The Founders: Dance Unites Jenny Bawer Young and Holly Calica in 2012
Kalingafornia Laga founders, Holly Calica and Jenny Bawer Young, 2012.
Early in 2012, Kalingafornia Laga founders Jenny Bawer Young and Holly Calica met at Malonga Center of the Arts in Oakland and quickly became friends. Discovering they had a shared love of traditional arts, they shifted their energy from dance to weaving. As dancers, they knew the close relationship a dancer has with her regalia.
With this in mind, they applied for the 2012 Master/Apprenticeship Program of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts. Much to their surprise, Jenny was awarded a contract and a year of weaving lessons with Holly began. At the time, Jenny’s dream was to preserve the tradition and be able to pass it to her daughter. The Master/Apprenticeship was the first step to seeing this dream come true.