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, Ariela Conde, 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.

Credits:

Conception and Direction Ana María Alvarez

Production Manager Maritxell Carrero

Production Assistant Juan “Co-eL” Rodriguez

Musical composition, writing and arrangement Anaïs Maviel and Rashaan Carter

Musician Anaïs Maviel, Rashaan Carter and Robert "Bobby" Wilmore

Dramaturge Daniel Penilla

Technical Director Maximilliano Urruzmendi

Video Projection Designer Meena Murugesan

Set and Prop Fabrication/Design Peter Volk

Caña Prop Fabricator Steve Tolin & Jeni Cheung

Lighting Designer Tuçe Yasak

Lighting Assistant Elba Emicente Sanchez

Visual Design Consultant Emily Orling

Costume Designer David Israel Reynoso

Costume Designer for Celeoshun Halei Parker

Costume Design Assistant Jaymee Ngernwichit

Costume Stylist and Crown designer Maria Garcia

Cultural consultant, Movement Coach, Guest Artist Kati Hernandez

Vocalist Maria Garcia and Jasmine Stanley

Responsive Body Ecologist Holly Johnston

Healer and Priestess Felicia “Onyi” Richards

Choreographed by Ana-Maria Alvarez and Jannet Galdamez

Creative Generators Ana María Alvarez, Jannet Galdamez, Ruby Morales, Jasmine Stanley, Maria Garcia, Alek Lopez, Edgar Aguirre, Jose Jose Acuesta, Ariela Conde, Kati Hernandez

Music Sampled “Azúcar Negra” by Celia Cruz

Source Material:

1619 Project edited by Nicole Hannah-Jones

My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem

Rest is Resistance by Tricic Hersey

Celia Cruz’s body of work and life story

Community Casts

November 2024 - ASU Gammage

Jessie Rocha, Dominique “Domo” Brown, Ana Paola Rodriguez, Nicole “Coley” Curry, Zarina Mendoza Orduno, Karen Haskins, Karion Houston, Zakiya Johnson

Piñata supplier Janet Medina of Sue Piñatas

June 2024 - International Festival of Arts and Ideas

Charlee Grady, Ife Michelle Garden, Mark Morrison, Rachel Graziano, Sharon Dickey

Piñata Supplier Duo Azucena & Angeles Rojas at Gran Rodeo Groceries Fair Haven

April 2024 - UCSD Art Power

Alejandro Barajas, Carly Villongco, Cinthìa Durán Larrea, Norma Ovalle, Saryah Colbert, Ulises Aguirre, Valeria “Yeya” Corona, Valaria Ruiz, Vivian Wu, Vrisika Chauhan

Costume Designer for Community Cast Tzu Yu Su

Piñata Supplier Leticia and Roberta Diaz at La Casa de las Piñatas

August 2023 - The Ford Theaters

Jocelyn Adame, Ulises Aguirre, Stephanie Ballena, Alejandro Barajas, Ariela Conde, Shana Christopher, Cinthia Duran, Kloii Hummingbird, Norma Ovalle, Edrian Pangilinan, Sydney Richardson

March 2023 - NC State Live

Ommy Alvarez, Jinjer Katrina Haskins, Erica Ranosa, Annie McCollum, An Hoang-Xuan, Crystal Michelle Villegas, Peggy Dominique, Irene Nazario, Yasser Cardenas, Krista Padilla, Nestor Alejandro Rodriguez-Garcia

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"

CAÑA

Sister film of ¡azúcar! Commissioned by the Getty Museum, this film is the initial piece produced from our explorations and discoveries.

CREDITS:

Direction and choreographic vision Ana María Alvarez

Cinematography and editing Meena Murugesen

Musical composition, writing and arrangement Anaïs Maviel

Featured artists and improvisors Ana María Alvarez, Bobbie Bell, Dr. Shamell Bell, Jannet Galdamez, Liliana de Leon-Torsiello, Ruby Morales, Jasmine Stanley, Shantel Ureña,  Dr. S. Ama Wray

Youth performers Luca Alvarez-Lowe, Sidney Alvarez-Lowe, Seijani Goodin, Iyannah McClendon

Birds Ana, Bella, Bruno, Roxy, Rudy, Sunshine

Musicians Anaïs Maviel, Rashaan Carter, Aruán Ortiz, Angel Lau, Jaimie Branch, Michael Pallas

Color correction Anastasia Shepherd

Community and production team CONTRA-TIEMPO Activist Dance Theater, Jessica Amaya, Rashaan Carter, Dolores Chavez, Jannet Galdamez, d. Sabela grimes, Vinkya Hunter, Gabriel Ibarra, Jolieba Jackson, Yolanda Keh, Jared Kok, Chan Quach, David Reynoso, Emmanuel Ruffler, Riley Shen, Farah Sosa

press

“…a dialogue that transcended centuries of distance, radically separated by cultural contexts and artistic tools, yet found compelling resonance in their mutual investigations of the distinct emotion and meaning that only dance can elicit.”

Getty Exhibition Brings Together 17th-Century Painting and Contemporary Dance

“…sugar cane is ripped, bitten, and swung about as a meditation on this indulgent substance—echoing themes of vice and virtue, and the pitfalls of bacchanalia that were investigated by Poussin.”

Poussin and the Dance: Contemporary Dance Films

WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR OUR CURRENT FUNDERS LISTED BELOW!

