Presenters

Alicia Altair is a classically trained dancer, certified yoga teacher and experienced performer, most recently with the Suhaila Dance Company out of Albany, CA. Alicia has been dancing and making mischief around the sacred fire circle for almost 15 years, and though her travels keep her far and away much of the time, she is filled with gratitude to have the foundation of this spiritual family who welcomes her home year after year.

 

 

 

 

Johnny Scovel returns to us with years of experience in traditional Haitian and Cuban drumming. He is a seasoned teacher, lecturer, and performer. Johnny has engaged in scholastic and independent study of various African, Caribbean, and Native cultures, with a special interest in religion, drumming and dance. From 1983 to present, Johnny has been an active ceremonial drummer, playing for Haitian Vodou Ceremonies and Cuban Lucumi and Kongo ceremonies in Haiti, New York, Florida, California and his home state of New Mexico.

 

 

 

Amanda Turk is a licensed massage therapist of 12 years and a percussionist.  She found her musical calling from the moment she picked up a dumbek six years ago. Since then she has fully immersed herself in Middle Eastern music under the guidance of contemporary percussion masters, Raquy Danzinger of NYC and Bunyamin Olguncan of Istanbul, Turkey.  Amanda has taken multiple trips to Turkey and Egypt to delve deeper into the culture and discipline.  She is passionate about the many voices and artfulness of the dumbek and is honored to share this love and passion with the SpiritFire community.

 

 

 

Bucky Sparkle, CSYT has been teaching yoga since 2005 and is a Certified Svaroopa© Yoga Teacher.  Svaroopa, a unique yoga form, means “the bliss of your own being”.

 

 

 

Janet Farnsworth, MA, LSW, 200KYT, is a licensed social worker, experienced dance and movement teacher, and certified yoga teacher. Formally trained in group facilitation and psychodrama, she also has extensive dance experience in New York and Boston, and with the Doug Wood Dance Ensemble in Chicago. Janet currently facilitates a variety of dance journeys for children, families, disabled seniors, and adults, and conducts intentional ceremonies and celebrations with Laney Goodman as part of Sacred Waves of Rhythm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andrew Watermountain is a poet and artist, and an instructor of history and Latin.  He teaches design process and problem-solving to kindergartners and adults, and advises the student Debate Club on public speaking and persuasive tactics and logic.  He has served in two intentional communities as a spiritual advisor for several years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steve Trombulak is a conservation biologist who has for several years explored the connections between community and humanity’s relationship with the natural world. These explorations have drawn him to percussion (largely in the West African tradition), dance, voice, and service as a focus for community empowerment and expression. He has lived in the Middlebury area of Vermont for the past 27 years, and has presented and played numerous support roles at drum and dance festivals around the U.S. He’s also a poet, a birder, and a gardener.

 

John Giles has studied Tai-Chi and Taoist philosophy and energy work for over 20 years with a variety of teachers. He currently practices Yang, Chen, Sun and combined forms in open hand, straight sword, broad sword and fan, and related Chi-Gong exercises. He presently puts those skills to use to help maintain a sense of peace and equanimity in his day job as a middle school special-ed teacher.

 

 

 

Donovan Arthen has been raised in the EarthSpirit community, around the fire circle and has been a practicing Animist and Pagan throughout his life. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from Wesleyan University, and while many of us know him as a drummer he has also sung with numerous groups around the world, and has taught and led choirs and singing groups for several years. He is excited to share his experience with the community in a new way.

 

 

 

 

Tintalle Foxwood is an herbalist, artist, traditional witch, dancer and a long time apprentice and practioner of Faery Seership. One of Tintalle’ s first jobs after the United States Army did not offer health insurance- igniting her journey into herbal medicine. Since then she abandoned her pursuit of becoming a psychologist and planted seeds to become an herbalist. She is now finishing up her Masters in Therapeutic Herbalism at the Maryland University of Integrative Health (formerly known as Tai Sophia). A permaculturalist, Tintalle is committed to using and working with locally grown, ethically harvested herbs wherever possible. She is a firm believer in herbal medicine as the people’s medicine, honoring the inherent wisdom of herbs in supporting the body and our ancestral connections to earth based healing. Tintalle integrates her practice with her connections to the natural world.

 

 

A life-long fascination with the human heart/mind/spirit drives Rachel Fields in her work supporting people as they connect with their soul longings, helping to remove obstacles, and guiding them down a clear path to what they seek. This drive took her to India twice – a year-long pilgrimage seeking knowledge from traditional gurus, and then to study Ayurveda.  After completing her degree in Religion, Rachel pursued different avenues to continue her own inner development – meditation in the Dzogchen and Kashmir Shaivism traditions, solo wilderness fasting journeys, Core Energetics, Priestess Path, 5Rhythms® movement meditation, and more.  Rachel is honored and excited to join with the SpiritFire community to explore how it’s possible to manifest the lives we dream about.