Hello, I am of Yaqui heritage (enrolled Texas Band of Yaqui Indians). I earned my MFA in Dance Theatre from UC San Diego (Kumeyaay land), and a BFA in Dance from UC Santa Barbara (Chumash land).  I have  performed and taught dance professionally for over 25 years. I continue to work, teach, and learn, from within my Yaqui community, from within Native American and First Nations communities, and from within contemporary dance communities. I am currently in my sixth year of a PhD program at UC San Diego and I am a Presidential Dissertation Fellow. My work asserts that the body is a place of knowledge as well as a place for the repatriation of Indigenous memory. My writing articulates this relationship to my culture as “Scholarship through the body”. I am proud of my work as a company member with Rosy Simas Danse, a Native American led community arts organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Rosy Simas Danse has brought performance opportunities and workshops to Native communities throughout Turtle Island for over 20 years. Rosy Simas and I just authored the article titled, Playing Indian, Between Idealization and Vilification: Seems You Have To Play Indian To Be Indian for the American Indian Culture and Research Journal based at UCLA.