yUdjEha aKAyôya
Yuchi Opening Song
Translated by Halay Turning Heart
Written by the Yuchi Language Project
“This song was written for the children at the Yuchi Language Project and is led by the children every morning first thing as a declaration and reminder of our purpose as we face the Sun and start the day with affirmation and intention. Many of the song lyrics are phrases our Elders used.“ - Halay Turning Heart, Project Administrator at the Yuchi Language Project.
YUCHI:
yUdjEha aKAyôya... yUdjEhalA'wAdA
yUdjEha zA'yada... s@nlA dOt@sh'a
yUdjEha KAdû... zOyaha KAdû
Ôzo yUdjEha gO'WAdAnA-A n@wadonô
yUdjEha Ânô sô KAÂnô
yUdjEhalA TahAÔK'âfA
gOh@nTOnA wAs@nlA
yUdjEha @yOôdaya... yUdjEhalA' WAdA
yUdjEhalA hOTa... yUdjEhalA hE'kû
gOh@nTOnA nedzAnÔtE
nÔzEOshEIA nÔzAtyûnô
nÔzA ky@hanô
n@ ÔwûlAnô agat'AjElA
TahAê Ôk'âfÂ
gOh@nTOnA WAs@nlA
ENGLISH:
If you are Yuchi speak Yuchi.
I really like that I am Yuchi.
I am Yuchi and a child of the Sun.
Our Yuchi language will not die.
We the Yuchi people are still here.
We are carrying on the Yuchi way of life.
God is good.
If you all know Yuchi speak Yuchi.
Teach the Yuchi way and
use the Yuchi language.
God we ask of you to
bless us, help us, watch over us.
We will not give up, every single day
we will carry it forward.
God is good.
Oklahoma Woman Quartet Excerpts by Anjelica Lindsey
Performed by:
Lara Lignitz, soprano
& Fiammetta Quartet:
Will Joseloff • Tom Shamrakov • Camille Cole • Eamon Riley
Go On | Hanigawu
I’ve been waiting for the rain to stop so I could burn this house down and be done at last
I’ve been waiting for the clouds to pass and the sun to shine down on me as I lit the match
Then I heard, “Child, don’t you know? The weather doesn’t show any mercy,
“So go on.”
“Your fire will still burn in the rain,”
“So go on, so go on.”
Reduction & Translation
I waited. Perfect moment never came.
Tsigatiyv. Tlahilvhi iyuquu yinulistvne.
Tsi-ga-ti-yv. Tla-hi-lv-hi i-yu-quu yi-nu-lis-tv-ne.
Fire burns in rain.
Atsilvsge si agasge.
A-tsi-lvs-ge si a-gas-ge
Lullaby | Kanogisdi | (Song)
One day as I lay in my bed a strong gust of wind blew and my house fell down.
So my bed and I, we tumbled down, but the bed stayed made and in it I still laid.
Fall back asleep, let nothing disturb you, I do proclaim!
One day as I lay with my love, police came to inform us we couldn’t stay.
So my love and I, we burrowed down into the ground where maybe we could live there happily.
Fall back asleep, let nothing disturb you, I do proclaim!
Reduction & Translation:
Wind blew house down. I stay in bed. I fall asleep.
Diwenvsv unolvtanv. Tsinigv. Agitlvnv.
Di-we-nv-sv un-no-lv-ta-nv. Tsi-ni-gv.
A-gi-tlv-nv.
Police said leave home. I go under ground. I fall asleep.
Adaniyis (gi) hanigv udvne. Hawinigado. Agitlvnv.
A-da-ni-yis-(don’t say gi) ha-ni-gv u-dv-ne.
Ha-wi-ni-ga-do. A-gi-tlv-nv.
The End | Al(i)squad(i)
My little darling asks when we see one another next. I wish that I could say I knew, but that would be lying.
So down you go, never will we part, I say. Just think of me every single day while off you go and I will do the same.
Reduction & Translation:
When do we meet again?
Halayv do da na tlo si?
Ha-la-yv do-da-na tlo-si?
We never part.
Nigohilv ganvliyo sesdi.
Ni-go-hi-lv ga-nv-li-yo ses-di.
You think about me, I think about you.
Squadantesgesdi gadanvtesgesdi.
Squa-dan-tes-ges-di ga-da-nv-tes-ges-di.
Forever.
Ni-go-hi-lv.
yUdjEha zinE w@thl@anE
“Yuchi Galaxy”
Graphic score | live interpretation
Aryn Ward
Performed with Aryn's 4 Children: Jaycie (15), Jaxton (12), Joshua (11), & Journey (8)
Yuchi Galaxy is a hand-beaded graphic score created by Aryn Ward on deer hide and interpreted live for the first time by Ward and her four children.
The score maps 26 scientifically accurate constellations in beads across the hide, surrounding a Yuchi sun symbol at its center made of dantallium shells and turquoise rock. Four directions extend from the center in turquoise beads, while diamond-shaped, reflective cabochons represent Yuchi star symbols, connecting the celestial imagery of the score with Yuchi visual language.
