Bringing Tobacco & Cedar

ARTIST BIOS 

CARIDAD DE LA LUZ (she/her), Host & Project Lead. Caridad, aka La Bruja, is a multi-faceted performer named in the “Top 20 Puerto Rican Women Everyone Should Know” (La Respuesta). Known as a “Bronx Living Legend,” Caridad received a Citation of Merit from the Bronx Borough President and The Edgar Allan Poe Award from The Bronx Historical Society. She has performed at The Apollo, Lincoln Center, Gracie Mansion, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, City Hall in New York City and international venues. Since her 1996 debut performance at the famed Nuyorican Poets Café, she hosts Monday Night Open Mics, and was a lead in the successful Off Broadway musical I Like It Like That. Caridad was awarded a 2019-21 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, and is cultivating her own art space in the Soundview area of The Bronx called “El Garaje,” and creating a new full-evening length work, From Poor to Rico. caridaddelaluz.com

OLIVIA C. DAVIES is an independent producer, consultant, and contemporary Indigenous dance artist who creates across choreography, installation and community-engaged projects, exploring the emotional and political relationships between people and places, often investigating the body’s dynamic ability to transmit narrative. Her work traverses boundaries and challenges social prejudice, conveying concepts and narratives with creations and conceptual platforms that open different ways to see and experience the world. She honours her mixed Anishinaabe, French Canadian, Finnish and Welsh heritage in her work. She is the Artistic Director of O.Dela Arts, Matriarchs Uprising Festival, and founding member of Crow’s Nest Collective (Vancouver) and Circadia Indigena Arts Collective (Ottawa). oliviacdavies.ca/odela/

RIVER (CASSANDRA) BLONDIN BURT is a two-spirit non-binary parent, entrepreneur, musician, poet, photo-essayist, and plant-medicine worker. Their work is grounded in the exploration of healing through co-creation with earth and story. River believes that the radical act of being in-relation with our other-than-human-relations is an act of political and personal rebellion, and a pathway for transformative collective and personal healing. They were raised on the traditional territory of the xwməθkwəyə̓m, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Selí̓lw̓ itulh. They are of mixed Dene/Scottish/Norwegian ancestry, are a proud member of the Yellowknives Dene Nation, they currently, happily, reside in their ancestral homelands of Denendeh. blondinburt.ca

Alicia Díaz is a Puerto Rican contemporary dance artist in the diaspora, co-directing Agua Dulce Dance Theater and Pepatián’s Dancing La Botánica: La Tierra Vive!, and serves on the Board of Pepatián. Alicia is Associate Professor of Dance, The University of Richmond. LONG: Alicia Díaz is co-director of Agua Dulce Dance Theater with movement artist Matthew Thornton, creating works for concert dance, museums, and site-specific locations. As a Puerto Rican contemporary dance artist in the diaspora, her choreographic work speaks to issues of migration, colonialism, and the legacy of slavery. Her artistic research is rooted in the premise that the body is a site of knowledge, and on questions of memory and identity. Alicia performed professionally with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Andanza: Puerto Rican Contemporary Dance Company, Donald Byrd/The Group (The Harlem Nutcracker), Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, dANCEpRoJECt, and the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company amongst others. She has collaborated with independent Puerto Rican dance artists Marion Ramírez and Esther “Ñequi” González as well as percussionist Héctor “Coco” Barez. Her work has been presented in the United States, Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Argentina, and Mexico. Alicia is Associate Professor of Dance at The University of Richmond where she engages in decolonizing and inclusive pedagogies. aliciadiazmfa.com

ANA “ROKAFELLA” GARCÍA (she/her) NYC-born and raised, B-Girl Rokafella is known internationally for her Break dance mastery. With fellow breaker and husband Kwikstep, Rokafella founded and performs with the non-profit hip-hop dance company Full Circle Souljahs to empower young dancers through the positive power of hip-hop. As a multi-faceted creative force, she has acted in the film On the Outs and the choreo-play SHE, directed and produced the documentary film All The Ladies Say with multiple showings and public conversations with the artists, created Hip hop choreography for Hamlet at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s 70th Anniversary, modeled for Athleta, and in the Netflix series The Get Down, Rokafella was in the third episode. In 2016, she performed with the House of Ninja for Dance Parade, and was featured in the PBS documentary series, Makers. As a singer, La Roka, is well-rooted in Hip-hop and Afro Latin rhythms, and recently composed a Gospel version of Jimmy Castor’s “Just Begun,” offering another empowering message of possibilities. fullcirclesouljahs.com alltheladiessay.com

TSATASSAYA WHITE is a curator, event planner and community mobilizer of the Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) & (Opetchesaht) Nuu-chah-nulth Nations. She carries knowledge about the Snuneymuxw Nation and Territory and has many connections in the Coast Salish communities. Tsatassaya organized the Qwuyulush utl SwyaLana day of Indigenous dance at last year’s InFrinGinG Dance Festival (July 2019) at Maffeo Sutton Park, and in 2020, curated and co-produced the inaugural Sum̓sháthut (Sun) Festival in collaboration with Nanaimo’s Crimson Coast Dance Society. She is a project consultant with Dance West Network/Made in BC – Dance on Tour. instagram.com/tsatassaya/

SOLDANELA RIVERA is a cross-sector publicist spanning the fields of dance, film, television, music, theater. She has worked with emerging, established, and world-renowned figures. Soldanela earned a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. from Teachers College, Columbia University in Arts Administration. She currently serves as Director of Communications at Hostos Community College-CUNY. nfand.com

Pepatián’s Bringing Tobacco and Cedar: Digging into plants, roots, and journey is supported, in part, by the Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, and the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, Inc., public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, public funds from the Bronx Council on the Arts though the New York State Council on the Arts Decentralization Program, and the generosity of individual donations to Pepatián. www.pepatian.org

This FREE program is made possible, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Southwest Airlines is the official airline of Pregones/PRTT. For a full list of our funders, visit www.pregonesprtt.org.