Dance Victoria 2022-2023 Season | BODYTRAFFIC program insert

BODYTRAFFIC Mixed Repertoire

FEBRUARY 10 + 11, 2023 • 7:30 pm

Royal Theatre

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes including one intermission

NOTE: The work, PACOPEPEPLUTO, contains partial nudity. Haze and strobe lighting are used in works after the intermission.

The Royal Theatre is located on the traditional lands of the Lekwungen peoples, also known as the Esquimalt and Songhees Nations. We extend our appreciation for the opportunity to live, create, and perform on this territory.

About the Works

BODYTRAFFIC presents: An exploration of identity through dance

A Million Voices (18 minutes)

Choreographer: Matthew Neenan

Music: Performed by Peggy Lee; composed by Robert Sour & Una Mae Carlisle, Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen, C. Farrow, Irving Berlin, Mike Stoller & Jerry Leiber, Adrian Zing & Benny Goodman, Arthur Hamilton

Lighting Design: Burke Wilmore

Costumes: BODYTRAFFIC

Performers: Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Alana Jones, Tiare Keeno, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, Guzmán Rosado, Jordyn

Santiago

Premiere: The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, CA, 2018

A Million Voices is inspired by the inimitable Peggy Lee, who was a pioneer in the art of “persona.” Her legendary music, which was created in response to the political climate of her time, spurs us to embrace the passion of living even in the darkest of times.

This work was made possible in part by the Made in Wickenburg Residency Program at Del E. Webb Center for the Performing Arts with funding from the RH Johnson Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Wellik Foundation, WESTAF, and Benner-Nawman.

- Pause (5 minutes) -

SNAP (20 minutes)

Choreographer: Micaela Taylor

Lighting Design: Burke Wilmore

Costume Design: Kristina Marie Garnett - KAART KAART

GALLERY

Music: James Brown

Original Music and Sound Editing: SHOCKEY

Performers: Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Alana Jones, Tiare Keeno, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, Jordyn Santiago

Premiere: The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, CA, 2019

SNAP is inspired by the ethnically diverse, yet isolating crowds of Los Angeles. It urges audiences to “snap out of” social pressures to conform, and to connect with their individuality as well as with people around them.

SNAP was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

General Operating Support was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

SNAP was made possible with lead support by: Renae

Williams Niles & Greg Niles, Allen and Anita Kohl Charitable Foundation, The Norris and Debra Bishton Foundation, Pat & Carol Kinsella, and Catharine & Jeffrey Soros.

SNAP’s costumes were generously underwritten by Harold I. Huttas & Scott A. McPhail in honor of Renae Williams Niles’ birthday.

- IntermissionThe One to Stay With (22 minutes)

Choreography: Baye & Asa

Music: On the Hills of Manchuria [Na Sopkah Manchzhurii] by Russian Brass Band; Romanian Folk Dances, Sz. 56: III. Pê-loc. Andante, Composed by Bèla Bartók, Performed by Andrew Rangell; The Snowstorm: II. Waltz & VII. Echo of Waltz, Composed by Georgy Sviridov

Sound Design: Jack Grabow

Lighting Design: Michael Jarett

Set Design: Baye & Asa and Michael Jarett

Costume Design: Oana Botez

Costume Alterations: Angela Manke

Performers: Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Tiare Keeno, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, Guzmán Rosado, Jordyn Santiago, Whitney Schmanski

Premiere: The Joyce Theater, New York City, NY, 2022

Choreographers’ Notes: The Company is incentivized towards perpetual growth. The Company develops relationships with politicians and regulatory agencies, lobbying for legislative language that protects their constant growth. The Company language is parroted until fabrication becomes fact. The Company’s profit margins are built on theft: of natural resources, human labour, and life.

You don’t make a billion dollars, you steal a billion dollars. The One to Stay With was created in response to Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain. His book chronicles the Sackler family’s rise to power and their central role in the opioid crisis.

