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

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

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”.