a/o/x (previously Latinx) Series

The evening features:

Ana Reyes Cid's "SHE SPRANG OUT RED", an exploration of substantial transformation through the embodiment of monstrous feminine figures in cross-cultural and Caribbean imaginaries. Vanessa Hernández Cruz's "Las cuerdas tendinosas en el corazón ácido", is an experimental contemporary dance that brings to life the rumbling echoes of our past & present as it intertwines with a future struggling to exist. In addition, Dulce Escobedo / Tijuana Dance Company presents "La Tía". In this piece, a story about La Tia, La Doña, La muchacha, Tia Juana is explored through memory. The lady who lives on the border, the northernmost part of Latin America. A legend, a mysticism incarnate, compassionate of the American dream. Known by everyone, a woman with open arms, built by the collective memory of the migrants and inhabitants who passed through the city: Tijuana.  Martin Matamoros graces the event with his velvet voice with his rendition of El Pastor.

THE ARTISTS:

Ana Reyes Cid is an interdisciplinary creative from the Dominican Republic with a background in architecture, design, creative direction, and performance-making. She navigates transformation, femininity, and otherness by drawing connections and inspirations from cross-cultural and Caribbean rituals and myths—reinterpreting their textures, compositions, and motifs through spatial storytelling and performance. She's currently a Fulbright scholar at SCI-Arc’s MS Fiction and Entertainment program in Los Angeles.

Vanessa Hernández Cruz is an interdependent and interdisciplinary Chicana Disabled dance artist. She recently premiered her new experimental contemporary dance solo titled ‘Soul Seeker' for the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibition show 'Abundance' that will later premiere for the new Disabled Art’s Mouthwater Festival this fall at On The Boards. Also slated for Fall 2024, Vanessa will premiere an evening length at Highways Performance Space titled: Void Decryption ERROR. Over the past few years Vanessa’s work has been shown nationally & internationally. She is currently the recipient of the 2023 California Arts Council x The Center of Cultural Power Artist Disruptor Award. This year she has performed an excerpt of Jérôme Bel’s work ‘GALA’ at the REDCAT, performed with Good Troublemakers, and she has finished her Pieter Performance Space residency with a showing of a duration dance performance ‘Cyber Realms’. In 2023, she had two exciting dance solos that premiered in the summer: “Metal, Plastic, Skin” debuting at The Odyssey Theatre’s Dance Festival and “Exhale Static, Inhale Fumes” with her debut at The REDCAT’s NOW Festival. Her dance, visual artwork, and writings are often woven together to generate works that have influences of dark aesthetics, horror, abstractions, experimentation, and storytelling that merges her Chicana Disabled experiences.

Dulce Escobedo Muñoz, a Tijuanense artist, choreographer, and dancer, has performed around the world, including in the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Israel, among others. She has worked as a cultural manager on various international dance projects, such as the Twenty Once International Dance Festival, which was awarded the FOCA emission in 2019. Escobedo is the founder, director, and teacher of the Conservatory of Dance Mexico in Tijuana, an independent art space dedicated to the professional training of multidisciplinary dancers. Her choreographic research has led her to develop dance projects for the camera and to venture into the world of street art. Her work as a choreographer has been presented on different international stages, including in Mexico, Cuba, and the United States. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, where she is pursuing a Master's Degree in Choreography at CalArts. Her most recent project is the creation of the Tijuana Dance Company.

Martin Matamoros is a Cubano LA based queer artist. Martin is a playwright, painter, animator, vocalist and actor. Notable works include The Gentlemen, Wham! The Boys Behind the Shorts, and his animated clips on Instagram.