Dancing Earth Founding Artistic Director & Choreographer

Rulan Tangen, Dancing Earth’s Founder and Artistic Director / Choreographer (Kampampangan and Pangasinan of Luzon Island in Pacific aka Philippines, and Norwegian): Rulan Tangen's work explores movement as an evolving language of global Indigenous and inter-cultural relation building, rooted in inclusion of diverse cosmologies from her own experience and those of the artists with whom she co-creates. Her contemporary dance practice strives to serve as a functional ritual for transformation and healing, integrating concurrent universes of ancient futurities in the moment, expressing energetic connection with all relations – human and beyond. As Founding Artistic Director/Choreographer of DANCING EARTH, she has passionately cultivated successive generations of global Indigenous contemporary performing artists as cultural ambassadors and conduits for social change She is recipient of 2018-19 Kennedy Center Citizen Artist award for Service, Justice, Freedom, Courage, and Gratitude and is grateful for all that roots her, for the dreaming and doing of Dancing Earth: moving the world into renewal.

Executive & Southwest Impact Producer

Angel Guanajuato is a New Mexico-based artist who focuses on exploring his identity and human emotion from the perspective of a queer existentialist through music, poetry, and dance. Angel’s practice is a spiritual ritual and portal for accessing love, wisdom, inspiration, electricity, and personal self-actualization. His music is currently exploring these ideas and feelings in modern/electronic compositions and arrangements.

As Southwest Community Impact Producer Angel strives to support the mission of Dancing Earth while creatively producing events and programming (Summer Institute & Unbound) and holding intentions of relationship first, reciprocity, and radical self-expression.

As Co-Director of Commnuity Research & Engagement, New Mexico, for Museum of Dance Angel has co-created an Artists’ Cyclical Mentorship Program that was recently awarded the Collaborative Impact Grant through the Santa Fe Arts & Culture Department.

Barbara spent many years in the Southern US, and currently lives in beautiful northern California. She has many years of Accounting and Bookkeeping experience, and first began working with Dancing Earth in 2020. She has enjoyed supporting Dancing Earth’s growth, providing project financials and processing artist payments, and interfacing with our fiscal sponsor.

Califa Cultural Visioning Partner & Community Organizer

My name is Elaine Talamaivao (She/Her) I currently live, dance and provide community outreach on Cahuilla and Tongva land. Through my love of dance, I provide community opportunities for youth to share in the ancient art of storytelling through dances and languages of my ancestors stretching from Aotearoa, Samoa and Hawaii. I am working as Community Organizer for the new and incredible California project to nourish our intercultural communities in this challenging year; Dancing Earth’s Califa: RE-SToring the Source Retreat.

Coming soon.

Califa Executive & Intercultural Impact Producer and Teaching Artist

Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales is a Queer Brown Chicano male-identifying body native to the South Valley of ABQ, NM, unceded Tiwa territory. Gabriel has the resources to trace his maternal lineage to Guadalupe Hildago, MX, and Hatch, NM. His paternal lineage to Cabazone Peak, NM and Bernalillo, NM. Gabriel has spent 14 years of his 24 years of life on this Earth discovering himself as a dancer/mover/artist. Through this journey, he has learned much about light, love, body positivity, and encouraging others and himself to exist in their highest form possibly through dance and the arts.

Gabriel began his dance training in the 3rd grade at Navajo Elementary with the National Dance Institute of New Mexico's outreach program, he continued with this program 8th grade where he transitioned to study with the New Mexico Ballet Company and other local dance schools. Gabriel decided to move to Pennsylvania to study classical ballet at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet for 2.5 years. He returned to New Mexico to study psychology at the University of New Mexico. Following graduation, Gabriel accepted a position with AmeriCorp working at the National Hispanic Cultural Center before transitioning to working as a residency artistic associate with the National Dance Institute of New Mexico!

Gabriel has been a part of two national artistic administration leadership cohorts (Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training mentee 2020-2021 and David Herrera Performing Companies LatinXtensions mentee 2021-2022). Gabriel serves Dancing Earth not only as an artist but also as an Executive Producer and Intercultural Impact Partner for the CALIFA Project umbrellaed under Dancing Earth.

Coming soon.

Director/Choreographer for UNBOUND, Grantwriter, and Teaching Artist

Sarah Hogland-Gurulé (she/they) is a Xicana living in Tiwa land, her ancestral homeland known as Albuquerque, NM. She is a dance artist and educator guided by the belief that dance is a form of embodied healing, remembrance and visioning; all essential tools for collective liberation. Sarah began her dance training at Keshet Dance and Center for the Arts and continued training as a pre-professional at the University of New Mexico, where she received a bachelor of arts in contemporary dance (summa cum laude) and conservation biology (magna cum laude). She has performed with MALACARNE, Pat Graney Company and CHERDONNA (Seattle, WA) in addition to Lawine Torrèn (Austria) and Yeztli Danza y Arte (Albuquerque, NM). Her solo work has been presented by the American Dance Festival’s Emerging Choreographer’s Showcase, Seattle’s Next Fest New Works, Seattle People of Color Arts Salon, Isis Women Arts and the University of New Mexico. Sarah also teaches dance to incarcerated youth and women, as well as locally in the community. She has also been a contracted artist through the City of Albuquerque as part of their inaugural CityMakers program and an artist in residence at Explora Children’s Museum. She performs regularly with Meow Wolf Santa Fe and is broadening her movement curiosities to pole dance, house dance and popping. About UNBOUND here.

Coming soon.