Dear community,

Our 3rd Annual Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers ¡FLACC! 2016 is right around the corner and we don’t want you to miss this opportunity to support marginalized Latinx and Native dance makers in our vulnerable political climate. Be sure to purchase tickets on-line because prices rise at the door.  http://flacc2016.bpt.me/  

Zoe Klein is on the UC Berkeley panel and performing Sunday 12/11, 4pm. Her work stems from her experience as a tans-national adoptee from Colombia.

Also, we are excited to engage in a dialogue with UC Berkeley working groups tomorrow, Saturday Dec. 3rd 1-2:30 PM

FLACC artists Zoe Kein, Sabrina Castillo, Diana Lara and Sebastian Hernandez will be sitting on the panel with 2015 Flaccista and moderator, Juan Manuel Aldape.

Register to reserve your seat here:

And here is my statement about the value of Contemporary Dance for Latin American Communities (a question posed to FLACC artists by Emmaly Wiederholdt for her upcoming article in Stance on Dance (more coming soon):

What is the value of contemporary dance to the Latin American community? 

Liz Duran Boubion: I think the value of contemporary dance in Latin American communities or in any community, is subjectively assessed and really varies across borders, economic class and cross-culturally within the diaspora. FLACC is in the process of finding out what that value is for people, by creating this platform for Latinx and Native voices in San Francisco.  

As artists, it is easy to say this has tremendous value for us personally, because it affirms that this huge part of our identity (Latinx) has value within the dominant culture of contemporary dance that has historically given limited access to our people. Ballet, Modern Dance, aerial dance, “high art” performance in general, is expensive and requires a lot of compromise and sacrifice for the working class, or undocumented, to both train or attend shows.  

For Latinos who are educated, privileged and do have access, I would say that “Tradition”, and in this case, “traditional dance”, is one of the highest values as a way to preserve our culture, which presents a bit of a challenge for FLACC.  Contemporary dance threatens to erase that tradition based on the western roots of our movement languages as well as the overtly queer, feminist or indigenous voices we support. However, FLACC is a space for the mestizaje de danza, where the multi-lingual dancer emerges. Meaning, we are versed in different dance styles and can bring our “culturally-mixed bodies” (and voices) to the stage.  As the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers forms this “new tradition”, FLACCistas get to make innovative choices about the amount of “translating” they do for their artistry and for their audiences.

Like the breaking of a Piñata, FLACC breaks stereo-typical portrayals of Latinxs for white audiences, and it breaks the tradition of hetero-normative dances that assign patriarchal gender roles. It also breaks open the “recognizable or familiar” and allows for individuality, a tilted axis of perception and the naked truth of our lived experience to pour out.

…AND…We got PRESS! Enjoy the read… http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/11/29/dance-card-showcase-for-contemporary-latin-american-choreographers/

Karla Quintero-Her Excerpt from “If Mars” will be featured on Saturday’s program Las Mujeres- Coreógrafas Latinas Internacional. 12/10 8pm.

See more images and videos highlighting all 16 choreographers here: www.flaccdanza.org

Sandra Pacheco Phd.- Our panel moderator after the show on Dec. 10. She is an assistant professor at CIIS and co-founder of Curanderas sin Fronteras.

Donate to the FLACC Artist FUND 

Please fill our piñata! Join the Piñata Dance Collective in producing FLACC

OUR FUNDRAISING GOAL FOR FLACC 2016 :                *** $4700 ***

This is where your donations will go:

*Travel costs and lodging for 5 dancers from Guatemala!

*Lodging for 5 dancers from L.A.

*All 16 FLACC artists honorarium