Say Hey!, Adventures in Ethnography & Disability In-Visibility

Some new things here have been brewing for some time… but with my finite energy/pain management, I haven’t had a moment to stop and post a new little blog here. It’s a bit funny that now that I have pneumonia, I suddenly have “energy” to breathe (not literally so well, but take a moment to breathe) and languidly type here with my left hand - my right isn’t pain-free enough to participate this morning, but I digress… I’m grateful for these little intermittent posts, as they allow me simply share without having to sit up and interface on zoom or speak (that one hurts these days, but this too shall pass). I will recover and move forward with my “normal” symptoms and regular pain management with clear lungs soon. Here’s hoping that soon… is soon.

Onto the fun things - been making some wonderful progress on my autoethnographic journey in collaboration with Leslie Rubinkowski, the accessibility office and Michelle Orange who have been so gracious in allowing me not only very, very, verrry part-time participation (as I mitigate symptoms and pain with vocational rehabilitation) but also an interdisciplinary path forward, blending the ethnographic method and creative nonfiction in exciting and new applicable ways. Yay to new ways of “moving” the dance that is dance anthropology 🤗. I’m very much in love with this work and having the opportunity to regularly chip at my dream manuscript through Goucher has been the most beautiful process. I’m slower now, but I’m also more focused than ever. It’s the happy work in my life at this moment. Sempre Maís!

In the SDP world (also happy, but not as “news-y” as my newer Goucher ethnography work), there are slow but steady developments there. It will be some time until it is rolled out, but after a great inspiring talk with Susy at Casa Latinos Unidos (a CBO I’ve partnered with in the past) and discussing possibilities with other nonprofit partners, I was moved to take action on a new format and application of the Spirit Dance Project. In addition to my commitment to maintaining single-use plastic free programming (and as waste-free as possible) while donating a portion of each program to The Bella Promise, I’m working on training modules to allow community-based organizations to utilize the tools of the SDP format to serve the communities they know best through evidence-based multicultural social emotional performance arts. Basically (TLDR) do what I do, but better.

Training others to be facilitators themselves, while encouraging program design and evaluations to specifically serve the communities they work with day in and day out… will do a world of more good than my seasonal and annual one-and-done workshops that depend on my availability as one individual. I want to train people to do what I do: from world performance arts basics, to basic music theory, to social emotional arts facilitation, to de-escalation techniques, to global ethics, to ethnographic evaluation, to evidence-based program design, to trauma informed approaches, to program design within our tried-and-true model… todo. This will take time to roll out for the organizations I serve (and make available to a larger care community), but this is the natural next step to making the programming even more accessible and custom-fit for those we serve through the arts. Again, this will take time, but it is in the works and I can’t wait to celebrate this new iteration of the Spirit Dance Project with the clients, communities and organizations/institutions I’ve come to know and love over the years.

Speaking of accessibility, in a more practical sense, I am working on making my own SEPA programming more widely accessible for the disability community. This includes accessibility for myself as facilitator (as a new member of the disability community) and for the greater disability community through greater modifications of movement, brushing up on my ASL (I’d like to offer programming completely in ASL, in addition to the English and Spanish workshops I facilitate) and potentially collaborate with translators of other languages and access technology companies to ensure the format and language of my programming never stand as barriers to participation. As the Spirit Dance Project requires very focused, immersive and present communication with participants, it’s important that I facilitate these programs in at least three languages without translators. In my dream of dreams, through SDP facilitator trainings, there will be many more languages available through new facilitators and new communities beyond my capacity to serve. Particularly now that all programming is on pause until I redesign my offerings to make them more sustainable for myself in this very different (but resilient) body.

Lastly, I’ll be participating in the Say Hey! event this February as an honoree. I was on the fence about attending (still working out accessibility for how long I’ll need to stand, leaving early to let my legs recover, etc —- fun things like that 😅), but I’m honored to be invited to participate in this way. Despite the physical challenges to my participation, I think it’s important to represent the many, many invisible people who are unable to be outside in the world regularly due to chronic illness and pain… and say we are still here contributing to the world in meaningful ways… that we exist… and the collective commitment to accessibility for all as a BIPOC community is not only essential, but healing.

Working on logistics. I hope I make it there. I’ve never been to “Say Hey!” nor have I ever been an honoree at one of these diversity events, so I will do all I can to be there. Health pending, I would be honored to attend.

Unjudge Someone & Support Compassion

Every Giving Tuesday, I’m all about helping animals as much as possible, whether it’s donating to no kill shelters/rescues/animal rights (like Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project) or volunteering for local wildlife sanctuaries and visiting national parks (here’s the Fat Bear Week Otis Fund for those like me who can’t hike anymore)… but that’s my life all year. I’m always asking people to consider thinking of the earth and her children (all her children) more often. I try to be as waste-free as possible (definitely single-use plastic free at all my presentations/workshops/trainings) for the planet and also mindful of the creatures who are subject to human destruction and pollution in this Anthropocene without agency of their own. I do plenty of that. It’s time to highlight other great causes.

I thought this year was a good opportunity to change it up a bit and share a little about one of my favorite NGOs serving humanity in the most powerful way: the interpersonal, the one-to-one, the intimate, where change happens from the inside-out. I’m in the multi-step process of participating as a human “book” with this wonderful organization in Copenhagen - virtually, of course - and they’ve been so kind and accommodating of my physical limitations (Eszter, if you see this, you’re amazing!). Please consider learning more about this organization and contributing (if you feel so called) to their cause here at: The Human Library .

I don’t work for the Human Library, but I’ve been aware of them and have participated in their events over the years. It echoes so much of the work we breathed in and believed in at the MCC and so many of our projects promoting meaningful dialogue and sharing of cultural wealth between people. I joined SERVAS-US in 2009 and met families in their home countries all around the world based on the simple premise of promoting peace one person at a time. The Human Library holds a beautifully comparable opportunity for all to “unjudge someone.” Especially here in the states, we could all afford to sit down with a stranger and receive the truth of their world in an open and safe space to be present with one another. In many ways, our Artists for Action had a similar mission as it promoted taking action on that sense of shared humanity, but The Human Library is such an accessible, creative, unique way of people-gathering, how could I not support their work? They’re too wonderful not to.

