DAYSTAR AT GEVA THEATRE CENTER FOR ROCHESTER FRINGE 2017

University of Rochester Program of Dance and Movement
and Daystar: Contemporary Dance Drama of Indian America
are pleased to present

NO HOME BUT THE HEART: AN ASSEMBLY OF MEMORIES

Sunday, March 29, 2015, 3:00 pm
Spurrier Dance Studio, University of Rochester

Admission: $10.00 general public, $5.00 students

For Immediate Release: March 16, 2015 -- The Program of Dance and Movement at University of Rochester is hosting a signature work of the company Daystar: Contemporary Dance Drama of Indian America, founded 1980. The company is now considered to be the first "native" (Indigenous) modern dance company in the U.S.A.

Born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana, artistic director Rosalie Jones derives ancestry of Pembina Chippewa through her mother's stories surrounding family memories dating back to the 1837 Northern Plains smallpox epidemic. Selected episodes in the lives of her great-t-grandmother, grandmother and mother are tied to historical events which resulted in the dislocation and resettlement of native peoples in the Northern Plains of the United States and Canada. In the intimacy of spoken and danced storytelling, each woman passes from youth to age to become the embodiment of 150 years of change and survival. This work acknowledges the search of us all for identity, family, and homeland.

No Home but the Heart premiered in Santa Fe, New Mexico and has been seen at Samuel Becket Theatre, Dublin Ireland, Langston Huges Performace Center, Seattle, Freud Theater, Los Angeles and University Theatre, Alberta, Canada.

Howard Edmond takes the role of historical narrator. He is respected for his stories from a variety of world cultures, including the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois). Live stage performance is his primary medium, but his work has also graced the venues of Young Audiences and WXXI radio and television in Rochester, NY. Mr. Edmond is also a flute player and connoisseur of all things poetic. Alaina Olivieri is well-known in the performing arts scene in Rochester as a movement artist and collaborator with modern dance companies BIODAMNCE and Hanlon Dance and Company (HaDCo). She performs locally and nationally in festivals, films, theaters, galleries, and Universities. Olivieri is the Chair of the Dance Studio at St. Peter's Community Arts Academy in Geneva, NY. Nancy Huges of Buffalo, NY is a teacher, dance-maker and performer. Dance work by Ms. Hughes often takes the form of creating through collaborations with other artists. With certification in Pilates and a BA in dance from Texas Woman's University, Nancy now teaches modern dance and improvisation in Buffalo. Sophia Roberts is not only a dancer but a social activist in her work as regional coordinator for the Self Advocacy Association of NYS. Sophia holds a BFA in Dance from SUNY Brockport and has danced with Sankofa, Brazz Dance Theater, Elizabeth Clark, Kista Tucker and the Buffalo Contact Improv Group.

Daystar/Rosalie Jones sees herself as a facilitator of cross-cultural understanding and continues as a teacher of the curriculum she developed for the Indigenous Performance Studies Program at Trent University, Alberta. Although she holds a Master's Degree in Dance with study at Juilliard School, her knowledge of Indigenous dance and cultural forms was acquired over a lifetime of personal study and cultural association. The Daystar Dance Company has given Daystar/Rosalie Jones the opportunity to present stories from the oral traditions of many tribal nations such as the Lakota, East Cherokee, Anishinaabe (Ojibway) and the Northwest Coast. The 40 year career of Daystar/Rosalie Jones was instrumental in forging a path for the development of what is now being called "native" (Indigenous) modern dance.

"Your marriage of classical dance with Native American oral tradition
is uniquely appropriate at this moment in history."
World Council of Churches, Global Education

For more information, contact the University of Rochester Program of Dance and Movement at (585)273-5150 or visit www.rochester.edu/college/dance/events.

2005-2011
As if in continuation of Daystar’s work with Ms. Mumford at the Banff Centre, she was invited to develop curriculum and teach Indigenous Performance Studies at Trent University’s Indigenous Studies Department.  Marrie Mumford had established the Indigenous Performance Studies program (IPI) at Trent University,  the only program of its kind in Canada; IPI is a three-year program offering credited courses relevant to Indigenous contemporary performance. Rosalie Jones developed courses such as Indigenous Contemporary Dance, Indigenous Masked Dance and Storytelling, Indigenous Contemporary Music and Indigenous Dance Theatre as the dance component to Mumford’s  Introduction to Indigenous Theatre, Stagecraft and others. During the years 2005-2011, Daystar/Rosalie Jones was Director/Choreographer for a series of annual Indigenous public performances known as Anishinaabe Maanjiidwin (“the way we perform’ in Anishinaabe language) featuring the students in the courses and distinguished Indigenous guest artists from across Canada and the United States.

2004
In 2004, Jacqueline Shea Murphy, UC-Riverside Associate Professor in the Department of Dance, initiated the first Indigenous dance conference in the United States: Roots and Rhythms.  Dancers, scholars and writers converged at UC-Riverside for three days of panel discussions, tributes, traditional dance exhibitions and stage performances by Indigenous dance artists.  Daystar/Rosalie Jones was invited to perform along with others such as Rulan Tangen, Raoul Trujilo and  the  “Running Grunion”. It was at the conference that Dr. Murphy recognized Daystar/Rosalie Jones as a “pioneer” of the contemporary genre now known as native modern dance. Dr. Murphy alsoannounced the creation of the  Daystar Archive at the UC-Riverside Special Collections to house the materials spanning Daystar’s ongoing career of forty-six years.

July 2, 2003

Daystar/Rosalie Jones will be in residence for the Aboriginal ArtsProgram at the Banff Centre for the Arts (Alberta, Canada), June 21 –August 10. She will be the Native Modern Dance Choreographer and Coordinator. Two performances will be presented there this summer. ALL ARE INVITED TO: KICKOFF FESTIVAL July 12 (Friday) 7:30-10 pm Stage production with participants from all phases of the Banff Centre – theatre, opera, fine arts, etc. Aboriginal Program will present a 15 minute program of the best of traditional and native modern dance. July 13 (Saturday) Picnic all day at Banff Centre FINAL PRODUCTION August 1,2, (Fri, Sat) at 8 pm and August 3 (Sun) at 3 pm End of Summer Production by the Aboriginal Arts Program. A full evening of native modern dance by students, with guest and intern choreographers. If possible, call to reserve a seat. Anyone wanting to contact Daystar/Rosalie Jones can use: Email: daystardance@cs.com Leave a phone message at: 403-762-7541, the office Mail: Aboriginal Arts Program, The Banff Centre, P.O. Box 1020, Station 24, Banff, AB T1L 1H5 (Canada)

August 31, 2001

This summer, Daystar was a Guest Instructor at the Aboriginal Arts Program of the Banff Center for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. There, she conducted classes as part of the Choreographer's Symposium, offered May 21-June 1, 2001. The workshop, "Evoking Memories", takes students through a series of exercises in movement, writing and object manipulation, designed to awaken personal and family memories which then become the material for spoken word
and choreography. This workshop series was also taught by Daystar in June, 2000, in Helsinki, sponsored by the "Roots of Theater" company for Finland''s "European Cities of Culture" Millennnium Celebration.

Daystar is currently on hiatus from teaching, having completed in May, a two-year appointment as Artist-in-Residence and Assistant Professor of Dance at the State University of New York, Brockport College. This would be a good time for you to contact her with any questions you might have about native-based modern choreography and theater, or to book workshops and performances for the the future.

February 2001

DAYSTAR on the Treasure of Native American Dance-Drama by Ned Bobkoff.

An Interview by Ned Bobkoff for Scene 4; Magazine of International Media and Arts

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