About Hilary Giovale,

Interdisciplinary Creatrix

ANCESTRY

I am a 9th generation American settler of Scottish, Irish, and Scandinavian descent.  I live at the foot of a mountain that is sacred to many Indigenous Nations.      I am currently in a state of  inquiry: how to be a good relative here, on their ancestral homeland?

 EDUCATION

In 2006, I graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Masters degree in Sustainability.  My thesis focused on qualitative research with undergraduate women and Tribal Style Bellydance.  This project showed that women correlate this dance form with higher confidence, self-esteem, happiness, and better body image.

My academic research and writing inspired ongoing explorations: How can synchronized group improvisation facilitate embodiment, healing and empowerment?  How can it cross-pollinate other social, spiritual, and environmental movements to increase their potency?  I have since stopped using the word "Tribal" to refer to this artform, after becoming sensitized to how this term colludes with the ongoing oppression and marginalization of Indigenous Peoples.

TRAINING

My dance training began with ballet throughout childhood and continues with various forms of dance in adulthood.  Between 2007-2013 I received multiple professional  teaching certifications.

Additional trainings I've completed include Symposium Facilitator training with The Pachamama Alliance, Cultivating Women's Leadership and CoMadres with Bioneers, Fundraising from the Heart with Soul of Money Institute, Trauma Methodologies with Tewa Women United,  immersion experiences with The Pachamama Alliance, Arkan Lushwala and Pat McCabe, Earthing the Moon with Jewels Wingsfield through Tree Sisters, We Will Dance with Mountains with Bayo Akomolafe, Song Carriers Apprenticeship with Madi Sato, Aadizooke Waabowayaan/Resiliency Map Facilitator Training with Ana Sophia Demetrakopoulos, Women Bridging Worlds with Rachel Bagby and Nina Simons, allyship trainings with White Awake, and classes with Luisah Teish and Hidden Glen Folk School.  These experiences continue expanding the spectrum of my Interdisciplinary Creatrix-hood.

TEACHING & MORE

Since 2007 I've been teaching women's dance and embodiment practices in a variety of settings.           .  From 2010-2019 I served as Artistic Director for Maeve Rising Dance Collective.      

From the seat of intuitive listening, I'm presently combining my passions for human transformation, peace, sustainability, social and environmental justice with the power of relationship and ritual.  Continuing education and partnership with Indigenous relatives is creating powerful inquiry into personal and collective decolonization. I am curently immersed in writing an ethnoautobiography about my process of decolonization.  To learn more about that work, please visit goodrelative.com.