The Peace Dancer

Written by Johanna Hickle | Photography by Daniel Garcia

Khalilah Ramirez has decided her mission is to educate and illuminate through the art of dance. As the creator of the Dance of Peace, Ramirez has traveled the streets of the South Bay for the last eight years to inspire peace among the onlookers through her very own mixture of performance art, dance, and community service. A native of Louisiana, Ramirez was inspired by great forces and later turned to dance to bring her artistic vision to the streets—and there to the people. Ramirez builds upon the Dance of Peace through trial and error, with each performance and with each person who joins her in celebration. The artist pays her bills by teaching yoga and ballet and views those practices as extensions of her life work with the Dance of Peace. She also writes articles for Silicon Valley De-Bug, a multimedia storytelling, community-organizing, and advocacy organization, as another way to carry out her mission. For now, performances of the Dance of Peace are confined to select spots in the South Bay, but ultimately Ramirez wants to lift people up all over the world with her joyous, holistic dance experience.

“The Dance of Peace literally came from searching inside, trying to figure out how I could contribute to my community—then I was kind of shown this by the universe. At first I was like, no, I’m not doing that. But after eight years, beyond still really wanting to bring people happiness and lift their hearts, I wanted to connect with people on the same peaceful vibration so we all can grow.”

thedanceofpeace.org | instagram: thepeacedancer