The Lemon Sessions
In the Company of the Ancestors
Date & Time
Thursday, November 6, 2025
Friday, November 7, 2025
7:30 p.m.
Venue
Tacoma Armory, Parade Floor
Tickets
Access Ticket: $18.50
Basic Ticket: $28.75
Artist Advocate: $47.0
Our variable pricing ensures access for all while inviting those able to contribute more to fully support the artists. Online fees included.
![2[1]](https://www.tacomaartslive.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/21-768x512.png)
![3[1]](https://www.tacomaartslive.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/31-768x512.png)
![4[1]](https://www.tacomaartslive.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41-768x512.png)
![6[1]](https://www.tacomaartslive.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61-768x512.png)
![5[1]](https://www.tacomaartslive.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/51-768x512.png)
Event Details
In the Company of the Ancestors is the latest production in the innovative Lemon Sessions series, which combines live music, dance and spoken word by Northwest artists with striking visual art in immersive animated projections.
On the heels of All Souls’ Day, Día de Muertos and Samhain and the opening of Native American Heritage Month, In the Company of the Ancestors assembles an incredible roster of NW artists, dancers, musicians, poets and culture bearers to reflect on how we remember those who have gone before and how we accompany – and are accompanied by – our forbears.
Celebrated sound artist Julia Francis joins Lemon Sessions series producer Antonio M. Gómez to curate a unique and interactive arts experience that includes Francis’ facilitation of a sound bath as well as various performances and audience participation, all illuminated by projected visual art by Fulgencio Lazo, Saiyare Refaei and Deepti Agrawal on a massive 40′ screen.
Participating Artists:
Fulgencio Lazo aims to create warm, vibrant, whimsical images that celebrate family and community. His artwork depicts elements characteristic of his Oaxacan and Mexican heritage, like masks and human figures in an exploration of themes of identity. Color and graceful lines evoking free movement are ever-present in his pieces, bringing joy to the viewer.
Saiyare Refaei (they/them/she/her) is a Chinese Iranian artist based in Tacoma, Washington. Their mediums mostly include community murals, printmaking and meticulous pointillism drawings mostly. Saiyare strives to utilize art as a means of community building, education and healing. They enjoy working collaboratively and being a conduit to visualize the stories that need to be told in our communities.
Deepti Agrawal, a Governor’s Art and Heritage Award Honoree in 2022, is an artist and designer from India. She is a specialist in Madhubani Painting, an ancient traditional visual art form. Deepti has been into learning, teaching and exhibiting art since 1992. She is a TEDx speaker, a heritage art master artist with Humanities Washington, a culture and art educator at Seattle Art Museum, a former speaker at the Washington Speaker Bureau, and has been named Grand Marshal for the Fourth of July parade by the City of Bothell for her extraordinary contributions to community service, youth empowerment, artistic leadership, and humanitarian efforts.
Julia Francis is a sound therapist, singer-songwriter and vocal coach with over 30 years experience as a performer. With her voice, crystal alchemy bowls and other instruments, Julia provides sound encounters that promote relaxation and inspiration. Julia also offers workshops and retreats that support grief processing and working with the ancestors.
Kate Causbie‘s dance comes from a path of seeking traditions that are alive in communities in Southern Italy — especially those from Puglia, the homeland of her grandmother’s family. Spending half the year in Puglia, she is focused on understanding the call towards these lineages that is experienced by many people whose ancestors left the lands of the Apennine peninsula. She works to build bridges between these living roots and diaspora communities, centering local oral lineage and resisting commercialization — instead seeking older ways of creating together, in complex community.
Raúl Sánchez is a bilingual (English, Spanish) and sometimes trilingual (Nahuatl) poet and community collaborator. He was the 2019-21 City of Redmond Washington’s Poet Laureate. He teaches bilingual poetry to middle school students through the Jack Straw Cultural Center. He has volunteered for PONGO Teen Writing at the Juvenile Detention Center. His second poetry collection “When There Were No Borders” was released by Flower Song Press, McAllen, TX, July 2021. In 2022 he served as a judge for the 12th “Poetry Moves” poetry on buses in Vancouver, WA. In 2021 Raul translated Ellen Ziegler’s book for the Museum of Mexican Toys located in Mexico City. During COVID Raul began the Poetry in the Park biweekly readings at the Meadowbrook Pond in NE Seattle which is a continuing project. During COVID he felt the need to reach out to people and he installed a “Poetry Pole/box” in front of his house. Aside from poetry, Raul had collaborated with Orquesta Northwest, not only as a board member but also as an artistic contributor. He works with the community at Casa Latina and Path with Art among others. He was selected as a 2014 Jack Straw Writer. He was a mentor and a judge for the 2014 Poetry on Buses Project and a TEDx participant in Yakima WA.