And of course, there’s no tax write-off, but I have to add my obligatory (read: shameless) plug here. I’m still in the throes of vocational rehab and orthopedic rehab and appeals and lawyers… Until I find a more sustainable way to work through debilitating chronic pain and redesign my life to work longer hours without injury, I am not taking on any more projects or partnerships. It breaks my heart, but I’m just physically unable to return to the demanding work I’ve dedicated my life to. Not until I find better treatments and solutions to maintain the physical effort required without fail. Again, there’s no tax write-off (and I implore you to learn about the causes above that do provide one), but if you want to support my work operating at a quarter speed until I redesign my life with assistive technology and create more accessible programming (for myself as facilitator and participants in my disability community), bread for the journey is so appreciated.

Thank you for being the best communities, clients, CBOs and colleagues. I love my work because I get to work with all of you, rocking out all of your empowering, inspirational moves and movements for a better world. Thank you for this interdisciplinary spirit dancing love I’ve had the privilege of calling my “living” for over 20 years. It will take time, but I’ll be back (I’m already in talks with CBOs about more accessible programming and trainings in progress). And when I’m back - though it will take time - it will be because of you. Thank you for keeping me going and believing in the collective push for a better world with me <3

“Spiritdancer” in Sacramento? NOT me.

Oh dear god no.

We are Spirit Dancer Productions here doing what we do… one of the great joys of my professional life has been not only continuing to contribute to the world in a meaningful way, but having the capacity to train and hire people in my community (many who have become personal friends) to do this work pushing on the social lever for a better world together through the arts, trauma-informed restorative practices and the richness of multicultural exchange that it promotes. That is the taproot of this multilayered work I’ve built over two decades. It is the essence of what we’re all about.

That said…

Though I have A) “world fusion” (of sorts) in our repertoire, B) provided world performance arts entertainment for many, many years and C) personally won the international “belly dancer of the universe” competition through “world dance fusion” performance and choreography in 2008 (in addition to being runner-up at Yahalla Ya’ll’s “Gathering of the Stars” competition in Texas not long after) … we are NOT associated with NOR have anything to do with the “spiritdancer/danzer” belly dance fusion in Sacramento/Northern California. We are NOT them and they are NOT us. Period.

I have internationally trained at the source origins of my world dance styles and have graduate level education in not only biocultural anthropology, but dance anthropology through research and my own personal contributions to the fields of ethnography/ethnochoreology. That “studio”/instructor are NOT us and do not represent anything we do here.

I have no social media professionally or otherwise, so please do not contact me about those accounts that are NOT mine. If my full name is not on it, it is definitively not me. I’m happy in my little lane and that “other company/individual’s” media are NOT representative of what we do here.

No.

Where I Stand

“Never Again For ANYONE. Never Again is Now.”

— Thousands at Jewish-Led Sit In for CEASEFIRE. NY Grand Central Station

I, like the rest of the world, have been watching the horror unfold on the Gaza strip daily - watching and reading through screens… while sitting in relative safety in my own country. I have long understood that this is not a new conflict between Israel and Palestine. Free Palestine is not a new phrase in my world - we were marching alongside fellow peace advocates roughly twenty years ago in LA (aloha to Albert, my o.g. protest buddy who made our matching tshirts) but this CURRENT indiscriminate wiping out of innocent Palestinians is something that I personally believe we as humanity can NOT choose to sit out in silent complicity amidst this ongoing ineffably horrendous tragedy happening here and now. So many children - thousands and thousands of innocent children - are gone. Why??! Genocide.

I must preface my stance with a concrete truth: I do NOT and never will condone actions Hamas has taken against innocent civilians in Israel. No. Never. But I also cannot condone the brutal massacre on innocent people directed by the state of Israel on Palestinian people who have long suffered for decades. This is not “retaliation” (which is a euphemism at this point)… this is a massacre of innocents.

I have no social media and don’t participate in (what feels to me to be) rampant capricious performative solidarity. The premise and petition for “likes” and superficial connection promoted through social media never made sense to me, personally. I have a phone (and even WhatsApp for international loved ones) that has allowed me to maintain deep connections with those I can call and directly speak to. For me, personally, the rest is just noise. Over-documenting moments (whether for your own memories or others’ involvement) takes away from living them. That said… this is irremediable DEATH & DESTRUCTION. That is plain and simple. I generally don’t subscribe to the performative broadcasting of convictions to prove they are there like many do on social media, but I must say that this is a time we cannot stay silent regardless of where we find ourselves in life. We must support and promote peace in every way we can. My hope is for peace to be a blaring unavoidable and ubiquitous nonviolent message EVERYWHERE.

Peace is a message I am hopeful humanity can finally wake up and agree upon. It needs to be seen and promoted everywhere and I steadfastly support a CEASEFIRE.

I also stand (and always will stand) against all forms of neocolonialism existing today. STOLEN LAND IS STOLEN LAND. People who don’t understand that do not understand the suffering and pain our histories hold - including the history of this conflict. No need to repeat these injustices… but here we are. This is not a new conflict, not at all… but this US-backed massacre of innocents (the majority children)? Yes, that is occurring NOW. We must not support the further devastation and desecration of human life. These are MASSES of innocent people who have suffered enough. Now they are watching their loved ones bombed in their homes, suffer without enough water/electricity/medical and many cannot find/identity their missing families. This is Hell on earth. Ceasefire is the only way to stop the indiscriminate violence NOW.

I am not Palestinian and I am not Jewish. I have had close friends of both communities and I do not claim to understand what it is like to be so intimately connected to this struggle like they are. Islamophobia & antisemitism are equally dangerous and disgusting. We are seeing more and more of it around the world due to the escalation of this conflict. What I must say is that those who pay in war are always the innocents, the land, those who have every right to live a life free from terror and yet are bombarded with violence, pain and suffering not of their own doing. Gaza deserves peace! It’s fucking heartbreaking what is happening now. It’s wrong. And it must stop.

As individuals, it may feel futile… our small voices… screaming, shrieking, screaming through the explosions of political noise and ignorant hate. It really can, but on the other side of this: no action, no advocation, no actual stance… it just stifles the compassion and peace that I choose to believe is still possible in this world. No one wins in war. We all lose. The masses of humanity that we are - I know we know that.

It has been a long time since I have facilitated interfaith dialogue, peace talks or have participated in trainings under the auspices of my mentor (and one of my dearest friends) Dr James Sauceda at California State University Long Beach, where we have creatively collaborated many times over at the Office of Multicultural Affairs before my move out-of-state… and I recognize that is not my place here to assume I have the capacity to contribute to any forward movement on this front at this time. I can only do what I can in heartfelt grounded solidarity with those affected directly by this. I am not called to, nor deeply steeped enough in an understanding of this history to add to meaningful discourse on this toxically charged atrocity happening in real time on the other side of the world (but closer than we can imagine).

