Currently I dance and create performance art with Dance to the People (DTTP). DTTP is an itinerant dance project that aims to provide an open space for dance training, movement research, discussion, and performance.
APOCALITZIN
Apocalitzin is an epic Cli-Fi (climate fiction) dance theater piece following the adventures of its eponymous heroine, a futuristic hybrid of human and plastic, descended from the Mexica people. All Photos below are from the May 2022 Premiere at the Queens Council on the Arts, thanks to a generous grant from them which made this piece possible.
Apocalitzin es una pieza épica de danza teatro de ficción climática siguiendo las aventuras de su heroína, una híbrida de humano y plástico futurista, descendiente del pueblo Mexica. Todos los fotos abajo son de una funçion en Mayo 2022, todo es possible por una veca de Queens Council on the Arts.
The piece tells a story of possibility and transformation, celebrating the people and values we must uphold to cease and repair the damage our societies inflict on nature and those living at the margins of capitalism.
La pieza narra una historia de posibilidad y transformación, celebrando a la gente y los valores que tenemos que tener en alto para cesar y reparar el daño infligido contra la naturaleza y todos aquellos que viven a los márgenes del capitalismo.
Evolution is not anthropocentric
A continuing exploration of mine is to connect with nature through dance and movement with a focus on presence and with an intention to lesson the anthropocentric relationship I have learned to know and return to an authentic self and an authentic movement free of internal and external judgement. A work in progress, Evolution is not Anthropocentric explores how artists can seek positive actions to change the way humans relate to the ecosystem, and through dance establish new movement values that encourage ecological balance.
The exploration began when I was in graduate school and in 2015 that lead to the creation of choreographed piece with DTTP. I developed a practice for embodied research that I still lead with Dance to the People today, and then brought ideas from that practice and other workshop ideas into the studio space.
In the practice:
We go to the beach/park/outdoors, and we do:
20 min walking meditation
20 min dancing with eyes closed
20 min dancing with eyes open
We practice authentic movement, responsive to the senses, the present moment, and free of internal or external judgements.
mindful trash movement
Starting 2019, we have directed our efforts to investigate our relationship to waste and disposable values, thus connecting further with social justice and decolonization. We continue to offer movement meditation experiences that helps us shift our consciousness to a non-anthropocentric view of life. After the movement meditation we walk and collect discarded items, keeping a present focus on the journey and the discovery, seeing the trash as we see the nature, later with the collected trash items we move. Some items we keep and have used for costumes or performances, others we return to the dumpster, and one time we found good mangoes so we ate them.
Some photos:
#All of the ABove
Premiered June 2016 with Dance to the People and ran for two years with performances at festivals, calls to action, in theaters, and wherever else it was needed, including: Peformatica in Cholula Mexico and Judson Memorial Church. It is a dance piece about the artist's role in times of conflict. #ALLOFTHEABOVE poses questions of responsibility and privilege and the freedom to not be defined when defending one specific cause, but to be allowed to acknowledge the existence of all suffering. Hence, Hash tag: ALL OF THE ABOVE.
