Tava-kaavi (Sun Mountain in Ute), the view from the ground next to the Heller Center for Arts and Humanities

Tava-kaavi, Sun Mountain in Ute, will be honored by stories, dance, and music with hopes and dreams shared by members of the Native American Students Alliance (NASA) to balance ourselves and perceive a better common future on the land. The Heller Center for Arts and Humanities at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs selected Ayako as a Spring 2025 Heller Fellowship Award recipient and has been supporting the new creation of storytelling dance ETHOS: Ways of the Wind to be presented as a work in progress.

Mint tea, blue corn cookies, and biscochitos related to Ute culture will be offered in the beginning. You will be invited to outdoors on the hilltop, so please dress accordingly. A reception and dialogue follow.

Heller Center for Arts and Humanities presents

Storytelling Dance

ETHOS: Ways of the Wind

Work-in-Progress

March 13, 2025, Door: 5:30 pm, Start: 6 pm

Collaborators:

Storytellers: Kylie Red Willow, Richard Parelli, Native American Students Alliance (NASA)

Drummer: Miles Medina

Dancers: Shundeen Martin, Miles Medina, Desiree Villanueva, Alex Wilson, Ryn Day, Ayako Kato

Shapes of Wind Score: Yiheng Yvonne Wu

Flute Music: Élise Roy

Wind Harp: Philip Blackburn

Special advisors: Marguerite Cantu, Southern Ute/Chiricahua Apache/Eastern Cherokee; Granddaughter to Chief Buckskin Charlie, Last Traditional Chief of Southern Utes of Colorado; Ilaheva Tua'one, Indigenous/Native American Studies and Storytelling professor

Cultural Advisor: Crystal Rizzo, Southern Ute Cultural Preservation Director

Choreography: Wind & Ayako Kato

Pulpit Rock with Wind Harps installed by Philip Blackburn

This project is presented as part of Heller Fellowship Series and Peak FreQuency Festival, and generously supported by Heller Center for Arts and Humanities & the Department of Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs