By Jennifer Noyer

Rulan Tangen’s Dancing Earth Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations presents
the premiere of her latest choreography,
“Of Bodies Of Elements.”
February 6 and 7 at the North 4^th Art Center .

The performances will be Followed by a  tour throughout the country.

A preview of the work appeared Jan. 31, 2009 in Santa Fe at the National Dance Institute of New Mexico.

Tangen prepared for this artistic task by immersing herself in an indigenous consciousness, studying and working with many different Native groups, from the Maoris of New Zealand to various groups in Canada and the U.S., discovering in each a unique and specific relationship to place. Transferring to a theater space, she draws on her own dance training as well as a cultural movement vocabulary.

Tangen began ballet training in New York and California, and studied modern dance in Canada, California, and New York, where she worked with the Michael Mao Company and Peridance.

She has toured in Arizona, Alaska, Brazil, Argentina and Canada. Tangen worked with powwow dancers in Canada and the U.S.

She met many of her dancers at the Moving People Dance School, but they have a variety of backgrounds and training. “Of Bodies Of Elements” brings together talent from across Native America, including violin virtuoso and composer Quetzal Guerrero, set design architect Lawrence Santiago, and costume design artists Connie Wind and Joe Moncado. In the Albuquerque performance, a contemporary hoop dance occurs both on the ground and in the air.

Dancing Earth has reached 1,000 children in its educational outreach programs.

Generally, what is the difference between purely ethnic dance and contemporary dance evolving from ethnic roots?

Indigenous dance has historically served as functional ritual. I want to create a theatrical parallel that would make this dance more relevant to people by impacting their lives — how they interact with their communities and environment.

How would you describe your own historical and cultural background, and how does it relate to your professional training?

I was born in England, but my father belonged to a group called “Métis” that originated in Canada. Métis means “mixed,” and I am definitely very mixed by their multiple backgrounds.

Dancing Earth is based in Santa Fe. How did you find and train your dancers?

I wanted finally to have a home base in which to create, and a smaller community that seemed to me closer to the natural world and Native communities. I saw Santa Fe as a center of Native visual art, and I believe my art gives physicality to that art.

Tell us about “Of Bodies Of Elements” and what we will see on stage at North 4^th Art Center.

The performance lasts about an hour with intermission. It is concerned with human relationships to the land, having an indigenous consciousness from different Native groups, highlighting points of view from various spaces on a circle of life. I want to strip away all that to a base of maximum physicality, to access movement from blood memory, discovering how our bodies hold an ancestral knowledge.

What do you see for the immediate future of your work and the company?

“We are planning on a tour of at least seven states this year, and this spring students in the Española Valley Schools, including San Juan Pueblo, will be invited to participate in dance workshops.”

Rulan Tangen

For more information:

Dancing Earth Indigenous Contemporary Dance Creations

To Buy tickets North 4^th Art Center

4904 4th Street Northwest Albuquerque, NM 87107-3906 - (505) 345-2891

“Of Bodies Of Elements”

February 6 – Saturday, 8 pm

February 7 – Sunday, 2 pm

$15 general; $10 seniors/students

–Jennifer Noyer is a contributing editor for albuquerqueARTS.