Awal Alhassan born in Tamale, Ghana is a Master Dancer from the West African nation of Ghana. Born and raised by a traditional drumming and dancing family, Awal has worked throughout Africa both independently and with some of Ghana’s performance groups such as the Ghana Dance Ensemble, the National Theatre of Ghana, and the Center for National Culture Dance Troupe.
Huehca Omeyocan is an organization dedicated to promoting cultural practices of the Anahuac (Mesoamerican) people, primarily focused on Anahuaca (Ancestral Meshica Chichimeca Aztec) dance, music, art, and cultural education base on ancestral values.
Antonio M. Gómez is a Chicano-Italian son of the American West who specializes in Afro-Latin and Mediterranean styles. Tony has studied across Latin America and in Morocco, Spain and Italy. He crosses genres with ensembles ranging from Pacific MusicWorks to Tango del Cielo, Tacoma Refugee Choir, and Orquesta Northwest. A former K12 educator, he has designed and produced curricula for schools, universities and PBS, including the Peabody Award-winning Latino Americans. He is the Chief Engagement Officer at Tacoma Arts Live, a recent president of the Western Arts Alliance, and has presented and gathered folkloric content for Humanities Washington. His exhibition, LINEAJES, recently debuted at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. He loves languages, being a dad, and getting lost in markets around the world.
Thonatiu Mares, originally from Zihuatanejo, Guerrero, is a guardian of tradition and a bearer of the ancestral legacy of the Mexica dance of Cem Anáhuac. Since birth, his life has been intertwined with the sacred rhythm of the huehuetl (drum) and the pulse of the earth, dancing in the archaeological zone of Zihuatlampa—today known as La Soledad de Maciel (La Chole)—where his steps continue to honor the ancient ancestors. Heir to the lineage of his father, Tonatiuh, who transmitted to him the teachings of the dancer’s path from the inner spirit to the outward expression of the body, Thonatiu carries within him the fire of that heritage, strengthened also by his mother Teresa, a healer in the community, and his grandmother Paulina, a renowned local massage therapist. Through them, he learned the value of traditional medicine and the profound connection with plants and the elements of nature. Today, at 31, Thonatiu takes on the responsibility of expanding and sharing the knowledge held within the Dance of Cem Anáhuac, also known as Aztec Dance. Her purpose is to keep alive the spiritual, cultural, and healing essence of this path, carrying a message of respect, balance, and unity with the elements of life to new generations.
Jan Parker is on a mission to use food as a tool for connecting people and promoting cultural understanding and appreciation. She draws deeply on the inspiration of her parents, immigrants from the Philippines who not only inspired her with their community and family-grounded approach to food, but also through their incredible resilience. Growing up in a military family stationed in different continents both sharpened her appreciation for the flavors of her native Filipino cuisine as well as inspired her to explore other culinary traditions. This ability to bridge food traditions and cultures continues through her work – as a featured chef on national television and in her commitment to the food experiences of Tacoma, which she calls home.
Marian Seibert is the Assistant Director of the Seattle Medieval Women’s Choir, where she is also a featured soloist in both concerts and recordings. She will direct their winter program at St. James Cathedral on December 13. She has worked with ensembles including the Trinity Consort, the Tudor Choir, Northwest Baroque, The Esoterics, the Seattle Baorque Orchestra and Seattle Opera. Marian grew up in a family dedicated to preserving the vitality of early European musical traditions and works for a letterpress print shop when not singing.
Pricing Details
Access Ticket: $15.00 + $3.50 handling fee
Basic Ticket: $25.00 + $3.75 handling fee
Artist Advocate: $40.00 + $7.00 handling fee
Our variable pricing ensures access for all while inviting those able to contribute more to fully support the artists.
Enjoy a look back at the premier of the Lemon Sessions in September 2024, featuring muralist/graffiti artist Angelica Villalobos Soto (aka 179), electric cellist Gretchen Yanover, flautist Tracy Kane Doyle and percussionists James Doyle and Antonio M. Gómez.
