Showing.Telling.Creating

Today is the last day of our FULL.STILL.HUNGRY creation week! We took a few days in a row to work through the structure of the piece and continue to develop the choreography for our debut in September (the 23rd - go ahead and get your tix!!!) It’s amazing to see how my original idea and this beautiful seed has germinated. It is starting to look like an actual comprehensive body of work! Today we will do an actual run through of all the different parts!! EEK! I am excited! Two more months until September! This is insane (but the good kind). It’s great to see a project that has taken years (swirling in my brain) finally come to fruition. It’s been an incredible learning process - a lot of vulnerability - a lot of self doubt and having to remind myself to have faith in my (and the) creative process... I have learned so much - it has been challenging but also DELICIOUS! As most of you who know me know, I love learning, and I am always searching for ways to expand - gracias Mom and Dad for always encouraging this; which is why I’m perfectly content if I don’t watch an hour of television (except when ABDC is on, but that’s dance, so for me, it’s educational/research - ok and the occasional reality show - which is more like watching a train wreck and has to do with my fascination with human beings :). As much as I love learning there’s nothing like teaching. I just taught a master class at Harvard Westlake with a great

group of young women. There was great synergy in the room. (Speaking of synergy - did you hear we are now officially sponsored by Synergy - the company that makes Kombucha!! Work it Michael Butler with your fierce marketing skills! I always try to create powerful and positive energy in every class I teach (I'm also starting my UCLA class this week - fostering a new wave of empowered Salseras!), because it inspires me and it makes me a better artist.

Speaking of teaching - I’m so honored and humbled that Dance Teacher magazine (HUGE DEAL since

it’s a national one) approached me for an interview! It should be coming out next month or in August at the latest - I’m living proof that you can be a recognized artist and an equally respected arts educator. Don’t buy into the all-those-who-can’t-make-it-teach - Please! If I didn’t teach my artistic work would be empty and if I didn't create work and dance - my teaching would be lifeless... they both make each other stronger... Oh by the way CONTRA-TIEMPO is doing a showing of (in progress) FULL.STILL.HUNGRY at 7pm on July 1st - it is more of an intimate, by invite only but I know if you are reading this blog you are most likely a close fan/friend and we would love to have you there! So shoot me an email if you want the details. We’re going to share what the work is so far and ask for input - as COMMUNICATING to the audience is a huge priority - so we have been doing these showings along the way to insure clear an affective communication!

Show, tell and love what you’re creating. Remember we are the create our reality so make up one that you would love to live!

CONTRA-TIEMPO in LOS ANGELES - DON'T MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY!

Life has been moving so fast these days - I am barely having time to soak in all of the beauty. So I am committed to stop and enjoy the fruits of our labor... I am putting it out there for the world to hear/read so that it actually happens.

We have an amazing month ahead of us! June is going to be a month of culminations (many of our classes and school based projects are ending) and beginnings (we are sharing our work for the first time on the EAST SIDE of LA - yeah!! and will be gearing up for a summer of touring and sharing our work for TONS of new people)! The IVY Substation (where we performed in May - our first show back in LA for almost TWO YEARS!) sold out both nights - we are looking forward to an AMAZING show on the 13th of June - if you missed the IVY - either because you couldn't get tickets or you just missed it - PLEASE COME TO OUR JUNE SHOW at the NEW LATC - AND if you came to our May show - STILL COME TO OUR JUNE SHOW - get your tickets HERE - we are doing a few new pieces and we will have two new company members - Batyah Freedman and Erica Bowen - who will be joining us for their CT debut! As you all know the work shifts and grows with each new voice/individual that joins the company... so come be a part of this shift!

We are also having a CUBA FUNDRAISER PARTY at IDA (our home studio) in Hollywood - get your tickets to this and come party with us on Saturday - it is going to be amazing!

