Maura The Dancer is Creative Collective facilitated by Maura García.
OUR MISSION
To inspire people to liberate themselves by channeling the sensual rhythms of the natural world.
WHAT WE DO & HOW WE DO IT
We provide impactful Dance, Entertainment, Multimedia Productions, and Workshops.
Dance & Entertainment: Vibrant and captivating, Maura García is a performer who brings creative visions to life by channeling the energy of the sun and earth. She is skilled in multiple dance styles, performing choreography and/or improvisation, with a specialty in rhythm based styles, martial arts fusion and sensual dance.
Multimedia Productions: Multimedia dance performances, interactive dance experiences and community arts projects created by a stellar team of Indigenous and other POC artists and creatives. Our creations uplift Indigenous cultural values, uncover stories hidden by colonialism and unleash the power they have to change our realities.
Workshops: Custom-designed workshops, master classes and residencies taught by Maura García and other Indigenous and POC artists. Through dance, language, music, story and original choreography, participants explore movement as a vehicle for understanding and connecting with the world.
WHERE WE DO IT & FOR WHOM
For performance audiences, community groups, private clients and other creatives via:
Cabarets | Collaborative Projects | Commissions | Conferences | Dance & Arts Festivals | Fashion Shows | Indigenous Community Centers & Events | Live Music Shows | Music Videos | Museums | Nightclubs | Parties | Private Events | Public Outdoor Spaces | Theaters & Theater Productions | Universities | Urban Indian Centers | Virtual Settings
OUR VISION
Our work is part of the shared work of liberation.
Our art is one of the sparks that frees people by giving them permission to express their true selves.
Another world is possible. We inspire new ways of seeing the world and solving problems by sharing traditional Indigenous cultural values.
Through our outreach, we heal and create more space for joy and pleasure by connecting people more deeply with themselves, other humans and the earth around them.
GUIDING LIFEWAYS
(the first three are traditional Cherokee values taught to Maura García by Dotsuwa (tsigesv) - the late, great Mr. Benny Smith)
1) ᏕᎦᏓᏎᎳᏗᏍᎨᏍᏗ Degadaseladisgesdi
We uplift one another in all things - with every part of our being - words, songs, dance, art, actions, etc
2) ᏂᎦᏯᎢᏐ ᎦᏚᎩ ᏂᏧᏁᏍᏗ Nigayaiso gadugi nitsunesdi
We have an ongoing continuous spirit of working together in cooperation for the benefit of all.
3) ᎤᎵᏍᎨᏗ ᏕᎦᏓᏰᎷᎵᏎᏍᏗ Ulsgedi degadayelulsesdi
All beings are to be held as sacred and of great importance.
4) We recognize that body sovereignty is one of the values of precolonized southeastern Indigenous societies and that the freedom to consensually share sensual and sexual expressions is one of the foundations of world liberation. (This value was developed through lived experience and research about Maura García’s sexworker ancestors, the power of femme bodies and pre-colonization/non-christian beliefs concerning sexual freedom).
LIFEWAYS IN ACTION
We believe that every interaction with a living being is an opportunity to positively affect the world, so there are infinite opportunities perpetuate these ancestral values and activism. We use them to guide all aspects of our work and actively practice these ways by:
1) Using kind words and loving language in business correspondence, meetings and rehearsals.
2) Uplifting and helping to sustain other Indigenous artists by hiring them, listening to them and sharing resources with them. This is a reciprocal process.
3) Creating opportunities to work in and with communities so that we can all have new and enriching experiences.
4) Using spoken Cherokee language in performances and choreographic patterns in defiance of US policies which attempted to extinguish our languages.
5) Disrupting the settler colonial narrative which erases Indigenous existence, by creating choreography and shows grounded in our values, designs, stories, work patterns and/or movement qualities.
6) Activily defying repressive colonial systems which seek to control our sensual pleasure and body sovereignty, by providing dance performances, art, and experiences that embrace the erotic as a normal and natural part of human existence.
7) Actively respect the living earth through consideration of the affects of performances, the creative process and production on all beings. Using processes that are less harmful, less wasteful and more beneficial to entire ecosystem.