About The Artists

Tomo Nakayama is an acclaimed singer/songwriter and producer who has been a staple of the Seattle music scene since the early 2000s. His work has been praised by KEXP, The Stranger, NPR, and New York Times.

His latest solo album "Melonday" is a stylistic departure into electronic synthpop and it was recently named one of "15 Best Seattle Albums of 2020 (so far)" by Seattle Times.

Click here to learn more about Tomo Nakayama.

Xaviera Vandermay is the Artistic Director of 3rd Shift Dance, James Ray Residency Established Artist, Feminist-in-Residence for Empty Project in Newark, and Artist-in-Residence for the city of Redmond. Receiving her formative dance training in Redmond at Deborah Hadley's Washington Academy Arts, Ms. Vandermay loves the community and businesses of this bustling city.

She invites audiences to watch two clips featuring 3rd Shift Dance and Xaviera's choreography today; the first of a work in progress with her sister Ahnaleza Vandermay Weber, videographer/editor Justen Weber, and musician Nick Nihil and the second is a taken from the film "Love, Pain, Sevdah" directed by Jackie Muratti.

Click here to learn more about 3rd Shift Dance & Xaviera Vandermay.

The "Back to Redmond" exhibit, at the Redmond Community Center, was canceled due to COVID-19 crisis. Since the "Back to Redmond" exhibit is canceled at the community center, the VALA Board decided to do a virtual showing of "Back to Redmond!" As part of the virtual showing, VALA is sharing the jury selected submissions of the show, online through our Instagram and our Facebook networks!

Click here to learn more about VALA Eastside.

Chrysalis Circus presents a rare enchanting peek into the hidden gems of Redmond’s very own Bear Creek. This is an artistic collaboration starring performers Leslie Rosen and Vivian Tam with videography by Danny Boulet.

Join us as we transform into spectacular unearthly creatures who inhabit the water, air, and everything else in between. Experience this little pocket of nature and magic tucked in between an ever-changing urban landscape. Who says Bear Creek doesn’t have mermaids?

Click here to learn more about Chrysalis Circus.

Britta Johnson is a Seattle-based stop-motion animator. She makes video installations and short films, and has directed music videos for bands including Laura Veirs, Lusine, Andrew Bird, and Minus the Bear. Her projects and collaborations with musicians (Mirah and Spectratone Int’l, Robin Holcomb, etc.) have shown in venues including Greg Kucera Gallery, the Lawrimore Project, Gallery4Culture, Bumbershoot, the Henry Art Gallery, and Giant Magnet; the RedCat festival, the PICA’s TBA festival, the Walker Art Center, MassMoCA, the Kennedy Center, and the Boston MFA.

Click here to learn more about Britta Johnson

City of Redmond’s Poet Laureate, Raul Sánchez immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1979 and has been living in the region since the mid-1990’s. His poems have been published in many print and on-line publications and his first book was nominated for the 2013 Washington State Book Award for Poetry. In addition, he teaches poetry through Seattle Arts & Lectures Writers in the Schools program, PONGO Teen Writing, and Yakima Community College.

Click here to learn more about Raul Sanchez.

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Christina Arokiasamy is renowned for her culinary skills, as a spice expert and as an award-winning cookbook author. She was Malaysia’s first-ever official Food Ambassador to the United States.

Her passion for the cuisine roots from a life immersed in spices, blending many different cooking techniques from various cultures and being a 5th generation descendent of spice merchants—who have traded spices since the supremacy of the British East India Company. Christina’s joy is to give Americans an insider experience into her tropical homeland through cooking classes and culinary tours she leads to Southeast Asian destinations each year.

Click here to learn more about Chef Christina Arokiasamy.

Shub-Chintan Kaur is the founder of Rhythms Of India dance school. Bhangra is a traditional dance of Punjab and it has been an inspiration and a part of my life since I was 8 years old. This joyful dance can only be expressed and experienced while dancing Bhangra. The inspiration of Bhangra gave me a reason to explore and find out what the dance actually means and what it represents. I took formal training from India at the age of 8 and continued learning until I was 14. At that point, I became an assistant in the class and was teaching younger children.

