Performing in the 2017 Green Show on Friday, September 29 and Sunday, October 1
This is their second season at the OSF Green Show
Interactive tribal songs and flute, hoop and eagle dance, with traditional Native American stories
Ty Defoe (Giizhig) is from the Oneida and Ojibwe Tribes and resides in New York City. He is a two-spirit/trans* activist, cultural pioneer, writer, musician, and is known for his cultural education, hoop, and eagle dancing. As a multidisciplinary artist in New York City, Ty has gained recognition in many circles around the world. He’s a Grammy Award winning artist for his work on “Come to Me Great Mystery: Native American Healing Songs”. Ty’s interest are laid in bridging an integral approach to artistic projects, pulling in messages rooted through music, literature, video, and theatre. Defoe’s dedication and passion have been awarded recognition in both the Native American and artists’ circles throughout the world for his cultural programming exchanges that include the Hoop of Life. He’s a seasoned cultural educator at museums, universities, and school across the USA and Canada.
Ty’s cultural arts repertoire consists of: the Millennium celebration in Cairo, Egypt dancing with the Call for Peace Drum and Dance Company. He has traveled throughout Greece, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Turkey where he performed at the Ankara International Music Festival. He frequently is a guest artist at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. and in NYC. Some favorite past demonstrations have been at the festival of World Cultures in Dubai. As mentee of Kevin Locke, Ty has been mentored in language, song, dance, and oral storytelling.
His awards include: NEA/NEFA for reconstructed choreography in “Drum is Thunder, Flute is Wind,” First American in the Arts Outstanding Performance Award, First Americans in the Arts Scholarship Award, a Indigenous Heritage Festival Award: this award is given to artists who have made a major positive impact on indigenous people and issues of the world. He also is co-director of Ibex Puppetry’s Crane: On Earth, In Sky (LaMaMa Theater), 2016 Robert Rauschenberg Artist in Residence, and 2015 Yale Institute for Musical Theatre for book and lyrics on “Clouds Are Pillows for the Moon” (w/ composer Tidtaya Sinutoke).
Ty is a devoted mentor Hawaiian Theatre Initiative, an active member of East Coast Two-Spirit Society. His writing publications can be viewed in the Pitkin Review, Woody Guthrie Anthology, the Thorny Locust Magazine, and HowlRound. He has received degrees from CalArts, Goddard College, NYU’s Tisch. He is a TCG’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion Fellow Alumni & artEquity facilitator.
Ty Defoe on Community
Ty’s interest are laid in bridging an integral approach to artistic projects pulling in messages rooted through music, literature, video, and theatre. Defoe’s dedication and passion have been awarded recognition in both the Native American and artists’ circles throughout the world for his cultural programming exchanges. A seasoned cultural educator at museums, universities, schools, and institutions across the USA, Canada, and the world.