CALIFA: THE SOURCE

Telling the Story, 2021-2024

CALIFA: The Source is a growing vision focused on nurturing seeds of interdisciplinary and intercultural community joy and wellness. It is rooted in innovation, care for relationships, compassion, and respectful reciprocity. The name “CALIFA” draws inspiration from the mythic Black warrior queen, symbolizing the amplification and interweaving of energies that transcend imposed colonial borders. This name serves as an alternative to state-specific naming, honoring leadership from the feminine: fierce, fearless, bold, nurturing, and generous as the land, waters, and skies themselves. “CALIFA” was chosen to represent the lands and peoples served by this project. That became, "The Source" honoring the divine in each of us, the Light that guides us as humans, artists, and committed individuals working towards a more healed future.

We recognize that participants, collaborators, and honorees come from various regions across what is now called California. Each place carries different names as homelands of California Native peoples, who are integral to this project. Looking towards the Pacific as the waters that connect us, and recognizing the fluid quality of water as a connector of all life, the project was spearheaded, co-founded, and co-visioned by Elaine Talamaivao, a Pacific culture carrier and dance artist, alongside Dancing Earth founder Rulan Tangen. In the summer of 2021, we witnessed a beautiful seed of mentorship planted with artist and dancer Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales, completing the leadership team of CALIFA which blossomed into The Source.

CALIFA: The Source aims to generously and compassionately support those who have poured into their communities. Creativity, trust, and the right to rest stand as three pillars of inspiration for CALIFA’s core leaders, honorees, and associated artists. Since CALIFA’s sprouting in January 2021, four virtual rest and honoring retreats have been offered, welcoming over sixty-five (65) honorees from various sectors, including arts, environment, education, and activism. These honorees come from Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, LatinX, African Diaspora, and mixed heritage backgrounds across California. CALIFA leadership brought their full selves in generously hosting and weaving energies together, while bringing in four artist-facilitators to support the CALIFA vision. Facilitators were invited to learn by supporting how community relations are cultivated through humble service, planting seeds for the next generation of intersectional leaders to safely and respectfully develop community.

Rejuvenation, replenishment, and intersectional relationships emerged from these retreats. New bonds, mentorships, alliances, and collaborations sprouted. Seeds of care, respect, honor, and trust were planted in the rich earth, allowing community leaders to blossom into an unimaginable garden starting to bloom!

With land, waters, stories, and sharing as our sources, we embarked on making this vision a reality with a multiyear project from 2021 until 2024.

  • A screen capture from May 16th, 2021, showcases CALIFA’s second round of RESToring The Source virtual retreats to honor culture carriers, knowledge holders, and creatives throughout California.

  • Photo from the March 2022 CALIFA: The Source Queer Retreat, held in Oakland, CA, honoring those who identify at the intersection of Queerness and artistry. Guests shared stories, experienced Queer community, and dreamed together.

  • Video still by Ian Garrett. Garb by Tiśina Parker and Rulan Tangen.

  • Andreina Maldonado (CALIFA Artist Facilitator 2021-2022 + Eco-Elegies Cast Member) performing in Guadalajara as part of the Intercultural Exchange Artists Residency 2024.

2021, RESToring The Source

How do we take care of our caretakers?

RESToring The Source was conceptualized to honor and acknowledge cultural, creative, and community workers for who they are and what they have already done. Rather than burdening them with more projects and deadlines amidst the demands of COVID, our intention was to renew relationships by offering support, restoration, and time for reflection and strengthening. 

All guests were invited to "Come As You Are," an invitation to attend these virtual retreats authentically, providing space for community leaders to share their fatigue, fears, and calls for connection. As we witnessed the world shift in response to COVID-19, this was CALIFA: The Source’s way of fostering deep human connection at a time when many of our lives were thrust into isolation.

Learn more about The Source 2021 events and collaborations:

2023, We Are The Source

Presenting The Source Festival

This year highlighted the past two years of relationship-building and trust, calling on relationships developed during that time to be the seeds that would bloom as the year unfolded. We witnessed Dancing Earth’s Summer Intensive making its first California appearance at California State University East Bay (CSEB), stewarded by Erik Kupers, CALIFA Retreat Honoree + Professor of Theatre and Dance, administratively led by DE’s Southwest Executive Producer, Angel Guanajuato, and artistically led by DE Founder, Rulan Tangen. As the states transitioned into the fall season, the dreams of The Source festival came to fruition on the same grounds at CSEB, as well as a partnership with Dance Mission Theater in The Bay’s Mission District. The four-day festival in Northern California was followed by a one-day festival for Southern California communities on the grounds of Mt. San Jacinto College. Gratitude to Julie Freeman, CALIFA Retreat Honoree + Chair of the Department of Dance for opening the space. Each festival emphasized arts and culture as healing modalities, inspiring healing through ancestral roots, creativity, and community. Expanding on the community invite to “Come As You Are”, The Source included programmatic themes throughout that ensured contributing artists, community members, and supporters can show up authentically and in their full self, these pillars in addition to the first one mentioned at our 2021 retreats were “Create As You Are”, “Experience As You Are”, and “Reflect As You Are”. To watch a recap video of our Bay Area, Source Festival (September 2023)-click here!

Learn more about The Source 2023 events and collaborations.

2022, Nourishing The Source

How do we nourish relationships?

In 2022, emerging artist leader Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales led his first major project, initiating a Queer-centered retreat in San Francisco to uplift this vital part of our Dancing Earth family and vision for loving inclusivity. Meanwhile, the groundwork laid by previous seasons of RESToring The Source retreats began to generate interconnecting networks of relationships, like growing roots around creativity, compassion, and collaboration across multiple projects throughout California. These projects included multiple virtual iterations of Practicing Principles of Ancestral Knowledge, where CALIFA community members shared cultural knowledge, recipes, and limpia practices. Support also manifested in mentorship, rest retreats, artist scholarships, and collaborations throughout the year.

Learn more about The Source 2022 events and collaborations:

2024, Embracing The Source

Watering the seeds planted through the past three years of creativity, connection, and celebration of our community caretakers.

During the first four months of the year, as North America transitioned from winter into spring, we witnessed The Source blossom with four beautiful activations calling for peace, connection, and the honoring of the waters that hold our collective joy, grief, and wisdom.

In January, "The Source-Peace Reflections" series featured a conversation with Queer-Ballroom Community Leader Michael Roberson. He discussed the power of the arts, peace, and love on the journey toward community healing, in partnership with the National Day of Racial Healing . This was followed by a Self-Care Sunday with The Source Co-Founder Elaine Talamaivao of Tala Mai Moana.

As Dancing Earth prepared to embark on a Spring multi-stop International Artistic Residency Mexico tour, The Source ensured the Bay Area community sendoff performance was nourished with food and community connection. In April, The Source partnered with Eco-Elegies and Bay Area artist Champoy to present a collective prayer for healing in celebration of National Water Day.

Learn more about The Source 2024 events and collaborations.

CREDITS

This activity is funded in part by the California Arts Council, a state agency.

THANK YOU

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