“Caminando” is a personal story of love, family, migration, an ode to our parents. The dance work is filled with stories of our childhood, music we heard at family gatherings, the food at the fiestas; the nostalgia of home. Liliana has created a 40 minute evening length dance that harnesses the essence of our childhood memories, with treasured objects on the walls, personal narratives and scored by the music of our past. Caminando is set to premiere on April 15, 2023, at Mood Room Phoenix. The gallery will be transformed into a warm performance space, with art on the walls by Leonor Aispuro and Martha Patty Hernandez. The all Latine cast; Erik Canales, Martha Patty Hernandez, Zarina Mendoza, Steven Redondo, and Daniela Prieto are also collaborators in the creation of the work and will perform solos, duets, group pieces to a beautiful soundtrack --One of which will be performed live by singer Marivel Luna Simms of Revizor. The show is narrated by Ricky Araiza of Teatro Bravo, who joins the cast on stage, reading personal narratives of love, migration, the matriarch in our family, the food and the fiestas. The title is inspired by the lyrics of Los Caminos de La Vida, the journey of life. Join us for a celebration of art, theater and dance, with drinks, food by Felipa Lerma of Cocina de Fe, and music by DJ Cervantes!
Join us for a celebration of art, theater and dance, with food, wine and music!
Join us for a celebration of art, theater and dance, with food, wine and music!
The Cast
Performers and Collaborators
Daniela Prieto from Lima,Peru started her dance training at the age of 14, then later on in the dance program at Scottsdale Community College where she studied in modern, ballet, hip-hop, jazz and contemporary. Focusing now on contemporary modern dance, Daniela was the former Co-Director of Phoenix dance company; BA Dance Company, where she danced, choreographed and organized for the company. She has performed in many shows around the valley; BlakTinx Dance Festival, Breaking Ground, The Arizona State fair, ASU halftime performance and has worked with local choreographers such as Steven Redondo and Liliana Gomez. Daniela who is also a photographer, spends her time photographing dance & special events along with dancing and choreographing independently. She plans on merging the two worlds of dance & photography.
Martha “Patty” Hernandez was born in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and moved to the States at a young age with family. She was first a painter and then started dancing at 15. She graduated art high school at age 16 and found herself torn between performing and visual arts. While earning her BFA in dance at Arizona State University, she simultaneously gave new focus to her painting by inadvertently taking a class on color theory that would inevitably influence her personal style. She wields an interdisciplinary attitude toward both her dance and painting. Martha also draws inspiration from her aerial arts training and Mexican heritage, which she holds dear.
Steven Redondo is a dance artist, sculpting his artistry in Arizona for 10 years. Steven has worked with many art organizations, including Phoenix Art Museum, NueBox, and Phoenix Center for the Arts (to name a few). Steven has also presented dance work in a few dance events including Blaktinx Dance Festival 2019, Experimental Art Nights at NueBox, Breaking Ground 2020, and Tiny Dances 2021. As much as Steven enjoys creating work on others and choreograph movement, most of his work is focused on improvisation. You can find him presenting solos in non-traditional performance spaces like art galleries, hair salons or restaurants.
Leonor Aispuro is a Mexican fashion designer with a focus in sustainable and ethical design. Drawing inspiration from nature, intricate construction of vintage clothing, and traditional sewing techniques, leonor creates textiles and one-of-a-kind pieces. As an artist Leonor uses her background in fashion and design to tell the story of people within this desert, if only for a brief time, through the objects they leave behind rosaries, letters, and clothing that become part of the landscape. Having grown up in Baja California's border town of Mexicali, Aispuro is intimately familiar with migration as a way of life, recounting the story of how her own family arrived in Mexicali in part from Jalisco. Leonor’s recent work at Palabra “Objectos” has launched her into the role as an Interdisciplinary artist.
|
Erick Canales is a proud, Mexican American Artist who began his love for dance at 13 years old. Dancing and choreographing at Cesar Chavez High School under the guidance of Candy Jimenez. He has since then danced with Jimenez’s Dulce Dance Company along with Liliana Gomez. As a dancer he did five season; dancing and choreographing for Ignite Collaborative and three season as a core dancer for Desert Dance Theater. Erik continues to explore purpose and meaning through movement, choreographing dances that are personal yet speak to his community.
Zarina Mendoza was born and raised in the border of Mexico and the United States, Zarina has a BFA in Dance from Autonomous University of Baja California. She is the founder, choreographer and director of Tranze Danza Contemporánea a dance company in Mexico. Tranze Dance has been invited to remarkable international festivals in South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Costa Rica, USA, Taiwan and Mexico. Zarina is currently based in Phoenix, Arizona, where she is the Studio Manager of nueBOX, teaches Latin Rhythms and Contemporary dance at various studios within the city. She continues performing with Tranze Danza Contemporanea and dances with artists in Arizona like Mary Fitzgerald, Liliana Gomez, Yvonne Montoya, along choreographing independently. Zarina is a passionate progressive, Mexicana mujer, her inspirations are based on personal experiences, political and social climate; supported and explored through scientific research and academic points of view.
