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Focus on Ana Maria Alvarez of Contra Tiempo
Ana Maria Alvarez of Contra Tiempo-Urban Latin Dance Theater
Featured Dance Enthusiast Member
Ana Maria Alvarez-
Artistic Director of Contra-Tiempo Urban Latin Dance Theater- Her Philsophy- and Contra Tiempo's Upcoming Arts in Education Fundraiser on Feb. 12th , 2011 .... if you are in or near Santa Monica, Ca...Go Go Go...
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| Ana Maria Alvarez is Enthusiastic About Her Work |
Ana's Philosphy:
"As a Cuban American choreographer, I see clearly that my role in society is to be a change maker and cultural activist. My job is to engage, and to create opportunities for people to feel, relate and communicate with each other and with the subject material that I address in my work. I am committed to, and am creating stunning, poignant work that moves audiences.
My work also challenges notions of how the forms that I use can be utilized and developed in performance. What I am doing with Salsa and Latin social dance is very different from the work of other choreographers creating within these forms. I am addressing difficult and critical issues by using genres that have for decades been used as 'celebratory dances'. I am challenging the power of these 'ethnic' forms to really speak articulately for the people from which they originated.
Most people using these forms, use them to further perpetuate stereotypes. I am committed to doing just the opposite.
Salsa is a dance form that is rooted in Cuban and Puerto Rican cultural tradition. It is laden with social and political contradictions; a dance of resistance. Salsa is an improvisational form that is created and recreated with every new combination of people that dance it; a dance of change. Born from the fusion of African and Spanish musical influences, it was originally created as a cultural voice and form of expression for working class people; a dance of the times.
Salsa has always been a patriarchal dance form, in that men are leaders and women are followers. In more recent times, the over sexualized representations of women have gotten more extreme, especially in styles that have been popularized by ballroom dancing and in Hollywood films.
In my work, I flip the script on who leads who... I create the space where men dancing with men, women dipping men, and women leading are all completely normal. This resistance is the key to really grasping the form - in the music with the clave and off beats, and in the dance with the tension between the partners' arms and bodies.
Speaking metaphorically, I switch this resistance from being adversarial to being the fundamental key for communication and empowerment between partners and for a people." ©Ana Maria Alvarez
Ana Maria Alverez and Contra- Tiempo - Community Arts Work and the Gala Fundraiser to Support It....
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•February 12th, 2011
CONTRA-TIEMPO's Annual Gala - Save the date!!
100% of proceeds fund our Arts Education Programming
The Broad Stage
1310 11th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401
6:30pm-10:30pm
(Doors open at 6pm)
CONTRA-TIEMPO will perform our signature pieces and debut new work.
Come celebrate, dance, enjoy refreshments and silent auctions!
If you have any questions, please email us at admin@contra-tiempo.org or call us at (323) 592-3203.
CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS
About Contra -Tiempo and Community -
Bringing movement into the classrooms of some of Los Angeles' most underserved schools..
