many combinations of the above.

WALKING AT THE EDGE OF WATER INTERNATIONAL GUEST ARTIST

JACK GRAY was born in West Auckland, NZ with tribal links to Ngati Porou and Te Rarawa. He was the founder of Atamira Dance Collective in 2000 and has continually developed his performance craft as a dancer and choreographer for the company. He has the distinction of having danced the repertoire of every major Atamira production.

Jack is creatively a free spirit with a love of travel and working within the context of indigenous dance performance. His international resume includes scholarships to Impulstanz Wien in Austria, Atelier Du Monde in France, Asia Pacific Young Choreographers Project in Taiwan and the UCR Indigenous Dance Scholar in Residence in the USA amongst others. More recently, Jack’s focus has been on fulfilling his passion for taking Maori perspectives to the world, achieved through his 2011 AMP Scholarship Award. This expanded his work through performances and choreography with Dancing Earth based in New Mexico, USA, in a First Nations Showcase at BlakDance Australia and co-writing for Biography journal at the University of Hawaii.

Jack’s choreographic vision for Mitimiti will see his development of these ideas towards a future full length work in 2014.

ADDITIONAL WALKING AT THE EDGE OF WATERS COLLABORATING ARTISTS:

International Guest Apprentices from Canada

Nimkii Osawamick is an Ojibwe Pow wow dancer from Wikwemikong, Manitoulin Island unceeded reserve in Canada. He comes from the wolf clan. Nimkii started dancing since he could remember and performed recently as actor in Weskeyjack play by Alanis Morrisette for the Ode’min Geezis Festival in Ontario. He is founder of a new business initiative D.N.A.: Dedicated Native Awareness. (photo by Alicia Ledezma)

Danni Daysky Okemaw is Ojibway(Annishanbe) and Cree from the Manto Sipi Cree Nation, and Berens River First Nation of Manitoba, Canada. She attends the Victoria School of the Arts in Edmonton, Alberta. With 17 years of dance training in ballet, jazz, hip hop, contemporary and modern, she has performed with the award-winning Sikat Dance Company. She was selected for the first “Dance Zone” award at the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards in 2009, and is also a fancy shawl dancer who travels all throughout Indian country.

National Apprentices

Erika Archer (Dancer) from Fort Washington Maryland, representing the Meherrin Nation of North Carolina. She has been dancing since the age of three in a variety of styles including modern, tap, jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip-hop. Most recently she has taken part in styles such as Latin, African, and powwow style Women’s Fancy Shawl. Erika is very passionate about the arts in all forms. She is a pop recording artist under Bully Music Group, a model and aspiring actress. She is a recent college graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Maryland College Park. ( Photo by Alejandro Quintana) Anne Pesata is originally from the Jicarilla Apache Nation in Dulce, New Mexico, where she grew up surrounded by a family of artists and danced with Rulan as part of the National Dance Institute. She began powwow dancing as a jingle dress dancer at the age of six and currently is pursuing a degree from Ft Lewis College in Environmental Studies. (Photo byPaulo T. Photography)

Asia Soleil Yazzie is from Chichiltah (Oak Canyon, New Mexico) and from Dine’ (Navajo) tribe. Recently graduated from Fort Lewis College with a Bachelor of Arts in Native American and Indigenous Studies. A former dancer and choreographer for Fort Lewis College’s Register Student Organization “Dance Co-Motion” in the styles of hip-hop, pow-wow, and belly dance. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

Raven Knight is a dancer, actress, and writer from the Jicarilla Apache Nation where she first danced with Rulan Tangen over ten years ago as part of the National Dance Institute. She is currently a member of Arizona Hip Hop Soul Dancers, an informal dance group/crew in Phoenix, Arizon, and is moving to New York to minor in dance and theater at SUNY Albany.