I would, however, like to offer a voice of reason, peace and compassion from an expert who is himself a Jewish holocaust survivor - bringing healing presence amidst the ongoing pain the world is feeling now (which is nothing compared to the literal Hell people are breathing into their lives in Gaza, as we feel collective pain by proxy).

Dr Gabor Mate is a physician whose work I have followed and admired for many years. Specializing in trauma, a great bulk of my inspiration and understanding for my own evidence-based multicultural social emotional arts programming has been influenced by his work (among other great thinkers and advocates for mind-body wellness) for many years now. He spoke so compassionately, honestly and practically about the conflict, I want to share it here, for I feel these are the voices that must be elevated amidst the chaos and beyond the echo chambers of our often over-sensationalized newsfeeds. There is emotion expressed, yes, but it is tempered with factual compassion. The world needs more of that. More than ever.

Thoughts & prayers are nice, I suppose… but we cannot solve problems without respectful, informed, peaceful action and meaningful discourse in our interpersonal lives, communities and shared world. This is my small and hopeful contribution in that direction in my own life. I do not condone this ongoing massacre of Palestinians.

May a ceasefire appear and save lives… may some form of peace return as healing from this ongoing trauma continues… may we all finally fucking learn from history and end this madness…

This is my hope.

Write to your representatives and elected leaders. PLEASE CALL FOR A CEASEFIRE WITH US. It is a small action, but it is better than doing nothing. We must try in every way we can in our own lives to promote peace. This is my stance. This is my hope.

Thank You & ‘Til Next Time

I realized I had written a long meandering post the other day without getting to the point: due to the status of my health and life changes as a consequence, my SEPA programming and consulting/ethnographic evaluation work in the arts are on hold until further notice. Services are canceled indefinitely. It’s been a full year of managing symptoms and trying to improve them. Now, with little improvement, I must focus on rearranging my life to make it more sustainable - more livable. I will forever work and push for more mobility, but I need to accept now (at the one year mark) that this may be my life long-term and I must stop fighting the body. I need to drastically change the way I live my life. Pushing (that lovely little trait that used to make the body stronger) is only hurting me now.

I love this Spirit Dancing in the world and this work more than anything, but I refuse to commit myself to projects and partnerships I cannot fully be present for. I love it too much to not honor this love I have called my living by not succeeding in fulfilling my commitments. It’s not right. So, it is with a heavy and relieved heart that I step back and focus on my health. I have tried and failed for a full year to force my body to keep up with my old life… but I have a different body now. I have begun the initial stages of vocational rehabilitation to help me work more efficiently with the pain or find accommodations to lessen it. It will take months for me to get through the program and find ways to adjust my life to my new corporeal reality in this world.

Until I find a more sustainable way to work (and live - please see previous post if you’re not in the know), I’ll be stepping back from what I can’t currently do… to work with the body and embrace what I may still be able to do despite these conditions and disease. It’s not the end here… it’s a time to transition like the leaves and make room for new growth through change. And that will take time, but the dance isn’t over. The physically taxing work in this life may be done, but I am not done. With or without pain, I hope to keep spirit dancing in this lifetime til two days after I’m dead. I just need to change the way I do and view things after this full year of trying to cure my illness. I am ready to adjust without losing hope. It’s time. And it will take time.

Thank you for supporting my little life’s work in world performance arts entertainment, ethnography and evidence-based programming through all these years. My life’s great passion was only possible through the people and communities who have believed in this work with me. Big love & be back soon 🫶🏼 T.

Disability Pride Month & Swan Songs

I don’t heavily advertise this because of the discrimination I’ve faced as a result (some institutional incidences/situations I am still in the process of taking proactive steps to end… another story for another time), but I live with chronic pain and a member of the disability community. I’ve spent so much of my life privately fighting through symptoms (and some of the bodily wear and tear we dancers know all too well) to appear “normal” and excel in the spheres I’ve worked in over the past two decades in order to avoid the discrimination I now face for being noticeably (visually) disabled and supposedly unable.

…but that “unable” label couldn’t be farther from the truth. I have been very (read: ridiculously) able despite my disabilities. Inside-out. And as my symptoms have changed over time I’ve had the benefit of a stellar support system that has kept me going and kept me moving forward. I’ve surrounded myself with wonderful beautiful souls who I call my fr-amily and I’ve never felt so supported and loved until I got honest with myself about my own limitations… and it’s made us all stronger. My soul fam, my circle of support, is the reason I am alive. They’ve helped me survive and believe I could thrive through the darkest of moments on this path. Even my partners over the past few years have left me in a state of awe and beatific wonder at their capacity to embody a healing receptive presence, interact with me as the person I am (not through the filter of my disease) and create inexplicably open safe space for me to exist fully as I am - with my requisite alone time, insomnia and all… We made it work and I’m grateful for the growth, close bonds and lessons we’ve all afforded each other through this.

Only now are my previously invisible disabilities becoming unavoidably visible (read: physically obvious) when I stand or walk longer than 5-10min at a time or push too hard at orthopedic rehabilitation in the pool. I’m slower, I pace myself daily and face ridiculous decisions that I never imagined I’d need to make at this age: do I empty the dishwasher or check the mail outside? On high pain days I can’t do both within the same day. On very bad days, I can’t do anything. Turns out I won the BINGO card of diseases… stenosis, severe disc bulging, fibro, nerve damage, among other not so public things… one of which my compassionate neurologist is still helping me figure out as my body is substantially weaker than it was just a year ago. I’m nearing the one year mark of severely limited mobility; it’s been a long time since I’ve danced.

So! At the risk of being even more redundant, I’ve decided I must do a difficult thing and just be out with it already, which is the purpose of this post here: this dancer now has a PHYSICAL (and consequently restrictive) disability. And that’s ok. Personally, I’m just grateful to have removed the stigma I held over my own journey for too long. It’s mine and the path can still be beautiful. There is still so much that is possible. Despite the hurdles, I love my life and I must live it fully. In many ways, I already am.

