Ballet Hispánico's MUJERES: Women in Motion Celebrates Women Choreographers

This spring season at Ballet Hispánico includes a program of exclusively women choreographers celebrating the past, present and future of dance in MUJERES: Women in Motion.

The company’s 56th season features four choreographic works, including two world premieres, in a program the company says celebrates creative voices of women across the Latine diaspora. MUJERES: Women in Motion opens at New York City Center with a gala performance on April 23 and runs through April 26. 

This is the company’s second program featuring an all-female choreographic lineup. Ballet Hispánico CEO and Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro says this is an important part of continuing what should be an ongoing conversation in the ballet field.

“It was important to me to have another iteration,” he told BroadwayWorld. “We did it once, and we’re not just going to do it once. It is a constant thing. It is a part of who we are at Ballet Hispánico — celebrating women.”

He added that initiatives highlighting women as leaders in the dance field are especially important as there is still a lot of work to be done.

“It’s important to recognize and uplift these voices because that's the only way we get to make change happen,” he said. “For us, a whole season of just women choreographers is a statement. It is saying, ‘This is important. Take note. Everyone else follow along.’”

The program spans various styles and perspectives. Brazilian choreographer Cassi Abranches will present the world premiere of Trança, a contemporary interpretation of Brazilian dance. A company premiere, Otra Vez, Otra Vez, Otra Vez by Chicago-based choreographer Stephanie Martinez, draws inspiration from Pablo Picasso’s famous oil painting, The Old Guitarist.

Also on the program is Línea Recta by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, a repertory work for Ballet Hispánico that uses flamenco vocabulary to examine what happens when individuality begins to move in collective rhythm.

The second world premiere, Reactor Antígona, comes from Cuban choreographer Marianela Boán, who reimagines the Greek myth of Antigone as an exploration of female sacrifice, immigration, and self-imposed structure.

Boán spoke in February at an event for Ballet Hispánico’s Choreographic Institute, in which a preview of her piece was presented ahead of the upcoming season. She described her interpretation of the story as rooted in the immigrant experience.

“I decided to work with the idea of immigrants and focus on the family and the woman as the keeper,” she said. “It’s all about this new way of seeing the tragedy and the characters.” 

Boán is known for what she calls contaminated dance, a genre-defying approach that explores movement through many different channels by incorporating theater, voice, video, gesture, among other elements, into the choreography.

“I discovered what I call contaminated dance, which is not theater dance, but dance with whatever you need to have inside the show — video, voice, gestures — any kind of thing that you need is contaminated dance,” she said. “So that's what I call my style. It took some years to get to this idea, but after this, I kept developing and developing the idea.”

Her creative process is collaborative. Rather than imposing fixed steps, Boán said she builds movement from the dancers themselves, drawing on their instincts, relationships, and lived experiences. She asks the dancers which movements feels natural to their bodies and composes a piece based on this collaboration.

“I work all the time asking the dancers to focus on different elements, and then all of the movement comes from them,” she said. “This is a very specific style, very focused on the natural way of relationships, emotions, appropriating reality all the time, working with reality. It’s a good learning experience for them and for me.”

The result is work that embraces improvisation and surprise — for the dancers, for Boán, and ultimately, for the audience.

"Very few times, I say, ‘Do that. I don't like that,’” she said. “I prefer to mobilize the process and the material. It's very playful, so I always think you're surprised during the process.”

Vilaro said he hopes that sense of imagination and discovery carries through to audiences this season, along with a deeper appreciation for women leaders in ballet.

“I'm excited for people to leave going, ‘Those works are just as good, if not better, than the male choreographers,’” he said. “And let me be clear, it's not about comparing. It’s about exposing, so the position of a female dancer or a female choreographer is not just on the stage dancing for someone. It is someone leading a vision.”