Thank you to Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek, CO for a technical residency in support of the creation of this work.

- Pause (5 minutes) -

PACOPEPEPLUTO (8 minutes)

Choreographer: Alejandro Cerrudo

Music: Memories Are Made of This by Joe Scalisi; In The Chapel In The Moonlight by Dean Martin; That’s Amore by Dean Martin

Lighting Design: Matthew Miller

Performers: First solo: Joan Rodriguez

Second solo: Pedro Garcia or Ty Morrison

Third solo: Guzmán Rosado

Premiere: Inside/Out Choreographic Workshop, UIC Theatre, University of Illinois by Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, 2011.

About BODYTRAFFIC

BODYTRAFFIC uses the creative spirit of its Los Angeles home as a backdrop for delivering performances that inspire audiences around the globe to simply love dance. The company attracts skilled dancers from throughout the world who have trained at such places as The Juilliard School and the School of American Ballet, and its enviable repertory includes the works of stellar contemporary choreographers like Kyle Abraham, Ohad Naharin, Fernando Magadan, Sidra Bell, Victor Quijada, Hofesh Shechter, and Micaela Taylor. This combination of superb artists and highly creative choreographers has elicited numerous critical accolades, including one from the Los Angeles Times, which described BODYTRAFFIC as “one of the most talked about companies— not just in LA, but nationwide.”

Since its founding in 2007 by Artistic Director Tina Finkelman Berkett and her co-founder Lillian Barbeito, BODYTRAFFIC has preserved its place at the forefront of the concert dance world with a style that, according to The Boston Globe, “suggests invention, attitude, and urban edge,” an aesthetic that has led to appearances at many prestigious international theaters and festivals. In 2015, the company was selected by the Obama administration to be United States cultural ambassadors to Israel and Jordan through DanceMotion USA, a program of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US State Department that sought to engage international audiences through educational opportunities, cultural exchange, and performance.

BODYTRAFFIC Premiere: The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills, CA, 2021

Three solos for male dancers set to songs popularized by “the king of cool,” Dean Martin. PACOPEPEPLUTO shows Alejandro Cerrudo’s skill at balancing aesthetic austerity and sharp wit. This work dares viewers to nakedly and joyfully embrace their true self-expression. It is performed in dim lighting and contains partial nudity with male dancers in dance belts.

BODYTRAFFIC also served as cultural ambassadors of the United States in South Korea (2016), Algeria (2017–2018), and Indonesia (2018).

In 2016, the company made its Hollywood Bowl debut when it performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and, during the 2017–2018 season, it went on to celebrate its 10th anniversary season with an international tour to more than 20 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg for the CONTEXT Diana Vishneva Festival, and The Hague for The Holland Dance Festival. The celebratory season culminated with performances at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, where BODYTRAFFIC is honoured to be the current company-in-residence.

BODYTRAFFIC’s extensive outreach and education programs are essential to its commitment to ensuring that dance endures for both the artists and the audiences of the next generation. Touching lives in Los Angeles and beyond, the company provides training opportunities for pre-professional and professional dancers, as well as customized dance experiences for all people, with an emphasis on sharing the art form with underserved and diverse populations.

For more than fifteen years, BODYTRAFFIC has exhibited the talent, devotion, and discipline necessary for preserving the art form. As it looks forward to a future filled with even more dance, the company thanks those who have supported it along the way.

BODYTRAFFIC.com

ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

TINA FINKELMAN BERKETT (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER)

Tina Finkelman Berkett is an influential dance leader and community builder, producing original, compelling repertoire and sharing a new vision of dance across the U.S. and around the world. Tina grew up in New York City attending Stuyvesant High School of Math and Science and graduating summa cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University with a double major in Mathematics and Economics. Her love of dance was ignited by her teacher and mentor, Michele Cuccaro Cain.