Hosanna Sophia Littlebird is a native New Mexican, raised in New York City, born of Pueblo and Ukrainian parents. Sophia trained in classical ballet, flute and piano throughout her childhood until high school and then began her independent musical education during the mid 1990’s exploring the New York Hip Hop underground, jazz, and house dance music scenes expanding and influencing her musical styles. During her time in the house dance scene, she released five successful singles and an EP. Seeking to create a new sound and movement which was more representative of her true voice and spirit, Sophia started to produce her own music, writings, videos and imagery and has been nurturing and developing her own unique art at the center of which is Divine love expressed for the healing of the Universe. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

Windsong is an enrolled member of the Taino Nation. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, where she studied modern dance. Windsong is a hereditary shaman, shamanic trance dancer, and traditional midwife. Medicina Alternativa awarded her an M.D. for this work, recognizing her as a Traditional Indigenous Doctor and as a Doctor of Alternative Medicine. Windsong is spiritual advisor to Tewa Women United and to TWU’s Circle of Grandmothers, of which she is an honorary member. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

Ana Maria Guadalupe “Lupita” Salazar was born and raised in the high desert mountains of northern New Mexico, which have been her constant inspiration in her creative work. She began taking Baile Folklorico classes in middle school, and eventually went on to perform with Las Mariposas dance ensemble around northern New Mexico, southern Colorado and in San Francisco, California. She has recently graduated from the University of Southern California, where she studied theater and film and looks forward to a future of meaningfull storytelling that will encourage positive change.

Painters Tony Abeyta ( New Mexico’s Living Treasure) Jaque Fragua ( SWAIA Rising Artist ) Ehren K Natay ( SWAIA Rising Artist)

Poet Sherwin Bitsui ( Native Ats and Cultures Fund winner of fellowship for Artistic Innovation in Literature)

Composers Sina Soul, Cris Derksen, Tanya Gillis, Don Peyote, Women of Vanuatu, Pamyua, Ehren K Natay, Edgardo Moreno, Dean Baltesson, Barrett Martin, Alejandro Aguerre

Costume Designers Cheryl Dee with Mannie Jacobo, Consuelo Pascual, Connie Wind Walker and IAIA interns Tahnee Growing Thunder and Donna Hall

Video Artists Elemental Designs and Louis Leray Anthony Lopez

Aerial Choreographer Deirdre Morris

Video Documentarians James Lujan with IAIA interns Nick and Calvin

ROSTER OF ARTISTIC ASSOCIATES AND PAST COMPANY MEMBERS

RAOUL TRUJILLO (Guest Choreographer, Guest Performer) danced internationally with the Nikolais Dance Theater from 1980 to 1986, where he also learned master lighting design. He was the original choreographer and co-director of the American Indian Dance Theater for its first two years,  continuing to explore native mythology and creating dance technique along with Alejandro Ronceria in Toronto with Native Earth for the Performing Arts. His work The Shaman’s Journey was turned into a dance film for PBS, along with Alive From Off Center. He hosted and narrated the series Dancing, also for PBS. He has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Arts, taught at the Banff Centre for Aboriginal Arts, and has been a mentor to DANCING EARTH since the beginning. He has worked extensively as an actor in film and television, and continues to dance and choreograph. He recently worked as a choreographer and principal actor, in “The New World”, as historic Chief Red Cloud in Spielberg’s series “Into TheWest” , and featured roles in “True Blood”, “Tin Man”, “Love Ranch”, “Ancestor Eyes”, and in Mel Gibson’s “Apocalypto for which he won a North American Indigenous Image Award for Best Actor. (Photo by Iscah Hunsden Carey)

KALANI QUEYPO (Guest Performer) was born and raised in Hawaii of Blackfoot/Hawaiian heritage, and trained in New York City, Los Angeles and at the Banff Centre for Aboriginal Arts in Canada. A founding member of DANCING EARTH, Kalani has created roles in the world premiere productions of Palestine, New Mexico, She Was My Brother, Please Do Not Touch The Indians , Kaha:wi, Miinigooweziwin…The Gift, Bones: An Aboriginal Dance Opera, Tribe, The Last American, Red Sky, Transformations , Earth Dance Theater‘s Naming Ceremony, U.C. Riverside’s Red Rhythms Conference, and the world premiere of “Of Bodies Of Elements”.

