Dzul Dance Kicks Off Teatro IATI's Performing Arts Marathon July 27

Together with New York nonprofit performing arts institution, Teatro IATI, internationally acclaimed aerial and dance company Dzul Dance kick off the 2011 Performing Arts Marathon (PAM) with the revival of Artistic Director Javier Dzul's 2005 choreography, From a Wounded Heart, at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25 Street) in Manhattan, on Wednesday, July 27, 2011.

PAM 2011, dedicated to promoting Latin culture and established Latin artists, features 12 cutting-edge performances across a two week span offering the City's best of dance, music and theater. The festival opens with Dzul Dance's, From a Wounded Heart, a heart-wrenching series of vignettes featuring classical Latin American love songs that celebrate our unwavering search for unrequited love despite all of love's trials and tribulations. Accompanied by the live music of world renowned Columbian singer Lucia Pulido, From a Wounded Heart explores the ever-changing relationships between lovers and breathes new life into the highly emotional boleros and waltzes, made famous by greats such as Julio Jaramillo and Cuco Sanchez.

The repertoire originally premiered in 2005 at the Merce Cunningham Studio as a collaboration between Dzul Dance and Lucía Pulido to coincide with the release of her album Dolor de Ausencia.

The choreography features spectacular performances by Artistic Director, Javier Dzul, along with Dzul company members Robin Taylor Dzul, Kyla Ernst Alper, Jason Jordan, So Young An, Ji Hyeun Bang, Cornelius Brown, Kara Walsh and Noriko Naroaka. Lucia Pulido's ensemble includes Sergio R. Reyes (violin), Sebastian Cruz (guitar), and Pedro Giraudo (bass).

Dzul Dance is a company of extreme athleticism, intricate partnering, unique sensuality and daring aerial artistry. The company members hail from many different parts of the world and have performed with a vast array of the world's most famous companies including the Martha Graham Dance Company, Cirque du Soleil, Ballet Nacional de Mexico, Eliot Feld Ballet, Korean National Ballet Company, Buglisi Dance Theater and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. With this eclectic and talented group, Javier Dzul has created a movement vocabulary that embodies his own distinct style and pushes the boundaries of the human body and imagination.

Dzul Dance celebrated a very successful 2010 and 2011 season at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, with the sell-out premieres of Forest of Kings, Rosas y Espinas, Danzon and the Symbol Bearer. In the fall of 2009 Javier Dzul was awarded the prestigious Premio San Fransisco de Campeche for bringing international awareness to Mayan culture. The award is given each decade to a citizen who has excelled in the area of art, economics and science. Because of his accomplishments Dzul was commissioned by the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) of Mexico and the government of the state of Campeche to found and direct La Compania de Danza Contemporanea del Estado de Campeche, a twelve member dance and aerial company.

This year Dzul will be featured in Private Acts: The Acrobat Sublime published by Rizzoli International. The work will be performed in France at the OpenProject 2011 Festival in July and in Mazatlan, Puerta Vallarta and Cancun in November. Additionally, this summer, Javier Dzul will create a new choreography during his residency at Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada and teach a fall semester dance course as part of Dr. Lenora Fulani's UX Community Development Project. Dzul will return to Baruch Performing Arts Center in January for their NYC Season.

PAM 2011 features a dramatic array of performances including everything from the Latin Choreographers Festival, to music by One Country Many Nations and Eric Alabaster's Loco Love Band, to theater like Look Who's in thá Army Now! and many more. The performing arts festival will take place at Baruch Performing Arts Center (at Baruch College), 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th street, between Lexington & 3rd Ave) in Manhattan.

From a Wounded Heart will be performed on Wednesday, July 27 at 8pm, Wednesday, August 3 at 8pm, and Saturday, August 6 at 8pm. Tickets are $20 online and $25 at the door. Tickets for seniors and students are $18 online and $20 at the theater door. Tickets may be purchased online at www.teatroiati.org, or call (212) 505-6757.

About Dzul Dance: Created in 2003, Artistic Director Javier Dzul and his diverse company of dancers and aerialists have been presented throughout New York and Mexico and in South America, Europe, Asia and the Virgin Islands. Dzul Dance's intense physicality and creative appeal have won them invitations nationally and internationally to perform on a variety of stages. The Company has been presented by prestigious institutions that include the United Nations, El Museo del Barrio and Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and have performed in world renowned festivals such as Festival Internacional Cervantino and Bard College's Summerscape.

In addition to performance, Javier has brought the artistry and vocabulary of Dzul Dance to others through professional workshops and youth outreach programs in Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, New York and the Virgin Islands, and has collaborated with a variety of artists including composer and musician Sergio Reyes, celebrated photographers Acey Harper, Tim Petersen and Rojelio Rodriguez, internationally acclaimed vocalist Sussan Deyhim, award winning filmmaker and human rights activist Rebecca Sommer, and All Stars Project co-founder and grass roots community organizer/activist Dr. Lenora Fulani.

About Javier Dzul: Javier Dzul grew up Mayan in the jungles of southern Mexico performing ritual dances until the age of 16. He then began his professional training on full scholarship at Universidad Veracruzana and then Ballet Nacional de Cuba. His professional career began as a principal dancer with Ballet Nacional de Mexico and Ballet Folklorico de Mexico. In 1995 Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes of Mexico awarded Javier a scholarship to pursue his dance career in the United States at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He has since danced professionally with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Pearl Lang Dance Theater, Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, American Indian Dance Theater and as an aerialist with Acroback.

About Teatro IATI:

IATI (International Theater Arts Institute) is a New York-based, non-profit performing arts organization established in 1968 to introduce New Yorkers from all walks of life to contemporary Latin American dance and theater artists. The institute is dedicated to performance and the promotion of contemporary Latino heritage through full productions in theater, music and dance, as well as staged readings and workshops. IATI also serves as a bridge between artists and underserved communities in New York and is committed to bringing art into the lives of those in poverty and cultural isolation.

For more information, visit www.dzuldance.com, www.luciapulido.com, www.teatroiati.org