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Move with Spirit: A Contemporary Indigenous Dance Experience



Move with Spirit: A Contemporary Indigenous Dance Experience Friday, June 28, 2019 10am - 5pm at the Duwamish Longhouse 4705 W Marginal Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106 RSVP: https://movewithspirit.bpt.me/

You're lovingly invited to join us at the Duwamish Longhouse for a day of building community and being in relationship to ancestry, land, water, spirit and story. Together we will activate relationships to Indigenous Worlds through a practice of protocol that reflects teachings from Coast Salish Life Ways followed by sharing of contemporary Indigenous dance knowings, led by practitioners Shana Therese O'Brien (Darkingjung - Australia) and Dakota Camacho (Matao - Lågua yan Gåni). We will then move to ceremonial activation at the Duwamish River for the healing of our relations with the elements. This event is made possible by an Indigenous worldview centering collective generosity and reciprocity. We are asking everyone that is able to please bring an offering (spiritual or monetary - there is no separation) for the Duwamish who generously sponsored us with the space. You can also consider making a regular donation to the Duwamish at: https://www.realrentduwamish.org/ Please also consider bringing offerings for the facilitators and support team as well. If you have questions or need anything, please contact Dakota Camacho at: Email: dakotacamacho@gmail.com COMMUNITY CARE & ACCESSIBILITY:  The Duwamish Longhouse and it's restrooms are ADA accessible.  Our apologies for not yet being ready with full information at this time. Please do pack a lunch and snacks for the day! And definitely a water bottle! There is a water fountain at the longhouse but not at the river. Our break times are short and scheduled to make sure people have ample time to attend the Trans Pride events later in the evening. We will do our best with the time we have to take care of everyone, and make sure we do things with integrity. We invite our fam to give us feedback about what you may need in the lead up and/or throughout the day. We will do our best! TRANSPORTATION The Duwamish Longhouse can be difficult to get to on public transportation. We recommend using the King County Metro's Ride2 service.  This is how it works: Book a ride on-demand with the Ride2 Transit app or by calling 855-233-1880.Ride2 in West Seattle is offered in the defined service area only, with the Alaska Junction or Seacrest Park dock as an origin or destination for all trips.The service is available Monday through Friday, 5-9:30 a.m. and 2:30-7 p.m.Expect to be picked up 10-15 minutes after your trip request.Pay upon boarding, with cash (exact change), a transfer, or a regional ORCA card.Rides will be shared with other Metro customers, while assuring you get to your destination promptly.


SCHEDULE 10am - 11:30 Opening Protocol 11:30 - 12:00 Community Building Lunch (Pack your own please) 12:00 - 1:30 Matao Movement with Dakota Camacho Matao is an emergent identity and method for indigenizing creatively and creatively indigenizing ones self. Matao represents the forgotten and remembered names of ancestors and their ways of thinking and being. In this workshop, Dakota will lead people through a journey of restoring/recovering/restorying Matao (CHamoru) movement, song, language and ritual practices to serve as a vessel for participants to relate to their lands, ancestors and languages. Matao draws from the wisdom of the Diaspora experience to craft a unique process of contemporary indigenous creativity that serves our collective Spiritual Sovereignty. 1:45 - 2:45 Contemporary Indigenous Dance with Shana Therese O'Brien Shana's workshop is inspired by both contemporary and traditional techniques (Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island techniques). She is interested in using the human form to tell story and connect to something beyond. She is also inspired by improvisation as a tool for healing through expression of emotions that are stored in our bodies. There will be space in this class for learning, moving and creating. 3:00 - 4:30 Healing our Relations Ceremonial Activation The ceremonial activation will take place across the street from the Duwamish Longhouse at the Duwamish River. We will be taking the movement knowings gathered in the earlier workshops into embodied meditations putting our mind and spirit on healing our relations with the Duwamish People, Land, River and Relatives. We will be filming this experience and crafting a living audio-visual prayer as a document of the work. If you wish to participate, please bring an ancestral medicine or sacred treasure to work with in prayer. Some people think about this as special cloths, stones, amulets, plants, etc. If you wish to participate in the last session but do not want to be filmed, this is also possible. Please advise us on the day of the event. 4:30 - 5:00 Closing Protocol


About the Facilitators


Shana Therese O'Brien Shana is proud to have lived and grown on Darkingjung land, continually learning about her Indigenous heritage. In 2017 she completed a four year Diploma at NAISDA Dance College where she had the opportunity to work with Choreographers Frances Rings, Raymond Blanco, Vicki Van Hout, Ian RT Colless, Elma Kris, Taiaroa Royal and Sani Townsend. Also learning traditional dance on country at Moa Island in the Torres Strait Islands and in Nyinyikay in North East Arnhem land. In her Diploma year Shana Participated in a secondment with Bangarra Dance Theatre and a Summer Intensive program with Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company - Israel. Recently she has performed with Wagana Aboriginal Dancers, Jannawi Dance clan, Erth Visual and Physical Inc., Our Corka Bubs, and Atamira Dance Company. As well as choreographic developments with Patricia Wood, Elle Evangalista, Kassidy Waters, Liz Lea and Jo Clancy. Most recently she participated in the Banff Centre Intercultural Indigenous Choreographic lab where she worked with Anishnaabe Choreographer Waawaate Forbister.




Dakota Camacho Ancestral Lineages: European, Ilokano, Matao/CHamoru www.dakotacamacho.com Dakota Camacho is a multi-disciplinary artist / researcher working in spaces of indigenous life ways, performance, musical composition, community engagement, and education. Camacho holds a Masters of Arts in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a Bachelor of Arts in Gender & Women's Studies as a First Wave Urban Arts and Hip Hop Scholar. Camacho is a chanter, adjunct instructor, and core researcher for I Fanlalai'an Oral History Project based at the University of Guåhan. Camacho co-founded I Moving Lab, an inter-national, inter-cultural, inter-tribal, and inter-disciplinary arts collective that creates community and self-funded arts initiatives to engage and bring together rural & urban communities, Universities, Museums, & performing arts institutions. Camacho has worked at festivals, universities, and community organizations as a public speaker, facilitator, composer and performer across Turtle Island, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Australia, Sweden, and South Africa.

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