Joe Goode Annex Premieres New Work by Jocelyn Reyes This Fall

REYES Dance will present the world premiere of LASOS, a work of film and live performance exploring the links between childhood trauma and chronic pain within the context of Latin American culture and traditions. Performances take place at Joe Goode Annex, September 29 - October 1, Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are pay-what-you-can to $100, and may be purchased online at reyesdance.com/lasos.

Conceived and directed by Jocelyn Reyes, LASOS mines the artist's personal story of recovery from debilitating pain. Like many first-generation Latin Americans living in the U.S., Reyes received a loving but severe upbringing in which corporal punishment was commonplace. After moving to San Francisco in 2017, she began to develop signs of fibromyalgia, a condition which eventually overwhelmed her central nervous system leaving her bedridden for months. LASOS explores the journey Reyes made in the year that followed, uncovering the hidden ties between her childhood experience of abuse and her present-day affliction.

"While growing up in an abusive home, flight-or-flight mode was my default setting," said Reyes. "Only as an adult did I discover how challenging it would be to turn it off. But I know now that it is possible to break ingrained patterns from the past, to effectively rewire the brain. It's a slow process and it's a lot of work."

The title LASOS refers to the hidden connections between the mind and body - "lasos" means ties in Spanish - and to the feeling of intense weariness experienced by Reyes during her recovery - "laso" also means limp and tired in Spanish.

"I grew up watching Spanish-language telenovelas and sitcoms," continued Reyes, "and as I look back on them, I see how pervasive corporal punishment is, and how often they use humor to minimize the seriousness of the violence depicted. The grandmother wielding la chancla - her sandal or flip flop - as a tool of physical punishment has by now become something of a meme."

For LASOS, Reyes draws inspiration from one show in particular, El Chavo del Ocho, which has aired continuously, now in syndication, throughout Mexico and Latin America since the 1970s. In the show adults play the part of kids, and Reyes worked with designer Monique Prieto to create outfits modeled after one character in particular, La Chilindrina, an intelligent if sometimes mischievous eight-year-old girl.

The cast of four performers - Jess Bozzo, Caitlin Hicks, Maya Mohsin and Brooke Terry - will perform in both the film and live performance halves, moving in and out of various roles inspired by Reyes herself as well as characters from telenovelas. Reyes choreographed LASOS in collaboration with the dancers.

For the film, Reyes managed all of the videography and editing. For the performance, in addition to the dancers and Prieto, there is lighting designer Grisel Torres and music collaborators Emmet Webster, Michael Webster and Wolf Woodcock. The music score will include a recording of Reyes singing an original telenovela song composed by Emmet.

"I obviously have a very personal stake in LASOS," said Reyes. "It's been therapeutic to turn my own challenges into art. But I was motivated to share this work with the countless other people who have struggled with chronic pain conditions. I want to give them hope, and let them know it really is possible to break the cycle of suffering just as it's possible to break the cycle of violence."

On Friday, September 30, REYES Dance will host a pre-performance discussion at 7:30 p.m. with Valerie Wai-Yee Jackson, a pain psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco. And on Saturday, October 1, audience members are invited to stay after the performance for a reception with the artists.

LASOS is generously supported by the Joe Goode Performance Group Co-Production Program, the San Francisco Arts Commission and a CA$H Grant from Dancers' Group. For more information, visit reyesdance.com.

REYES Dance is a contemporary dance company founded by Jocelyn Reyes in 2017. Reyes (she/her) is a Latin American choreographer based in San Francisco. She holds a B.S. in Cognitive Science and a B.A. in Dance from U.C.L.A. Reyes began dancing at the age of seven, learning cumbia, merengue and salsa from her parents at family gatherings. She began her training in contemporary dance in middle school at her public performing arts school and later continued her dance education at U.C.L.A. While still in school, Reyes began presenting her original choreography in venues around Los Angeles including Bootleg Theater, REDCAT studio, Atwater Village and Curtis Theater. After graduating in 2017, she moved to San Francisco and founded REYES Dance. Since then, she has produced two evening-length works, Accretion and MAGOS, as well as shorter works appearing on programs from the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers to the West Wave Festival and RAWdance Concept Series. In 2020, Reyes began working with film and has since created five short films which have premiered in various festivals. Last year, she curated her first annual dance film festival, Dance Thrill Fest, providing eight Bay Area emerging artists a platform to share their work. Reyes was a 2019 Latinextensions mentee, and is currently a co-production artist at Joe Goode Annex and a RAWdance Radiate Fellow.

Photo Credit: Maximillian Tortoriello

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