Natural holes and imperfections in the deer hide are intentionally preserved and outlined with rhinestone banding. They represent the idea that our mistakes and imperfections become part of who we are. They may also be interpreted as black holes or the places we sometimes fall into while searching for ourselves within the universe.
Rather than prescribing a single musical path through the constellations, the score invites the performers to navigate, respond to, and interpret its visual elements in real time. This first performance becomes a shared exploration between Aryn and her children to find their place amongst the stars.
Improvisation Set
Michael Begay
Guitar, electronics & various instruments
Michael Begay presents an improvisational set incorporating guitar, electronics and other instruments, bringing his contemporary and experimental practice into a live, spontaneous setting.
Solo Set
Sage Bond
Voice & guitar
Sage Bond presents a solo set for voice and guitar, drawing from her work as a Diné/Nde singer-songwriter, composer and musician.
Free Improvisation
Aryn Ward • Michael Begay • Sage Bond
The festival concludes with a collaborative free improvisation
featuring cedar flute and effects, guitars, voice and electronics.
Rather than following a predetermined score, the musicians respond to one another in real time, bringing their individual musical voices together for a spontaneous closing performance.
OVERFLOW RADIO:
Šakotayišol Nunuš Constellation
October 3-24, 2026
DiverseWorks Gallery @ MATCH Gallery Hours: 12 noon – 6 pm, Thursday-Saturday
Celebrated for her large-scale social choreographies, Emily Johnson / Catalyst’s newest project, Overflow Radio is a performance, skill-share, planting of 1000 trees, and radio transmission from across territories.
In conjunction with the world premiere of Overflow Radio in Mni Sóta Makoce (Minneapolis), DiverseWorks hosts an Overflow Radio: Šakotayišol Nunuš Constellation here in Houston. Over 24 non-consecutive hours, we will gather in-person to listen to twelve First Nations and Indigenous authors, poets, and scholars live-broadcasting from their home territories and First Nations. We’ll pay attention to other scales, other forms, other knowledges. We’ll traverse together, transcending colonial borders, languages and time. We’ll feast and celebrate the making of community, as we practice our shared commitment to creating our possible futures, as we gather what we need to know.
The program is developed in collaboration with Emily Johnson and local Indigenous and Native artists to include talks, skill-shares, listening gatherings, an exhibition, and performances by Aveda Adara, Chiara “Sunshine” Beaumont, Christie “Chichi” Chafoya, Karen Navarro, Aryn Ward, and Monica Villarreal, with additional participating artists and community partners to be announced.
The project is co-organized by DiverseWorks, Emily Johnson / Catalyst, and the participating artists and partners.
Programs
OVERFLOW RADIO: Šakotayišol Nunuš Constellation
October 3-24, 2026
DiverseWorks Gallery @ MATCH
Saturday, October 3, 5 – 9 PM
5 PM Good Medicine Indigenous Music Festival, Pay-What-You-Wish Tickets
7 PM Opening Reception
Friday, October 9 – Monday, October 12, 11:30 AM – 6 PM
(first transmissions start at 12 PM each day)
Listening Sessions, Skill Shares and Panel Discussions
RSVP
Friday, October 9, 6 PM
Performance: Maize by ACT II
Free Tickets
Saturday, October 17, 6 PM
Diverse Discourse Lecture w/Mary V. Bordeaux, Ed.D., Co-Founder & Co-Director, Racing Magpie
RSVP
Thursdays – Saturdays, 12 – 6 PM
Exhibition Hours
Press
Read 2026-27 Season Preview: 23 Shows Marked on Our Contributors’ Calendar, Dance Magazine (Sep 2026).
Read What Carries Forward: Emily Johnson’s ‘Overflow Radio’ at DiverseWorks, Arts and Culture Texas Magazine (Aug 2026).
Read Previewing Exhibitions Coming to the Greater Houston Area in Fall 2026, Glasstire (Aug 2026).
Acknowledgements
Overflow Radio is a National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund Project commissioned by Roy and Edna Disney / CalArts Theater (REDCAT) and co-commissioned DiverseWorks, MASS MoCA and University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, more information at www.npnweb.org.
Overflow Radio is developed through creative residencies provided by MASS MoCA, John and Mabel Ringling Museum of Art, Roy and Edna Disney / CalArts Theater, University of Minnesota’s Imagine Fund with support from the McKnight Foundation, and Danspace Project with support from the New York State DanceForce, a partnership program of the New York State Council on the Arts.
Overflow Radio is created with generous support from First Peoples Fund, Howard Gilman Foundation, Harkness Foundation for Dance, and the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and The Mellon Foundation.
Emily Johnson / Catalyst is fiscally sponsored by Producer Hub.
Image: Emily Johnson / Catalyst, Quilt Being Star, worn by Ty Fierce Matteba, photo by Two Hawks Young.