Montana Crossings by NightDancers

After many adventures and misadventures, I one day found myself about a hundred miles west of New York, standing outside a Tibetan Buddhist Temple, when suddenly I heard the most beautiful sound. Following the powerful, yet haunting sound, I found it emanating from a Native American flute, played by Ed Callshim (Ponca Sioux). After this experience, I finally found a flute of my own at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York.

Later, when traveling to Niagara Falls with my teacher Amy Lee (Iroquois), a deep desire to connect with my earlier travels in the Southwest was awakened. On one particular journey, I found myself retracing my steps of meeting a koshari many years ago and spending time exploring the canyons along the Rio Grande. Eventually I was led to the mountains and the Taos Pueblo, where I heard that haunting sound drifting through the air, and followed it to its source, a little adobe. Looking inside, I met a kind and talented gentleman, who encouraged me to play the native flute. That gentleman, unbeknownst to me at the time, is one of the finest Native American flute players, John Rainer Jr. (Taos/Creek). Leaving New Mexico with renewed faith, I was led, via The American Indian Community House in New York, to Franc Menusan (Muskogee Creek), who became my extremely patient mentor for several years.

On my birthday, I flew out to an R. Carlos Nakai (Navajo/Ute) concert with the San Francisco Symphony, where I learned about the Renaissance of the Native American Flute (RNAF) workshop in Montana. I came back to New York and booked myself a flight to Montana,

which was where I met John Sarantos, and our musical partnership was born.

About John Sarantos:

All my life I wanted to be a musician. Even after my junior high drum instructor told me I had no rhythm and quit teaching me. Even after being inspired by a Jethro Tull concert only to be dropped by my silver flute instructor on the grounds of being tone deaf - a verdict reinforced by several singing instructors. I still did not give up my dream. I just gave up dreaming for a while.

When I was 45, my mother Demetra introduced me to Native American flute music. The next day, synchronicity struck when my friend Nick Stamas introduced me to the flute music of Coyote Oldman.

Synchronicity struck again in 1996 when I heard Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai in concert in Chicago where I learned about Renaissance of the Native American Flute (RNAF) in Montana. After gaining more information on the upcoming workshop by spending an hour on the phone with Penny Light, I turned down a free two week tour to Japan and found myself inside a tipi at RNAF. I have been attending RNAF for over ten years, first as a participant, then as a facilitator. It was there that I met my first two flute teachers, Ken Light and R. Carlos Nakai. My dreams were re-awakened.

Next, my flute journey led me to Eugene, Oregon where I met my flute mentor Charles Littleleaf (Warm Springs), who has shared many sacred places, wisdom, stories, laughter, and friendship with me.

I have been fortunate in my life to have shared my knowledge of the flute with over 1,000 people from coast-to-coast, in a variety of workshops, thanks to the encouragement and support of folks like Bill Tucker, Bob and June Picard, Susanne (Suz) Tarhay, Peg and David Hernandey, and Wayne McClesky.

At RNAF in 2005, I was fortunate to meet and play flutes with Gera Clark. Through the encouragement of Gera’s friend, Bob Hegler, we continued jamming together, often via speakerphones 1,000 miles apart. A year later we formed NightDancers.

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