Ricky Araiza is an Arizona-based theatre artist. A graduate from Arizona State University with a B.A. in Theatre in 2004, Araiza went on to become an ensemble member of Childsplay Theatre in Tempe, AZ beginning with the theatre’s production of The New Kid. In 2009 he decided to step away from professional work and study Physical Ensemble Based Theatre at Dell’Arte International in Blue Lake, CA. In 2017, he received his M.F.A. from Arizona State University. He has also done work nationally with the Playwright’s Center in Minneapolis, the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, CA, Su Teatro in Denver, CO and The Magik Theatre in San Antonio, TX. Araiza continues to work as a director, actor, and teaching artist throughout the Valley. He serves as Childsplay's Associate Artistic Director – Director of Artist and Community Initiatives as well as the Artistic Director of Teatro Bravo, a Latinx theatre company in Phoenix, Arizona.
Liliana Gomez is a mother, dance maker, producer, and arts advocate from Phoenix, AZ. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Liliana has a passion for sharing dance within her community and has choreographed for public spaces such as galleries, canals, gardens, libraries and more. She is the managing director for the BlakTinx Dance Festival, the Dance Department head at the Phoenix Center for the Arts and an independent dance artist. Liliana is a cohort member for the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute, participated in the National Presenters Forum at Jacob’s Pillow, and has been a selected artist for Dance in the Desert; A gathering of Latinx Arizona Dance Artists.
|
Caminando, has taken shape in many spaces throughout the years; it can be performed as a full-length dance work (40 or 10 minutes) or as solos and or duets. Caminando can be performed for the traditional theater stage or in non traditional.
Below you can read all about the work in its transitions.
Below you can read all about the work in its transitions.
Breaking Ground 2023 Tempe Center for the Arts
On January 27th & 28th of 2023, the cast of Caminando took the stage at Breaking Ground 2023.
Caminando, a 40 minute evening length was rearranged for this performance into a ten minute dance; a duet, pre recorded spoken word and a group piece with rose petals falling from the catwalk. The The work was well received by audiences, with many singing along to "Mi Tesoro" and expressing a deep connection to the work. Photos below capture beautiful moments throughout the dance.
Caminando, a 40 minute evening length was rearranged for this performance into a ten minute dance; a duet, pre recorded spoken word and a group piece with rose petals falling from the catwalk. The The work was well received by audiences, with many singing along to "Mi Tesoro" and expressing a deep connection to the work. Photos below capture beautiful moments throughout the dance.
Nue[BOX] Residency 2022
In 2022 Liliana was awarded the Studio/LAB Artists-In-Residence for Fall 2022. In this time, Liliana put back together the work, with a new cast, a new title, with the goal of stretching the goal into a 40 minute evening length work. Liliana and cast spent three months of three hour Sunday rehearsals putting this work back in their bodies, teaching new cast members, and learning new dances. The work took many shapes with two open to the public works in progress, getting feedback and carefully piecing together the evening length.
Photos by Halley Wilcox
Photos by Halley Wilcox
AMPLIFIED 2019 Phoenix Art Museum
Inspired by the reaction to the work, Liliana started working on this dance more and more, revealing more details about her life as an artist, immigrant and choreographed her feelings into movement. The work was invited back to the Phoenix Art Museum in 2019 for Amplified, a music and arts festival. Liliana collaborated with musical group Revizor; Marivel Luna, Jesse Sims and guest Robin Vining, who learned the songs and played them live; music and art!
Memorias de México 2018
Here is where it all began...
Liliana was invited to open the Phoenix Art Museum's exhibit Mexican Photographers, Mexican Views. A gallery of 60 photographs created by Mexican artists that offered an intimate view into 20th-century Mexico. Viewing these photos Liliana realized photographs are the only memories she had of herself in Mexico. She created a 20 minute dance in dedication to her photographs, a cast of six Mexican dancers, also shared photos and together they shared stories of Mexico that were projected in the background. This was premiered on First Friday to a huge crowd at the Phoenix Art Museum.
Liliana was invited to open the Phoenix Art Museum's exhibit Mexican Photographers, Mexican Views. A gallery of 60 photographs created by Mexican artists that offered an intimate view into 20th-century Mexico. Viewing these photos Liliana realized photographs are the only memories she had of herself in Mexico. She created a 20 minute dance in dedication to her photographs, a cast of six Mexican dancers, also shared photos and together they shared stories of Mexico that were projected in the background. This was premiered on First Friday to a huge crowd at the Phoenix Art Museum.
