commitment...

We just had the first day of a professional development retreat for the company... doing some vision building for the future - it was a great day... a lot came up and my mind is racing... now entering into our fifth year as a dance company... yes HALF A DECADE! I am finding myself thinking about what the idea of commitment means really. I have always had a pretty easy time committing and actually enjoy it... my solid eleven year relationship with my husband is definitely an example of that... commitment to me occurs as an opportunity not a hindrance... Commitment as in a way of being. For me it is about integrity, about follow through, about devotion, about being so inspired by someone or something that your obligation fulfills you. In the dictionary definition of the word, you can easily see how, depending on your perspective, it can be something really incredibly liberating and inspiring or something like a ball and chain that stifles you and weighs you down.... it is all in your perspective.

Com-mit-ment; n: Something that takes up time or energy, especially an obligation (an example of the ball and chain perspective)

Devotion or dedication for example to a cause, person or relationship (an example of an inspiring paradigm)

Not to say one is more accurate than the other - but one perspective will have you jumping out of bed in the morning where as the other will have you experiencing your 'commitment' like a chore... and I don't think that any of us ever feel 100% one or the other, but the beauty of being a human being is that we can stop, step back and examine how we are being in our commitments and decide to shift it... we can CREATE being inspired by our commitments. We can find the essence, the root, the context of what originally inspired us about the initial commitment and let that reinvigorate our relationship with it...

I am committed to live in a world where human beings understand their own creative power, treat each other with respect and where everyone has a voice. I deeply believe that dance has the power to create such a world. I am constantly learning more about how to BE with other people through my teaching of partner dancing. I am fascinated with how much we can learn about ourselves - about what is and what isn't working in our life - through dancing with another human being... that partnership is the greatest teacher we will ever know...

I am committed to develop a new genre - Urban Latin Dance Theater - that speaks to the commitments of others - that connects people - that inspires others to speak out and find their creative voice.

I am committed to live a life that inspires.

I am committed to treating the people inside and outside of CONTRA-TIEMPO with love and respect.

I am committed to not be a part of the 'starving artist story' - and to undermine it in my actions and in every part of my being!

I am committed to pushing myself and putting myself in situations where I am challenged physically and artistically.

I am committed to listen and to learn from those around me - to know that everyone has something to share and contribute

I am commited learn and grow for the rest of my life.

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!

CUBA! This is just the beginning...

So this will be my first posting about Cuba - I need to process a bit more and spend some time really articulating the depth of what I (and the 21 artists we took to Cuba) got from this tour. It was truly amazing. But I didn't want to wait too long before posting some of our photos on the blog! We are going back with in the next year (July 2009) so please contact us immediately if you would like to be a part of the trip! Stay tuned for more!

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU TATIANA!!

San Francisco & Seattle - CT hits the WEST COAST

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind - five states in a month - but no complaints - the shining faces in our audiences, brand new people to connect with, discussions, questions and new perspectives on the work - it is what we LIVE for! San Francisco was a blast. CounterPULSE is a funky cool space - we learned our lesson not to perform on Labor Day weekend next time (since most of the people I know in the bay go out of town then) - but we still had great audiences who were responsive, engaged and really excited about the work! We would love to come back to CounterPULSE - Patrick Simms was AMAZING - he helped Erik with all the Tech aspects of the show - and was a wonderful soul who made the weekend a breeze! I think the lights on the women's piece were some of my absolute FAVORITES - nice job Erik - the man's got talent that is for sure!!

The bay feels like home in a funny way. I have never lived there but you just feel the energy of the city in a way that makes me absolutely love it! It feels like NY on the west coast! We stayed with Marina's familia - who were absolutely the most loving and gracious hosts ever! Their home was a Brazilian oasis of relaxation and rejuvenation in Orinda! WHO KNEW!?

We then headed up to Seattle for a marathon tech, dress and performance for our WAA (Western Arts Alliance) LACA (Los Angeles Choreographer Alliance) Showcase! Don't you love all of our various acronyms!? We shared the show with Kujo and Amy and their crews (Lux Aterna and Antics Performance). A lot of fun - it felt like we were one big 20 person company! I danced and got down with Amy and CT's agent, Sophie, (we LOVE HER!) and some other friends from the conference the night after the showcase. The company left to return home and I stayed to schmooze and network! All in all the tour was a great success and now I am ready to start seriously gearing up for CUBA! I can't believe it is a month away!

Getting down in the Bronx with CONTRA-TIEMPO - back to the home of Salsa!

It has been WAY too long - I haven't made the time to update this blog in a while - but I am committed to keeping this conversation going - sharing the incredible journey of creating and building CONTRA-TIEMPO! There is a lot to catch you up on - but tonight will just be a quick hello - and I will be back with more meaty entries in the next week! It has been an AMAZING year - and we are just about to end the summer - entering into our third fiscal year as a non-profit - fourth year as a company. Two amazing tours under our belt - NYC and DC - Both were tours where we learned a tremendous amount about ourselves, each other. Each day I was reminded of why I am so absolutely honored and in awe with every opportunity we/I have to share this work and to share dance and the transformative power of movement with others! Below I included a little home video link of an impromptu jam session - we were walking by some congeros at St. Mary's park after our show that afternoon - and the music nos llamo' - wooo did it ever- It felt SO good to just get down with people in the neighborhood - to the sound of salsa blasting over loud speakers with congas and timbales as back up - and remember why it is that we work so hard - so that we can DANCE for a living!



Tomorrow night we will be having our yearly BENEFIT FIESTA at the Electric Lodge - all of you out there in LA LA land - please join us! I would love to have you there - it is going to be a good time for a good cause! http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40165 and then we are off to SAN FRANCISCO and SEATTLE! I am so excited - as we are being to create a new piece now and after these tours are over we will begin really getting down with our new work - to be
debuted in 2009! Yeah! Bueno - good night - boa noite - hope to see you on the dance floor! - Ana Maria

Celebrate Dance! SOLD OUT the ALEX THEATER in GLENDALE!

These past few months have been an amazing whirlwind of opportunity, change and growth - we have over tripled our programming and budget from our first year as a non-profit! Our artist-in-residency programs in Alhambra, CA were a huge success. Through these residency programs we were able to support teachers to integrate dance with core curricular subject areas, as well as provide students with exposure to a high quality standards-based arts program. We will expand the programs next year to include schools in Los Angeles Unified School District, as well as complete a number of shorter residencies during our tours for 2008-2009! Speaking of touring… this July we are sending the men of CT to Puerto Rico, to debut the new work Brackish Water in a Dance Festival there, then we will all head to the east coast in mid August (GET READY NEW YORK - we're baaaaack!). We have two performances New York City as part of the NYC Parks Foundation Summerstage program, and will be sharing our work in a couple other cities on that coast (Check www.contra-tiempo.org for details in the end of May). In late August we will be heading up to San Francisco, Eugene and Seattle. We are planning a number of tours, collaborations and residencies for the following year.
We are currently creating a professional development trip for the company and for other professional dancers and performers - this coming October 2008 - to tour Cuba! The trip is being organized through a non profit organization in the Bay Area called Global Exchange. We will have an opportunity to share CONTRA-TIEMPO’s performance work and master classes with Cuban audiences, and study Rueda, Afro-Cuban, Rumba and Contemporary dance with renowned artists in La Habana and Santiago. Last month we moved into a beautiful new office space in downtown Los Angeles! For this summer, we have been given a LA County Arts Grant, to employ a full time Administrative assistant – a huge leap forward in our commitment to build infrastructure for CT! Stay tuned - I promise to be a better blogger in the days/months/years to come!