The force and passion of flamenco music and dance mark this piece\u2019s exploration of new movements, approaches and rhythms, presented in the language of contemporary dance. Valentina Pavez and Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez, choreographers, dancers and teachers, direct this new version of Santa Fiesta<\/em>, a piece they created in 1994 when they founded their company in Mexico. Today the company has returned stronger than ever, with an expanded corps and original music that is performed live during the production.<\/p>\n

With ten dancers on stage, the piece focuses on the story of a character unpacking their interior world, the unconscious and the memory. \u201cThe piece works intensely with emotions and sensations,\u201d explains Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez, \u201cand plays with time\u2014a lifetime, staged movements, and interior reflection.\u201d It is not sequential but constructs its story through ritual elements, cleansing and psycho-magic, in an interior exploration that culminates in the great, joyful sacredness of the feast.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nDIRECTORS<\/span>

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Valentina Pavez <\/strong>graduated as a performer from the Centro de Danza Espiral, directed by Joan Turner and Patricio Bunster. She is a professor and choreographer, with a Licentiate degree in Arts from Universidad ARCIS. She has performed with Bafona, Grupo Danza Espiral and S\u00e9ptima Compa\u00f1\u00eda. She has worked with choreographers and directors such as Patricio Bunster, Luis Eduardo Araneda, Claude Brumachon and Benjam\u00edn Lamarche, Jorge Olea, Susan Cashion, Paola Aste, Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez, Teresa Alca\u00edno, Alicia S\u00e1nchez and Alejandra Ram\u00edrez, and with theatre directors Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez and Mateo Iribarren. She also worked with the folklorist Gabriela Pizarro\u2014her mother\u2014who inspired her to work on the theme of Chilean identity.<\/p>\n
She is the author and co-author of several choreographic works, including the following: Entre lazos<\/em>, El color que no est\u00e1<\/em>, Santa fiesta<\/em>, Territorio uno<\/em>, Trilog\u00eda de romances<\/em>, Tsunami<\/em>, Por la ma\u00f1ana<\/em>, Ra\u00edces del cuerpo<\/em>, and others. She has presented works around Chile and has taken them to international festivals in Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru and Cuba. As a choreographer she was nominated for an Altazor award in 2003 and 2004, for her architectural-choreography of Mirror<\/em> and Ra\u00edces del cuerpo<\/em>. She choreographed works for Fondart\u2019s Frutos del pa\u00eds<\/em> and is artistic director of the Fondart project Proyecto humano<\/em>, choreographed by Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez. She choreographed four pieces for the documentary La cueca sola<\/em> by Maril\u00fa Mallet, a Chilean filmmaker based in Canada. In 2006 she collaborated on a book about the Dance of the Cuyacas, a women\u2019s dance troupe that performs at La Tirana Festival. She is currently a teacher at Universidad de Las Am\u00e9ricas, Universidad ARCIS and U.A.H.C., and is a manager at the Centro Profesional de Creaci\u00f3n Coreogr\u00e1fica.<\/p>\n
Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez <\/strong>graduated from the Centro de Danza Espiral, directed by Joan Turner and Patricio Bunster, with a special mention in choreography, performance and teaching. He obtained a scholarship to study at the American Dance Festival at Duke University, in North Carolina (USA) and in Neuquen, Argentina at the Seminario Internacional de la Danza. He also has a Licentiate in Art from Universidad ARCIS.<\/p>\n
He has been awarded Fondart projects in the area of Creation and Investigation, and did a three-year residency in Mexico City for the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes as master teacher and choreographer at the Academia de Danza Mexicana. He was invited to teach at the School of Dance of the Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica in the professional Master\u2019s Program and the undergraduate Dance Program. He has authored and has performed in several choreographic works produced in Chile and abroad, working with renowned Chilean and international choreographers. He has worked under theatre directors Andr\u00e9s P\u00e9rez, Mateo Iribarren and Patricio Pimienta. He is co-author of the book Eukin\u00e9tica, profundizando las cualidades del movimiento <\/em>(2010) and an instructor at ARCIS, UNIACC and UDLA universities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nCOMPANY<\/span>
