Kathleen Grace Totherow
Kathleen Grace Totherow was born in the corn of Iowa and raised on Nippo Lake in NH. Mom taught high school English and media literacy and Dad was a chemistry professor, thus Katie evolved into a word alchemist and dancin' fool, to boot.
Kate attended Hollins University in Roanoke, VA where she focused on dance and creative writing. She studied a semester in London, interned at Movement Research in NYC, attended American Dance Festivals in Raleigh Durham, NC, and was a live-in volunteer at Earthdance in Amherst, MA. After graduating in '01 with a BA in Dance, she was a counselor for several months in the W.O.O.D.S. program, an outdoor education camp for at-risk teenage boys.
Kate soon went West to join fellow dancer, Kelly East, in CA and collaborate with the dance-theater company, The Glass Bead Players. The quartet developed material in a one-room school house, shared their work with the community, and traveled to the Seattle Fringe Festival for their last hurrah. The company then disbanded and Kate, who now had taken on her middle name, Grace, found many opportunities to create and share the poetry that was beginning to brew urgently within her. She has helped create and is a mentor for a program called The Inkwell (see Inkwell tab), has worked as a California Poet in the Schools in elementary classrooms, and visits New Folsom Prison to share in the writing process with the poets there.
In 2005, Grace found herself in a rock 'n funk band called Organic Flood. With a drummer, bassist, guitarist, and fellow vocalist, Grace's spoken word began to develop a relationship with music and writing songs collaboratively. The band released an album, "The Source," in '06 and traveled several times through the Pacific northwest meeting wonderful people and exploring beautiful country.
In the summer of '07 Organic Flood disbanded and Grace released her solo album, "Lilyonyx in the Isis Rise", with a dance theater performance created with powerhouse mamas in her community.
Grace Tea continues to mentor young poets and collaborate with musicians and dancers, and she'll keep on loving and celebrating the gifts that art and expression bring to a world evolving rapidly....
