Voices del Camino: [Formerly] Undocumented and [Now] Unafraid

On the series: Voices del Camino is our series of stories and reflections from the company, while on tour. El camino, in Spanish, literally means "the road"; but el camino is also the journey that we're on towards witnessing, creating, and sharing the beauty and complexity of humanity, and towards transforming our world through love and movement.

Bentonville, AR | [Formerly] Undocumented and [Now] Unafraid, by Isis Avalos

We performed Agua Furiosa at the incredibly beautiful Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, as part of their series, “The Art American Dance”.  The performance itself was in a very intimate setting that was practically floating over water (very fitting for Agua's theme!).   

Isis (standing on a bucket) as Caliban 2 in Agua Furiosa

After the performance we had our post- show Q&A.  A man sitting in the second row with his children beside him asked the first question, and it was directed towards me. He said he noticed that my character (Caliban 2) was going through turmoil, and he saw glimpses of water, but he also wanted to know if there were other stories connected to this character.  Ana Maria passed the microphone to me and I all of the sudden felt nervous—not because of the idea of speaking, but because of WHAT I was going to speak about. 

I introduced myself by stating that I was an undocumented child brought into the U.S. by my parents when I was 7 years old, and because of that, there was a direct connection between ‘the wall’ of buckets and the pedestal that my character stands on.  I mentioned how, ironically, when Ana Maria originally created this piece just two years ago, the phrase of ‘building a wall’ was not as big of a topic of conversation in America as it is now. And since I, like many others brought to the U.S. as young children, identify as Americans because we were raised here, we are now fighting against this wall just as Caliban 2 is in Agua Furiosa.  

Isis in front of an exhibit about undocumented immigrants at "Nuevolution" at the Levine Museum of the New South in Birmingham (another stop on our tour)

In that moment I felt bold and proud to have said that publicly and in a way that the audience could connect to Caliban 2 but also to MY humanity as a Mexican-American immigrant.  Once the Q&A was finished I had a group of young women come up to me and thank for me sharing my story about being undocumented. I thanked them for accepting my story because it validates my existence in this country (internally, I felt touched and was choking up). I stared at them smiling and they stared right back at me. It’s those moments when you get quiet and you both understand the connection – no words are needed. That is humanity. This was the last show of Agua Furiosa in 2016. The year started off by me not mentioning my once-undocumented status, but now that IS how I introduce myself. 

I realized that who I am, has everything to do with the way I dance and why I dance.  Agua Furiosa is politically (environmentally- racially) driven and it is also very personal. I think it is necessary now more than ever to be ‘a voice’ for those who have similar stories to mine in order to give permission for others to share theirs.  I am thankful to be given the platform to be unafraid to tell my story. 

Isis, as featured on the Proud Mexicans site. #WeAreProudMexicans

Voices del Camino: Claiming My Knowledge

On the series: Voices del Camino is our series of stories and reflections from the company, while on tour. El camino, in Spanish, literally means "the road"; but el camino is also the journey that we're on towards witnessing, creating, and sharing the beauty and complexity of humanity, and towards transforming our world through love and movement.

Amherst, MA | Claiming My Knowledge, by Chris Cuenza

Our performance at University of Massachusetts, Amherst was a short but sweet experience.  The actual show went well, and when the floor opened up for questions afterwards, I saw numerous hands instantly shoot up. I could tell that the company members were excited to get the mic and give a little insight into themselves and the work. 

But it wasn’t until I saw the small group of youth being given a short backstage tour by our Tour Manager, Nathan, when I got to engage a little bit more. I happened to be walking around backstage, when Nathan invited me in to talk about about the newest work the company is creating, “joyUS.” The group was a very open-minded and interested in what I was saying, which was really cool. And then, at the end of the tour, as we were all saying goodbye, one young man came up to me and said, “Thank you for the knowledge.” 

Now, people have given me their thanks before, but there was something about this phrase coming out of this young man’s mouth that stuck with me a little different. First and foremost, I didn't finish college, but I am extremely passionate about art, dance and performing arts. I never formally studied dance or hip-hop, I just learned as I progressed in my career. When the young man said, “Thank you for the knowledge,” it made me feel really proud of how far this artist’s path has taken me. 

