October 2013
Coming up soon in OCTOBER :On Oct 7, Director Rulan goes to Philadelphia to sit on an artists panel for National Arts conventionOn Oct 17, DANCING EARTH performs a solo and duet appearance at Sonoma State University in California along with film screening, lecture and Q+A ( see below)On Oct 18-20, Rulan will be at Bioneers in Marin County California, speaking at an panel on Saturday afternoon, as invited by Native Arts and Cultures FoundationDANCING EARTH AT SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY !
We celebrate Indigenous Peoples week by bringing to Sonoma State University for a memorable evening of DANCING EARTH's Indigenous contemporary dance creations, offered for free to the community at 8pm October 17th at the Warren Theater . The evening will include multi-disciplinary engagement – with choreographic excerpts, film, lecture, and audience discussion, around the theme of DANCING EARTH's current cycle of work : "Walking At The Edge of Water " – an inter-tribal contemporary dance expression of Indigenous water perspectives This work is motivated by the urgings of Native grandmothers and invokes powerfully relevant water themes of creation, destruction and renewal . WALKING AT THE EDGE OF WATER parallels ancestral healing rituals in a dance of inter-disciplinary Native expressions that is both primal and futuristic. Featured dancer/lecturers are Daniel Arizmendi , of Mayan/Yoeme/Jewish heritage - who has been a principal dancer with Redding City Ballet and works with Latino/Indio youth with Cuicacalli Escuala De Danza in the Mission district of San Francisco . And, DANCING EARTH’s founding Artistic Director and Choreographer Rulan Tangen - whose international Indigenous work is recognized by the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation as the first Dance Fellow for Artistic Innovation. COMPANY DESCRIPTION :DANCING EARTH spins, stomps and spirals into life on the world’s dancing grounds as a collective of intertribal Indigenous dance artists. Rooted in the spirit and energy of the first peoples and the land, the mythic power of DANCING EARTH ‘s creations respect, embrace and expand the context of Indigenous culture into vital contemporary relevance. They have been named by Dance Magazine as “One of the Top 25 to Watch”, and are recipients of the National Museum of American Indian’s 2010 Expressive Arts Award, balancing a commitment to share dances with regional, national and international communities. At venues as varied as festivals , Universities , elementary-high schools, Native wellness gatherings, youth leadership symposiums, art museums , desert canyons , dried river beds, and symposiums for social-environmental justice, DANCING EARTH inspires creativity and cultural consciousness through community art practice, energetic dance training workshops, site specific rituals and full length eco-productions. “We strive to embody the unique essence of Indigenous worldview by creation and renewal of artistic and cultural movement rituals. Ancient and futuristic, our dances are an elemental language of bone and blood memory in motion. We gather to create experimental yet elemental dances that explore contemporary identity and reflect the rich diversity of our cultural heritage .We are passionately committed to indigenous contemporary at the core of building community, as a vital force that can serve to illuminate issues of cultural, historical, philosophical, environmental, mythic, and spiritual relevance.” - DANCING EARTH ***********Below are audience and reviewer quotes, suggestion to send out a different one every week as headline for weekly e- news blasts announcing the appearance.“ The visionary note … easily persists in the accomplished miracles of speed, agility, grace and sensuality that articulate the choreographer of“ DANCING EARTH offers to help us appreciate their profound journeys and relate them to our own “ – Janet Eigner KUNM Radio “ Strring… a thoroughly contemporary work with performers whose athleticism and multifarious talens and training acknowledge the air as much as the ground under their feet “ _ Rita Feliciano, SF BAY GUARDIAN “ clearly conceived, beautifully executed… ( they ) embody a vision of a world that transmits meaning through dance - as expression of our emotions, our desires, our hopes, our fears - and, most importantly, our relationships...with each other, our communities, and our planet. Dancing Earth crafts truth as well as beauty. The entire company breathed life into the concept of dance as ritual, of artists and shamans who help us transcend our ordinary ways of looking at and experiencing the world.” - Kathleen Kingsley UWC College “ A beacon of consciousness , revealed through dance with real content. You brought your world experience to N.Y.C to the enjoyment, amazement, and comprehension of those who witnessed a new direction in dance. The conscious combination of deep and passionate meaning to the most important issue of our age, the sacredness of water, was revealed in your brilliant choreography and your dancers abilities to bring it. Congratulations from one of the many you brought to tears. Continue the struggle of your art; you have proven its value” – Tom Law “ Beautiful performance from the entire ensemble, it was breathtaking, powerful, emotional, sensitive and just incredible. So inspiring, thanks for bringing such an amazing work and beautiful dancers to NYC! – Deborah Damast
