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Belinda James/Divi Shadende

(Ohkay Owingeh)

Belinda James's Company, DIVI SHADENDE, means "they are dancing" in the Tewa dialect, a phrase she frequently heard as a child growing up on the reservation.  Whenever a ceremony was taking place, people in the gathering crowds would periodically ask if the dance had started so that they wouldn't miss witnessing a particular event within the activities taking place. Suddenly someone would excitedly shout, "Divi shadende!", and everyone would storm out of the house to attend the ritual.

Ms. James’s first professional job, dancing for the Santa Fe Opera during their 1978 season almost launched her into the orchestra pit one evening when Salome managed to flail her lotus blossom in a considerably frenzied manner during the dance of the seven veils.  ‘Cast as the lead chambermaid her head would have been severed before John the Baptist met his fate at Herod’s order, had she allowed just one of the seven veils or that very memorable lotus blossom to touch the lowly surface of the stage’.  “Thus, upon hearing the collective gasp of the immense audience, I couldn’t fathom any other profession to aspire to as I now had my first taste of how a spectator could be emotionally affected.  And the degree of impact that a single gesture made was indeed a miracle to behold”.

With dual interests in dance and art, and following a month of study at Melissa Hayden’s Ballet Studio in the summer of 1979, Belinda relocated to New York City in 1980 to pursue her artistic endeavors.

During this period of perfecting her performing abilities she auditioned for and was accepted into the prestigious Harkness Ballet School.  Consequently, with her plan to greatly improve her technique she had also applied to Hunter College as well as Parsons School of Design so as to lock herself into the city where many of the best dancers worldwide are trained.  So in 1981, she opted for Parsons, one of the most highly revered art institutions throughout the world.  “It was like an audition but with works of art.  I was called in for an interview and was told to make a collage as part of the testing process and to bring along samples of my work.  I was very nervous because not only had I never made a collage, but the only creations I had were sketches and doodles.  I never expected to be sitting in a waiting area with other applicants who had arrived with very large, framed oil paintings and portfolios bulging with detailed artwork.  My mere dozen fragments of paper fit into a 9x12 inch cardboard envelope that I had manufactured so that the jarring subway ride during a very crowded rush hour would not damage these sketches.  The day I received the surprising phone call announcing my acceptance I was actually en route to register at Hunter where I had also been accepted and was fully prepared to become a member of the academia.”

As the three year program at Parsons School of Design came to a close, she acquired employment for the New Jersey Ballet Company’s 1984 Nutcracker season, originating at the renowned Papermill Playhouse Theater and subsequently touring throughout the northeast for a total of 33 performances. Thereafter, she worked with various dance companies as well as aspiring choreographers, honing her ballet technique.

While continuing to study ballet with the countless accomplished dancers deciding to impart their expertise upon the future generations of dancers who flock to New York City to train, she performed throughout the United States, often hired as a solo artist (her height of 5’8 in bare feet which rose to 6’3” en pointe, prohibiting the possibility of being partnered much less fitting into a company corps, because then, everyone was required to fill comparable height requirements).  Soon after working for others she began touring her own choreography, first as a solo act but shortly afterwards, pick-up companies would have to be formed to allow for the full-cast works to be produced, which began to evolve from her prolific imagination.

Much of her work, whether in the category of two and three dimensional art or choreography is influenced by the mythology and history of the Native Americans, particularly that of her own tribe.  Combining various art forms, Ms. James produces, among a variety of subject matter, what she refers to as "dance art".  Additionally, she has most recently become a filmmaker.

By memorializing the selflessly honorable sacrifice that pairs of running messengers made traveling over vast amounts of land in order to synchronize the attack that would save their culture, this excerpt from her ballet emphasizes the man’s gravity defying contribution to the world of ballet that is often overshadowed by a beautiful ballerina who is normally the focal point.  The excerpt from MDCXXC, a three-act ballet which utilizes the 6th and 7th Symphonies of Dvorak, is entitled MESSENGER DANCE.  MDCXXC is a fascinating ballet that depicts the Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1680, the only successful Native American uprising after which the Pueblo Indians reestablished their sovereignty that would last for a period of twelve years.  Following this experience of the wit and humanitarianism of these agrarian tribes’ way of life, the reentry by the Spaniards into the southwestern regions would not be taken lightly.  They now had no choice but to acknowledge that their iron fisted approach was no match for the unforeseen strategy that they encountered despite their superior weaponry.

In October, 2009, her first film MESSENGER DANCE, was screened at the Red Fork Film Festival in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The film premiered in 2006 at the International Cherokee Film Festival also in Oklahoma and simultaneously at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona.  The following year it was screened at the Donnell Library in New York City on her birthday.  “It was the best birthday present I’ve had so far!”  In 2008 the film made a very long journey when it was accepted into the Wairoa Maori Film Festival in New Zealand.

As a fine artist, her work has been exhibited in such venues as the Gallery at Lincoln Center, the Americana West Gallery (in Soho), the Limelight (in Chelsea), the  82nd St. Barnes & Noble Bookstore as well as the original Ballet Shop (both located on the upper Westside of Manhattan), and at the 21st Century Fox Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  You can also see samples of her work at www.ArtWanted.com/thehtay.  In addition to being granted the Art Directors' Club "Award for Graphic Excellence", she designs posters, playbills, greeting cards, and t-shirts and also works as an illustrator and photographer for magazines and other printed works.