Las Flores del Valle

Las Flores del Valle (Carol Vigil and Leila Flores-Dueñas) have been making music

together for 25 years for special projects supported by arts institutions such as the

Smithsonian Institute, the Mellon Foundation, the University of New Mexico Center for

Regional Studies, and various museums including the Gene Autry Theatre in Los

Angeles, the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the

Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA) in Santa Fe. Las Flores del Valle enjoy

researching, performing, and preserving oral traditions from their families and

communities, that have formed part of our rich cultural heritage in the US/Mexico

Borderlands on topics related to women’s roles in Borderland Music, Corridos of the

Southwest, Soldaderas/Combatientes of the Mexican Revolution, Día de Muertos

celebrations, and more recently, songs of the Sephardic Ladino Judeo Diaspora. They

have also performed for international conferences in Spain and Mexico, Chicana and

Chicano Studies, and Women’s Studies in universities. Whether they are singing for

large audiences, civic organizations, or private guests, they are sure to deliver smooth

harmonies and thoughtful tunes with a little history, passion, and heartfelt joy.

Héctor Contreras López

Héctor Contreras López (MA Spanish American Literature, NM State University) is a free-lance translator, writer and educator whose main area of study is Latin American Jewish authors. He has published several volumes of award winning poetry.

Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales

Gabriel Carrion-Gonzales (he/they) is on a constant journey of self-discovery, self-actualization, and self-acceptance, calling upon the arts as a guiding Light along this path. They often work with community, youth, and collaborators to help reimagine and build a vision of collective wellness and health. As a dance artist and arts administrator, Gabriel seeks to bridge two worlds: the one in their mind and dreams, and the physical realm we all inhabit. "On a human level, I am a Queer Burqueño Latino artist, polishing the soul’s blemishes through dance, laughter, connection, and the enjoyment of life, one day at a time. Gracias to my ancestors, my relatives, and my community for supporting this journey.

Sarah Hogland-Gurulé

Sarah Hogland-Gurulé Sarah Hogland-Gurulé is woven into Genízaro, Chicano and Celtic lineages and was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM - one of her ancestral lands traditionally stewarded by the Tiwa. She is guided by the belief that dance is a form of embodied healing, remembrance and visioning. She is a core artist with Dancing Earth and has performed with MALACARNE, Pat Graney Company and CHERDONNA (Seattle, WA), Lawine Torrèn (Austria) and Yeztli Danza y Arte (Albuquerque, NM). Her dance theater work has been presented by Wildflower Playhouse, American Dance Festival’s Emerging Choreographer’s Showcase, Seattle’s People of Color Salon, University of New Mexico, LARVA Forum and Centro Cultural Los Talleres. Sarah is also deeply devoted to sharing the joys and medicine of movement with others. She currently teaches dance at the Institute for American Indian Arts and has shared dance in many spaces, including after school programs, youth detention facilities, pre-professional training programs, family shelters, universities, women’s prisons and community centers.

Lupita Salazar

Lupita is a farmer and, de vez en cuando, an artist from northern New Mexico. She has been educated by the universities, lands, and elders of southern California, Chile, northern Arizona, and New Mexico. As a performer with Dancing Earth, she has been able to share her land based knowledge in the universal language of dance. She continues to farm on her family's land, and share what she knows with the next generation.

Sandra Marroquin-Evans

Actor, performer, dancer, poet,  

mother of 24 year old twins, was born
and raised in Guatemala
knows the pain of migration.
She is honored to bring life
to such profound poetry and
hopes you feel the power of
each word.

Sandra has been performing since she was a girl. She has appeared in numerous stage productions in Albuquerque including “Bodas de Sangre” and “La Casa de Bernarda Alba” by Federico García Lorca, Lisa Loomer’s “Living Out”, and many others.

Prof. Dr. Roger Martínez-Dávila

Prof. Dr. Roger Martínez-Dávila is a historian specializing in Sephardic and Converso history, with a deep connection to Spain and his own family’s Jewish-Catholic heritage. 

His first book, Creating Conversos: The Carvajal-Santa María Family in Early Modern Spain (2018), explores the 14th-century formation of his own family—a blend of Spanish Catholic knights and Jewish rabbinic lineages. Somos católicos, somos judíos—they are the resilient but fractured Conversos.

He co-curated Fractured Faiths: Spanish Judaism, The Inquisition, and New World Identities (2016) at the New Mexico History Museum, uncovering the Sephardic diaspora in North America. 

His Deciphering Secrets project engaged 50,000 learners in transcribing medieval Spanish manuscripts on Jewish-Christian-Muslim relations.Dr. Martínez-Dávila serves on the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute’s America&Spain250 Commission, highlighting Sephardic presence in the U.S. Southwest.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb

Lynn Gottlieb is one of the first ten women to become a rabbi in Jewish history.  Founder of Nahalat Shalom Congregation in Albuquerque, NM, Lynn is a performing and visual artist, author, community organizer and social justice advocate. She is co-founder of the Muslim Jewish Peacewalk, serves on the board of Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity in CA, and recently initiated the Shomeret Shalom Ordination Program for Jewish Revolutionary Nonviolence.  Her most recent book is Shomeret Shalom: Replanting Seeds of Jewish Revolutionary Nonviolence.  Her show, “Way of the Mishkan” will be in the gallery of Nahalat Shalom this fall.  

Lynn Gottlieb es una de las primeras diez mujeres en convertirse en rabina en la historia del judaísmo. Fundadora de la Congregación Nahalat Shalom en Albuquerque, NM, Lynn es una artista escénica y visual, autora, organizadora comunitaria y defensora de la justicia social. Es cofundadora de la Caminata por la paz musulmana-judía, forma parte de la mesa directiva del Movimiento Interconfesional de Integridad Humana en California y recientemente ha iniciado el Programa de Ordenación para la Noviolencia Judía Revolucionaria Shomeret Shalom. Su libro más reciente es Shomeret Shalom: Replantando semillas de noviolencia judía revolucionaria. Su exposición “La vía del Mishkan” se presentará en la galería de Nahalat Shalom este otoño.