Dzul Dance Kicks Off IATI Theater's 2012 Performing Arts Marathon

New York nonprofit performing arts institution IATI THEATER presents internationally acclaimed dance and aerial company Dzul Dance to kick off the 2012 Performing Arts Marathon (PAM). The festival opens with the revival of Artistic Director Javier Dzul’s 2007 choreography, Reincarnations, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25 Street) in Manhattan, on Friday, August 3rd & Saturday, August 4th at 7:00 pm.

PAM 2012, dedicated to promoting Latin culture and established Latin artists, features 11 cutting-edge performances across a three week span offering the City’s best of dance, music and theater. The festival opens with Dzul Dance’s, Reincarnations, which portrays pre-Hispanic mythology alongside Mexican cultural icons and traditions as a way to explore ideas of destiny and life after death.

Reincarnations is based on two souls that meet and form different relationships over the course of several lifetimes. The choreography fuses dance with aerial arts as a means to communicate indigenous pre-Hispanic and Mexican culture. By transforming bodies into earthbound and airborne forces of nature Dzul creates a bridge between contemporary art and historical heritage while simultaneously illuminating cultural ideals related to life, death and rebirth.

Dzul highlights Ih Can Cavil, the Mayan guardian of souls, and illustrates the Mayan celestial plane and the descent of the souls to earth using innovative aerial dance. Mexican icons such as Emiliano Zapata, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are used as catalysts to explore the traditional Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) and ‘la Catrina’, the Mexican personification of death.

The choreography features performances by Artistic Director Javier Dzul along with Dzul Dance company members Kyla Ernst-Alper, Ji Hyeun Bang, Chellamar Bernard, Cornelius Brown, Robin Taylor Dzul, Yoo Sik Kim, Courtney Jackson, Jason Jordan, Nicole Lichau, Orlando Martinez, Steven Melendez and Naomi Relnick. Original score by Guatemalan composer and musician Sergio Reyes, lighting design by Mike Inwood and costume design by Javier Dzul, brings the magic of pre-Hispanic and Mexican culture to life.

The Ih Can Cavil section of Reincarnations was presented at the United Nations as part of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The full length choreography premiered at Bard College’s Summerscape Festival and then at the Reichold Center for the Arts in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In Mexico Reincarnations was presented at Muestra Internacional de Danza de Oaxaca, Festival de Santiago de Queretaro and Teatro Francisco de Paula Toro in Campeche.

Dzul Dance celebrated a very successful 2012 Spring season at the Baruch Performing Arts Center with the sell-out premiere of Maya 2012: A New Beginning, which is based on the ancient Mayan prophecies associated with the end of the Mayan calendar. In June 2012, Javier Dzul brought the allure of his aerial and dance technique to Mexico’s premiere Mayan archeological park, Xcaret, for a two week intensive workshop. The Company will return to Xcaret in October to perform Forest of Kings and again in December to perform Maya 2012. Dzul and his company were also featured in Private Acts: the acrobat sublime, published by Rizzoli International and have been recently featured on American Latino’s LatiNation (http://bit.ly/NMAACI), CUNY TV (http://bit.ly/kvTsaq) and Univision’s Despierta America.
IATI Theater’s Performing Arts Marathon will take place at the Baruch Performing Arts Center (at Baruch College), 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th street, between Lexington & 3rd Ave) in Manhattan.

Reincarnations will be performed on Friday, August 3rd & Saturday, August 4th at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $30 online and $35 at the door. Tickets for seniors and students are $28 online and $35 at the theater door. Tickets may be purchased online at www.teatroiati.org, or call (212) 505-6757.

About Dzul Dance: Created in 2003, Artistic Director Javier Dzul and his diverse company of dancers and aerialists have been presented throughout New York, Mexico, South America, Europe, Canada, Asia and the Virgin Islands. Dzul Dance’s intense physicality and creative appeal have won them invitations nationally and internationally to perform on a variety of stages. The Company has been presented by prestigious institutions that include the United Nations, Banff Centre for the Arts and Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and have performed in world renowned festivals such as Festival Internacional Cervantino and Bard College’s Summerscape.

In addition to performance, Javier has brought the artistry and vocabulary of Dzul Dance to others through professional workshops and youth outreach programs in Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, New York and the Virgin Islands. In November 2011 Javier was presented with the PHAT Friend Award; an award given by the young individual’s involved in programs at the All Stars Project. The award honors New York City’s unsung heroes and recognizes those adults who serve as community role models and leaders, supporting the growth and development of today’s youth.

In the fall of 2009 Javier Dzul was awarded the prestigious Premio San Fransisco de Campeche for bringing international awareness to Mayan culture. The award is given each decade to a citizen who has excelled in the area of art, economics and science. Because of his accomplishments Dzul was commissioned by the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) of Mexico and the government of the state of Campeche to found and direct La Compania de Danza Contemporanea del Estado de Campeche, a twelve member dance and aerial company.

About Javier Dzul: One of the only indigenous Mayan choreographers in the world, Artistic Director Javier Dzul was born and raised in a Mayan tribal community in southern Mexico performing ritual dances, speaking Mayan and studying ancient teachings until the age of 16.

He then began his professional career as a principal dancer with Ballet Nacional de Mexico and Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. In 1995 Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes of Mexico awarded Javier a scholarship to pursue his dance career in the United States at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He has since danced professionally with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Battery Dance Company, American Indian Dance Theater and as an aerialist with Acroback.

About IATI (International Theater Arts Institute): Established in 1968, IATI is a nonprofit organization committed to the innovation of the stage. Hundreds of awards have been garnered by presenting theater, music and dance productions in Spanish and English that contain thought-provoking issues of the human experience. From their home in the heart of the East Village, their workshops, development programs, festivals and touring productions push the artistic envelope while providing undeserved communities with accessible and refined aesthetics that showcase their Hispanic origins and provide the grounds for new performing expression. For more information, please visit: www.iatitheater.org

Photo Credit: Roj Rodriguez