Christine Joy Amagan Ferrer (a.k.a. Tine or tinejoy) is the creatress of Eyes Opened (EO), eomvmnt.org. And creator, author and designer of The Divine Coloring Book. Tine is a multidisciplinary creative soul from San Francisco. A jack of all trades, but a master of nothing but herself. She is a curator of sacred wellness, cultural arts practitioner and healing arts facilitator. Rooted in Philippine, Haitian and Afro-Brazilian folkloric music and dance. Spirituality, folklore, indigenous art forms and rhythms across diasporas, of Spirit ground her.  By day, she has been empowering youth through movement arts for over a decade. By night, she is also a freelance designer and media producer. She delivers solutions for community organizations and individuals acting for the greater collective. Through visual, written and embodied storytelling, she uses movement, media and design to help others tell their stories. Tine is also the educational program coordinator for Robert Moses Kin.

“I believe, if we face ourselves, we can heal ourselves and ignite the sacred power within.” – Tine #tinejoyAF

 

By Christine Joy Ferrer @tinejoy, 2021

the rebirth.
expansion
defying my own limitations
stretching my capacity
traversing unknown realms of the Divine 
means facing myself
facing my blockages, my insecurities
breaking cycles of imbalance
realizing the illusion
that there is no box confining me
Spirit world and the tangible
are one in the same

I harness all the power
seeing myself beyond my expectations 
being myself, is not an easy feat
stepping out of my comfortability 
has led to expansion
wisdom. re-membering, the application. aligning with my spiritual flow, as Spirit flows. 
ceremony. ritual. repeat.
honoring the Sacred, the ancestors, is honoring my inner work, to pave way for the communal, global work because that’s the soul work
tap, tap, tap in
healing starts within
or, wellness cannot begin 
know my voice, speak the truth, with an unbridled tongue, even when difficult to hear
let self-love rise. 
like a snake. I shed my skin. like a phoenix. I rise from the ashes. like a peacock. my eyes see. channelin’. journey. process. cultivate. manifest. ancestral paradigm shifting. Guided by the light and the dark. I let go. I receive. I am my own canvas, my biggest most creative project and masterpiece. I create in sacred solitude, unleashing tinejoy AF, that sometimes I find lonely, but I am not alone. Hundreds of lifetimes and past lives, yet here I am again expanding, contracting as does all things
the earth I am made of, the water that floods me, the fire that consumes me, is the air I breathe. Inhale, exhale. Death comes in the void. But birth comes in the void too. Inhale my first, exhale my last. Release to receive. Watch me transform to transcend. I vibrate my intentions. Mind, body, spirit connections. I feel my way through.  Meditate my way through. I am an experience. I am that I am. The all in all. 

THIS IS MY REBIRTH.

CURRICULUM VITAE (Last rev. circa 2018)

I am an American-born Filipina with Tagalog, Bisayan and Ilokano known roots who graduated from San Francisco State University with a Bachelor of Arts dual degree in Journalism and Dance. I believe that my dynamic background in teaching across multiple disciplines—movement, cultural and visual arts, also in relationship to the written word, has helped me utilize my artistic expression and practices as a catalyst for social change.

Dance is intrinsic to who I am. As a child, I did ballet, jazz, tap, and musical dance theater in church. At SF State, I trained in Afro-Haitian, Modern, Afro-Brazilian Contemporary, Capoeira and Latin American Social Folk dances. In the last several years, my practice has focused on Haitian Folkloric Dance with Portsha Jefferson, Blanche Brown, Michelle Martin, and Laure Fleurentin; along with Afro-Brazilian Contemporary with Tania Santiago. I’m a member of Parangal Dance Company. I’ve also participated in cultural exchange trips to study spirituality, cultural dance, music and art in Haiti with Daniel Brevil and to the Philippines on TribalTur with Alleluia Panis. I am rooted in the San Francisco cultural arts community teaching at multiple schools across the city and dedicated to working with youth from diverse backgrounds and needs, ages 18-months to 17 years old, both individually and privately. For over 10 years, I worked as a youth and preschool coach at AcroSports, a gymnastics, acrobatics and circus arts training facility, where I first taught my own curriculum based on creative movement, gymnastics and folkloric storytelling.

