Indigenous Cultures Institute offers performances for celebrations, educational events and other functions. We collaborate with Native American artists and provide referrals from presenters who request their services. Our organization is also listed on the prestigious Texas Commission on the Arts Touring Roster. Support may be available to assist with our booking fees through the Cultural Connections Performance Support
grant application. Please contact us to arrange one or more of the following performances.

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EAGLE DANCE, SINGING, DRUMMING AND EDUCATION PERFORMANCE

Mark Standing Eagle Baez offers performances, often with his young son, which include the Eagle Dance. Baez uses a hand drum to accompany himself in traditional singing and he provides informative facts about his regalia, the heartbeat of the drum and many other Native American customs and traditions. These performances are inspirational, educational, and fun for both adult and children audiences.
Contact: Mark Standing Eagle Baez at (210) 410-6123, PO Box 1548, Ft. Defiance, AZ 86504

Mark Standing Eagle Baez received his B.A. from Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio and his Masters in Psychology from North Central University in Prescott, Arizona. He is working on his Ph.D. in General Psychology. He and his family live on the Navajo Reservation where he has taught a drum group to local Dine' school students ranging from high school to elementary. Baez is Mohawk and Coahuiltecan.

NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE PLAYING
AND STORYTELLING

Dr. Mario Garza plays the flute and performs storytelling for adult and children audiences. For school children Dr. Garza presents a program on Native American culture, traditions, and ways of life, both historical and contemporary. His performance includes a combination of storytelling, flute playing and learning activities. He provides a teachers guide as a resource to enhance the students' experience, which uses active learning, writing and discussion strategies. The objectives of these presentations are to teach basic facts about Native Americans, dispel commonly held stereotypes, and enhance self-esteem and creativity.

Dr. Mario Garza is an elder of the Meakan/Garzas Band of the Coahuiltecan people indigenous to the Texas and northeastern Mexico area. He has a multi-disciplinary Ph.D. from Michigan State University and he currently researches and presents educational lectures about Native Americans. Dr. Garza has decades of involvement in the Native American community, including repatriation of remains, successful development of indigenous nonprofits, re-establishment of ceremonial sites, Native arts and events, and political issues.

NATIVE AMERICAN STORYTELLING

Emma Ortega is an Apache, Coahuiltecan storyteller, who has been performing for the past thirty years. She is also a visual artist who paints and produces corn husk sculptures, and is a constant participant in powwows statewide. The objectives of her presentations are to teach basic facts about Native Americans, dispel commonly held stereotypes, and enhance self-esteem and creativity.

Emma Ortega is an elder of the Meakan/Garzas Band of the Coahuiltecan people indigenous to the Texas and northeastern Mexico area. She performs storytelling, is a visual artist and volunteers for Native American organizations in helping with her fry-bread booth.

AZTEC DANCE, PRE-COLUMBIAN MUSIC

Cuicani In Xochitl are members of a family-oriented tradition, which utilizes motion as a medium to develop spiritual self-awareness. The Xitontequisa, or Aztec dancing as it is commonly known is a native tradition of ancient Mexico that survives today in spite of cultural and spiritual biases. Its survival in modern times is a testimony of its immense spiritual and cultural value.

Cuicani In Xochitl is based in Oak Cliff at the Ice House Cultural Center. They have been a part of The Office of Cultural Affairs NTP program for the last five years  promoting native  Mexican cultures: Aztec, Maya, Toltec, Olmec. This group is dedicated to preserving and promoting The Aztec Dance Tradition. They perform extensively throughout Texas and surrounding states.

NATIVE AMERICAN MUSIC ENSEMBLE

Aaron Pyle, Choctaw, and his new group Hakloka, play original compositions that are based on traditional Native music, which is enhanced by modern and jazz influences -- an extraordinary, beautiful, unique style.

Hakloka was formed by Native American students attending Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Over the past year their popularity has sky rocketed and demand for thier performances has spread throughout central Texas. Aaron Pyle is a graduate of Texas State, having studied music, and is also a visual artist.

COMEDIC PERFORMANCE

Adrian Villegas performs a rollicking stand-up comedy show dealing with Mexican-Native life, racial politics, and pop culture-from a distinctly Indigenous point of view. Villegas' unique style of culturally relevant comedy melds urban credibility and quick-change mimicry with a literate bilingual writing style, reflecting the rich but often-underrepresented diversity of the Native experience in a way that is humorous, humane, and realistic.

Adrian Villegas is the star and playwright of two popular, critically acclaimed one-man comedies "Six Mexicans Named Gonzalez" and "Barrio Daze", and the Artistic Director for the award-winning troupe The Latino Comedy Project.

Ramon Juan Vasquez

NATIVE POETRY

Ramon Juan Vasquez performs his original writings that span a range of topics beginning with intensive love poems that uncover the tender heart of an indigenous warrior, to epic stories told from the perspective of traditional characters like the jaguar and the hummingbird. A new style of writing never before heard from a Native voice that speaks for everyone.

Ramon Juan Vasquez has been writing poetry for several years but only recently has begun to read in public. His readings have resulted in rave revues and have created a following of fans. Vasquez is also the long-time executive director of American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions and a member of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation in San Antonio, Texas.

EAGLE HORSE LAKOTA sIOUX
PERFORMERS

Tacha, TaTanka, and Sunkmanitu Eagle Horse perform traditional Lakota dances, dressed in hand made regalia. Upholding their traditional heritage through these performances, they provide an inspiring and educational experience.

Tacha, TaTanka, and Sunkmanitu Eagle Horse are sons of Dennis Eagle Horse, a full blood member of the Lower Brule Lakota Tribe and a renowned visual artist. They live in Kerrville, Texas.

GRUPO PAKAL
MAYAN PERFORMING ARTS

Grupo Pakal Mayan Performing Arts proudly celebrates Mayan culture through sacred ceremonies and ancient rituals that integrate festive dance and traditional native music. Live performances exhibit stunning wardrobe and elaborately feathered headdresses, all individually handcrafted works of art.

Grupo Pakal is a small, very talented, Maya Dance Troupe based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. They regularly perform at The Dallas World Aquarium, as well as at other venues around the metroplex, including the Dallas Museum of Art.

www.grupopakal.com

Julie Lani and Chief

INDIGENOUS MUSIC EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM, STORYTELLING, AND INTERACTIVE DISPLAYS

Tejas Winds entertains and educates their audiences with both original and traditional music, as well as traditional storytelling, displays and demonstrations. Chief and Julie Lani perform Native American flute playing, vocals and drumming for a fully-rounded performance. A wonderful experience for children and adult audiences.

Lasaro “Chief” Arriola, flute player and story-teller, is of Comanche/Apache descent.  Julie Lani, the group’s percussionist, comes from a mixed heritage of Hawaiian, Japanese, Indian, and Irish. Chief and Julie Lani are renowned performers in Texas and have played for functions such as Celebration of the People at Texas State and the Killeen Powwow sponsored by Four Winds Intertribal Society.

CHEROKEE STORYTELLING

Kathy Lynn, Cherokee, weaves tribal history and storytelling into an entertaining and educational cultural presentation.  Kathy has a large collection of stories that are carefully chosen for the age and interest level of a particular audience and venue.
"The students were spell bound!...Amazing!...The use of stuffed animals really makes her tales come alive." --Victoria, TX Middle School Teacher