Daystar (Rosalie Jones)
Indigenous Performance Program
Daystar (Rosalie Jones) was born on the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana and is of Pembina Chippewa ancestry on her mother's side. She holds a Master's Degree in Dance from the University of Utah with postgraduate work at Juilliard School in New York City. She studied Korean, Hawaiian, East Indian and Flamenco dance, mine with Reid Gilbert, and modern with Jose Limon and Hanya Holm. Over many years, she has gained a knowledge of the Indigenous dance and cultural forms of the Plains, the Northwest Coast, and Conchero Dance, among others. As a teacher, she was responsible for the revitalization of Performing Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico, during the early 1990's when she was Chair of the Department. In 1995, Daystar was awarded a two-year National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Choreographer's Fellowship.
Contemporary Dance-Drama of Indian America
MISSION OF THE DAYSTAR COMPANY: to encourage and train Native American talent in the performing arts, and to teach others to approach respectfully, the dance, music, and art of Native Americans.
Daystar (Rosalie Jones) is the Founder and Artistic Director of DAYSTAR Dance Company.
The Company, founded in 1980, was the FIRST DANCE COMPANY in the U.S. created with all-native performers and specializing in the portrayal of the personal and tribal stories of Indian America. The Company has toured throughout the United States and Canada, and in Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
Teaching
Over the past 30 years, Daystar and the Company has taught in a variety of educational institutions, from elementary to university level, and in cultural and community settings both native and non-native.
The teaching process of Daystar is both personal and tribal. Theatrical ideas - which encompass story, choreography and music - are developed for individual and group training in expressiveness, but with respectful attention being given to the dictates of the tribal community and tradition.
Daystar lectures continuously in the university setting.
At University of California - Irvine, State University of New York - Brockport College, at American University in Bulgaria and Anadolu University, Turkey, she has introduced such courses as Native American Dance, Storytelling, and Mask and Myth.
