December 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
Rulan joined Mel Gibson, and stars Rudy Youngblood and Raoul Trujillo as well as Raoul’s bride Iscah, in a private jet to fly to Oklahoma City. A local casino hosted the premiere of the film Apocalypto, as a fundraiser for Native Health clinics in Oklahoma and Mexico. The half million raised was matched by Mr Gibson, but the money will be donated to the Mayan intiative in the name of the Chickasaw Nation.
Rudy Youngblood in the plane
Raoul and Iscah Trujillo at premiere
with Peshawn and Wakeah!
The next week in Santa Fe, Rulan and Raoul were part of a discussion panel when the film was previewed for students of the Institute of American Indian Arts, and Rulan was subsequently interviewed on KSFR radio station.
November 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
On November 4th Rulan participated in a Creative Recovery workshop at the Cancer Institute of NM, under the inspired direction of Pasha Hogan
(www.pashahogan.com).
7 members of DANCING EARTH (Happy, Alex, Thosh, Jaco, Rulan, Edgar and Serena) travelled to Cedar Rapids Iowa to be featured in a showcase for the National Performance Network . Dance colleagues and presenters from all around the country were enthusiastically receptive, some comments included ” the best showcase in years” and “F—ing OFF THE CHAIN!”. Dancers wore costumes created from tree bark dyed cloth from the Shipibo Indians of Peru, as donated by Willem Malten of Cloud Cliff, and sewn by Anne Dickinson Hayunga.
October 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
Back home in Santa Fe, Rulan began work on several projects within the community, including classes at Carlos Gilbert Elementary School under the Santa Fe Opera, adult dance workshop at Wise Fool space, freshman class workshps for the Institute of American Indian Arts, and new student choreography for Charisma Dance Studios.
Santa Fe Design Week organised a fashion show, in which Rulan modelled the designs of Tracey Collins ( see www.earthelegance.net) and retailer Maya Clothing.
In New York City, Rulan taught a company class at LAVA studios in Brooklyn.
September 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
“Under the Stars We Dance’- On September 9th, as the sun was setting over the open air theater of the Santa Fe Opera, almost 2000 audience members came together to raise scholarship money for dancers. DANCING EARTH was featured alongside American Ballet Theater, Ysastros Flamenco Dance Theater, Danza Folklorico de Mexico, Andy Garcia’s Pueblo Dance group, and Moving People Dance Theater, who put the event together, as guided by their dynamic board member Roger Montoya. Dance scholarships were made available for all the represented dance forms, and the performance itself was noted as ‘world-class’ by many audience members.
backstage at Santa Fe Opera
Rulan , accompanied by Quetzal on violin , created interludes that linked all the dance segments, and Happy Frejo was featured in the role of Chief Rocka.
Soon afterwards, Rulan traveled to Nevada to assist the Native Wellness Institute in a womens retreat, as sponsored the the visionary chairman of the Washoe Tribe, Brian Wallace, who stated that the health his people was his priority as a leader.
August 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
On August 4th, the Santo Domingo Pueblo held their traditional dances, even the rainclouds gathered to behold their strong community of many hundreds of dancers in full regalia, renewing the earth for hours .
Rulan returned to Banff to participate in the Aboriginal Engagement.
Please join us at the Santa Fe Opera Sept 9th!
July 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
In a whirlwind 4 days in Ontario, Rulan performed solo at the Woodland Cultural Centre of Six Nations, at the Harbourfront Roots:Remix Festival, and at LIVING RITUALS International Indigenous Dance Festival.. At the WCC, she was alongside performers from Mexcio and Columbia, and they each taught a workshop to Iroquois youth of the area. At Harbourfront she shared the stage with guest dancers from Amsterdam, as well as soloist Hiromoto Ida whom she had danced with in the Karen jamieson Dance Company of Vancouver. LIVING RITUALS also brought up Andy Garcia and his Tewa dancers from the North of New Mexico, with whom she had performed 15 years ago in Dallas! She also spoke at a panel discussion of contemporary and traditional dance, along with Marrie Mumford, Alejandro Ronceria and Byron Chief Moon. Congratulation to Kaha:wi Dance Theatre for presenting this first annual festival!
June 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
June brought a flowering of creativity for DANCING EARTH, audiences raved over 3 new choreographies by Rulan Tangen at the Lensic Theater in Santa Fe, and at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.
One June 11, Rulan presented a new work inspired by Mayan imagery, entitled ‘STELAE RISING’. This quartet was commissioned by MOVING PEOPLE DANCE THEATER for their male dancers, and featured vibrant costumes painted by artist Roger Montoya. It was decribed as “thought provoking, emotional and beautiful” by Wise Fool circus founder Robbie Pino.
