Healing Arts from the Borderland

The Art of Dance and Politicking: Christina Sanchez

At different stages, Christina Sanchez has lived creative and professional lives. Hear how her experience with dance in many ways perfectly prepared her for public life. But replacing her love for dance with her current role as the El Paso County Attorney gives her pause: “I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how my journey has – how I got to where I’m at…I know a lot of it is luck and a lot of it has been just the good people that I think have had faith in my abilities...So I don’t know necessarily if that’s like that trauma, but maybe there is something there I haven’t thought through.” Intrigued? Take a listen!

Healing Arts from the Borderland – the Art of Drag: DeDe Camacho

Living in Juarez by way of Chicago, DeDe entertains for a living at Drag Story Hour, at your next Joteria party or anywhere. “If I had to put it into a character that you might recognize, [it’s] kind of like ChiChi from Tu Wong Fu.” If you know you know. “Drag is powerful,…because it can take someone out of reality into something beautiful.” 

The Art of Dance: Joshua Peugh

In this weeks episode, Joshua Peugh describes his experience in using dance to heal from trauma and at the same time explains dance as a metaphor for life. “Because your body is your instrument and because for me as a choreographer I am sharing my internal landscape with a group of people, it’s a very vulnerable life and sometimers that comes with thorns and pain and sometimes its beautiful and lovely and smooth and easy and peaceful and other times its challenging and rough and that’s where the exciting parts of it are.”   

The Arts of Yoga & Advocating: Daniela Chisolm

Would you agree with Daniela and me that practicing yoga and practicing law are similar? “I’m an attorney by day and then a yoga teacher by night slash weekends. So I have these two very seemingly opposite parts of me but [it] really creates this wonderful, wonderful balance...Yoga and the law have this commonality where whether we’re in a courtroom or we’re in a yoga classroom as a teacher, we are holding space. We are holding space for others.”    

The Arts of Yoga & Advocating: Daniela Chisolm

Would you agree with Daniela and me that practicing yoga and practicing law are similar? “I’m an attorney by day and then a yoga teacher by night slash weekends. So I have these two very seemingly opposite parts of me but [it] really creates this wonderful, wonderful balance...Yoga and the law have this commonality where whether we’re in a courtroom or we’re in a yoga classroom as a teacher, we are holding space. We are holding space for others.”     

The Arts of Playwriting & Activism: Stephanie Karr

Stephanie lists one of her crowning achievements as the Executive Director of the Center Against Sexual and Family Violence as being raising funds and planning the replacement of their shelter. “One of the most fun things I did was…drive the first bull dozer into the building.” Imagine the image – a literal bull dozer driven by this bull dozer of a lady.

The Art of Dance: Lizbeth Rodriguez

Veteran, breast cancer survivor, dancer, mom, paralegal, lover of the arts, the community, and all-around person that wants to experience life at its fullest. “The way that I talk about myself is the various stages that I’ve lived throughout my life. I always tell people I’m at Liz 4.0…I’m a culmination of all those versions of myself.”

The Art of Directing & Trouping: Gus Sanchez

“For one thing, I personally have an issue withhyper-intellectualizing my feelings.” Same Gus, same.

The Art of Journaling: J’Hana Porter

“You know I just kind of describe myself as like a spark plug, youknow where I’m just igniting energy.” That’s just the kind of person you wantas a friend for exploring a new place and for learning about the healing powerof journaling. J’Hana explains in her irreverent and firecracker way howjournaling has helped her overcome and address profound traumas in her life.

The Art of Sporting: Curtis Clay

Avery once told me that sports are not art. Leave it to Curtis Clay to challenge Avery on this – Curtis said he wanted to “have a conversation with Avery” about this. A former college football player with a brief period with Dallas Cowboys, Curtis has used his love and knowledge of sports to be a mentor for men and boys, encouraging them not to get stuck in the “man box” of masculinity