Hispanic Heritage Month - available Sept 15-25
Moving Barcelona, 2021, United Kingdom, 6 min
Directed by Jevan Chowdhury
Choreography by Alex Ekman, Catherine Allard, Jevan Chowdhury
Featuring IT Dansa
Moving Barcelona is a magical realist dance story about the Catalonian capital, an autonomous region in the Spanish State contending with an identity crisis. A city with everything going for it is still haunted by the ghosts of its past and despite much progress, it finds itself unearthing old wounds. Narrated by celebrated actor, Pep Munné, who appeals for calm, there is a sense of reassurance that all is okay. The movement of the city however tells a different story, and he is resigned to the fact that things inevitably, are the way they are. Barcelonians, in pursuit of happiness, find themselves on a treadmill to nowhere in a tale of modern day life. Moving Barcelona is the eighth film in an award-winning collection of works by the London-based film-maker, Jevan Chowdhury to capture the world as a stage. Life on the street in London, Paris, Brussels, Dallas, Prague, Yerevan and Athens have all been recorded in this growing canon.
Ixchel, 2021, Mexico, 8 min
Produced and Directed by Ana Baer, Rocio Luna
Dancing by Rocio Luna
Music Composed by Joaquin Lopez Chas
Dramaturgy by Claudia Fragoso
Mother moon, liquid Nahuatl, salty skin … Among the steam your presence vanishes and clings to the roots. You embody the navel of the world, where life sprouts and ends … In an environment of surreal nature, an archetypal figure is revealed though a lyrical, visual painting in motion. Crafted by the superposition of opposites: water-land, dryness-blooming, grounded-volatile, IXCHEL invites the audience on a mysterious journey loaded with visual creativity and a sensual cinematic construction.
Mascara, 2022, Argentina, 3 min
Produced and Directed by Luli Brindisi, Alesso
Featuring Luli Brindisi
A woman rebelling against her seemingly perfect life. An urgent need to escape. A transformation led by her alter egos: those women who co-exist inside of her and who guide her along a path of liberation.
A Body Is, 2021, Spain, 4 min
Produced and Directed by Jaime Dezcallar
Choreography by Marco Flores
Featuring Cia Marco Flores
Antonio José Martínez Palacios was going to be the biggest Spanish musician of the 20th Century. Unfortunately, he was incarcerated and executed without a trial at the age of 33, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
What If?, 2022, Mexico, 1 min
Directed by Ana Karen Retes
Produced by León Muñoz
Choreography by Ana Karen Retes
It is a piece that arises from the bodily sensations that can generate anxiety in the human being. Anxiety to live, a failed love, a loss or everyday stress. The title of the work evokes finding multiple solutions to this condition that has manifested itself at least once in all of us.
Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film, 2022, United States, 13 min
Directed by John Jota Leaños, Vanessa Sanchez
Produced by Harry Gregory
Featuring Vanessa Sanchez & La Mezcla
“Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film” explores the history of labor in the US–Mexico borderlands through Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and live music. This work brings together polyrhythmic movement and an original score to look at the (ongoing) years of systemic exploitation of labor while highlighting the power and joy of collective resistance. Based on farmworker interviews in California, this excerpt honors the sacred hands that feed us and was filmed on a farm with support from Ayudando Latinos a Soñar (ALAS), a non-profit advocacy organization for farmworkers in Half Moon Bay, CA. A full-length dance theater production of Ghostly Labor will premiere in 2023.