“joyUS justUS” is an evening length participatory Activist Dance Theater experience that takes on joy as the ultimate expression of resistance. Whenever humans have survived immense hardship and injustice, prevailing with their humanity intact, the presence of joy­­ or, the knowingness and celebration of our true beauty and power has always been at the root. “joyUS justUS” reclaims the dominant deficit ­based narrative of people of color in this country as being underprivileged, voiceless, powerless, and victimized, and flips it on its head by embodying stories of joy collected from communities of color in South Los Angeles. The stories shared in this work are personal truths about the power of hope, faith, and family, the strength of the villages that have raised our children and the wealth that lives in our collective histories of struggle and resistance.

These truths are embodied through the technically rigorous social dance forms that were born out of these experiences, that are at the root of our company’s Urban Latin Dance technique, and that are the physical embodiment of that most powerful, healing joy. Through the conversations with South LA communities, retelling our stories through movement on the concert stage, inviting audiences locally and nationally to actively participate in what they’re experiencing on the stage, and continuing to engage broader audiences in the telling of their own truths, we are creating spaces of joy and healing, allowing the collective “us” to feel more connected, loved, powerful, and alive.

"joyUS justUS" was a deeply collaborative effort. Conceived and directed by Ana Maria Alvarez the piece includes choreograph by Alvarez and each company member who contributed their unique ideas and richly diverse movement styles, music by Las Cafeteras, whose powerful East L.A. sound and socio-political message closely compliment our own, d. Sabela grimes, whose soundprints were the heartbeat of Agua Furiosa, Charlese Antoinette, whose costumes help our dancers radiate joy and power, Emily Orling whose altar quilts create a beautifully sacred visual environment and Tuce Yasak, whose technical direction has literally brought light to so many of our stages. 

"joyUS justUS" could not have be created without the generous support of the following: The James Irvine Foundation, Mapfund, Doris Duke Foundation/DanceUSA, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs, and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts who generously commissioned the work.

Read the Artistic Director’s note here.

CREDITS:

Conceived and Directed by Ana Maria Alvarez

Choreographed by Ana Maria Alvarez, Isis Avalos, Christopher Cuenza, Jannet Galdamez, Samad Raheem Guerra, Bianca Medina, Jasmine Stanley, Diana Toledo, Shantel Ureña

Text written by Samad Raheem Guerra (Water Creation Story, Court Scene, Reframing Justice, Miranda Rights to Happiness), Diana Toledo (joyUS Thanksgiving Address, Mama Rueda Story), Isis Avalos (Miranda Rights to Happiness), Ana Maria Alvarez (joyUS Thanksgiving address, Luca Story, Justice Run, Miranda Rights to Happiness), Angela Davis (Justice Run)

Sound archiving and design by d. sabela grimes 

Original Music by d. sabela grimes, Las Cafeteras, "Ionkwanoronhkwa Ohneka" or the Water Song sung by Daniel J. French Written by Bear Fox

Music sampled and inspired by Bukom Mashie  by Oscar Sulley & The Uhuru Dance Band The Tendencies That Work Against Being Free - Interview with Mooji, Toro Mata (Afro-Peruvian Lamento Negro), Baiana (CloZee Remix) by Barbatuques, La Diaspora by Nitty Scott feat. Zap Mama, This Land by Woodie Guthrie

Lighting Design by Tuce Yasak

Visual Design/Altar Quilts by Emily Orling  

Costume Design by Charlese Antoinette 

Dramaturgy and Theatrical support by Daniel Penilla

press

"The dancing was superb, the music outstanding and the message was potent, timely and positive." 

- LA Dance Chronicle

”In times when violence, hatred, and bigotry have become the norm, Alvarez proposes a different way to resist in her performance — not with anger, but with happiness.”

-Miami New Times

“La pieza que traen a Miami en su segundo estreno mundial es joyUS justUS, y enfoca los temas del prejuicio racial y la justicia social para los inmigrantes latinos. El título quiere decir Alégranos, danos felicidad, danos justicia.”

-El Nuevo Herald

“Contra-Tiempo’s new work joyUS justUS is exuberant, activist dance-theater.”

-ArtsMeme

Joy as revolution is a much-needed antidote to the times we live in, and “joyUS justUS” promises to be about as much fun as you can legally have."

-CLTure

"Justice & joy united by CONTRA-TIEMPO"

-ArtsMeme

"CONTRA-TIEMPO Fights Injustice with Joy"

-Shepheard Express

"joyUS justUS upends conventional notions of minority communities in the United States, offering stories of hope, faith, family, and joy"

-Shepheard Express

COMMUNITY VOICES

COmmunity casts

February 2025 - Portland Ovation

Local Community Cast Director Brian Evans

Community Cast Saniya Ridley, Fernanda Rodas, jenny Dignan, Veeva Banga, Kristen Stake, Liz Mulkey, Lindsey Rapport

DJ Genius Black

November 2024 - UCSD ArtPower

Vrisika Chauhan, Vivian Wu ,Valeria Corona, Natalia Morales, Natalia Balderas, Catalina Bilandzija, Celia Carton, Nicole Constan, Katie Gillespie, Kelly Callejo, Cinthia Duran Larrea, Dey Guzman

November 2023 - Des Moines Civic Center

Elizabeth Ferreira, Emily Weber, Brett Machamer, Jordan Willis, Paula Dyan McArthur, Julia McGuire, Joleen Gamez, Courtney Guein, Dharmini Piekarska

THANK you TO OUR FUNDERS

"joyUS justUS" could not have been created without the generous support of the following: The James Irvine Foundation, Mapfund, Doris Duke Foundation/DanceUSA, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, California Arts Council, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs, and Ordway Center for the Performing Arts who generously commissioned the work.