In 2022 I felt I had surpassed and worked through my disability… I was dreaming and growing and expanding in ways I didn’t think possible. Hell, I even got a radio station to give our AfA podcast a time slot on FM radio. I was physically stronger than I’ve been in a long time and my body/skin were starting to look normal again. It was great! Then… one day in early September 2022… all of that ended. My legs wouldn’t hold me up anymore. Another disability? Oh yes… oh no… well, shit. I was not experiencing this great new lease on life I thought I was beginning to… 2022 was a swan song for the body. I just didn’t know it. Did all that pushing and traveling and working make me worse? Maybe. Do I regret it? Never! I was fully and happily dedicating my life to the programming and causes I loved. I gave it all. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I sponsored senior animals at local shelters, brought SEPA programming to new CBOs and colleges… even started facilitating workshops fully in Spanish. I’m grateful to the year that broke me. Because it broke me open, too. It gave me hope that I hold and carry now.

I’ve been mourning my not-so-long-ago life and the dreams I had of pushing on and continuing the good I’ve started. Not all goals and visions of forward movement have changed, but how many of them feasibly manifest in the world is admittedly quite different. As my dad used to say, “dreams change.” And that’s ok. They change with us. Change is growth if we let it happen and I’ve spent the past 11 months in denial and fighting growth… convinced that I could work these conditions and diseases and disability out of my life if I fought hard enough.

I still believe I can get better. Maybe not back to hiking everyday after work or even riding a bicycle again, but I know with continued therapies and medications and advances in technology maybe I can get a bit of my life back without needing massive rest periods (days) between activities I once took for granted. I will always miss what it felt like to move through the world and inhabit my own body without fear or pain. I will miss not having time limits on how long I can stand and walk or not worry about which activity might leave me bedridden for a few days. I will miss that. Always. And I will always dream and fight for more and more pieces of “life” that I truly love… but it no longer hinders me from searching for (and accepting) new ways of life.

My disability is still largely invisible when I stick to the very limited time of “normalcy” (read: strength and stamina) I have to get things done any given week. When things are physically really bad (and they often are these days), I stay home or greatly limit my “upright” time. No one sees me when it’s severe and so those I interact with out in the world may never see what is wrong with me. I’m a dancer, I push through pain with a smile if I must. But when it’s bad and I can’t avoid being outside ( at a doctor’s appointment or orthopedic rehab or whatever I must do)… instead of rest, I push, and there is nothing more obvious than my physical disability. And that’s ok. I realize that I am not unique.

Disability is a fact of life for millions of people. And while I’m not proud to have a disease that severely limits my life… I’m proud to say that I (like many others, many much braver than myself) despite these challenging limitations, continue on with life and love and dreams in this world. They refuse to go missing, to disappear. They keep fighting. They demand their existence and life is treated as never less than who they are as people. Because of them and because of those I love… and because of the love I hold for this gift of life… I will not disappear either. I AM HERE… and proud to still be spirit dancing in the world as I am. I still have so much more to do. I will find a way to build and expand again with the right accommodations. And I am not ashamed.

The punchline is… So much of my intersectional identity had been weaponized against me during this challenging process toward diagnosis and feasible treatment. I had to let a lot of it happen while I focused on my own survival and healing. But I’m back in the fight now. For myself, for all of us. Fully. And the fight in me has never been stronger. Too many of us pain warriors go missing. I don’t know how, but somehow I’m back from a dark place when I didn’t have the physical therapy and medications to keep me functional. I’m not going anywhere - not if I can help it - and I will fight for as long as I am here. I will continue to fight for equity, for accountability, for the right for all (especially those of us in historically marginalized communities) to simply be. In all I do, on and off the stage/page, this continues to be the work within the work and I will not stop. We will not disappear, we will not be bullied out of the places we have come to know and love, we will not stop fighting for equity and inclusion. We are here. I am here. And I’m ready to fight again. Come at me… I’m ready.

Support for Gloria Contreras’ Legacy

My dear personal friend and long-time creative collaborator, Gregorio Luke, is in great need of community support at this time. This post is in honor of his mother, Gloria Contreras, who I deeply admire and am proud to have had the privilege to perform for and meet in this lifetime.

Though I do not post often, when I do, it is from a place of presence and love. As a person without social media, I don’t even add to my own website until it feels truly necessary. I’m Joe’s daughter… and as my father’s child, I try not to squander energy on talking about what I’m doing when I could be prioritizing my energy and focus on the work itself. And - quite frankly - as I have been on a very intense medical journey, I am not “spirit dancing” in the world as much as I would like to be. All things on pause until I can be at full capacity.

I share all this to say that Gloria Contreras’ legacy is an important one and I hope you consider supporting this cause. I will allow Gregorio’s words to speak here:

Dear Friends,

Last Monday, June 12, 2023, my mother’s house in México caught fire. Fortunately, my sister Lorena’s quick thinking prevented any personal tragedies, but the fire destroyed part of the library along with the central part of the house. Fortunately, the art collection and her studio with the recordings of her ballets was spared.

My mother, GLORIA CONTRERAS, is México’s greatest choreographer. A disciple of George Balanchine, she created more than 300 ballets and directed her own company for 45 years. The house is full of memories and works of art. Everything about her home is beautiful, and I hope eventually to make it into a museum like Frida Kahlo’s Blue House.

The architect Blanca de Castrejón designed the home as a romantic gesture to her husband. She built the home around a beautiful courtyard from which he could serenade her. This captivating space was adorned with a breathtaking rose garden and named "Rincón de Rosas" or "Corner of Roses." It was through this beautiful story that Gloria’s husband, Jaime Farell, learned of the home and purchased it for Gloria. They nurtured their passion for the arts within its walls, allowing creativity to flourish and providing the perfect backdrop for Gloria's exceptional choreography. 

Unfortunately, the house was not insured and we face an uphill battle of repairing it from the fire. I'm launching this GO FUND ME (click) campaign to help us with the costs of both repairing the home and also digitizing the video recordings of Gloria's ballets, so they are never at risk again. Would you help us with this effort? Even a small donation will make a huge difference to us. Please forward this letter to your friends. 

Once the repairs are completed, we will re-inaugurate Gloria's home with a beautiful party for all of those who helped us bring her home and her work back from the ashes.

Thank you for joining me on this path of restoration and for helping to shine a light of hope on the "Corner of Roses," where the magic of Gloria Contreras' artistry still blossoms. 

With my deepest gratitude and appreciation,

GREGORIO LUKE

Quality Over Quantity

Quality over quantity. The older I get, the more this extends more deeply and widely to all other aspects of my life. I’m here for the quality, the presence and the full saturation of experience, of the work itself and within collaborative partnerships always.

Due to massive life changes and my limited energy during this healing and restorative time in my life, I’ve decided that though the Spirit Dance Project evidence-based social emotional arts (SEA) programming (& the Bella Promise, of course) shall forever be in my professional life, I am retiring many other services offered.