Tina’s professional dance career began at Aszure Barton & Artists, a distinguished contemporary dance company where she quickly became a featured dancer and then Barton’s assistant, teaching both in the U.S. and abroad. A true highlight of Tina’s career was being a founding member of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance and touring internationally alongside Mr. Baryshnikov himself. Tina began her interest in arts administration when she served as the company’s dancer liaison.

In 2007, Tina relocated to Los Angeles and launched BODYTRAFFIC with Lillian Barbeito. Now serving as the company’s sole Artistic Director, Tina is focusing on reenvisioning and revitalizing BODYTRAFFIC. With her deep commitment to taking the company to new heights, she is curating and discovering exciting choreographers and programming challenging programs that audiences enjoy, seeing incredible dancers doing their best work.

“BODYTRAFFIC is a home for dancers, choreographers, and dance-lovers of all ages. We’re excited about the future and touring again!”

GUZMÁN ROSADO (ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR)

Guzmán Rosado started dancing at the International School of Dance of Carmen Roche Scaena in Madrid on a scholarship sponsored by the Ministerio de Cultura de Madrid. Guzmán danced with Ballet Joven de Carmen Roche until 1999, when he was offered a scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet (SAB). After his time at SAB, Edward Villella invited him to dance with Miami City Ballet. From 2002 to 2007, Guzmán danced with Companhia Portuguesa de Bailado

Contemporaneo. In 2007, with André Mesquita and Teresa Alves da Silva, Guzmán co-founded Tok’Art, a cultural platform.  He has performed extensively as a guest artist throughout Europe. He teaches ballet, yoga, and movement workshops. Guzmán is also currently BODYTRAFFIC’s resident filmmaker and has won awards for his film work. Guzmán joined BODYTRAFFIC in 2012.

THE CHOREOGRAPHERS

Photo: BODYTRAFFIC in SNAP by Tomasz Rossa. Tina Finkelman Berkett and Guzmán Rosado by Guzmán Rosado. Baye & Asa by Umi Akiyoshi; Alejandro Cerrudo by J eff Cravotta; Matthew Neenan and Micaela Taylor courtesy of the company

Micaela Taylor

Alejandro Cerrudo Matthew Neenan Baye & Asa

Read the choreographers’ biographies here or in the glossy printed program:

THE DANCERS

The Company

Artistic Director: Tina Finkelman Berkett

Associate Artistic Director: Guzmán Rosado

General Manager: Callen Gosselin

Production and Tour Manager: Dora Quintanilla

Education and Outreach Manager: Julie Opiel

Dance Captain: Tiare Keeno

Technical Director: Michael Jarret

The Company

Katie Garcia, Pedro Garcia, Alana Jones, Tiare Keeno, Ty Morrison, Joan Rodriguez, Guzmán Rosado, Jordyn Santiago, Whitney Schmanski

Read the dancers’ full biographies here http://bodytraffic.com/company/dancers:

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ARTISTS’ REPRESENTATIVE

Margaret Selby

President, Selby/Artists Mgmt

212-382-3260 | mselby@selbyartistsmgmt.com

BODYTRAFFIC thanks the following Corporate, Foundation, and Government partners for their generous support.

Pedro Garcia Alana Jones Tiare Keeno

Joan Rodriguez Ty Morrison Katie Garcia

Jordyn Santiago Whitney Schmanski Guzmán Rosado

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DANCE VICTORIA

Board of Directors

President: Colette Baty

Treasurer: Julie Robinson

Secretary: Kayleigh Harrison

Directors: Maggie Bartold

Stacey Horton

Joost Pelt

Carrie Smart

Staff

Executive Director: Gillian Jones

General Manager: Bernard Sauvé

Operations Manager: Shireen McNeilage

Marketing Manager: Tracy Smith

Production Manager: Holly Vivian

Studio Bookings Manager: Kiera Shaw

Accounting: Wendy Mahon

Graphic Design: Rayola Creative

Advertising Sales: Bonnie Light Advertising

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