So, I say to you, my young brotha in the red Jordan long sleeve, “I thank YOU for listening and for being part of my journey.” 

Voices del Camino: When the personal becomes the artistic becomes the personal again...

On the series: Voices del Camino is our series of stories and reflections from the company, while on tour. El camino, in Spanish, literally means "the road"; but el camino is also the journey that we're on towards witnessing, creating, and sharing the beauty and complexity of humanity, and towards transforming our world through love and movement.

Bentonville, AR | When the Personal Becomes the Artistic Becomes the Personal Again..., by Bianca Medina

During our performance at the Art of American Dance festival at the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Arkansas, I had the honor of dancing the character role of Caliban 3. Caliban 3 (one of 4 Calibans in Agua Furiosa) is a militant revolutionary trying to navigate how to fight for justice, but on that path ends up losing control and abusing power. Caliban 3 is originally danced by a male, so as understudy, I had to quickly understand what I was taking on, as a female Caliban 3. Now, this is a whole other blog post in itself, but what it means for Caliban 3 to be a woman, a woman leader, during this country's current state of affairs is something bigger than I can fully express right now. But as an artist, that is something I have to continuously do in each role I perform—truly understand and embody what my statement is on the stage.

My character literally runs herself dead at the end. So, it was a true emotional roller coaster during that experience, to say the least. But that's the beauty of art--it transforms us, personally and collectively.

It's a powerful ride when your artistic life, personal life, and the life of this big world around us come together. And speaking of art bridging life and life bridging art…  

I studied visual art heavily throughout my life, and spent so many years walking through museums, analyzing art and art history. I also studied dance history heavily as a dance major in college, reading lots of books, doing research, and writing papers on the pioneers of dance.

After we performed in Arkansas, we were able to walk through "The Art of American Dance" exhibit. On the walls were paintings, photos, videos, artifacts, set pieces, and costumes worn by some of the most significant pioneers of dance - Katherine Dunham, Martha Graham, and Merce Cunningham. The exhibit also brought up conversations around the political birth of social dance forms like Jazz and Hip Hop, the depiction of cultural & racial inequality in the rise of dance, and how many of the pioneers in Modern dance were women. 

Personally, that exhibit walk-through truly felt like a bridging of my visual art & dance history, years of education in museums, years of study in the books, in the studio, and on the stage - all in one night. It was a beautiful little remembering that my life has always been so interwoven with art. It’s what has kept me going, striving, malleable, discovering, and wanting more out of life.

To be a company member in CONTRA-TIEMPO and to be associated with this exhibit as a live performing dance company representing American Dance in this country right now is an honor. Being a part of this during this specific time where the creation and performance of art is crucial to the connection and social change moving forward in this country, is a mighty grateful, humbly proud, “Ay! Dios mio, pinch me!” moment in my career as a professional dancer.

#ArtTransforms #ArtOfChange #Artivist #DanceYourTruth #AguaFuriosa  

Voices del Camino: Compassionate Community at NCSU

On the series: Voices del Camino is our series of stories and reflections from the company, while on tour. El camino, in Spanish, literally means "the road"; but el camino is also the journey that we're on towards witnessing, creating, and sharing the beauty and complexity of humanity, and towards transforming our world through love and movement.

Raleigh, NC | Compassionate Community at NCSU, by Ana Maria Alvarez

North Carolina always feels like a bit of a homecoming for me (afterall, my brother and I were born here, my parents met here, and I went to high school in Greensboro). I get excited by coming “back home”, but also a little nervous. I have some violent memories of this place from childhood (enough to fill a whole other blog post or two), and recently North Carolina passed one of the most horrendous pieces of anti-LGBT, anti-worker legislation: HB 2, the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. This Act:

• requires transgender people (and everyone else) to use public restrooms according to the biological sex on their birth certificate

• strips North Carolina workers of the ability to sue under a state anti-discrimination law

• bans local minimum wage laws like the $15-an-hour "living wage" ordinances gaining traction around the country. The state minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Our dancers lead a Salsa Rueda class in the NCSU Commons

The week we were gearing up to come out to Raleigh, the start our four-city tour (supported by the South Arts Dance Tour Initiative), other artists were beginning to cancel shows, boycott and create economic sanctions for NC, to send a strong anti-HB 2 message. Our work has always been about creating dialogue and building compassion and community, though, so we knew that now, maybe more than ever, we NEEDED to be in North Carolina. We rolled our sleeves up and got ready for the work we had ahead of us. 

