Blakeley White-McGuire & Daniel Fetecua Soto to Dance THE TONGUE OF THE FLAME at Westbeth Studio Theater

THE TONGUE OF THE FLAME, the bold and raw dance/theater duet, conceived, co-choreographed, and performed by internationally acclaimed dancers DANIEL FETECUA SOTO and BLAKELEY WHITE-McGUIRE returns for performances November 18 & 19 at 7:30pm at the Westbeth Studio Theater. The artists are happy to announce that the duet will be danced for the first time to original music created by Colombian composer PABLO MAYOR.

THE TONGUE OF THE FLAME is a project of C.A.V.E.S., a dance theater laboratory formed in 2021 by Daniel Fetecua Soto and Blakeley White-McGuire through which the artists are committed to: Compassion in Art making, Vulnerability in collaboration, Emotion in creating, and Sensuality in the performance of all of their dance and community collaborations. Building on their careers with the iconic modern dance companies of Martha Graham and José Limón, the artists transcend genre in this 40 minute piece which explicitly explores control, submission and care.

The work, which includes nudity, premiered during the lockdown in New York, followed by a tour to Medellin, Colombia before returning to New York for this final iteration with original music.

BLAKELEY WHITE-McGUIRE is a South Louisiana native, currently a New York-based creative artist, dancer, choreographer, repetiteur, educator, and writer. She has received international critical acclaim as Principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance company, where her repertory included Lamentation and Errand into the Maze, receiving the prestigious Positano Premia La Danza Award for Contemporary Dance. Described in The New York Times as a dancer of "powerful technique, dramatic instinct and an appealing modern spunk," Blakely has also appeared in many works by international contemporary choreographers.

Blakeley has received commissions from The Museum of Arts and Design in NYC; Dancing Human Rights (Oxford U, U.K.); Danza en Arte Pietrasanta, Italy; Jacob's Pillow's INSIDE/OUT Festival, The Ailey School, and the Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College and is an official-stager of Martha Graham's masterworks internationally.

Her first book, The Martha Graham Dance Company: House of the Pelvic Truth, was released by Bloomsbury Publishing UK in 2022. Blakeley's passion for collaboration through thoughtful and respectful cultural exchange with communities through NYC and abroad has supports her work as facilitator of professional development for the Department of Education. She is currently a faculty member of The Ailey School and Hunter College of NY where she is a founding and current member of the Dance Department Anti-Racism Committee. She was appointed Artist-in-Residence at Loyola University Chicago in the Fall of 2021.

DANIEL FETECUA SOTO, a native of Colombia now based in NYC, works in dance choreography and performance, cultural and educational programming, and as producer of theater and art festivals, most notably LATITUDES DANCE FESTIVAL, which promotes and presents Latin American and international Native companies. He danced as Soloist with the José Limón Dance Company from 2006 to 2016 in roles including many of José's roles in Day on Earth, The Emperor Jones and Chaconne. He has appeared as guest in Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring and Tannhauser.

Daniel is the Founder and Artistic Director of two dance companies: Pajarillo Pinta'o, which preserves and promotes Colombian traditional dances; and D-Moves, a contemporary dance project that combines Colombian traditions. He is a longtime collaborator with Colombian composer/musician Pablo Mayor, and together they have created projects which serve school children throughout the Tri-State area.

Daniel works with pioneering Native American choreographer Rosalie Jones/Daystar and has been gifted the rights to perform and stage her dance Wolf: A Transformation. He is resident choreographer of ID Studio Theatre in the Bronx, and has created commissioned works for the Connecticut Ballet, Opera Hispanica, Universidad Distrital of Bogotá, Harlem Stage Fund for New Work, and NALAC (National Association for Latino Arts and Culture), and Funds for the Arts. He is a master Limón teacher and reconstructor of Limón's repertory, and is currently a faculty member of the Limón Institute, an Adjunct Professor Dance at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a teacher for Ballet Hispanico.

PABLO MAYOR, from Cali Colombia, is first and foremost a creator whose compositions and creative concepts forge new territory in the global landscape of contemporary Latin American music. His versatility ranges from his Folklore Urbano Orchestra creation "El Barrio Project - SALSA" to "Untold Tales," a multi-disciplinary work inspired by immigrant stories from around the world, to music and dance collaborations with Daniel Fetecua Soto. His compositions are featured in Berklee City Music's pulse Latino software in rhythms from South America and Mexico, and he has traveled throughout Latin America with Berklee's educational program, making connections between music education and the cultural roots of a country.

His early years as a New York resident were devoted to writing, producing, and promoting Colombian music, resulting in four albums with his band the Folklore Urbano Orchestra and an international tour. Mayor is founder and producer of NYC's Colombian music festival Encuentro NYC, active for more than sixteen years, and is recipient of the 2020 Artist Award from ArtsWestchester.

In addition to his own Folklore Urbano ensembles, Mayor is pianist with the Puerto Rican establishment Los Pieneros de la 21, and is a longtime performer with the legendary Cuban charanga Orquesta Broadway.

The original music by Pablo Mayor, created for the third iteration of The Tongue of the Flame, is made possible through a generous commissioning grant by The O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation as well as production and space grants from ID Studio Theater.

Westbeth Studio Theater requires the wearing of masks at the performances.

Tickets: $20

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