In support of my new life journey, with the limited time and energy I have available to work, I want to dedicate the full force of my will, energy and focus into the things that I can do fully (and then some) with gusto - I wouldn’t allow any less of myself.

I had retired from dance performance a few years ago, though I was still physically teaching dance occasionally. The reasoning behind keeping the The Spirit Dance Project is not only that it is my most beloved program, but it is not physically taxing in the way my other programs were. The Spirit Dance Project involves dance movement, but it is not by any means a dance workshop. Movement is but one of the many performance arts tools utilized in service to wellness. In addition, the movements are highly modifiable, accessible, low impact and never cardio heavy.

This past summer 2022 was the last of my teaching and physical presenting of dance. I will always do social emotional performance arts programming and dance related presentations, but as far as physical dance performance and the teaching of dance, that is no more. Performance was my first love, but I never begrudged teaching dance. I’m the first to say “you’re never too good to run your basics” and I loved building community, sharing cultural wealth and fostering important dialogue through the dissemination of dance in a physical way. I will miss teaching dance.

I greatly enjoyed teaching everywhere from coaching the Shockwave world dance team at California State University of Long Beach, to teaching at rumPUREE world dance studio in Thailand, to Marlborough school in Beverly Hills, to even dancing in stilts with the incomparable Roy Johns and sharing world dance history/dance technique with thousands of people through the Orange County, San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Inland Empire and Avalon (Catalina) library systems for over a decade in Southern California. I loved it, but now I am done and happy to move on after 20 years of performing and teaching professionally.

Having retired from performing from all over the states to the Bahamas to Mexico to Europe to so many places around the world, teaching dance was my one last link to the life I’ve loved and built through performance - first as a musician in a jazz conservatory as a young person, then an international title holder as a dancer not long after. Now as I put teaching dance away, I keep the Spirit Dance Project that has nourished my soul and blown open doors beyond where the dance alone has taken me… and I can evolve into the next iteration of this work with full presence, capability and investment.

So now what? What’s next? So much.

Over the past several years, I’ve wholly dedicated my time, energy and life to the research, ethnographic training, evaluation methods, writings and creative endeavors surrounding corporeality, embodiment and the performance arts… and the ways in which these understandings and innovative decolonizing methods of working can cultivate greater connections to the self, the planet and each other for a better world. We cannot protect nor respect what we have no connection to. Coming back to an understanding of life as a shared embodied phenomenon and the power of leveraging the often first cut and severely underfunded resource to bring people back to each other (the arts, the natural wilds left on our planet, communal connection - all as embodied present realities), it has been a great joy to engage in ethnographic evaluation work as a passionate anthropologist extraordinaire (and former international performer) to elevate communities, advocate for the environment and support the bridge-building power of the arts for a better world together.

I’ve worked alone and independently for so long, I am fully relishing this camaraderie of working in teams more often through this work. Being engaged with other brilliant minds and hearts through these partnerships and growing collaborations has been so fulfilling over the past couple years and I want more of it - much more. This collaborative work also helps me stay balanced with the long and highly isolating (which I also relish) writing work that I would never emerge from were it not for the beautiful wonderful souls in my life I have had the privilege to work with and connect with and come to call true friends during this new post-dancer adventure.

As the the physical dance was slowly receding from my life and gave way to new evolutions and iterations of this work that I love… I realized that dance ethnography may just be my favorite work in the world. I simply fell into it… falling into place after completing my first ethnographic work contributing to a more accessible system for ethnographic dance annotation. Dance ethnography holds everything I love in one happy place and with the end of dance performance/dance teaching in the world, I can have more of this beautiful synergy of skillsets and experiences and causes and research in my life. The physical dance is done, but the continuing dance through ethnography, sepa programming and writing is just getting started.

I will be working on completing my MFA (my second masters degree) once my physical health is sorted out. After leaving a PhD program in my late 20’s, I told myself I would be back when it felt right. This new configuration of disciplines at this stage of my career feels right… and it sounds fun. I loved grad school. I will be doing this part-time and I don’t know how long it will take me, but when the body allows, I will return to academia to happily finish what I started with a more aligned focus and purpose. I’m in no rush. It’s about the work that I love and I will not return until I can fully commit to the process with presence of mind and body. I may move a little slower, I may have less energy to bounce around from stage to stage again… but I want more. And this is the path to it - the path I’ve worked so hard to formulate and ultimately actualize in this life.

I am in love with where the journey has taken me, to have such a radiant life of dancing to look back on and to see a new adventure forward, built on so much love and gratitude for what has come before. But first, I heal. Then I take the next steps. However long it takes, I just want to honor it all by doing it right and giving this great love the time, energy and patience it deserves.

The dance may be over, but the Dance is just beginning.

Falling Inward: Ecstatic Dance & Recording the Ephemeral by Jennifer Tehani Sarreal is Available Now on Google Scholar and Oregon State University Library

After a cumulative two years away from graduate school at OSU, I FINALLY returned on December 7, 2022 to remotely defend my long-overdue ethnographic work on dance anthropology, the phenomenology of trance and an innovative dance annotation system I call EDA: Ethnographic Dance Annotation. Due to the all-consuming events of “life,” I had to take a long break from graduate school, even after completing the coursework years before. I have been wanting to come back and defend my thesis work for so long, I often wondered if it would ever happen… if life would allow me to return for a defense and formally complete what I’ve started so long ago.

Miraculously, the stars aligned (proverbially, of course), the funding fell into place and I had settled enough of the more pressing responsibilities/life priorities to return on December 7, 2022 and defend remotely with my thesis committee and beloved community present. Back in Oregon, mostly in one piece and more exhausted than I could understand (at the time of this writing, I now have a more concrete understanding of these massive life changes - more on that later)… we did the damn thing. Together. And I am overjoyed that it is FINALLY officially done after so much time away.

Who knew one tiny little day in December (Pearl Harbor Day, no less) coming back to defend after so much “life” had occurred in-between would bring so much unexpected peace and relief to my soul. I was surprised how happy it made me, after being resigned to knowing I was done but not “officially done” for so long. Now we look to finish what we started with the MFA (part-time, of course), but first the life things must be attended to… oh life, making plans for us! But Spirit Dancing in the world never ends. I don’t believe in retirement. My great love of this work in the world will not end until I, myself, end… and for that I am gratitude pure 🙏🏼. I’ve watched the work evolve and grow with me over so many years; it is such a fulfilling and rewarding experience.