Hollywood has embraced Kalani with prestigious acting projects such as the Oscar-nominated, Terrence Malick film, The New World, and Steven Spielberg’s Emmy Award-winning mini-series Into the West. In 2007, Kalani’s short script, Ancestor Eyes, won a screenplay competition, initiating his directorial debut. He has been recognized with fourteen awards on the film festival circuit, including RIIFF’s prestigious Directorial Discovery Award. Kalani is an active collaborator with Native Voices Theater at the Autry where he proudly serves on the Advisory Council. He is also a proud founding member of the President’s National Task Force for the American Indian at Screen Actors Guild. Kalani will be seen in 2011 in the much anticipated MGM webseries, 10,000 Days.

JESUS “JACOH” HERNANDEZCORTES (Guest Performer performer and Founding Director of associate training program of Cuicacalli Escuela De Danza) was born in Veracruz, Mexico. He began his training in danza folklorica when he was 6 years old under the direction of his uncle Juan Natoli. In 2000, at age 21 , Jacoh ( aka Jesus) joined the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernandez at the Bellas Artes in Mexico City. He became principal dancer in the role of the deer in “La Danza del Venado”, as chosen successor to Lucas Zarate in the version originated by Jorge Tiller, with which he toured Mexico, Europe and the USA. He has been company choreographer and lead teacher for Los Ninos de Santa Fe y Compania, teaching hundreds of school children annually with the Santa Fe Opera outreach program. He has performed with Moving People Dance Theatre ( in choreography by Robert Moses and others) , Danza Folklorica , and appeared in 2006 as a guest artist with Dancing Earth, incorporating hisriveting Deer Dance into a performance for the National Performance Network. In 2008 – his first year on Bay Area – he was the featured image of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival , including posters, T- shirts and a photo mention in Dance Magazine. He is the founding director of CUICICALLI , a Bay Area dance training program that includes folklorico and modern dance , and includes classes for public schools, with student appearances at Brava Theater, and the annual Carnaval Festival, both in the heart of the Mission.

He is the founding director of CUICICALLI, a Bay Area dance training program that includes folklorico and modern dance , and includes classes for public schools, with student appearances at Brava Theater, and the annual Carnaval Festival, both in the heart of the Mission. (Photo by Elizabeth Opalenik)

QUETZAL GUERRERO (Composer, Musician, Dancer), of heritage including Juaneno, Cambiva and Yaqui, carries the name “precious feather” in the Aztec-Nahuatl language. As a Suzuki trained violinist, he has studied and performed internationally since the age of 5, playing with legends such as Tito Puente, Lalo Guerrero and Jorge Santana. He is an accomplished visual artist and actor who trains with Axe Capoiera. As a champion street dancer with Sourpatch, he has appeared with H.T.Chen and Company of New York and was invited to perform with Mikhail Baryshnikov. He was also a founding dancer of DANCING EARTH, performing at sites across the USA and in Brasil. He recently toured Europe with world renowned Osunlade and was working in Puerto Rico as a new artist of Yoruba Records. Acting credits include “New World” where his dancing and acting abilities were featured as a core warrior.

ANTHONY CH-WL-TAS COLLINS (Photographer, Dancer) is a member of the Salt River Pima/Maricopa, Seneca, and Osage tribes and has been dancing since age 10. He is a frontrunner in cutting edge, experimental and creative urban street dance. His unique sense of aesthetics extends to his visual artistry, as awarded the T.C. Cannon Scholarship to the San Francisco Art Institute for photography. As 2004 program coordinator for the Native American Cultural Center of San Francisco and founder of the Earth Dance Street Unit, he hosted native poetry events and creating incredible street dance performances at unconventional spaces throughout San Francisco. He has performed with “Kaha:wi”, “Here on Earth”, Earth Dance Theater, Canadian Aboriginal Music Awards, and the televised Aboriginal Achievement Awards and is a founding member of DANCING EARTH . Onscreen, he can be seen in the film “The New World”, “Tecumseh” and and independent films by artist Kent Monkman. He is a sought after photographer inthe USA and Canada. (Photo by Anthony C.Collins)

