Debbie Nargi-Brown started singing and dancing on the day she was born! A gifted community song leader, an award-winning dance teacher, and a talented songwriter, she offers her songs with love, compassion, and the hope of bringing joy and healing to others. Debbie’s lyrics and melodies are sung all over the world. She writes songs for the heart, healing, transformation, love, grief, and all that connects us as human beings. Bringing people together in dance and song is one of her greatest joys in life!

2020 her latest album is a collection of 14 songs written and recorded during the pandemic. When hope, courage, strength, and love was needed, these songs came through. Her first album, Into the Rhythm is a compilation of 40 songs from cultures all over the world as well as 12 original songs. Her second album, Love is Everything includes a mixture of original songs that will uplift your Spirit and bring comfort to your Soul.

Debbie has sung on several albums. These include: Soul Affirmationz with Afia Walking Tree, Esctatic Groove with Jennifer Salima Holt, Tenderly Rain with the Threshold Choir, and the Blessing Way album with Copperwoman.

She has taught African Inspired Dance for over 30 years in Santa Cruz. She was the recipient of the 2004 Calabash Award for outstanding achievement in the Ethnic Arts. She facilitates dancing and singing events in California, Hawaii, Canada, and Europe. She has taught dance at the University of California - Santa Cruz for three years, as well as teaching dance and singing workshops at Harbin Hot Springs, Esalen, Camp Krem in the Santa Cruz Mountains to name a few. She leads singing circles locally and at special events and workshops.

Debbie Nargi-Brown

Debbie relies upon drumming, dancing, singing, and the creation of a safe place to ignite joy, passion, and a sense of community in her workshops and classes. She has a deep respect and appreciation for the cultures from which many of the dances and songs originate. She embraces and embodies the healing and sacredness of the songs, dances, and the people who have been her teachers.

Debbie’s nurturing approach to dance allows her students to feel comfortable at their own level of song and dance, to be smoothly in their bodies, and to feel the satisfaction of singing and dancing with others.

Here are some of the workshops Debbie has facilitated:

  • LA Songfest
  • Singing on the Edge
  • Song Village
  • Eat, Play, Love Retreat
  • Northern California Dance Collective -
    Summer and Winter Camps over the last 20 years
  • International Threshold Choir Gathering
  • Workshop with Emaho in Switzerland
  • Playshop with Arthur Hull in Canada
  • APPPAH Asilomar Pacific Grove, CA
  • Gay Hendricks Seminars in CA
  • Art and the Spirit Quaker Center in CA
  • Creating Cycles of Respect - A Day for Teen Women
  • Midwife Gathering at Esalen
  • Joy of Being Harbin Hot Springs co-lead with Jim Gallas
  • WomynDrumSong co-lead with Afia Walking Tree