about ¡Azúcar!
“Hearkening back to my Salsa roots, this work will be an embodiment of our complicated truths and a re-framing of our relationship to sugar as a way to confront harmful systems of oppression. Our cultural organizing work with Black and Brown communities in South and East LA in conversation with Celia Cruz’s music re-interpreted woven together with multiple personal narratives, ¡azúcar! will be a tapestry of truth-telling, a call for liberation and an affirmation of our future as a people.” -Ana Maria Alvarez, Founding Artistic Director
“¡azúcar!” is a courageous naming/confrontation of and intentional obliteration of the undercurrent and often unspoken anti-Blackness in latinidad. This framework is embodied through the practice and sharing of our Afro-Latine ancestral movement and vibrational technologies. Questions are continuing to drive the process as we begin to understand the complicated history of sugar and the messages from our ancestors. What would it look like to exist in a world that centered nourishment, care and rooted in the body? How does Celia's belting out “¡Azúcar!” set us all a little more free? Can we reckon with our past without losing ourselves in the fight? Does it have to be a fight? Is there space for grace? What does it feel like to individually and collectively heal, what does it move like?
Together we journey through Celia Cruz’s vibrations and unearth information embedded in our bodies. Through “¡azúcar!”, we explore ancestral wisdoms about a plant that once aided in our healing, used as a way to sweeten medicinal concoctions, now extracted, refined and used as weaponized poison. The cast and creative team of brilliant collaborators, rooted in and inspired by the sacred feminine, are building the work from personal narratives of food, labor, community and explorations of 'familying' and healing as practices and brave choices.
“¡azúcar!” is conceived and directed by Ana María Álvarez and is created with a village of brilliant artists. Alvarez works closely with CONTRA-TIEMPO company members, Jannet Galdamez, Ruby Morales, Jasmine Stanley, Alek Gabriella Lopez, Edgar Aguirre Jose Jose Arrieta Cuesta, and Maria Garcia as choreographic and content collaborators. Master Artist and Afro-Cuban practitioner, Kati Hernandez, is a core collaborator and guest performer in the work. Additionally Anais Maviel and Rashaan Carter are collaboratively sound designing and composing; Meena Murugesan is designing video and projection vibrations; David Reynoso is costume designing; Tuçe Yasak is lighting designing and Emily Orling is visually consulting. Farah Sosa is the photographer of the work and shared her images in the live exhibition at Helms Bakery in November 2022. In each new city we visit, a community cast of 8-10 Salseras will be invited to perform as part of the work. As the piece evolves new artists and collaborators will be added to the team.
Upcoming ¡azúcar!
June 28-29 ¡azucar! at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas New Haven, CT
August 26 excerpt of ¡azúcar! in juried showcase at the Western Arts Alliance Conference San Diego, CA
August 27 excerpt of ¡azúcar! at Noche de Baile at the Western Arts Alliance Conference San Diego, CA
November 16 ¡azúcar! at ASU Gammage Tempe, AZ
press
“…an exuberant display of heritage and unity… ¡azúcar! is a meaningful and inspiring show you won’t soon forget.”
LA Weekly: CONTRA-TIEMPO’s ¡azúcar!: Transformative Dance Residency Will Unite Los Angeles
“This ethereal performance stands as a true testament to the collective capacity for healing. A story rooted in resilience, ¡azúcar! breaks the boundary between the traditions that brought us here and their modern interpretations.”
HYPE Magazine: CONTRA-TIEMPO Continues its Evolution with ¡azúcar!
AUDIENCE REACTIONS
"the work is luscious gorgeous decadent deep - My friends I brought loved it- You brought us together for social time and culture time"
"you all did a beautiful job of setting the mood that took the audience on a journey. There were moments of struggle, but the resolution was always joy, play, togetherness, love and it was beautiful."
"Azucar was phenomenal. I am thankful to have had the on stage experience and to have sat with a dancer during the sound bath. As we paid reverence in silence, I became aware of the struggles and healings that took place."
COMMUNITY CAST MEMBER
"Thank you for building a space for radical acceptance, radical joy and for offering such a healing/ powerful invitation to just be: to embrace the complexity and beauty of being a human being AND to cultivate and uplift the practices that allow our bodies to be settled, to be at peace, to be creative, to be receptive, generous and abundant. It was truly a beautiful experience and I am beyond grateful"
Thank you to our funders for commissioning this work!