Back to the thesis work. It was uploaded to the Scholars Archive and has been available on both Google Scholar and through the Oregon State University Library since December 20, 2022 (which is my official completion date on my transcripts) but I haven’t taken a moment to share that it was up and available online until now. On Google Scholar, it’s searchable under “Jennifer Tehani Sarreal,” under the title “Falling Inward: Ecstatic Dance and Recording the Ephemeral” or under the keywords “ethnographic dance annotation.” Working on getting an article drafted based on this work, which is in progress. I’m slower these days, but I relish the processes no less.

The formation and ultimate template creation of Ethnographic Dance Annotation that provided accessible solutions for both phenomenological dance ethnographers and the accommodation of broader definitions for phenomenologically and culturally informed performance arts, was churned out of this dance ethnography experience through the Applied Anthropology department at Oregon State University who gave me the opportunity to contribute to the discipline of ethnography (and convinced me - thank you Dr Shao! - that I indeed had made a substantial contribution to ethnographic methods at all). I am indebted to the wonderful hearts and brilliant minds who stuck with me through to the end. My acknowledgments section is a hefty one in the thesis, but it is heartfelt and sincere.

My only regret is that I did not include my aloha brother JZ Jonathan Zeichner and my dear friend Los in the acknowledgments section of this ethnographic work. JZ has been a positive healing force of solidarity and wisdom over the past year and I finished my thesis long before I was able to add him. We have reconnected when he began his consulting business and has been such a force of good and hope in my life. He was even at the defense! Los Tenorio (my dear late dance sister Dr Ellen T Kosman’s husband) is also missing in the acknowledgments. He was kind enough to come to the defense, to support this journey and keep Ellen’s dancing spirit alive in my life after she had passed. I miss her so much, I miss knowing she is dancing her magical dance in the world. The world is a little less radiant and sparkly without her spirit in it. It has been very healing to still have her in my life in this way through Los and to get to know him better. What a kind and inspiring person he is. I finished the draft long before we all reconnected and so that is my only big regret about the final draft submitted (the tiny typos were tiny regrets - I was OK with those).

The abstract of Falling Inward is below:

Little scholarship exists on the contemporary trance dance movement known as Ecstatic Dance. This thesis investigates the myriad of pathways dancers in the Ecstatic Dance communities of Western Oregon experience movement-induced altered states of consciousness. A secondary aim was to provide a more visually and ethnographically accessible dance annotation system to supplement written in-text ethnographic comprehension. As there are no current comparable systems in place for this purpose, anthropoetry, ethnographic fiction and an imagined invented ethnographic dance annotation system for the visual trajectory and phenomenology of trance were utilized to illustrate the ways in which phenomenological and corporeal nuance may be elevated through a combination of creative ethnographic means. Inspired by the oral histories of Ecstatic Dancers collected in 2020, emergent themes included collective anthropological communitas through concentrated individual dance done in close proximity to others in individual processes and the importance of musical rhythm in inducing a state of ecstatic trance. Other revelatory themes included issues of both gender-based safety and further marginalization of BIPOC racial and ethnic identities in homogenously white spaces. This thesis inquiry into how to bridge the fraught gap between embodied phenomenology experienced and embodied phenomenology expressed in-text without necessity for additional technology was ameliorated by creative ethnographic and visually innovative annotation. This challenge to the way in which the body in motion is traditionally recorded in ethnography is a small contribution to future more sophisticated and holistic systems of embodied visual ethnographic phenomenological data and its accommodation of broader culturally-informed definitions of dance.

Miss Bella Rene, sitting pretty and patiently supervising my work in the lab (UpLiftLab.org) at Waldo Hall Oregon State University… and (below) taking an in-lab power nap/break from all that supervising.

ZERO Social Media

My “social media” has come to my attention often enough over the past few months, that it felt appropriate to re-emphasize the fact that I have no active social media. If there is ANY social media platform with an active page or activity with my name on it, it is not me. Please connect with me directly by phone or email. Otherwise, I will not receive communications.

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and comparable social media with pages and posts have all been either nonexistent (TikTok, Snapchat, etc.) or deactivated (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) for years. My original “no social media” video on YouTube (shared below, and the only video on there) said I have a LinkedIn account that “I’m not really on.” I now stand corrected; I have deactivated my LinkedIn account and happily report that the account is no more.

I was actually on LinkedIn not too long ago when I realized that there is no professional benefit nor meaningful communication for me there. None of my current or past professional partnerships have come from that space (all my substantive connections on LinkedIn were cultivated outside of the platform) and it is starting to feel like very little differentiates it from the large swath of social media out there… so I’ve opted out of that, too.

This video was a couple years back, but the message still remains: DO NOT CONTACT OR RESPOND TO ANY SOCIAL MEDIA WITH MY NAME ON IT. Unless it is a direct email from my work email or a call with my voice on the other end, it is verifiably not me.

Thank you for understanding 💝

Social Emotional Performance Arts (SEPA) Programming… en español!

Now Disponible. Hey folks, Tehani here… and I’ve got some great news: I just facilitated our first-ever fully bilingual Spirit Dance social emotional performance arts (SEPA) program! Been wanting to do programs in Spanish for awhile, and though it’s been years since I’ve worked in other languages, I’m glad I jumped back in. I really enjoy the challenge of brushing up on second/third/fourth language skills and relearning medical anthro and dance movement vocabulary… it’s been a fun and rewarding process. Definitely keeps the programming more accessible without losing its interdisciplinary and multicultural richness. BIG UP to my darling friend and fellow dancer, Alfredo Garcia (who I’ve collaborated with in the past through Taller Coreografico de la UNAM in Mexico City), for walking me through some of the more technical dance terms in Spanish and also helping me translate my pre- and post-workshop surveys. Looking forward to adding a Spanish option to all Spirit Dancer Productions offerings very soon (except maybe the podcast, stay tuned for some big news there, too). Working on a few new things here at SDP amid the super busy summer season, but current open projects and partnerships are still going strong. Super grateful to do this work I love so much. And as always, more soon <3

Celebrating Two Decades of Spirit Dancing in the World

This year 2022 is my 20th year of working in world performance arts education and entertainment… adding world performance arts s.e.a. evidence-based programming and decolonizing methods of dance anthropology/ethnography into the mix over the past several years. I made a waaaay-too-lengthy video on May 31st (the anniversary of my spirit dancing life) but it was way too long (for even me!) to sit through, so I deleted it. I have the day off today and as I reflect on “Independence Day” and how disheartened I am with the lack of autonomous “independence” women have over their own physical bodies at the federal level in my country, I also reflect on the freedom to dissent. Dissent is patriotic and it was the very act of dissent that created this country. I’ve come to the conclusion that the most revolutionary thing a woman can do is, quite frankly: whatever the fuck she wants. Unapologetically. Fully.

