Highlighting Our 12th Annual Summer Institute
Taraneh Sarrafzadeh
Taraneh was born and raised across Ohlone lands, known as the Bay Area, CA, with cultural and ancestral rivers confluencing from Iran, Philippines, and China. Taraneh is a lifelong student of embodiment in its many forms as a path to reclaim, heal, remember, and reimagine our way back to ourselves and to ways of being (individually and collectively) that are restorative, transformative, and liberatory.
Taraneh is a movement facilitator, guide, and artist who focuses her work on the intersections of healing, movement, and the wonderous intelligence of the Earth and Creation itself. Her offerings draw from her studies in yoga, dance, somatics, creative expression/practice, the school of Life, and devotion to nature, spirit, and our interconnectedness.
Taraneh has practiced yoga for 15+ years, and taught yoga for 9+. Taraneh owned/directed a donation-based yoga studio and non-profit called Be the Change Collective focused on making wellness practices accessible in San Jose from 2014-2020. During this time she taught trauma-informed yoga in juvenile hall, social service centers, schools, profoundly deepening her understanding of collective power & care in this period of service.
In 2019, Taraneh reconnected & found home for her dancing, devotional soul in Silvestre Technique with Rosangela Silvestre. Upon traveling to Salvador, Brasil, Silvestre Technique offered her permission and technique to dance her prayers directly to/with/as the forces of nature, unlocking deeper embodiment and a profound sense of expression. It's this essence and profound power of dance that Taraneh feels passionately about sharing.
Taraneh holds great reverence for Mother Earth, the health of her ecosystems and all Life, and the people of the Earth. With a deep respect for indigenous peoples, their wisdom, justice, and futures, she is committed to ever evolving and growing her relationships and contribution in this realm.
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We can continue our mission to nurture the next generation of leaders in the arts through a donation to Dancing Earth. Your generosity will help us to continue offering life-changing programs like the Summer Institute and create a more equitable and sustainable world through the power of dance.
Dancing Earth self produces and collaborates with partners for:
*Dance programming for youth
*Cultivating Artist Leadership : mentoring in arts management
*Seasonal Institutes for Dancing Earth intensive movement training
*Restoring the Source Retreats Cultural Exchanges
*Creation of original Dance works, with costumes, music, video projection, visual art design and construction with sets and props
*Cinematic Movement : Dance on Film
*Choreography commissioned by schools, companies or collaborators
*Interdisciplinary gatherings and festivals
About Dancing Earth
Dancing Earth Creations dynamically activates our mission, to create contemporary dance and related arts through global indigenous and intercultural relationships centered in ecological and cultural diversity for creativity, health, and wellness.
Founded by Artistic Director Rulan Tangen, to serve a need rarely met in the USA, DEC gives hope and opportunity to Native, mixed, global Indigenous and BIPOC talent who have been largely outside the dialogue of mainstream performance because of lack of access. DEC is an organic constellation of largely self-taught dancers, composers, costumers, filmmakers, and spoken word artists.
Together, DEC artists work with community members, culture carriers, and inter-cultural elders to explore the rich diversity of ancestral heritage, contemporary identity, and relationship building, by collaborating on innovative ecologically themed performances. DEC's work promotes environmental awareness, cultural diversity, and understanding between peoples through contemporary arts expressions.
“We gather as individual artists to create experimental yet elemental dances that reflect our rich cultural heritage as contemporary global peoples. We strive to embody the unique essences of cultural perspectives 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.” - Founding Director, Rulan Tangen