Desde Aquí Program
“Desde Aquí ”
September 15 and 16, 2023 at Red Eye Theater
Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois - I have inhabited these places, calling them home by what they have offered, or rather, what I have taken. I have traversed lands and called them “home”, neglecting their histories and once untouched beauty. Today, we gather on unceded Dakota land in Mni Sota Makoce because of the oppressive nature of colonialism. We may point the finger elsewhere, but we also have to acknowledge that effort emerges from us. We have a potential to change and steer towards becoming better. Consider how you navigate this place, others thereafter, and how you can support those in your communities with action.
There are so many things left unturned and unexperienced in this piece. The reality for people in my birth country have hovered in my consciousness: cartel dominance, kidnapping, separation of family, death through immigration, illegality in the U.S., deportation, and so on. Another evening and someone else’s story. One I cannot and do not touch because it is not lived by me or the collaborators. Instead, the materialization of these nights are experiences of feeling not enough in one identity, remembering land, hovering duality, transforming, attempting to show strength, continuing to dream, and continuing to be seen. We are becoming and being everything we wish to be by remembering where we come from and where we go, desde aquí.
Ensemble
José A. Luis - Choreographer/Performer
José A. Luis was born in Veracruz, Mexico and raised in Racine, WI. He has lived in Milwaukee, Chicago, and now Minneapolis as of 2017. Relocation, returning, arrival, and departure influence his work using time and space as motifs. Dance offered him a way to communicate without words while offering interpretation to those he shared the room with. Considered a “late-dancer”, his ability to learn and unlearn in sync led him to graduate UW-Milwaukee with a BFA in 2013. Circumstances have led him to serve as both choreographer and dancer in a solo path while welcoming collaborations, residencies to reflect who he is in dance, and presentations to inform shifts in his perspectives. Determination led to his first self-produced solo show in September 2021 by threading pieces over nine years and across different cities, cementing his voice as an independent artist. The intimate, introspective, honest approach of his choreography is also present in his dancing, paving the way as a dancer in other artist’s work. José’s tenacity, skill, and acceptance in navigating the imperfectness of being human is at the forefront of who he is—in and outside the dance floor. For a thorough biography: www.jose.dance/bio
Held by: Martha Calderón, Gerardo Luis, Gerardo A. Luis, Carlos A. Luis, Vianeth Luis, Diego Luis, Juan Calderón, Vicenta Calderón Pineda, Juan Antonio Calderón, Sergio Ivan Calderón, Roberto Calderón, Azucena Fuentes, Moises Fuentes, Moises Fuentes Jr, Melisa Fuentes
Lizzette Chapa - Performer
Lizzette Chapa (she/her) is a Mexican-American dancer and dance maker originally from The Rio Grande Valley, Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BFA in Dance in 2017. She has been a company member with Ananya Dance Theatre for 6 seasons. She is deeply drawn to ADT’s commitment to social justice issues, radical healing, and ancestral guidance. She is a movement instructor in the Twin Cities, utilizing the principles of Yorchhā and Pilates to deepen one’s connection to self and mind body engagement. In 2020, she was a collaborator in residence led by Ananya Chatterjea at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography. She is incredibly grateful for her mentors, teachers, students, ancestors, family and, most importantly, her parents and brother for their endless support and love.
Held by: Elsy Carmen Chapa, Hector Chapa, Michael Chapa, Elsy Hauser, RJ Chapa, Adam Chapa, Jonathan Chapa, Norma Chapa
Margaret Ogas - Performer
Margaret Ogas is a dance artist based in the Twin Cities. Using an interdisciplinary approach rooted in dance and informed by Chicana cultural sensibilities, her works tell surreal everyday stories through a collage of movement, text and sound. Ogas’s choreography has been presented by the Walker Art Center, Red Eye Theater, Candy Box Dance Festival, Center for Performing Arts, Comunidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio, and others. Margaret is a 2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow. She was a 2021 Naked Stages Fellow at Pillsbury House + Theatre and has received grant funding from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. Margaret is a core collaborator and performer with the Taja Will Ensemble and a collaborator with Aniccha Arts. She is currently a youth instructor at Young Dance. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities.
Held by: Michael, Nancy, Andrew and Evan Ogas, Ricardo Ogas, Manuela Uranga Ogas, and Paula Carrasco Uranga
Visual Artists
Alondra M Garza is a Tejana/Tex-Mex artist, curator, and educator. She was born on the Mexican side of the Mexico-Texas RGV borderlands. Garza received an MFA at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, a BFA at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and took painting courses at the New York Academy of Art.