And so today, in an act of true patriotism (though I admit my loyalty first and foremost is to Southern California where I was born and raised… then the rest of the country where many states have stripped women of basic human rights, which include reproductive rights), I proudly and defiantly state that 20 years later… 20 years after writing my first grant, 20 years after producing my first production and beginning the twisted harrowing and beautiful path that has been one of my life’s greatest passions… 20 years since May 31 2002, I AM STILL HERE. And I am here to stay.

I am 38, my hair is graying (this picture is from today), I am more careful with my joints and (like a freight train) I’m built for power not for speed at this age… yet I have embraced and fallen in love with it because I’m also stronger, wiser, more loving, centered, enjoy the luxury of my own pace and so much more enthusiastic on this expanding path than I’ve ever been. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m more of myself BECAUSE of this journey. And you know what? The best is still yet to come. So much more growth and good ahead of me… I am gratitude pure.

20 years after one of the most important days in my life (the very beginning of this 20 year long career with its ups and downs and the fulfilling path that made it all worth it), I’m embarking on a pipe dream that until just three months ago was just a dream. Expanding my lane with a grounded soul, open mind and receptive heart… I start a new chapter in my life for the next 20 years (and who knows, maybe and then some!). More soon.

I don’t believe in retirement. I’m too happy with this work that is this love that continues to guide my steps forward as I go. This past year 2021 has been the worst of my life and, even so, as the dust settles I still find passion guiding me onward and (quite honestly) saving me, too. I know now… more deeply and profoundly than ever… that I am here for more. More for my little family I cherish, more for the communities I serve, more for the natural environment that nourishes us all, more for myself and more for the work that is so much of my love in motion on this planet. More love, more healing, more understanding, more connection, more peace…. More peace…. More peace - inside and out - as we push for more equity in solidarity for us all.

It’s Independence Day and I believe in more. I hope you do too.

BIG LOVE & Sempre Maís, JTS

Josef S Sarreal

In honor of Fathers Day (a day late, but yesterday was a lot of snot and tears and yes… a tiny bit of rage dancing with Grief, a long-time steadfast friend who won’t leave the house of my heart…but that’s another story), I thought it was fitting to share how wonderful my father was. His photography is sprinkled all over this website and the second edition of our photography/prose collaboration is due to launch on Kindle very soon this summer. Josef S Sarreal, my father, is the reason I am who I am today. He provided and raised me with his unshakeable foundation of integrity, love, support, an undying sense of wonder and gratitude for this temporal wild ride of life. Our unconditional father-daughter bond springs perennial beyond our shared earth walk together and I would not be me without him… nor would I have survived this long without his memory that brings me strength daily. My friend Elvis Porras, a musician from Costa Rica, once said of meeting my father: “he was the first and last man I’ve ever met to hand me a beer and sit down with me before telling me his name or asking mine.” That was my dad.

He was warm, kind, welcoming and fiercely protective of those he loved. Despite his deep care for his kids and his nephews who he occasionally called his “sons,” he never coddled nor imposed upon others. We needed to learn from life. Free to learn from my own falls in life, Dad was always there to pick me up and dust me off when I needed it. He understood the importance of life experience and - more importantly - unwavering love and honest support. He made it safe to dream while reminding me of the rewards/consequences of my actions in the world. When I didn’t believe him, life made sure I did and he would compassionately chuckle at my follies. He always told me when I could do better, when I was fucking up and when I might want to “think a little longer” before I gave something another go.

Dad taught me how to trust myself; he was my integrity embodied. I wish he could see who I’ve become as both a human and a soul on this planet through the years. I’m definitely my father’s daughter. He adopted all the people I’ve claimed in my heart as family and my sense of communitas in the world (with this ever-expanding tapestry of art and love and forward movement in community) definitely comes from him. We loved wild places and wild souls. Coyotes and other feral critters would interact with him often. I think wild animals naturally take to me today because of the calm compassionate open energy he gifted me with on our constant adventures in nature and on the back of his motorcycles growing up. We have the same energy. Every time a feral animal approaches me with curiosity, I think of him and share his love for them.

My father was very much “mom and dad” to me. He would jokingly call himself “Mr Mom” when he cooked me breakfast in the morning, braided my hair, dropped me off at school, went to work and never made me doubt I was loved and supported. We would read books together at the Japanese gardens, feed the bunnies in the canyon and go to Disneyland after school on rainy days when there were no lines. Just the two of us. All the time. He taught me how to throw a mean right hook, too. He protected me from so much (which I was oblivious to as a child) that I would have never survived otherwise. I didn’t need two present parents, I just needed one good one. And Dad was the best. I could go on, but the punchline is: I love you Dad. I’ll love you forever.

So here’s to all the dads out there who were and are great ones. This is a clip from a “Hula for Dad” I did for him so many years ago at the first World March for Peace and Non-Violence (there is a link in the video description about the global movement), where both Dolores Huerta and Martin Sheen also presented on that stage with us. The dance is a moving meditation on love, peace and the oneness that lives within and between us when we are fully open to life. Any and all good I do in this world is because he was my dad. And I am gratitude pure. Happy Father’s Day

Live Free & Love First…

Joe’s daughter xo

The Spirit Dance Project’s VERY FIRST “Bella Promise” Sponsorship & Other News

To follow up on our VERY FIRST Bella Promise sponsorship (a couple posts down), Heartland Humane just made our little hospice kitty the animal of the week (in addition to the financial and resource support that sponsorship provides) and we love getting updates! Sasha is the very first of what we hope to be MANY more sponsorships to come. Just like our Dolphin Project donations, we won’t be posting each donation as we go, but we WILL send each organization a personalized thank you with detailed information on the specific senior animals and local shelters their Spirit Dance Project booking supported! Please visit The Bella Promise (click!) to learn more about how booking SEPA programs also help local shelter animals near you!

