Dzul Dance's NY Premiere of Danzon
Baruch Performing Arts Center Feb. 5 to 14
By: Ariel Petrova - Jan 26, 2010
Dzul Dance founder and artistic director, Javier Dzul was awarded a prestigious commission in the fall of 2009 by the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) of Mexico and the provincial government of state of Campeche for bringing international awareness to Mayan culture. For this honor, conferred once each decade, Dzul was awarded full funding to create a dance company, La Compania de Danza Contemporanea del Estado de Campeche, and to create and direct its premier production, Danzon. The dance received its world premier at the Festival Internacional del Centro Historico in Mexico in November 2009.
The New York premier of Danzon features performances by Dzul (formerly with the Martha Graham Company), guest contortionist Anna Venizelos (formerly with Cirque du Soleil), guest aerialists Chelsea Bacon (co-founder of The Citizens Band) and Jordann Baker (co-founder of The SkyBox), Ivanova Aguilar (formerly with Christopher Caines), Kyla Ernst-Alper (formerly with Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech), Ji-Hyuen Bang, Cornelius Brown (formerly with Fort Worth Ballet and former apprentice with Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Dance), Robin Taylor (formerly with Lori Belilove and Company), Blake Faulds, Junichi Fukuda (formerly with Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech and Lar Lubivich Dance Company), Jason Jordan (formerly with Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet), Nicole Lichau (former apprentice with Complexions) Corey Wright, Chellamar Bernard (formerly with Philadanco) and Felipe Oscar Madera Navarrete and Nelly Noemi Patron Osorno of La Compania de Danza Contemporanea.
Dzul's Danzon follows the story of a mythical angel who chooses to become mortal in order to experience human love. Lured from the heavens, the angel falls to Earth, portrayed through the aerial entanglements of Cornelius Brown and Robin Taylor. Characters include Ix Chel, goddess of creation, and Ix Tab, goddess of sacrifice, in a tragic tale of mystic romanticism.
"Danzon" refers to a type of music and stylized dance that originated in Mexico's bawdy nightclub salons in the 1930s and '40s. The "danzon" narrative is infused with high drama and often risqué romantic entanglements, as represented in Dzul's incarnation by the wildly dressed pachucos and their flamboyant dance hall partners.
Dzul, who was born and raised in a Mayan tribal community in Mexico, portrays the collision of Mayan mythology with modern-day values and beliefs. His choreographies depict the often unconscious impact of overpowering archetypal issues: birth, sacrifice, redemption and death. In his romanticized tales of struggle and salvation, Dzul and his dancers invoke the powerful totems of ancient Mayan culture, which eerily haunt the lives of his modern protagonists.
These motifs reappear in the Dzul repertoire, The Symbol Bearer, which was co-presented by The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College and had its premier in New York in September 2008. Here, Dzul tells a story of devastation and revolution inspired by the Mayan 'symbol bearers' -- mythical characters believed to hold the secrets of the universe. The Symbol Bearer was selected to be part of Mexico's prestigious Festival Internacional Cervantino.
Music direction for The Symbol Bearer is by Guatemalan composer and violinist Sergio Reyes; and sound/image design by Jacob Robinette. For both performances, lighting design is by Phillipe Bachy and costume design is by Javier Dzul.
Performances will take place at Baruch Performing Arts Center (at Baruch College), 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th street, between Lexington & 3rd Ave) in Manhattan.
Danzon will be performed on Friday, February 5 at 8:00 PM, Saturday, February 6 at 8:00 PM, and Sunday, February 7 at 3:00 PM. The Symbol Bearer will be performed Friday, February 12 at 8:00 PM, Saturday, February 13 at 8:00 PM and Sunday, February 14 at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $20 general admission, $15 student/seniors, and may be purchased online at www.theatermania.com or by calling (646) 312-4085.
For more information see: www.dzuldance.com or www.baruch.cuny.edu/bpac
About Dzul Dance: Founded in 2002 by Javier Dzul, the Dzul Dance company fuses modern dance with aerial arts to create the athletic vibrancy of a Pilobolus, the theatricalized ritual of Martha Graham and the aerial gymnastics of Cirque du Soleil. Dzul and his diverse company of dancers and aerialists have presented throughout the United States, Mexico, South America, Europe, and Asia at venues such as El Museo Del Barrio, the United Nations, Bard College SummerScape, Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Reichhold Center for Performing Arts (USVI), The Kaye Playhouse, Mexico Now Festival, Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Photography and Dance Festival (Korea), Dixon Place's Crossing Boundaries Series, Performing the World Conference (NYC), Dancers Responding to AIDS and New York's National Dance Week. In addition to performing, Javier has brought the artistry and vocabulary of Dzul Dance to others through professional workshops and youth outreach programs in Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, New York and the Virgin Islands.
About Javier Dzul
Javier Dzul grew up in the Yucatan Peninsula performing the ritual dances of his Mayan tribal community until the age of 16. He then began his professional career as a 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, American Indian Dance Theater and Acroback