November 2010

Phoenix included 8 dance workshops at 2 middle schools and 1 high school as well as welcoming local Native community members Carmile Leonard and Andrea Nicola to perform with us. Over 1200 audience members attended our  OBOE performance at ASU Gammage, as well as the  Invokation ritual at First Friday ! Quetzal Guerrero and Ehren Natay were integrated as dancers and musicians, while Serena Rascon shared her talent as singer and dancer. Thanks again to the wonderful team at ASU Gammage, to Joshua Rose of American Art Collector magazine and Beatrice Moore for providing the warehouse venue for INVOKATION, and for the gracious support from NMAI's Expressive Arts award for Indigenous contemporary arts!Click here for a blog review with photos:http://metisramblings.blogspot.com/search/label/dancing%20earth And please click here for a link to a filmed clip on Hispanic TV :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fbdIsjAzEc In the Bay Area we will have some exciting November happenings:***** SUNDAY NOVEMBER 14 :SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL fundraiserFly Trap restaurant606 Folsom Street (@ Second)drinks at 5:30pm with dinner being served at 6:30pmCost $50 per personThe event is a fundraiser for the Festival as well as a season announcement; DANCING EARTH is on the schedule for a May/June SFIAF performance, but additional funds need to be raised ! Not everyone has $50 but maybe we all know someone who does? This would be the only possible  BAY AREA appearance for our award willing full length production " Of Bodies Of Elements", currently receiving accolades on national tour, as a pioneering Indigenous production exploring Indigenous ecology. I know you will want to see it !

AT THE BRAVA THEATER IN NOVEMBER 2010, HIGHLIGHTING CULTURAL ARTS  :

***** TUESDAY NOVEMBER 16 -  Showing of "LA MISSION" with a short preview of dances, including the famed LA DANZA DEL VENADO as seen in the  Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, with guest appearance of DANCING EARTH soloists. This event will feature film director Peter Bratt and is FREE , so why not go ?

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 20  -  " MOVIMIENTO,TRADICIO Y PASION - FESTIVAL OF DANCE  - a Benefit for Cuicacalli , cost $15 at the door. Featuring :- guest soloists from DANCING EARTH -  the nation's foremost Indigenous Contemporary dance company-  La Mariposa  folklorico ensemble from New Mexico- students from the Mission District's own Cuicacalli dance initiative for bilingual schoolchildren selected from public school dance programsCuicacalli is directed by instructor Jesus Cortes ( Jacoh) , a former principal dancer with Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, Dancing Earth, Las Mariposas who has also performed with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet and Moving People Dance in choreographies of Robert Moses and Sam Watson. He is the living master of LA DANZA DEL VENADO  as originated by the renowned Jorge Tiller. Now married to music teacher Ariane Estrada, the artistic couple work extensively with music and dance programs , often taught bilingually, for schoolchildren throughout the Bay Area. He has established professional dance training for youth at the Brava Theater with aspirations to build towards a professional dance troupe. He brings  all of his extensive international experience to ignite youth with passion for self-expression, balanced by the discipline of vigorous and versatile training .His professional colleagues are honored to celebrate the vision of  Mr Cortes by joining him and his students during National Native Heritage month to celebrate the diverse forms of dance rooted in Indigenous cultures. These performing artists have achieves high levels of international recognition in their forms, but are committed to sharing their experiences with their community , and to train and inspire youth.Artistic expression to instigate social justice and transformative change is a modern concept with ancient roots of shamanic practice, as insinuated in the catalysitic danza azteca scenes in the film of La Mission. At a time when ethnic studies and immigrant rights are in jeopardy in nearby states, these dancers join forces to create a vital artistic- cultural expression of solidarity amongst Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island, reaching from before borders were in place until after borders cease to exist.As a site of enforced and voluntary relocation for decades, the San Francisco Bay Area has long been the heart of this cross cultural unity, with urban and rez Natives  and Latinos coming together in the civil rights era of 1971  for the occupation of Alcatraz and the birth of the American Indian Movement . Later in that same decade the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was finally established, giving Native Americans the ability to practice their spirituality and related sacred dances and songs. In the spirit of freedom and solidarity, we gather to share dances ancient and modern, to move our youth forward into a better future.Please join the the celebration of identity in motion and the embodiment of cultural heritage of the Americas , at the Brava Theater in November !

DANCING EARTH company members Serena Rascon ( pictured below in photo by Alejandro Quintana) , Rulan Tangen and Ehren Natay are donating their talents to support the vision of Jacoh Cortes...