ALEJANDRO (ALEX) MERAZ (Actor, Filmmaker, Artist, Dancer) of the Purepecha First Nation of Michoacan, Mexico was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona. He attended the New School for the Arts, and apprenticed with master mask carver, Zarco Guerrero. Under the name Nomak, he earned an international reputation for break dance and creative street dance break dance. For 12 years Alex studied mixed martial arts, winning numerous tournaments in karate and capoeira, which led him to train with Andy Cheng as a stuntman on the set of THE NEW WORLD. As noted by the film crew, “he moves like a panther.” Highly sought after in the indigenous dance world, Alex has worked as a lead dancer throughout the USA and Canada with renowned choreographers including Raoul Trujillo, Rulan Tangen, and Santee Smith (where he earned a Dora Mavor nomination). His interest in film was fueled by roles in THE NEW WORLD, and TWO SPIRITS, ONE JOURNEY and he began making his own independent short films which have been wellreceived on the festival circuit. He His thoughts and perspectives on dance and film-making are influenced by his exquisite drawings and paintings. He is now passionately developing his werewolf character of Paul for the very popular Twilight film series.

JESSICA MARISOL ALLEN (Dancer) began formal ballet and jazz training at age 10. Her first performances were with the San Francisco Bay Area’s Dance Brigade and with mother – the multi artist Gina Pacaldo. Jessica competed and toured throughout the United States for 9 years with the Logan World Guard and Concord Blue Devils world champion color guard performing units incorporating ballet, modern and jazz dance with complex stage design and pageantry – performing in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Canada and Japan. From 2003-06 she was a featured performer in the Tony Award winning show “Blast” ( national tour) and in “CyberJam” at the Queens Theater in London. She worked as a television personality on the PBS and ESPN2 broadcast of Drum Corps International World Championships. She specializes in performing with props, saber swords, flags, fire staff and fire poi. She now lives in Los Angeles, working at the Tribal Law and Policy Institute, a non-profit corporation thatdelivers education, research and training programs which promote justice in Indian country as well as pursuing film and photography projects and enjoying being a mother. Baby Rulan will debut at age 15 months onstage at UC Riverside, in honor of “Mother Earth Day”!

HAPPY FREJO (Actress, Writer, Singer, Dancer) is a native performing artist who is a member of the Pawnee and Seminole Nations of Oklahoma. She is an accomplished poet, dancer, singer/songwriter, and actress. Happy travels across the United States to youth conferences, conventions, camps and reservations conducting hip-hop workshops, sharing her message of hope and acquiring love from within. Using her gifts and talents, she desires to reach as many young people as she can, encouraging them to go after their dreams with all the belief in themselves and to strive to lead a positive and healthy lifestyle. Her accomplishments include touring the USA with Peter Buffett’s SPIRIT as a performer and dance captain, producing her own short film , “My Darkest Hour”, singing with her band, touring to Thailand as a powwow dancer and currently developing the Happy Soul Project. (Photo by Anthony C.Collins)

LAWRENCE SANTIAGO (Set Designer) Santiago is a Native American artist, singer/songwriter, architect, and actor currently based in Los Angeles. He is a member of the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana and a Native Hachamaori from the island of Guam. Santiago lived in Italy where he studied Classical Architecture & Art through the University of Notre Dame. He received a Bachelors Degree in Architecture & Environmental Design from the University of Colorado, and is currently attending the University of Southern California for a Master of Architecture & Urbanism. For Santiago, art & life are truly a mutual process that know no restrictions of medium or time. He believes that even though art’s tangible form is limited, those who experience it give it no bounds.  (Photo by Larry Price)

SARRACINA LITTLEBIRD (Dancer) was born and raised in Santa Fe, NM. She began her dance training with the Santa Fe Dance Foundation (now Aspen Santa Fe Ballet) and later studied with Moving People Dance Theatre’s school, performing with their student company and apprenticing with the main company. She embraces her cultural heritage through dance, having family at Laguna, Santo Domingo, and Tesuque Pueblos, by participating during the summers in traditional Pueblo Corn Dances. Sarracina spent a summer in Chile on cultural exchange, a summer in the Peruvian Amazon researching the relationship between cultural traditions and fisheries management, and is now a graduate of Columbia University as a double major in Environmental Biology and Dance. Since age 12, Sarracina has danced in Rulan’s choreography at the Museum of Crafts in NYC, Native Roots and Rhythms, and now with DANCING EARTH, originating a role in a women’s trio created for the Santa Fe Dance Festival. (Photo by Kate Russell)