Her interdisciplinary artwork has been exhibited internationally across the U.S., Mexico, and Italy.
Including solo exhibitions at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
Garza is the runner of SEMILLAS, Semillas Galeria a non-conventional Latine gallery by being awarded the 2022 Visual Arts Fund grant through the Warhol Foundation.
Website: www.alondra-mg.com
Instagram: @alondramg_art
Los Cortes De Mi Vida
Digital photographs collaged on papel picado installation, set of three
2023
NFS
How Do I Live With My Privilege?
Digital images of the border on Jacquard Tapestry 2023
$400
Cyanotype Prints part of the collection Coexistir, 2023
Photo-Prints Cotton 21” x 14”
Maria del Mar Villalvazo Mendoza is a creative soul who enjoys the exploration of the arts. She was born in Orizaba, Veracruz in Mexico. Currently, she resides in Saint Paul, MN. As an interdisciplinary artist, she is on a constant journey where she fulfills her recurring need for self-expression through different mediums, doing research in a diversity of materials and processes. In her work, she makes varied disciplines work together tapping into photography, sculpture, graphic design, and chemistry processes.
Learning about how to bring her artistic vision into unusual mediums is an exciting way she pushes her limits. A constant in her artistic journey has been photography, in this field she performs as a Fine Art Photographer, where she builds concepts and associations, and pairs social issues with the narrative of what she captures in her lens.
She works closely with fellow artists documenting their essence, art exhibitions, and events. She recently performed at a solo exhibition "Coexist". In this collection, she invites the observer to question the concept of duality, which alludes to the coexistence of two different characters in the same entity. By making use of contrasting concepts such as ephemeral and quotidian, she aims to reflect this duality in her own personal experience as an immigrant who coexists in this duality. One who had to embrace who she is without canceling who she was, and who she will become.
Supported By
Lighting: Mags Scanlon
Mags Scanlon is grateful to be part of this production. Previous works include "Tracing Sacred Steps" (Brownbody, LD), "Man of God" (Theater Mu, ALD), and "breathe" (solo piece choreographed by Mikaela Saran, LD). In her spare time, Mags enjoys oil painting and discovering new hobbies. You can find her artwork on Instagram @the.mags.art.
Music: Eric Gonzalez
Minneapolis-based. Composer. Performer. Sound designer. Writer. @ericmcgonzalez
Photography: Xavier Taveras
Xavier Tavera has had a passion for portraiture for most of his life as a way to engage with people and their stories. Tavera’s work oscillates between documentary and the imagined with the sole purpose of telling a story. After moving from Mexico City to the United States, Tavera has devoted himself to tell the stories of the Latin American diaspora, often recontextualizing with the purpose of providing visibility and fair representation.
Tavera has shown his work extensively in the Twin Cities, nationally and internationally including Germany, Scotland, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Switzerland, Greece and China. His work is part of the collections of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Plaines Art Museum, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Minnesota History Center, Ramsey County Historical Society, the Weisman Art Museum and the National Museum of Mexican Art. He is a recipient of the McKnight fellowship, Jerome Travel award, State Arts Board, and Bronica scholarship.
Pulley Install: Peter Morrow
Space Set-Up: Matt Regan
Videography: Olu Famule
Ushers: D Hunter and Río Saúl García Ramírez
Thank You
To numerous people here and afar. Those who have supported and worked behind the scenes and those onstage (Lizzette+Marggie). Special thanks to the following for unconsciously being a rock and holding me in ways that have cleared the path for this work to exist.
Emily Gastineau - For being engaged in communication, being accessible, trusting and sharing excitement for this work. For making the administrative part manageable and staying flexible. For your time. For your emails. For your patience.
Masanari Kawahara - For seeing and hearing the early stages of this work. For seeing what is there in the given moment. For encouraging me. For seeing me.
Valerie Oliveiro - For continuing to hold the door open for me. For finding ways to support my path and trusting it. For saying “yes”.
Pramila Vasudevan - For showing me the work and gift of art is sometimes outside the dance floor, outside theater spaces and actually, outside. For inviting “no” to be an answer, always. For unconsciously sharing a parallel of process beyond the self in relation to this piece, through “Prairie | Concrete”.
José A. Luis is a fiscal year 2023 recipient of a Creative Support for Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
