Latino Hispanic Culture, Art and Film at Bullfighter’s Cafe

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(photo of Ana Maria Alvarez)

Some of you may not know that I attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York City as a dance major. Dance was my first love. As a child I remember my mom taking me to see everything from The Bolshoi to Ballet Folklorico. As a teen I spent days in classes at Alvin Ailey and nights at clubs watching my friends battle or Vogue (depending on the venue ) Even as an adult, the pleasure of watching the human form magically move through space, is still a thrill…When I first heard about CONTRA-TIEMPO, I was truly excited to know of a THRIVING Urban Dance company. I haven’t seen them live yet but rest assured, I’m making it my business to get to the Skirball Cultural Center on July 25th. Enjoy the interview and check them out when they come to a city near you. ~Angel
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Contra-Tiempo Promotional Video from Mantas Zvinas on Vimeo.

BFC: Your website states “CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater brings to life voices that are not traditionally heard on the concert stage. We build community, facilitate dialogue and move youth to imagine what is possible in life.”  That is a huge statement. Can you elaborate on how you do that? What are the more mainstream voices being heard? How do you inspire young people?

In our shows, we use Salsa to intertwine our words, movements, video, and music to express the complexity of resistance and struggle for Latinos and communities of color in the U.S. Part of our mission is creating dialogue and greater understanding across populations, in particular around issues of resistance and power. Our movement work speaks about issues such as immigration, hurricane katrina, gender inequities, male dominance in partner dancing, race resistance, empowerment for women and girls and the perceived masculine role in our culture…. to name just a few. Our text that we use is from poets, political theorists to the students we work with and our own unique voices. The movement we use draws on Salsa, AfroCuban, hip hop and contemporary/abstract modern and dance theater… I realize that we are working with in a NEW GENRE :0) meaning that trying to describe in words what we do is challenging -bc there isn’t much out there for people to reference us to…I always tell people you have too SEE the work for yourself to understand the impact of it.

In our work with youth we perform, workshop, give master classes and residencies that are catered to the needs and interests of each unique learning community. We have an elementary, middle and high school curriculum, and have worked with K – 12th grade. In all of our work with youth we use the same forms as our performance work – Salsa, Afro-Cuban, Hip Hop technique and dance fundamentals, including the principles of leading and following, improvising in pairs, groups, and small learning communities. For younger students we work with concepts of independence, dependence and interdependence – exploring these concepts physically. In our technical workshops and residencies we pull from the Rueda (Cuban Salsa) and work with students around concepts of ‘compassionate partnering’ and movement metaphor. In our choreographic workshops, students will create movement studies designed to engage and push audiences to explore new ideas about dance partnering and working as community. In this work we allow students and young people to experience first hand what is possible in the world where people communicate, relate and listen to one another!

BFC: What was the culture of your home growing up?

I had a very interesting up bringing – I am Cuban American – my father is Cuban my mother in from the USA (from Georgia) – so I grew up bi culturally – hearing and speaking Spanish, eating black beans and rice, arroz con pollo, paella and guayaba, and dancing Salsa while at the same time drinking kool-aid, eating Mac and cheese, fried okra, saying ‘yall! My parents were both in the labor movement – so I grew up on the picket lines. The culture of my upbringing was one of much love and support, social justice, culturally diversity and geographic exploration! We moved frequently – by the time I was in the 8th grade I had been to about 13 different schools!

BFC: What got you into dance, why did you choose this medium to express yourself?

I don’t ever remember NOT dancing! I have been dancing (in classes/training with Ballet) since I was five – and before that I am sure I was dancing Salsa or creatively moving and bouncing around and a little girl! I asked my mother to enroll me in dance classes when I was a little girl and I knew from about that age that I wanted to be a ‘dancer, a teacher and a mother’ (we actually have it on video! I have accomplished two of the three – still no kids – I have always been someone who is expressed and most alive when I am active and physically pushed – dance for me has always been an outlet – a place where I feel alive and in touch with my emotional self and empowered to take on anything – it is a place where I feel fearless and I decided – very early on – that is was something that I never wanted to stop doing…

BFC: What have been some of the obstacles you’ve had to overcome?

It is funny because I can think of a lot of difficult situations or circumstances throughout my life -but none of them occur as obstacles – bc the nature of an obstacle is something you have to ‘get over’ or ‘overcome’ and I relate to these difficult times or circumstances as opportunities for growth! I will give a few examples: As a child I was diagnosed with petit Mal epilepsy and was told by doctors and teachers that I had a learning challenges… I didn’t listen to them and wound up graduating with honors from Oberlin College and have my MFA in choreography from UCLA…. Also moving frequently as a child could have created a lot of obstacles – meaning the instability but I had a supportive family unit and really allowed it to be an asset more than a hindrance… Another one is the constant buzz in my ear of how “it isn’t possible to be an artist and make a living being an artists” – or how “it is so difficult to run a dance company successfully” – etc etc. I am not saying that everything has been easy -but my perspective of: this is my life – I love it and I am creating a team of artists, community leaders, and committed individuals that will not only make CONTRA-TIEMPO and our work sustainable but THRIVE – has taken me this far! Positivity is a powerful tool that has helped me throughout my life and continues to make it so obstacles don’t stop me but empower me …. like I said they are opportunities!

BFC: Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

CONTRA-TIEMPO will be one of the most well known and sought after dance companies in Los Angeles. We will have a community arts center that will be a physical space to run our programming with youth out of – in one place instead of in six or seven studios all over the city. Our Arts Education work with have expanded to include cities outside of LA. We will have a fully funded full time staff and our artists and staff will be salaried with health care. Our board of directors will a pivotal part of the organization, providing incredible support and resources to the company. We will be touring regularly nationally and internationally and I will have a family … meaning my husband and I will have kids by then.

BFC: What’s your calendar like for the next 6 months?

I am leaving for Cuba with CONTRA-TIEMPO for our second artists delegation in La Habana and Santiago. We will be performing at international festivals in both cities with the company and we will be taking artists from the USA to study with two amazing Cuban companies there… and CONTRA-TIEMPO will be teaching classes there as well. Then in August we are heading off to perform at Jacob’s Pillow (a very well known east coast summer dance festival and at Lincoln Center in New York City. After that we will be back and begin working with several schools in LA and tour to ASU (in Phoenix in September). We will be touring to San Francisco in November to debut new work as part of CounterPULSE’s Performing Diaspora Festival.

BFC: How can people find you? Urls? Public emails and spaces?

The best way for folks to find us and be updated on our work is to join our mailing list by emailing and requesting that to admin@contra-tiempo.org and checking out our website at www.contra-tiempo.org

We are currently working on securing a space in the next year or two – if anyone has a space that they would like to donate to a non-profit arts leader in LA (CONTRA-TIEMPO) have them contact me!!

Ana Maria Alvarez
Artistic Director, CONTRA-TIEMPO
(310) 397-6308

Catch CONTRA-TIEMPO This summer:

•Saturday – July 11th, 2009
Teatro Favorito – Havana, Cuba

•Friday – July 17th, 2009
Teatro de Cutumba – Santiago de Cuba

•Saturday – July 25th, 2009 at 12noon-2pm
Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA

•August 6th, 2009
Jacobs Pillow/ Inside Out – Becket, MA

•August 9th
Lincoln Center Out of Doors – New York, NY