SERENA RASCON (Dancer, Vocalist, Instructor) is a young developing artist whose flame of creativity can be sparked by any art form that catches any of her senses at any time . Serena has trained in many forms of dance but most specifically ballet and different modern techniques. Right now, she delves into the world of choreography using the young dancers that she works with in Espanola, New Mexico as her canvas, while still trying to maintain and grow as a dancer herself. The dance that is in her heart has taken her to many places within the states, to dance, and to discovery. Serena was adopted into an ever growing, multi cultural home when she was just 8 months old. Being of mixed blood, she is Indian (Indigenous to Mexico), Spanish, and Mexican and was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico in February of 1988. She seeks to find a tangible connection with her different cultures, though she can feel the connection in her bones and in her spirit. (Photo by Anthony C.Collins)

ALYXIS TRUJILLO (Dancer) comes from the border of Arizona and Mexico, and has is majoring in dance at college in Arizona. She has performed with flamenco and hiphop companies, as well as being featured in solos in choreography of Sam Watson, Ronn Stewart, John Lehrer, Fletcher Nickerson and Rulan Tangen in the Moving People Summer Dance intensive concert in 2007. Following that, she was selected to tour with DANCING EARTH to Idyllwild Arts, and learned the lead Eagle role created by Maori co-director Terri Ripeka Crawford. Subsequently, she has danced with the company at Sedona’s Festival of Native Arts and Culture, in Alaska for the Yu’Pik Nation’s Calista Corp, and Phoenix at ASU and NCECA conference. (Photo by Colleen Minkius-Sperry)

EDGAR GARCIA (Dancer, Hair Stylist) is a dancer and professional hair stylist, who lives in Arizona.  A champion breakdancer/streetdancer who helped develop the experimental Sour Patch crew, he has studied contemporary dance with an interest in choreography. He has performed with Desert Dance Theater and danced on stage with Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Project, as well as co-creating new choreography for a Native Film Festival in Montana. With Dancing Earth, he has performed at the National Dance Institute of NM, the Santa Fe Opera House stage, Native Wellness Institute conferences,  National Performance Network Showcase, Santa Fe Dance Festival, Las Sedona’s Festival of Native Arts and Culture,  in Alaska for the Yu’Pik Nation and in Las Vegas and Arizona. (Photo by Anthony C.Collins)

JOSE MERAZ (Dancer), a descendant of the First Nation Purepecha Tribe (in Spanish, Tarasco) of Indigenous Mexico. Born in the state of Washington, he was raised in Mesa,Az since he was 5 where as a troubled youth he overcame obstacles through b-boying (aka break dancing) and martial arts. A teacher, trainer and senior performer in Grupo Axe’ Capoeira Arizona since 2000, he has performed on national and local TV news media channels also including doing shows and teaching workshops at colleges, community centers and theatres throughout the greater Phoenix metropolitan area. He recently performed for the promotional signing for the movie sequel The Twilight New Moon August 2009. Since the passing of his mother in 2003 he began attending native ceremonies and learning Danza Azteca as means to better understand himself, his people and the strong connection to TonaTzin (Mother Earth). (Photo by Colleen Minkius-Sperry)

EHREN K NATAY ( Dancer, Musician, Artist) is a multi- artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. An affiliated member of the Navajo Nation, he is of mixed nationality – his father descending from Dine’ and Kewa Pueblo, and his mother descending from German, Irish and Cherokee ancestry. Ehren comes from a long line of artists, most notable is his grandfather Ed Lee Natay who was not only a skilled artisan but also the first American Indian to be recorded and broadcasted on the radio. Ehren has followed in this tradition, touring nationally as a singer songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. A long time visual artist, creating works in acrylic paint, colored pencil, and marker, he recently began jewelry making at the Poeh Arts Center in the Pueblo of Pojoaque under the instruction of Fritz Casuse. His arts background and martial art training bring him to debut this summer with DANCING EARTH in the SOMOS UNO Festival and in our site-specific installation CRUDE FRACTURE with land artist ChrissieOrr. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