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The company Danza en Cruz was established in 1994 in Mexico from the union of two choreographers, dancers and teachers\u2014Valentina Pavez and Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez. Since then, these two outstanding Chilean independent dance artists have continued to leave their mark on the contemporary dance scene.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s work has been characterized by its ongoing search for a language of dance in which theatrical elements, gestures, and intense technical work all converge. Its creations use popular and traditional Chilean culture as inspiration to rediscover our identity, collecting images, atmospheres, and sensations of our indigenous and mestizo<\/em> origins in contemporary creations filled with scenes that emerge from the richness of their own simple and profound content. These scenes seek to treasure the sublime magic of simplicity while reflecting the dizzying pace of our society, a duality that drives the company to stage universal themes that reflect the present-day human reality: everyday urban existence, social conditions, personal conflicts and human relations. Today, Danza en Cruz includes 15 professional dancers who work under the direction of the company\u2019s founders. The company has obtained four FONDART grants, a Project of Excellence and a Bicentennial Project and two nominations for Altazor awards. It has also organized three international tours (in Cuba and Mexico) with the sponsorship of DIRAC, and a tour of the south and north of Chile and of Tacna, Peru, sponsored by the SISMO project. The company has also toured many other cities and towns of Chile. Danza en Cruz dance company traveled to Mexico to participate in the festival circuit covering the cities of Colima, Guadalajara, Morelia and Zamora (2010), and visited the VII Festival of the World Day of Dance in Cochabamba, Bolivia (2011). It premiered the work Extra\u00f1a<\/em> (2012) in the central square of UDLA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nCREDITS<\/span>
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Company Danza en Cruz<\/strong><\/p>\n
Choreography Valentina Pavez and Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez<\/strong><\/p>\n
Performers Constanza D\u00edaz, Vicenta Pavez, Catalina Rojo, Gema Contreras, Giselle Pezoa, Pablo Bello, Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez, Mart\u00edn Andrade, Cristi\u00e1n Hewitt, <\/strong>Jose Silva, Adri\u00e1n Ot\u00e1rola, Andr\u00e9s Millalonco, Daniela Guajardo, Daniela P\u00e9rez and Danya Jerez<\/strong><\/p>\n
Music Sebasti\u00e1n Mezzano (bass, percussion and incidentals);<\/strong> <\/strong>Ignacio Isla (flute, sax tenor and incidentals); Camilo Candia (guitar, percussion, incidentals and musical direction)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Video making Lissette Orozco<\/strong><\/p>\n
Costume Eugenio Delgado, Matilde Videla and Elisa de C\u00f3rdova<\/strong><\/p>\n
Masks Pablo Barckhahn<\/strong><\/p>\n
Lightning Pedro Sandoval<\/strong><\/p>\n
Lightning assistant Gonzalo D\u00edaz<\/strong><\/p>\n
Sound Pablo Ot\u00e1rola<\/strong><\/p>\n
Scenography Valentina Pavez and Rodrigo Fern\u00e1ndez<\/strong><\/p>\n
General direction Valentina Pavez<\/strong><\/p>\n
Support Fondo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes, l\u00ednea Bicentenario<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Premiere of the new version October 2011, Centro GAM<\/strong><\/p>\n
Length 1 hour<\/strong><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
La fuerza y la pasi\u00f3n de la m\u00fasica y el baile flamenco marcan la exploraci\u00f3n de esta pieza en nuevos movimientos, en su car\u00e1cter y ritmos, con el lenguaje propio de la danza contempor\u00e1nea.The force and passion of flamenco music and dance mark this piece\u2019s exploration of new movements, approaches and rhythms, presented in the language of contemporary dance.