Ballet Hispánico Comes to The Broad Stage In March

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica presents Ballet Hispánico (Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director & CEO) on March 22 and 23 at 7:30pm. As America's leading Latino dance organization, Ballet Hispánico has been bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance for nearly 50 years. Ballet Hispánico will present its All-Latina Choreographers Program featuring Línea Recta, choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa; Con Brazos Abiertos, choreographed by Michelle Manzanales; and 3. Catorce Dieciséis, choreographed by Tania Pérez-Salas.

Whether dancing on stage, in school or in the street, Ballet Hispánico creates a space where few institutions break ground. The organization's founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and break through stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer and former member of the Company, whose vision of social equity, cultural identity and quality arts education for all drives its programs. Ballet Hispánico, a role model in and for the Latino community, is inspiring creativity and social awareness in our neighborhoods and across the country by providing access to arts education.

About the Program

Línea Recta
Powerful and resonant, Línea Recta explores an intriguing aspect of flamenco: the conspicuous absence of physical contact between dancers. While maintaining the integrity and hallmark passion of the genre, Belgo-Colombian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa imagines an original and explosive movement language premised upon the theme of communication between the sexes and performed to an original guitar composition by Eric Vaarzon Morel.

CHOREOGRAPHY: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
MUSIC: Eric Vaarzon Morel
COSTUME DESIGN: Danielle Truss
LIGHTING: Michael Mazzola
WORLD PREMIERE: November 18, 2016 at the Apollo Theater
Línea Recta was commissioned in part by the Apollo Theater and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

Con Brazos Abiertos
Michelle Manzanales explores with humility, nostalgia, and humor the iconic Mexican symbols that she was reluctant to embrace as a Mexican-American child growing up in Texas. Intertwining folkloric details with a distinctly contemporary voice in dance, set to music that ranges from Julio Iglesias to rock en español, Con Brazos Abiertos is a fun and frank look at a life caught between two cultures.

CHOREOGRAPHY: Michelle Manzanales
ARTISTIC COLLABORATION: Ray Doñes
SOUNDSCAPE INCLUDES: Carla Morrison, Cheech & Chong, Julio Iglesias, Edward James Olmos, Gustavo Santaolalla, Michelle Manzanales, Juan Carlos Marin Marin, Ember Island, Mexican Institute of Sound
POEM BY: Maria Billini-Padilla
LIGHTING DESIGN: Joshua Preston
WORLD PREMIERE: April 18, 2017 at The Joyce Theater

3. Catorce Dieciséis
One of the leading voices of Mexican contemporary dance, Tania Pérez-Salas draws inspiration from the number Pi to reflect on the circularity of our movement through life. With intense theatricality and breathtaking imagery set to music by Vivaldi and other Baroque composers, 3. Catorce Diecisé is a joyful feast for the senses.

CHOREOGRAPHY: Tania Pérez-Salas
MUSIC: Marin Marais, Girolamo Frescobaldi, A. Vivaldi, Francois Couperini, and Giovanni Batista Pergolesi
COSTUME DESIGN: Amanda Gladu
LIGHTING DESIGN: Bob Franklin
BALLET HISPÁNICO PREMIERE: April 18, 2017 at The Joyce Theater

The Company
Chris Bloom, Jared Bogart, Antonio Cangiano, Shelby Colona, Raúl Contreras, Melissa Fernandez Verdecia, Laura Lopez, Jenna Marie, Geena Pacareu, Omar Rivéra, Gabrielle Sprauve, Eila Valls, Dandara Veiga, Lyvan Verdecia

About the Choreographers
ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA (Línea Recta) has been choreographing since 2003 following a 12-year dance career in various contemporary dance companies throughout Europe. She has created works on 50 companies worldwide including Ballet Hispánico, Atlanta Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Compania Nacional de Danza, Dutch National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Göteborg Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, BJM-Danse Montréal, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, to name a few. In 2012, her first full length work, A Streetcar Named Desire, originally created for Scottish Ballet, received the Critics' Circle National Dance Award for "Best Classical Choreography" and was nominated for the prestigious Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production the following year.

MICHELLE MANZANALES (Con Brazos Abiertos) is a choreographer and dance educator originally from Houston, TX. She began working with Eduardo Vilaro in 2003 as a dancer for his company, Luna Negra Dance Theater of Chicago, where she became Rehearsal Director in 2006 and served as Interim Artistic Director 2009-2010. In 2007, Manzanales created Sugar in the Raw (Azucar Cruda) for LNDT, which was applauded by the Chicago Sun-Times as "a staggering, beautiful, accomplished new work." In 2010, her homage to Frida Kahlo, Paloma Querida, was hailed as a "visual masterpiece" by Lucia Mauro of the Chicago Tribune and was described by the Sun-Times as a "gorgeously designed, richly hallucinatory, multi-faceted vision of the artist." "This dance isn't just about one girl's experience; it applies to everyone, of any gender, and of any culture," said CriticalDance of Manzanales' Con Brazos Abiertos (2017).

TANIA PEREZ-SALAS (3. Catorce Dieciséis) was born in Mexico City. She obtained her first significant recognition in 1993, when she received the award for best female performer in the National Dance Competition of Mexico. Since then, she has won national and international recognition as both a dancer and choreographer, including the National and Continental Prizes for Choreography in Mexico and the sixth Paris International Dance Competition, among others. In 1994, Pérez-Salas founded the Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza. The company has been invited to perform her work in some of the most important theaters and festivals in Mexico, the United States, Canada, South America, China, the Middle East and Europe. Her work is based on universal themes, which she presents from unique angles. For example, a satire on technology, informs Biography of Desire (Biografia del Deseo); the dimensions of death and life are inherent in Visitor (Visitante); femininity in The Hours (Las Horas); love and sensuality in Anabiosis; water, with its infinite power of conveying metaphors and images in The Waters of Forgetfulness (Las Aguas del Olvido); or reviving literary texts as in Clodia, the Impudent (Clodia la Impúdica).

About Ballet Hispanico

EDUARDO VILARO (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & CEO) joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. In 2015, Mr. Vilaro took on the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as Founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Mr. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico's legacy with a bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance that reflects America's changing cultural landscape. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education. Mr. Vilaro's own choreography is devoted to capturing the spiritual, sensual and historical essence of Latino cultures. He created over 20 ballets for Luna Negra and has received commissions from the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Grant Park Festival, the Lexington Ballet and the Chicago Symphony. In 2001, he was a recipient of a Ruth Page Award for choreography, and in 2003, he was honored for his choreographic work at Panama's II International Festival of Ballet. In 2016, he was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame. Mr. Vilaro was also inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2016 and was awarded HOMBRE Magazine's 2017 Arts & Culture Trailblazer of the Year.

JOHAN RIVERA (REHEARSAL DIRECTOR) was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He began his dance training at the School for the Performing Arts, PR under the direction of Waldo Gonzalez. Johan graduated Magna Cum Laude with his BFA from the New World School of the Arts in 2013. While there, he had the opportunity to perform the works of Robert Battle, Kyle Abraham, Peter London, Daniel Lewis, Merce Cunningham and Doris Humphrey as well as simultaneously working with local dance companies in Miami, Florida. During his tenure with the Ballet Hispánico Company, Johan had the pleasure of performing the ballets of choreographers such as Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, Pedro Ruiz, and Eduardo Vilaro. In addition, he was a vital member of Ballet Hispánico's Education & Outreach teaching team while on tour and at home in NYC. Johan had the honor of mentoring and directing second company BHdos for the fall of 2016 before taking over as Rehearsal Director for Ballet Hispánico's main company. Johan holds a MA in Executive Leadership from Liberty University.