Pioneer Winter didn’t create Dance Hack, a group show of eight artists, performing in the midst of Dance/USA, the national service organization’s seventh annual conference in Miami, to be contrary, he says.
Niurca Marquez.
It’s just that he was concerned, outraged, and just a bit miffed that some Miami-Dade choreographers “who make the dance community in Miami go 'round 365 days a year” were going to be noticeably invisible after they were not selected to be part of the conference’s showcase. What that meant was that during a gathering of dance professionals from throughout the United States, what Miami dance looks and feels like would be absent, he felt.
“In January/February there was an open call for choreographers to submit to a local selection committee, who were programming a series of showings during the conference. They accepted applications from Broward from West Palm and from Miami-Dade,” who is co-producing Dance Hack with Jared Sharon of RIFT Blackbox Theater. The showcase will be Saturday night for two shows, at 5 and 8 p.m. inside the blackbox theater at 222 N.E. 25 St., Miami.
When Winter’s submission didn’t get accepted he says he was “hurt,” but then it went deeper than that. He began to make telephone calls to ask choreographers that he knew if they had heard about their submissions. He told the other choreographers to keep in touch and contact him when they knew the status of they’re being part of the showcase.
“The more text messages and phone calls I received, the more I realized I was in pretty good company. These are people whose work I respect and whose work I like and have seen. These are the Miami-Dade choreographers that are the changemakers that are pushing out work on a weekly and monthly basis.”
Participating artists include Paola Escobar, Liony Garcia, Niurca Marquez, Marissa Alma Nick, Carla Forte & Alexey Taran, Hattie Mae Williams, and Winter.
The choreographer says that perhaps the selection committee was a bit too conservative and that based on the showcase programs that he has seen, the committee maybe chose to “play it safe with traditional and modern dance, maybe some folkloric dance.”
Liony Garcia.
Many of the choreographers participating in Dance Hack will be attending the conference. “Marissa, Niurca, Paolo, and I received scholarships from Miami Dade Cultural Affairs to be able to attend the conference, so we’ll be active participants in the conference.” Winter will also be one of the speakers during a panel discussing dance on film that will be at the Miami City Ballet during the conference.
Choreographer Niurca Marquez believes that the contributions the audience will see at Dance Hack are “not necessarily those that are safe and clean or that are even necessarily pretty or digestible by conventional standards, but they are creations that change and are changed by the systems being examined.”
The Dance Hack showcase has received support from FUNDarte that contributed $150 to help the producers create palm cards to promote the show. Tigertail’s Mary Luft offered $750 for the rental of a motorcoach to shuttle participants to and from the shows from the Marriott Biscayne Bay, where the Dance/USA shuttles will be transporting participants to other showcases.
“These are the people we want to reach for this showcase; the audience who hasn’t seen our work before from Ohio, people from New York and North Carolina, those who would’ve seen these Miami-Dade choreographers if their work was part of the showcase.”
The showcase has two shows at 5 and 8 p.m. and the organizers are requesting that people RSVP since there are only 50 seats in the theater. Admission is free.
“We are specifically going after people who have registered for the conference,” says Winter.
The works will include Winter's intimate pas de deux between dancer and a musician to dance on film and dance theater.
Dance Hack will be performed on Saturday, June 20 at 5 and 8 p.m. at the RIFT Blackbox Theater, 222 N.E. 25th St., Miami. Free admission and complimentary cocktails. Transport by FREE Shuttle provided at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. from Marriott Biscayne Bay. RSVP to info@rifttheater.com. Seating is limited to 50 audience members per show.
