AN ABUNDANCE OF DANZA
In 1994, Tania Pérez-Salas founded CompañÃa de Danza in Mexico City. Since then, her company has become unrivaled in the arena of Mexican contemporary dance, and Pérez-Salas has not only proven herself to be Mexico’s premiere contemporary choreographer, but her troupe has made many global appearances.
Thanks to Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center, Tania Pérez-Salas CompañÃa de Danza is finally coming to Los Angeles. Prepare for the power, innovation, and extraordinary drama of this must-see company when it debuts here at The Music Center’s Ahmanson Theatre. The advance word on this company is so great that a three-day engagement has been booked from May 15-17, 2015.
Pérez-Salas’ choreography is nourished by her love of movies, literature, visual arts and philosophy. Each work stems from a real-life experience and displays a unique quality that blends music, sets, costumes and lighting. Her dancers are highly trained professionals, equal to the task of successfully expressing the required blend of emotion and technique. The result on stage is captivating, visually arresting and highly emotive work.
The extravagant theatricality of Pérez-Salas’ dances—dramatically vivid, with music ranging from Mexican composers to beat-driven techno—is her scintillating approach, “to capture and project the sensations of the wild, funny, exciting and sometimes discouraging land of her birth.” Or she can change tempo with more subdued work to the music of Arvo Pärt and other modernists.
Here is what Pérez-Salas has to say about “Ex-Stasis,” a 33-minute 2010 work (with music by Meredith Monk, Monolake, Pan Sonic, Chris Isaak, Gustavo Cerati and Digitalverein) which will be on the program: “We are so accustomed to controlling our emotions that we block out what we feel. The mind denies that which the body wants, and even what it needs—denying our sexuality and our sleep. The current systems of modern life have trained us to work at all costs…we forget to trust our instincts. As such, our bodies are losing communication with our minds. In this work, I attempt to listen from another perspective, one that is more connected to my own nature, and to regain the satisfaction and pleasure of some of my basic needs: sleeping and thus dreaming, attentive to the messages the body has for the mind.”
A new work, “Made in Mexico (Hecho en Mexico),” features a collage of musical artists (AgustÃn Lara, José Alfredo Jiménez, La Trova Ballenata, and others) and contemporary images of Mexico that are rooted in her perspective as a Mexican female artist. Again, Pérez-Salas: “During my travels in Europe, I became amazed at the deep cultural contrast between my country, Mexico, and Western Europe. My experience living abroad helped me understand the perception of Mexico as “the other”—as an exotic, chaotic and surreal world, where the culture’s music and rhythms bring a current of wild and turbulent intensity. I’ve seen that world reflected in works of visual artists living in Mexico, such as Francis Alÿs and Yoshua Okón. This new work consists of interwoven images that may be universal—and at times touch upon controversial themes—though they begin with and are rooted in my own personal perspective as a Mexican artist.
“The images in my choreography that capture and project the sensations I have personally experienced in the midst of the wild, funny, exciting and sometimes discouraging world that one inhabits in contemporary Mexico.”
Pre-performance DANCETALKS with Tania Pérez-Salas occur in the theatre’s orchestra one hour prior to each performance or in real time by calling (626) 667-3000 (access code 314902#). Post-performance discussion with the dancers on the stage follow each performance.
photos by Andrea López and David Garces
Tania Pérez-Salas CompañÃa de Danza
Glorya Kaufman Presents
Dance at The Music Center
Ahmanson Theatre 135 N. Grand Ave
Friday, May 15 at 7:30
Saturday, May 16 at 7:30
Sunday, May 17, 2015 at 2:00
for tickets, call (213) 972-0711 or visit www.MusicCenter.org