Also on June 11, Rulan danced in her newest womens trio, alongside Cina Littlebird and Jessica Allen, who were returning from freshman year at Columbia University and a 9 month tour as the lead in “BLAST”, respectively. This dance, ‘Of Antlers’ featured music by Robert Mirabal, as well as Sami and Tuvan songs, and was a brilliant spectacle of sunset colors and bonewhite antler stage pieces. Filmmaker Barbara Bentree called it “fascinating”, while writer Charleen Touchette described it as “powerful” and “exquisite”.
On June 11 she debuted a duet in Banff, titled ‘Tree of Life:Time of Drought’, which choreographer Tanya Lukin reviewed as “ectsatic in moments and filled with moments of caress and tranformation”. Then, she returned to Santa Fe to present the ever popular male trio of ‘Thunderstomp’ on the closing day of the Santa Fe Dance Festival.
The works were filmed by Eduardo Griego and Alejandro Meraz, keep an eye out for the DVDs!
Also in June, we celebrated the marriage of Raoul Trujillo to his bride Jessica Carey in a celebration in New Mexico, complete with stilt walkers and fire dancing!
May 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
In early May, DANCING EARTH performers Rulan, Alejandro, Quetzal and Happy were special guests at the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, presenting a dance performance for an audience of 800 Native Youth. Elder Philomena Lakota said , “You captured their hearts!”.
Enthusiastic students joined in the workshops in capoeira and Indigenous contemporary dance, as well as a hip-hop class taught by Happy Frejo as part of Culture Shock Camp’s program.
The same weekend, Thosh Collins and street dancers from Arizona performed and taught workshops for Native youth in North Carolina at a conference for the prevention of tobacco use. Spreading good energy across the continet with the healing power of dance!
This month, rehearsals start for Santa Fe Dance Festival, which will be at the Lensic Theater held in santa Fe June 9-11, and the Dance Barn on June 17-18. The opening weekend, the choreography of Rulan Tangen will be alongside nationally recognised companies LINES ballet of San Francisco, and Gus Giordano’s Jass Company of Chicago, as she was commissioned to make a new work for modern dance company MOVING PEOPLE.
With 4 outstanding male dancers of MPDT, she is creating a quartet inspired by imagery of Mayan stone art as experienced during her winter adventures in Mexico.
Also on June 11, as part of the SFDF, DANCING EARTH will be presenting a new women’s trio, with the luminous Jessica Allen, Cina Littlebird , and Rulan, embodying the dancing deer women spirit that is so prominent in native oral histories, as well as in writings and painting of contemporary native artists and writers. In research for THE NEW WORLD, Rulan came across an account of a women’s deer dance written in the early1600s.
On June 18, THUNDERSTOMP will be performed for a program especially for youth.
Rulan will also be creating a duet this month to be shown as a work in progress at a conference for dance historians at the Banff Centre in Canada in June.
Spring brings renewal and inspiration, as the trees begin to bloom, new dances are falling from the skies!
March 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
DANCING EARTH performs and participates in Reno Nevada at Native Wellness Institute’s North American Native Wellness Gathering 2006. Special guests will include Nishke Mars from the Naragansett Nation, presenting eastern woodlands smoke dance as well as fancy shawl, and bay area musician Ras k’dee with guests from his band One Struggle.
Rulan also was invited by Janeen Antoine to lecture on a panel at UC Berkeley at the fourth annual conference for “Native Voices in Indigenous Research”, followed by a banquet featuring John Carlos Perea and his band in jazz compositions inspired by Jim Pepper.
February 2006
Aug 26, 2009 2006
On Feb 17, Rulan was chosen through popular online vote for AiAwards 2006 Best Supporting Actress Award for the role as Two Moons in “The New World”. The award ceremony was held in Los Angeles, and her thank you speech is posted at www.freewebs.com/nativeroscoe, and thanks to Roscoe Pond for all his work in creation of this website and event, and to all the voters (thanks Toure Harris and congratulations for Best Sound design!)
In this months edition of the new periodical INDIAN EDUCATION TODAY, editors Tim and Denise Giago selected 6 artists from 6 mediums to respresent the theme of New Storytellers, “who innovate and explore and rediefine the place of Native peoples in our communities, in our country and in a globally conscious world. Check out Rulan’s page, in which she chose to be represented by a group photo of DANCING EARTH , showing our intertribal solidarity and commitment to diversity beyond borders.