We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ann Duvall. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ann below.

Ann, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Being part of a chorus like the Flamenco concert I just participated in; or any one of the previously staged plays where my writing came to life; or through any number of healing environments; all showing me creating and collaborating brings healing.

For the first time ever, I performed in NYC with a newly-formed Flamenco chorus as a singer. The journey of using my voice and making music with others in my native language is new territory. As I contemplate my early NYC life when I only spoke Spanish 50 plus years ago, I realize that using my voice now to sing in my native language, is resonating in a powerful way. For continued healing as an artist, I have needed to go back to my native tongue and native surroundings for that little urban girl to heal!

There are times as a creative that you are surprised at how a need to go with the flow brings about meaningful change and solutions. I have always wanted the flexibility of having my own “traveling healing & expressive arts studio” and the pandemic showed us all how to adapt to continue to provide healing opportunities. Being able to be with others in the virtual space has taught me where there is more than one gathered, and there is intention, there is healing…even on zoom!

I continue to find so many arenas where I find myself in the company of those willing to collaborate to heal. One such arena, is at a barn with horses as co-therapists learning about compassion, acceptance and creativity. The simplicity of being in nature with equine collaborators offers me and others a space to recognize creativity is all around us and that the creative life is a natural way of being.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a creative who works in a variety of therapeutic settings to integrate expressive and healing arts for integrative wellness. I share how compassionate creative care cultivates a healing environment through teaching and therapy, primarily through Qigong and Equine therapy. I really started this kind of work later in life, after I had children. I like to say the children “nurtured mother’s nature”.

I also practice what I teach and learn from students, clients, creatives, and through new creative experiences of my own. As a playwright I have had work produced here in Washington DC, while on the page I have had poetry and essays out there too. But it is the daily journaling in mi libreta (my notebook) where I express the drama of my own healing hour to support the ups and downs in the art of living. There is always something for me to learn when I take the time to listen deeper both inside and out, and record those impressions. Having a curiosity around that and being open to expressing a new way, a new genre, a new art form, can expand you in ways you probably couldn’t have imagined!

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Where I get the most joy as a creative is being a student and I know first hand how expressing in a variety of genres provides healing in new ways. For the first time ever, I performed in NYC with a Flamenco chorus as a singer, and I have been taking classes in conga and other percussion instruments as I learn more about my cuban roots. The journey of using my voice in my native language and making music through the rhythm of my roots is new territory! I am loving how it expands my awareness every day!I guess you can say I am living the dream as an urban girl in a natural world, exploring roots, nurturing my nature, while I create my own last act!

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I know that fostering creativity and resilience, heals. Words, sounds and images have the capacity to embrace our humanity and helps to bridge worlds. We need to support creativity and share our healing stories. If I can still create and collaborate with others, then I know I am playing a part in leaving a legacy. I have even started the Imprint Foundation, a non-profit organization, to continue the mission of creating and collaborating to heal.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.annduvall.com
• Instagram: @urbangirlinanaturalworld