By the time I was 18, I started to teach on my own. I taught in Vancouver, British Columbia, then moved to Los Angeles and formed a dance troupe named 'Nazaquat'. I moved back to Vancouver and taught with Rangeela Dance School. In 2001, I came to the Seattle area and have been operating my own dance school with the aid of three other instructors. Our school's mission is to train enough Bhangra dancers/instructors so that they keep this legacy alive for generations to come.

Click here to learn more about Rhythms of India.

Made with charcoal, colored pencils, gel pens. This animation recounts the time when the animator convinced their little brother that there were some rocks you can eat.

Click here to learn more about Stefan Gruber.

Temple of Music is a non profit organization founded by the internationally renowned performer and composer violin Maestro Ganesh Rajagopalan who lives here in Redmond , WA and trains young students in Indian classical music . Temple of Music organizes various musical workshops, concerts and swarayoga.

Click here to learn more about Temple of Music.

Northwest share is a 501(C)3 nonprofit organization based in Seattle founded in 2000 promotes Arts , culture, tradition, heritage, education , health and humanities. North west share organizes many arts and cultural festivals all around Washington state in partnerships with city of Redmond, One Redmond foundation, City of Bellevue, City of Issaquah, Festal, Seattle center, Washington state park, Northwest folklife etc.

They also operate a free vegetarian food truck and distribute free food. Visit the free food truck at Sunset Gardens Park in Redmond on Thursday nights at 7:00 p.m.!

Click here to learn more about Northwest SHARE.

afrose fatima ahmed is a poet, teacher and translator of Urdu poetry. She holds an M.A. in Asian Languages and Literature from the University of Texas at Austin. afrose has developed and facilitates a creative writing workshop entitled Dancing on the Page: Moving into Embodied Writing. You can find her on street corners and farmers markets, writing improv poems on demand on a 1925 Royal typewriter.

"bespoke poetry is an invitation to step out of the ordinary & into a dance of co-creation with an artist. it is an opportunity to share an intimate moment with a stranger, a poet, a woman with typewriter that you pass on the street. if you dare to stop and inquire within, you may find yourself having an extraordinary experience-- your desires, your needs, your story reflected in beautiful, rich language. a simple souvenir to take home, inspired by you & your life."

Click here to learn more about afrose fatima ahmed.

Opening Remarks (:41)
Tomo Nakayama, Get to Know You (3:37) | MUSIC
Raul Sanchez, Redmond Poet Laureate, The Redmond Way (1:41) | POETRY
Xaviera Vandermay, Redmond Artist-in-Residence, Pandemic Ballet (1:40) | DANCE
Britta Johnson, Rollout (2:24) | FILM
Chef Christina Arokiasamy, The Malaysian Kitchen (7:34) | CULINARY ART
Rhythms of India with Shub-Chintan Kaur, Giddha/Bollywood (3:16) | DANCE
afrose fatima ahmed, bespoke poetry (6:16) | POETRY
Stefan Gruber, Edible Rocks (2:49) | FILM
Redmond Artist-in-Residence Xaviera Vandermay, Love Pain Sevdah (2:01) | DANCE
VALA, Back to Redmond (3:00) | VISUAL ART
Temple of Music, Ragapravaham, Carnatic music of India (4:48) | MUSIC
Northwest Share, Mixing of Spices by Harry Terhanian (6:55) | CULINARY ART
Britta Johnson, Sisyphus (1:39) | FILM
Rhythms of India with Shub-Chintan Kaur, Bhangra (3:04) | DANCE
Chrysalis Circus, In the Glen of the Garden (4:15) | PERFORMANCE
Tomo Nakayama, City Won’t Sleep (3:23) | MUSIC
Closing Remarks (:19)