JAQUE FRAGUA ( Dancer, Musician, Artist) is a multi-disciplined artist from Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico. Through traditional practices in Towa ceremonies, Jaque began his journey in dance as a young child. Inspired by the vast genres of music he listened to growing up, he developed as a dancer through swing, jazz, salsa, break-dancing/hip-hop, butoh, modern, capoiera angola, and indigenous dance. He continues to practice his craft with Dancing Earth and with prolific break-dancing crews in the Southwest. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography) LISA NEVADA (NM Education coordinator, dancer) is a native New Mexican and began dancing at locally at a young age. She became a student, volunteer and performer at Keshet Dance Company in 1996 – the founding year of the organization. As of 2001 Lisa began teaching within the company as well as facilitating community outreach programs. In the spring of 2004, she was promoted to become a full time member of Keshet’s Repertory Company, becoming RehearsalDirector in 2005. Lisa has taught and performed with Keshet throughout New Mexico and the United States, and received a B.A. in Dance from the University of New Mexico in 2002. where she taught Modern I class at UNM from 2002-2003. Lisa has danced for the Bill Evans Dance Company , Donna Jewell & Co. Ecotone Physical Theatre Company and is a founding member of the Put Attention Dance Collective. (Photo by Paulo T. Photography)

ANDREA NICOLA (Dancer) started at the age of 7 at a local dance school, Lynn ‘s School of Dance in Globe, Arizona.  While attending this studio she studied ballet, jazz, Hip hop, Modern/contemporary for 11 years. Now 19, she is attending Scottsdale Community College majoring in Dance.  She has performance and taken varies workshops from different choreographer, such as Joe Termaine, Sam Watson, Ann Reinki and many others. She met and had the opportunity to become one of Rulan’s understudy in 2009, since then has become one of the members of the Dancing Earth Dancer Company form Arizona.

She is a member of Penobscot Nation and Navajo Nation. Both her parents are artists and she is continuing the arts through her body as a performing artist. ( Photo by Colleen Minkius-Sperry)

CAMI’ LEONARD (Dancer) as a Dine’ Woman, born and raised within the Four Sacred Mountains, she is To’dichini (Bitter Water People) and born for the Bitani (Folded Arms People). Without formal dance training on the reservation, she began her first steps in dance and love for performing on the High School Drill Team as a dancer.  This would lead her early interest in the performing arts of Ballet, film and theatre.  She later entered and won Native American State & National Pageant titles and participated in the Pow Wow Circle as a Traditional Dancer. She then graduated from the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of New Mexico where she studied Laban/Bartenieff Movement, Modern Dance, Flamenco & Dance History under Bill Evans, MaryAnne Santos Newhall; Jennifer Predock-Linnel, Eva Encinas-Sandoval, Judith Chazin-Bennahum & Pablo Rodarte. Other contemporary Modern, Ballet & Theatre companies and performances include Dancing Earth – Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations,Santa Fe NM; Daystar – Contemporary Dance-Drama of Indian American, Rochester NY; imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival, Toronto Canada; Grace Ann Etcheberria-Jacobs; Ballet Amy Burnham; DreamWeaver Theatre Ensemble, Santa Fe, NM; and Modern Native Ensemble, Albuquerque NM. She currently resides in Phoenix AZ where she continues to dance and train in Modern Dance. She is an advocate, lecturer in Indigenous Dance History & Culture, and also works with Native American Communities and local schools in Education Outreach in Theatre, Dance & Indigenous History/Culture. Cami’ is a SAG Actor in film & commercials; and also directs, acts, and is a playwright in Theatre.

AMY BECENTI (Dancer) Amy’s passion for dance began with ballet classes at age 4, followed by self training in the wilds of south-eastern Utah. Having no formal dance classes available to her, Amy staged recitals atop sand dunes and bedrock as crows and sheep dogs looked onAmy, and her dance became steeped in myth of her ancestors as well as the ancient Greek and mainstream culture. She has explored Azteca, African, Balinese, Odissi, Salsa and Swing, as well as club dancing and drum circles. In 2003 Amy discovered American Tribal Style belly dance, a form which transcends age and body type, and she continues to develop her voice as an artist of dance. (Photo by Tanana Rivera)

DANCING EARTH APPRENTICES

Marty Fragua Colin White

IAIA Internship Performance Apprentices

Moira Garcia is a visual and healing artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is a student printmaker and photographer at the Institute of American Indian Arts and is an apprentice of Curanderímso with Kalpulli Teocalli Ollin. Moira began dancing Hula on the island of Kaua’i at age four.

