Moving Mountains By Artist Raven Bright

Raven Bright is an Indigenous contemporary artist who comes from the desert mountains of New Mexico. His main focus is Breaking and teaching. Raven has a background of 20 years in the art of Breaking and Hip-Hop culture. Along the way, he has picked up a multitude of skills and experiences through culture, community, performance, and travel that have helped define his style of movement and have given him the tools to express himself through dance.

He is a mix of Diné (Navajo), Irish, and German descent and grew up in a small community. Raven is claimed by the Dibéłizhiní (Black Sheep Clan) of the Diné people. Raven creates a connection to land, culture, and its people through the movement he offers. “Every step you take on the dance floor is a deep heartbeat of your people,” he says. “The steps ahead are already imprinted, and it’s your destiny to follow and build upon them.”

Raven processes his connections with culture through the practice of visual storytelling. He finds new and innovative ways to showcase Indigenous stories that portray the internal struggles and joys of what it means to hold many identities as a mixed-blooded human. Growing up Raven could easily jump from one friend group to another but seldom found a sense of home in any given community. In finding dance, Raven was able to finally, truly interact with the world around him. Now he uses this as a superpower to be the bridge between different groups. The ones who often exist between spaces can see the different perspectives.