Dare (they/them - because there is no such thing as an individual and gender is a social fiction) is a nondual animist, multidisciplinary artist-facilitator and educator, heavily influenced by their long and ongoing practice of Daoist arts and related philosophies. Their work explores the integration of animist practices, liberatory anti-oppression principles and multi-modal theater arts, which can be pithily summed up as Death Practice & Deathclown. Their larger framework is The Story-State-Action model which explains nondual animism and neuro-decolonization for the secular western mind.
They are based in Chinook Lands aka Portland, OR, USA.

Briefly, part of my work here is to tell people that the spirits/ancestors are real and to help folks figure out how to tune their instrument (whole self) towards that larger, more diverse, more multi-plural conversation called Death (Dao). I do that through various modes of narrative art practice - poetry, writing, singing, movement, theater... These are rooted in and informed by my long practice of Daoist arts (polestar astrology, yijing divination, daoist dream yoga, etc.)

I design my art with and through lenses such as Queer Ecology, Disability Justice, trans-species animism, Dreaming and Deep Time Ancestry. Being of mixed-race heritage, chronically sick and poor (though these labels can become prisons in themselves) has been a wisdom path, poison and medicine in this life and informs all my choices. Pain, Fear & Hunger are Wisdom Teachers, not necessarily problems to be solved.

Kaila June Keliikuli (she/they) is a daughter, sister, mother, spouse and auntie whose ancestors settled Turtle Island, aka USA, in the early 17th century during the colonial period. Born and raised in the Rocky Mountains, her last name is Hawaiian and is gifted through her wife, Maile Kahealani Keliikuli. Kaila is a movement teacher and the director of Interdisciplinary Movement & Somatics, an ISMETA Approved Training Program. With a background as a performing artist, personal trainer and somatic movement educator, Kaila’s approach has emerged through a systems science, co-creative, relational way.

As a young adult, she began developing the movement system Somatic Groundwork (or they began developing her). Somatic Groundwork blends mindful attention, intentional rest, varied effort and novel choice while relating with sensing, moving and thinking. Somatic patterning, a creative way to shift limiting beliefs and behaviors through bottom-up learning and body-based inquiry, is enhanced through experiential movement activities. Kaila advocates for a movement movement to maintain body connection with land and to encourage joy in our aliveness.