Cross-Cultural Collaboration in the Performing Arts: Tools for Deeper Understanding and Ethical Exchange

Davina Etwaroo is the founder and director of Aadi, a Maryland-based dance school dedicated to sharing Bharatanatyam through classes, workshops, andperformances. Her cross-cultural work includes directing a diversity ensemble featuring 5 international dance genres set to live multicultural fusion drumming for special events hosting the President and Prime Minister of Guyana, as well as collaborative work in Fijion the production Where To Utopia, featuring Bharatanatyam and contemporary Fijian dance. Other highlights of her career include performances at the Kennedy Center, Freer Gallery of Art, Baltimore Theater Project, the Walters Art Museum, APAP at Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, the DC Mayor’s cultural events, and President Obama’s AAPI events at the White House.

Michael Friend, Artistic Director/Founder founded Soul In Motion Players, Inc. in 1984. Michael wrote and debuted his first theatrical production entitled, We Are Africa in 1991. His other works include Henrietta Marie, Malcolm, What If., and Ile Ife – House of Love. He started his music/acting career in 1969 with the world renowned Arthur Hall Afro-American

Dance Ensemble and Theatre Advocate, in his hometown of Philadelphia, PA. Friend furthered his studies at Fisk University and graduated Howard University in 1981, receiving his B.A. degree in Communications. Michael has gone on to record/perform nationally and internationally, including a Jazz tour in 1989 to Cameroon, West Africa. As a percussionist, Michael performed with The Four Kings of Rhythm and Blues for over 10 years, featuring Jerry Butler, Gene Chandler, Ben E. King, and Lloyd Price. Friend’s regional accomplishments include performing in the Arena Stage production of Derrick Walcott’s The Odyssey and with The Dance Theatre of Harlem at the Kennedy Center. He’s a former board member of several local arts organizations: Black Rock Center for the Arts, Joe’s Movement Emporium, and The Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County – serving as Vice President of Grants for 3 years. In 2011, as director of Soul in Motion, Michael won the prestigious Montgomery County Executive’s Community Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities, in 2014 he was the recipient of the Empower Magazine Player Award, on March 19, 2016 Joe’s Movement Emporium honored Michael as a Mighty Joe with the Creative Visionary Award, and in 2023 Michael was presented with the Heritage Award & the Creativity Award from Maryland State Arts Council.

Natalia Monteleon has been involved in flamenco for over 40 years, as a dancer, teacher and choreographer. Her teachers have included Flamenco with Ana Martinez, Paco del Puerto, La Tati, Carmela Greco, Maribel de Sevilla, and Raquel Pena, and Classical Spanish Dance with Maria Morales.

Natalia has been a soloist at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater, Wolf Trap Theater, George Washington University’s Lisner Theater, the Warner Theater of Washington, the Embassies of France and Spain, the University of New Orleans, and the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, among others.

After twenty years of performing both as a soloist and in companies, on stage and in flamenco tablados, Natalia decided to devote her skills to teaching, choreographing and developing new talent. Natalia founded the company “Arte Flamenco” in New Orleans, where they performed to enthusiastic audiences at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. For this event, due to a grant from the Spanish Consulate, she was able to invite guest artist Manolo Leiva to present cante flamenco for the first time ever at JazzFest. Upon returning to Maryland Natalia recreated the company and formed her own studio. As director of Arte Flamenco, she has staged performances at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, the Baltimore Museum of Art, the University of Maryland, all major Hispanic and international music venues throughout the mid-Atlantic region. She has recorded with Brother Ah’s New World Ensemble cd “Celebration”, and was dance director for the GALA Hispanic Theater production of the House of Bernarda Alba, and coached actors for the Arena Stage’s production of Yerma.

Natalia is very proud that many of the dancers that have emerged on the scene in the DC-Baltimore area began as her students, and with a sound background in the elements of flamenco culture, they are now on their own performing in companies and as soloists.