I am so present to the incredible power live dance more and more everyday - we can talk about our work and share with people about what we do (in words) - watch videos, see snippets here and there - but there is nothing like the exchange that happens in the theater during one of our full evenings of work - when the lights go down and the performers open their bodies and hearts to a room full of people (many times who they have never met) - giving of themselves - not holding back a thing - vulnerable - and that vulnerability is enveloped and celebrated by this room of strangers. Through this experience, this room of people (who are sharing themselves by being present, listening, engaging) begin to feel understood, heard and celebrated - they begin to feel part of a conversation - like the performers are talking to THEM... this might not be the experience in every live dance performance - but I know it is what we strive to achieve at a CONTRA-TIEMPO show... before we get on stage we set our intention - what do we want the people who come here tonight, to get out of this experience - what are we committed to have them walk away with... and that is what becomes our fire our fuel for the performance - that commitment to YOU - to THEM to US... this back and forth that is intentional yet always full of surprises - it is communication at its best... and it is the essence of SALSA.

Recently I have been reflecting on all the contradictions of the form we primarily use (Salsa), our image to the public and the difficulty in reflecting to people what exactly we do in our work... I find myself describing our work as Salsa based - yet I know that people come to our shows and see/experience so much more than that... It doesn't do us justice to describe what we do as Salsa based - when I begin describing the elements of what goes into our performance work it sometimes sounds impossible that there could be that many forms - integrated together to create something comprehensive and powerful... the only answer I can ever find is - "you just have to see it for yourself". If you have a way to describe our work I am always interested to hear what folks who are looking in see... I am so engrossed in it that I find I sometimes don't have that perspective I need... What I DO know is I love it and I love to share it! I also know that slowing down and breathing will allow me space to really savor this time of sharing... making me love it even more and making it a richer experience for everyone involved...

COME TO CUBA WITH US!!!!!! JULY 2009

CONTRA-TIEMPO is going BACK to CUBA for our second annual dance and music research trip! Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to DANCE, STUDY and TOUR in Cuba with the company in 2009!

The trip will be from JULY 6th - JULY 20th - 2009 - It is a 14 day professional development and research tour where CONTRA-TIEMPO and I will present our work in La Habana and Santigago and a delegation of non company members (along side the company) will be taking DAILY master classes with amazing Cuban Master artists in Rumba, Afro-Cuba Foklorico (Gaga, Macuta etc), Casino, Rueda and Salsa on the CONTRA-TIEMPO, Son and Cuban Contemporary Dance! Like I said before (and I know from last October's trip) this is will be an LIFE ALTERING experience to be touring for 14 days straight with a rigorous schedule of training, dancing, traveling and building alliances with Cuban Artists and people! Part of the trip is to also learn about Cuban culture and how arts functions in a socialist system - which is fascinating and completely different than our reality in the US. The trip is NOT a vacation - but an amazing opportunity to have our art and the relationships we build there, begin to create future collaborations in both of our countries to further the connection and opening relations between Cuba and the US - We are going legally (with a general research license) through an organization called GLOBAL EXCHANGE http://www.globalexchange.org/. Since this is a professional development trip for artists - all delegates who come on the trip must bring documentation of what they do for a living. I will send more info on this when you contact me about registering.

During the 14 days, we will study intensively with two companies Narciso Medina's and Cutumba . Both are AMAZING companies who I first danced with in the 90's, then again in 2001 and we worked with them this past October! The first week we will be working with Narcisco Medina Danza Contemporania en La Habana (who has an incredible take on Cuban contemporary technique - Modern dance infused with a Cuban sabor!) and the second week we will be working with Cutumba Baile Foklorico de Santiago de Cuba (they do more traditional work like the Cuban social dances and Cuban sacred dances) The price for the two weeks is $3700 plus airfare to Cancun and worth every PENNY!! The price includes almost everything: travel, room and board (2 meals a day), and all of the classes and cultural experiences, a translator, ground transportation throughout the trip and the air fare to Cuba and between La Habana and Santiago.

We have a limited number of spots - TEN to be exact -and we want to have those spots filled by the end of February (or ideally even before then!). If you are interested in coming, please contact us IMMEDIATELY - and we will send you all of the details. Email contra1tiempo@gmail.com. And feel free to share this opportunity to anyone and everyone who you think might want to participate. This is an opportunity of a lifetime! I hope to hear from you soon!