Naomi Bragin

Choreographer, dancer
Founder and Artistic Director, Dream Dance Company

NAOMI BRAGIN possesses a fierce choreographic vision integrating the spirit of Hip-Hop, House, African and Latin rhythm and form. From age 4-18 she competed as a classical violinist in her native Los Angeles. Her passion for dance evolved in the underground clubs of Los Angeles and New York in the 1990s. Since moving to Oakland in 1997 she has worked to celebrate the Bay Areaís unique urban culture producing popular events like Step Up Sister, Kickiní Flavor, Freestyle Fridays and Congregation.

In 2002 she founded Oakland, California based DREAM Dance Company to research, promote and illuminate Afro-Diasporic memory through movement. In her choreography Full Circle, nominated for the 2007 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Choreography, Naomi and collaborator Jose Barroso cycled Hip-Hop via Afro-Cuban Rumba Columbia to its African roots, exploring distinct Diasporic experiences and common legacies of dissent and liberation that sparked each cultureís development. Her exploration into the cultural roots of the dances performed by DREAM has brought her to study with master artists in New York, Cuba and Brazil. In 2005 she toured the islands of Mindanao and Kalinga, studying indigenous Pilipino tribal dance and culture.

Naomi has received support for her work from the Ford Foundation/FAAR, the Creative Work Fund, East Bay Community Foundation, Zellerbach Foundation, PUEBLO and California Arts Council. She currently pursues her Masters in Folklore at the University of California, Berkeley, researching ways to create space for redefinition and innovation in the fields of folklore, dance anthropology and performance.