In other news: not just SEPA Spirit Dance Project programming, but LIVE in-person world dance events are now on the calendar for this summer in Oregon (particularly through our new partnership with Casa Latinos Unidos in Corvallis); Season One is fully booked for the AfA (Artists for Action) FM radio show/podcast, too; and the second edition of the poetry/photography collaboration with my late father will be available on Kindle in late summer 2022. Please join our newsletter on the Contact (click!) page to receive emails on the FM radio show launch this summer, more pen/editing news and live public events in your area!

the Cheap Seats! (kind of... not really?)

This post is more of a blog than news because…. why not? Mercury is “Gatorade” (ha!) and reflecting on the past/getting a tad nostalgic just felt appropriate for this time. With so much going on in the world and within us at these unprecedented times on the planet (isn’t it always unprecedented? And yet this does not diminish so much of the reality many of us traverse here and now)… I wanted to insert a few embraces of communitas and smiles from oh-so-artsy happiness shared.

It has come to my attention here that not only do I not update this site often enough (and though I probably never will do it often enough, I hope it serves as a hub of information… a colorful brochure of services in motion, if you will), but I also recognize that so much of our work seems so serious!!! Much of it is, but now that I am retired from full-time performing to focus on other Spirit Dancer projects (primarily SEPA programming and dance ethnography, which is my favorite thing!), I really miss the levity of gig life sometimes.

So much of the fun we have at events are behind the scenes and all of our in-the-moment improvisation is never planned…. SO! for shits and giggles, I present to you a view from the cheap seats —- they’re all short random bits of happiness on this Spirit Dancing journey that most people don’t see (Get it? You don’t really see much… like cheap seats! Maybe I’m trying too hard with this title here).

Anywayyyyy ——- I almost labeled this post “Free Prozac” as a joke, but didn’t want to disappoint folks ;p

Enjoy These Happy Glimpses of Dance Fun & Throwbacks! <3 JTS

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“I’m not wearing shoes, dammit!!! OK, I’ll dance on my toes and pretend I am... ”

— Unexpectedly pulled up for some improvisational fun (barefoot & winging it!) at Zoot Velasco's show

“5 more minutes, Ma!!!! I’m not ready to go to work!”

— When the pup is on the clock

“D’awwwwww! We love spontaneous kiddos.”

— Captured by Logan Crow, fellow former CALB board member & owner of the Frida Cinema

“She needs your wallet???! OK, RUN AWAY!”

— Jeff’s fire money & using the audience as free labor (read: percussion) at Vaude Nouveau

“Wait, you play blues??????”

— Kimo rocks out

“You don’t see me, I’m invisible! ~~~ LOOK AT HOW FAR THEY CAME FOR YOUR SHOW!!!”

— Jeff TG stalls for time at Vaude Nouveau

The “stalling” begins at 4:40

The Bella Promise: Support SEPA Programming & Support Senior Animals!

Awesome new developments here at Spirit Dancer Productions! We’ve had this lofty dream of fostering senior animals from shelters and so, to start, I (yours truly, Tehani) adopted a hospice kitty named Lilly. It wasn’t long until I realized that I am severely allergic to this particular cat (despite having a cat as a teenager with no problem… I must be getting old) and sadly had to return her. She was happily adopted by a forever home shortly after - YAY! - sans the deathly allergies. When we heard the news, I was inspired to do more. We are ending our Dolphin Project donations and getting more directly involved with animal rescue through The Bella Promise. It just feels right, so we’re sticking to it.

As of May 2022, Spirit Dancer Productions is donating 10% of every Spirit Dance Project evidence-based social emotional performance arts (SEPA) program to sponsor senior animals at local shelters! We just made our first 10% donation (from a recent program completed at Chemeketa Community College … where Linda Ringo-Reyna is a rockstar!) to sponsor a hospice kitty named Sasha at Heartland Humane in Corvallis OR and provide additional financial support to the shelter. Any leftover funds from the 10% of SEPA bookings beyond individual senior animal sponsorship are donated for general support at the same shelter under the name “Bella Rene” in honor of Miss Bella (my wonder pup!).

From here on out our “Bella Promise” applies to all Spirit Dance Project social emotional performance arts (SEPA) bookings with the full 10% donated to animal shelters - including a senior animal adoption sponsorship. Support SEPA and support senior animals :) it’s a feel good win for everyone! Thank you for supporting this work and animals who deserve to live the rest of their lives in safety, comfort and love.

Spirit Dance Summer in the PNW (and other project updates)

I am always reluctant to say this, but I think enough time has passed to cautiously “assume” that all scheduled “normal” social emotional performance arts (SEPA) Spirit Dance Project programming will resume without too many restrictions/rescheduling. This may be our first confident summer since 2019 with full programming and we can only hope that the conditions of the pandemic continue to ease and improve for everyone safely.

NEW OREGON PARTNERSHIPS === The Spirit Dance Project is officially in Oregon this summer (in addition to our partnerships in Southern California throughout the year) with wonderful new organizational partnerships including: Casa Latinos Unidos, Chemeketa Community College and The Arts Center Corvallis. SEPA programming is now also bilingual and continuing to improve its services and scope through direct collaboration with the communities it serves.

PROGRAM EXPANSION === It has been such a fulfilling and invigorating journey, allowing the evidence-based programming (that is the heart of Spirit Dancer Productions) to evolve and grow in co-creation with a wide range of communities. It has been such a humbling and beautiful experience. I know I don’t update this website very often, but I am happy to report that we are resuming to fully book in-person programming as of 2022 (Yay!). SEPA just isn’t the same online and it feels SO good to return to the format it was created for. It just wasn’t doable on Zoom while aiming for the same outcomes - it just wasn’t. Quality over Quantity ALWAYS. This time away has really allowed me (your girl, T!) to improve and redesign programs and it was time well spent. I love it all.

KINDLE & RADIO === In other news, the Second Edition of SaRREAL VISIONS will be available on Kindle very soon, along with a couple ethnographic projects that are still in development with new partners. The AfA Radio Show is currently in pre-production and we’ve had a blast gearing up to have our pre-recorded shows air on live FM radio here in the PNW summer 2022.

BIG LOVE === We are always busy here, but I couldn’t NOT share that we are fully back with stronger programming and productions. It is nothing short of a miracle that almost-post-pandemic, we are moving forward and are still here: growing, learning, evolving and improving as we go… always more. It is with a grateful heart that I thank you for supporting this tiny independent company that has been one of my life’s great passions. Big Love & see you in circle… <3 JTS

Social Media

Zilch, my loves! It has been over a year since we have participated in social media… So please subscribe to the newsletter or just email us and I’d love to work with you if it’s a great fit <3