DANCING EARTH PAST COLLABORATORS

CONNIE WIND WALKER (Costume Designer, Aerial Coach, Performer) maintains a private art and design business, Wind Walker Design LLC, with education including undergraduate dance and multi media art studies at the University of New Mexico, and artistic merit scholarship as a design and fashion major at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

She is a multi media artist, encompassing fine arts, music, theatre, puppetry, mask making, performing arts, and more. With a focus in design using two-dimensional design and color theory, Connie works with graphite, ink, watercolor, gouche in fine art, and in fashion illustration for her apparel/costume design/construction, with emphasis on eco-friendly and repurposed materials. A unique fusion of Flamenco, modern dance, and oriental Belly dance influences Ms Wind’s performing, including fire dance and aerial Dance, using Trapeze and Lyra (aerial hoop). These are amongst the skills she brings to companies including Wise Fool New Mexico and Dancing Earth. JOSE LUIS MONCADA ( Costume Designer), a native of El Paso, TX has been dancing since the age of 16. He started his career performing with the El Paso Association for the Performing Arts. He has danced and performed with NM Ballet Co., Ballet Theatre of NM, Moving People Dance, Baila! Baila!, and Ballet Folklorico Rio Grande. Joe hastrained and competed in the professional American Rhythm division in Ballroom Dancing for over 10 years, receiving awards in his professional division including top teacher for numerous Pro-Am competitions with Fred Astaire Dance World. He now shares his time between teaching his students to reach a higher level of competitive ballroom dancing and exhibition dancing. When not wearing his dance shoes, Joe is dedicated to the design and construction of his beautiful and very creative dance costumes from professional dancers and dance companies in New Mexico and beyond. MARAMA (Costume Designer) is a creative force as a dancer, teacher , artist and fashion designer, of the tribes Ngati Kahu and Te Rarawa.  She lives in the beautiful bush of the Waitakere Ranges, producing her fashion  from her studio in Titirangi, and retailing at the Moa Unlimited shop in Aukland.  Marama garments are hand printed with contemporary indigenous designs  by Ojasvi Kingi Davis and express the beautiful manaand beauty not only of her land and people, but of Indigenous culture. Collaborations with fashion, film, and dance began between Marama and Rulan in 2002 at the Banff Centre and developed into a collaborative invitation for a contingent of Maoris under Korou Productions to work with DANCING EARTH at Idyllwild Arts in summer 2007. Marama’s fashions were featured on Rulan for the cover of NATIVE PEOPLES magazine in fall 2004.

LELAND CHAPIN ( Collaborating Artist, Arts Educator, Body Painter ) is a multi-cultural artist and teacher who has collaborated in learning with a wide range of people around art and social justice issues. He has lived & worked in Panama, Washington DC, New Mexico’s Navajo Nation, Philadelphia, and El Salvador. Inspired by the work of The Center for the Support of Native Lands (nativelands.org), of which his father is the founding director, Leland has been working on a series called Body, Land, Maps; a multi-media, live painting, and dance installation, exploring stolen lands, displaced peoples, and environmental conservation strategies.  Since 2007, Body Land Maps has been presented in Santa Fe, NM and in Buenos Aires, Argentina with choreographer Rulan Tangen. Leland’s body painting has been featured on DANCING EARTH performers at presentations in California, New Mexico, and Arizona, and he led DANCING EARTH art workshops for youth at the Idyllwild Native Summer Residency.

GUEST MUSICIANS

RAS K’DEE  (Pomo Native hiphop artist with 3 independent albums, one mentioned on top ten list of Village Voice in 2003)

BARRETT MARTIN  (international percussion composer, Masters in anthropology, linguistics and ethnomusicology, founder of Fast Horse Recordings world music and jazz label

JENNIFER BEN (ASU student and classical cellist, composing integrating her Dine heritage)

ARIANE ESTRADA (Orff certified music educator in Bay Area public schools, percussion accompaniment for Danza Folklorico)

GUEST DANCERS

KOROU Productions, of Aotearoa, led by Terri Ripeka-Crawford Ruben Rascon Andrea Fox Regina Aguilera Nishke Mars Consuelo Marie de Guambana CJ Bernal