Mom & Me: Navigate with Harriette and Shaunnah
Director: Claudine Naganuma
Choreographer: Claudine Naganuma and dNaga Dance Co.
Assistant to the Director: Ellie Kerwin
Dancers: Harriette Ray, Shaunnah Ray and Kiddos, and Micah Morris
Photos courtesy of the families
Interview conducted by Claudine Naganuma
Interview: Shaunnah Ray
Musical Director: Joel Davel
“Navigate” by Indigo Mateo
Arranged by Joel Davel, Performed by Indigo Mateo, Ana Eye, and Joel Davel
Video Editor: Marie Santos Fontejon
Thank you to CA$H Grant managed by Dancer’s Group, The Clorox Company, East Bay Community Foudation’s East Bay Fund for Artists, and our Individual Donors.
Indigo Mateo is a Jersey-risen vocalist who currently lives in Oakland and is a writer and filmmaker. Mateo is co-owner of her social impact record label, Question Culture, and founder of Soul Showers, a space where survivors of sexual violence cleanse shame and ‘heal in the sun.’ Her debut album “Intuition” is available everywhere. Mateo has been working with dNaga over the past three years as a singing teacher in the GIRL Project and we are excited to take our artistic relationship into the collaborative realm for dNaga’s dance project Mom & Me.
Harriette Ray is a Florida-born, Oakland-raised artist, educator, mother of two, grandmother of four. Harriette has explored various career paths-symbolic of her eclectic interests. After graduating from Oakland High School, she attended University of California Berkeley where she received a BA in Social Science and Ethnic Studies. Harriette served as a social worker while pursuing her love of sculpture which evolved into a thriving porcelain doll making business. Harriette shared her skills as a sculpting instructor and also taught doll making classes at local art studios. A career change led Harriette to a trade school to learn carpentry and welding which she did until she pursued a career as an educator receiving a masters degree in education from Saint Mary’s College, as well as attending Patten University for K-12 education. With a wealth of knowledge in hand Harriette became a school teacher in Alameda County, an experience which she took with her into retirement as special and rewarding. Underlining all of these roads on her journey Harriette was a young mother and raised two children and four grandbabies. Continuing to share her gifts of art and education with her family, she remains curious and creative.