I descend from generations of healers, pearl divers, boat builders & fisherfolk of Bantayan island (Bisayan for ‘watchtower’), in the central heart of the Visayan Sea, Philippines, where I am now based. I grew up in working-class migrant family that settled in South Florida (unceded lands of the Miccosukee, Seminole, Mascogo, Calusa), but lived much of my adult life on the road and in Harlem, NYC (unceded territories of the Mohican, Wappinger, Schaghticoke, & Munsee Lenape).

Years of off-grid life, hitchhiking travels, sensual bodywork, trauma healing, public performance collaborations & academic studies (BA in Anthropology from Columbia University & MA in Media Studies from the New School of Public Engagement) inform layers of embodied research. I am truly grateful for a lifetime of movement, returning me back to my ancestral waters.

My learning journey in spirit arts is humbly informed by power plants & bodywork. My movement as healing practice blossomed from training in hatha yoga, butoh dance, somatics, ritual theater, warrior arts, & freediving. I approach spirit arts from islander cosmoworlds that syncreticize indigenous elemental animism, (south/east asian) ancient healing wisdoms & folk faith deeply grounded in ritual & in relation to all the once living.

Kalami Spirit Arts emerged with the ethos that sensual pleasures, elemental roots & engagement with shifting techno-ecologies bring us closer to the heart of the source. As massive displacements across the planet accelerate in climate change, learning how to travel and return safely ‘home’ – in the body & in relation – is ever more important.