Today, my movement teaching continues to explore cultural dance/music in combination with acrobatics, mindfully harnessing the creativity of a student’s own choreography. For the last few years, I facilitated my own private AcroDance all-girls youth cultural arts summer camps, as well as co-hosted and co-created AVE + EO’s Young Creators Camp (2019) that focused on a week of exploration through play, movement and visual storytelling, while promoting healthy relationships to ourselves and others through social and cultural context. I also designed and co-created a booklet used specifically for the camp called, “A Young Creators Guidebook.”

Over the last decade, I’ve proofread, designed, published, organized content, authored and produced, respectively – thousands of online and print materials – banners, websites, fliers, reports, videos, and other resources using my journalism, media and design skills for grassroots organizations, small businesses, individuals, Race, Poverty & the Environment Journal (RP&E), Reimagine Radio, and my personal venture – Eyes Opened (EO). As a designer, web editor and podcast producer for RP&E, I curated online projects such as “ The Oscar Grant Memorial Arts Project” and “Reflections of Activistas.” I was also lead installation designer for mixed media exhibition curator, Jarrel Phillips, “I Am San Francisco: Black Past and Presence” at the Associated Students Art Gallery in SF State and at the Rosenberg Library at CCSF.

Recently, I authored, designed and self-published, The Divine Coloring Book – a multicultural, 100-page coloring book for people of all ages inspired by folklore and spirituality from the Philippines, Haiti and Brazil. Throughout the book are inspirational quotes, mindfulness activities for children, and poetry. My purpose is to uplift our stories, and stories that have been passed down through generations, through traditional dance, music and oral storytelling, drawing connections between cultures and beliefs in a way that further engages young people, and ourselves. I incorporate multiple disciplines into my educational work based on applied knowledge that reimagines folklore, the sacred and cultural storytelling with mindfulness.

My long-term creative aspirations as an artist will always be inspired by and grounded within all that is sacred. My spiritual connections to the various cultures have deeply shaped my life, carrying me through my struggles by rooting myself in joy, connecting me to my ancestors, the God within and the God without, and has brought healing. Each day, I learn more, and for that, I am incredibly grateful. My work is my offering. My creativity is my spirituality and my spirituality has become my creativity.

Some of the places where Ferrer has taught (or is currently teaching), collaborated with for special projects/workshops/performances, or been contracted by in the SF Bay Area specifically for dance, movement and choreography include:

AVE
AcroSports
Bayview Association for Youth 100% College Prep Institute
Afoutayi
3.9 Art Collective
Parangal Dance Company
Rara Tou Limen – Haiti Cultural Exchange
Dance Mission Theater
Mission High School
Jamestown Community Center (Buena Vista/Horace Mann K-8 and John O’Connell HS)
Movement Exchange
Valle de Ninos
Dancing Earth
Dr. Albirda Rose’s Village Dancers
Mission Cultural Center
Boy and Girls Club, Sunnyvale
Suns of Cayuga
Circus Automatic
City Circus
Lafayette Elementary
World Dance Fusion
JIRIDÓN
Bela Alma Dance Collective

Other Highlights, Accomplishments, Qualifications

Special Projects: photography, booklet and book design, event planning, communications, performance, graphic design and layout, freelance writing, consulting, print production, basic videography/audio editing, event organizing/hosting, podcasting, and other web and media related projects

Other Resources (focusing on youth and children, but not limited to): preschool gymnastics/tumbling, dance instruction, choreography, motor development for children with special needs, summer camps, youth birthday parties, facilitating team building movement activities for adults

Some of Ferrer’s personal interests and pursuits include: Brazilian/Haitian/Latin American/Caribbean, Philippine Folkloric dance, arts and urban culture, spirituality, preschool gymnastics, youth and children, mental health wellness, social and environmental justice, and Chai tea.