Guests Speakers

Andre Bradford, a.k.a. S.C. Says, is an Austin based slam poet who has been performing slam poetry since 2013. He's toured and featured at venues and universities across the country, and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Write About Now, The Edge radio, The Culture Trip, and Blavity. He is a two time Austin Poetry Slam Champion, the 2022 Texas Grand Slam Champion, and is the author of the book Golden Brown Skin. He also once popped a bag of popcorn without burning a single kernel, which is arguably one of his greatest achievements.

His poetry covers a gamut of topics ranging from being mixed race, to social justice, to mental health awareness, to never settling in relationships. Slam poetry is an art form he loves due to its raw vulnerability and its ability to cultivate transparency and dialogues into many different walks of life.

Monica Rojas-Stewart was born and raised in Lima, Peru where she became a national dance champion at the age of 17. Monica now lives and works in Seattle, WA. A mother, wife, scholar, and performing artist, Monica has devoted her many years in the Pacific Northwest to extensive community-based research, education, and artistic work as a pioneer performer and educator of Afro-Peruvian culture and of the Afro-Latinx arts movement.

Rojas-Stewart currently holds multiple positions at the University of Washington as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Dance and as Assistant Director of the African Studies and the Latin American and Caribbean Studies programs at the Jackson School of International Studies.

Andrés Arteaga (he/him/his) is the Director of Ministry & Justice at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. Andrés, a proud indigenous, Mexican American from Los Angeles, discovered the connection between dance and social justice at the age of 12. He began dancing as a way to express his emotions and struggles and ultimately pursued a master’s in social justice arts education.

Andrés will be leading our 7th-grade Masterclass, Dance as a Form of Resistance! In this Masterclass, students will learn about the history of dance styles that were created and used as a form of resistance.