I had visited Sharon and Stephanie and their team at NCSU in October 2015, to plant seeds for a powerful (albeit brief) residency in Raleigh that included several lecture demonstrations, master classes, community meet-and-greets, lunch meetings and a choreographic lab. 

CONTRA-TIEMPO shares smiles with Dr. Alison Arnold

We found the students that we met on campus to be bright, engaged, politically conscious and fired up. They had so much to share and teach us about HB 2. We learned that the NCSU Student Senate had voted to ignore the legislation, deeming it unconstitutional, against Federal law, and against the anti-discrimination policy at NCSU! We heard about the struggles they were having to advocate for true diversity on their campus. We met future engineers, designers, and architects who will be designing levies and water treatment systems and who felt frustrated that in their chemistry classes, although they were learning the equations for how to measure contamination in water, they weren't talking about Flint. We encouraged them to start those conversations with their professors. It was exciting to meet young people who were so clear about their own personal responsibility to positively impact this world. 

The dialogue is happening. The compassionate community exists. And we’re honored to be part of it and help continue to move it forward. Thank you, NCSU!

(Mother Jones article on HB 2)

Voices del Camino: Southern Hospitality and Southern "Animosity"

On the series: Voices del Camino is our series of stories and reflections from the company, while on tour. El camino, in Spanish, literally means "the road"; but el camino is also the journey that we're on towards witnessing, creating, and sharing the beauty and complexity of humanity, and towards transforming our world through love and movement.

Stops 1 & 3: TX & TN | Southern Hospitality and Southern "Animosity", by Chris Cuenza

Chris flashes a smile for the camera while leading a Rueda workshop

It so interesting that when people talk about “the South”, there are two things that seem to always come out: Southern food and Southern hospitality (I loooove Southern food, by the way!) Now, Southern hospitality is alive and well in Texas and in Tennessee. The local people were extremely welcoming and extremely nice. They made staying in a city that I have never been, feel as if they’d opened the doors to their own homes. There was a warmth that came from the community—a warmth that didn't make me feel like a visitor, but rather as if I just moved to the neighborhood and my new neighbors were welcoming me with fresh baked pies. It was beautiful. I swear, if the whole world acted with Southern hospitality, it would be such an amazing world (not to mention, we’d be extremely really well fed!). 

But there’s a flip side to this hospitality. I think I want to call it “Southern animosity”.  It’s a condescending and sometimes hostile vibe given to people of color. I don’t want to say it was racism, and we didn’t feel it from all the Caucasian people that we encountered, but when I felt it, it was definitely heavy. Coming from a big city like LA, that is a melting pot of so many different types of people, this animosity started to really stand out to me. 

The company all went out one night to a local bar in Midland, and the entire time we were having fun and dancing together, a [Caucasian] man across the room stared at us—like a lion about to pounce on its prey. It was definitely not a welcoming look, to say the least. And then we overheard people saying things about us—or even TO us—that made me feel like they were trying to be the “cool group in high school,” judging us because we didn't buy name brand clothes. Except, it wasn’t about what we were wearing…

Now being a man, of course I wanted to puff my chest and “go caveman” on some of these folks, but instead I tried to put my energy and focus on the warmth that was given by the majority instead of the cold received by the few. The warmth that we received from Robbyne 

and her community in Midland, TX, and from the waitress from Gus’s Fried Chicken in Memphis, TN, and from the students of University of the South in Sewanee, TN… We can all take a page or two from their handbook, on how to welcome new faces to our communities. To the South: thank you, and I shall see you soon.