FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tamar Fortgang
213-237-2873 (do not publish)
REDCATpr@calarts.edu

Mexican Contemporary Dance Troupe Delfos Danza Contemporánea Make Los Angeles Debut at REDCAT

January 15-18
8:30 p.m.
$34 - $36

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Los Angeles, December 23 - Delfos Danza Contemporánea, Mexico City's widely influential contemporary dance troupe, make their Los Angeles debut at CalArts' RECAT performance space. Acclaimed throughout Latin America for their powerful, yet elegant choreography and technical mastery, Delfos' performance at REDCAT is a rare North American appearance for the troupe. Tickets range from $34 to $ $36 for general admission seating.

Delfos Danza Contemporánea will present a program titled "BRIEF MOMENTS" (BREVES INSTANTES) that consists of 6 short pieces, each created from an emotional impulse that translates into small poems of movement. The pieces include:

Trio & String (Trío y Cordón) 10 min.
Choreography : Víctor Manuel Ruíz y Claudia Lavista
Dancers: Claudia Lavista, Aura Patrón y Víctor Manuel Ruiz
Music: Michael Galasso
Costume: Luis Armando Castillo

Three characters wander through a game of seduction that is provoked by subtle glances and the light brushing of skin. By using an imaginary thread, they weave a small spider web where hidden secrets reveal their true intentions. Winner of National Dance Award, 1992

Aquatic (Acuática) 7 min.
Choreography: Víctor Manuel Ruíz
Dancer: Omar Carrum
Music: Stephen Kent
Costume: Janeth Berrettini
Video: Omar Carrum

The piece begins with a solo dancer working in tandem with projected video. An aquatic world is created that focuses on the singular universe of an interesting amphibian.

About Love and other Calamities (Del amor y otras barbaridades) 15 min.
Choreography: Víctor Manuel Ruiz
Dancers: Neisma Ávila, Xitlali Piña, Claudia Lavista,
Omar Carrum, Agustín Martínez y Víctor Manuel Ruiz
Music: Yann Tiersen
Costume : Delfos Danza Contemporánea

A fragmentary narrative that begins with a solo dancer dealing with loss. The piece then progresses to include the relationships and interrelationships between three couples. Winner of the Mexican National Dance Award, 1997

I was thinking (Estuve Pensando) 8 min.
Choreography: Omar Carrum*
Dancers: Claudia Lavista & Omar Carrum
Music: Yann Tiersen
Costume: Delfos Danza Contemporánea

This piece is a poetic metaphor about the daily life of a couple. The dancers encounter the small obstacles and challenges of daily life, yet find ways to demonstrate their love and committed to each other.

My Mind in Dust (Mi mente en polvo) 11 min. Choreography: Omar Carrum
Dancers: Claudia Lavista, Xitlali Piña, Aura Patrón y Neisma Ávila
Music: Phillip Glass y Luis Carmona
Light designer: Víctor Manuel Ruiz
Costume: Delfos Danza Contemporánea

The piece deals with madness, reality, illusion and the fine, often moveable line between them. Winner of the Mexican National Dance Award, 2002

Fracture (Fractura) 15 min.
Choreography: Víctor Manuel Ruiz
Dancers: Aura Patrón, Xitlali Piña, Omar Carrum, Agustín Martínez y Víctor Manuel Ruiz Music: Yann Tiersen
Costume: Delfos Danza Contemporánea
Stage Prop: Alfonso Giménez

Five dancers inhabit a bustling, frenetic world, a world that is a labyrinth of spaces that don't permit them to relate to each other. Using the lack of communication and the fractured delicate emotional state of human beings as starting place, the piece shows us a path to what lies beyond.

Delfos Danza Contemporánea was founded in 1992 by the Mexican choreographers and dancers Victor Manuel Ruiz and Claudia Lavista. They describe the main objective of the company as "a laboratory of images and emotions in movement arising from the creation of work that arises from introspection." Delfos has presented work in Brazil, Italy, Spain, Greece, Korea, Venezuela, Bolivia, Canada and the U.S. The company has won numerous awards including The Mexican National Dance Award in 1992, 1997 and 2002. Since 1998 Delfos Danza Contemporánea has run the Mazatlán Professional School of Contemporary Dance, whose current enrollment includes 50 students from 5 different countries. Today, Delfos is recognized as one of the most important contemporary dance companies in Latin America. From its home base in the Angela Peralta Theater in Mazatlán, Delfos Danza Contemporánea is at the center of the Web of Cultural Promoters of Latin America and the Caribbean.

REDCAT, a technologically advanced black box performance space, 3,000 sq. ft. art gallery and lounge located within Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles, is a natural extension of CalArts, an institution that has been long known for challenging artistic traditions and enabling young artists to learn from--but also to question--some of the world's top practitioners in each artistic discipline. This same spirit of heightened cultural and civic discourse is what brings REDCAT to life.

A presentation of the Sharon Disney Lund Dance Series

Delfos Danza Contemporánea Press Quotes:

"Trio y Cordón (Trio and String) astounded the audience with its simplicity and scenic effectiveness. With sober elegance and much talent these experienced and upcoming dancers won the XIII National Dance Award."

Rosario Manzanos, PROCESO, Mexico

"What is most attractive about Trio y Cordón (Trio and String) is its stylistic proposal: Claudia Lavista, Victor Ruiz and Lorena Glinz assert each displacement, each glance, each suggestive movement of hands and fingers. As a fine field of camera, like an intimate concert, three souls dissolve in exciting relentlessness. The slow rhythm of the choreographic outlines reveals solutions in space and seduces the audiences as if by hypnotism."

Alberto Dallal, SEMANAL DE LA JORNADA, Mexico

"In Delfos we see above all a lot of work and experience on stage. We see a trained intuition, an emotive impulse, comprising all and each of the movements and intentions. We can see vigor, clarity and precision of very concrete situations. We can see flourishing and manifest talent."

Patricia Cardona, UNO MAS UNO, Mexico

"Impressive choreography delicately traced and defined with subtlety through impeccable body work."

Ricardo Torrealba, EL NCIONAL, Venezuela

"Delfos is now moving into the highest levels of contemporary dance in Mexico and Latin America."

Rosario Manzanos, PROCESO, Mexico

Production Credits

Artistic Directors: Victor Manuel Ruiz, Claudia Lavista

Dancers: Omar Carrum, Aura Patrón, Neisma Avila, Claudia Lavista, Agustin Martinez, Xitlali Pina, Victor Manuel Ruiz

Lighting Design: Victor Manuel Ruiz

Stage Manager/Technical Production: Alfonso Giménez

General Coordination: Claudia Lavista

Executive Production: Sonia Semolini

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