1000 x 90

The Schaefer Center to Host CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater April 22

Appalachian State University’s performance series, “The Schaefer Center Presents” hosts its final performance of the season with CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts on Friday, April 22 at 7 p.m. Founded by Ana Maria Alvarez in 2005, CONTRA-TIEMPO’s work is rooted in Salsa and Afro-Cuban art forms and draws from hip-hop, house-dancing, breaking and stepping. Tickets are $20 for adults, $18 for Appalachian faculty/staff and retired faculty/staff, and $10 for students. For tickets and more information about this performance, call the Schaefer Center Box Office at 800-841-ARTS (2787), or 828-262-4046, or visit online at http://theschaefercenter.org/events/id/304.

 About CONTRA-TIEMPO

Photo by Kathleen Schenck.

CONTRA-TIEMPO is a bold, multilingual Los Angeles-based dance company creating physically intense and politically astute performance work that moves audiences to imagine what is possible. The company creates a new physical, visual and sonic vocabulary that collages Salsa, Afro-Cuban, hip-hop, and contemporary dance with theater, text, and original music to bring dynamic multi-modal experiences to the concert stage. While their performances are consistently electrifying, what sets the company apart most is their unique relationship to their own community. CONTRA-TIEMPO takes an uncompromisingly radical approach to the ways in which artists function within communities and create their work. They intentionally engage diverse audiences, cultivate dancer leaders, and center stories not traditionally heard on the concert stage, using their engagement process to inform and continuously re-fuel their creative process, and vice-versa.

Much like the communities they reach, CONTRA-TIEMPO is itself a tapestry. The company members are professional dancers, artists, immigrants, educators, activists, organizers, and movers of all types, living and working across Los Angeles and across the country. Each company member lives, expresses, and struggles within the varied and infinitely complex political and personal landscapes that Artistic Director, Ana Maria Alvarez seeks to address through the company’s work.

About “Agua Furiosa”

“Agua Furiosa,” CONTRA-TIEMPO’s newest evening length work, challenges audiences to confront harsh realities of race in our country. Inspired by Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and Oya, the Afro-Cuban deity of wind and storms, artistic director and choreographer Ana Maria Alvarez, harnesses her unique Urban-Latin movement approach to create a visually stunning and thought provoking evening of dance performance. “Agua Furiosa” merges call and response, a live vocalist, water themes, fierce physicality and the performers’ own personal narratives. Audiences will walk away from “Agua Furiosa,” impacted and inspired to locate themselves inside the complex and transforming conversation of race in America.

Press Quotes

“an edgy examination of ‘the complexity of resistance and struggle for Latinos in the United States’ and a joyous celebration of community” – San Francisco Bay Guardian

“A passionately delivered performance communicates the often antagonistic relationships that exist among Latino immigrants to America, as well as the nature of the greater struggles that they face in the new country.” – The Worldly, LA, CA

“the new face of Los Angeles dance, the new voice as well…” – Los Angeles Times

About the Residency

This performance is part of a collaborative project with the South Arts Dance Touring Initiative, involving residency activities by CONTRA-TIEMPO Urban Latin Dance Theater from April 20-22. Residency activities and performances are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Company members will hold master classes, meet with dance students at Appalachian and in community studios, and artistic director Ana Maria Alvarez will lead a community Rueda (Circle Dance) Workshop in the Schaefer Center lobby. CONTRA-TIEMPO will also perform as a part of the APPlause! K-12 Performing Arts Series for area school children on the morning of April 22. For more information on the APPlause! Series, visit http://theschaefercenter.org/applause.

Tickets

Tickets are on sale at the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts box office and online at http://theschaefercenter.org.  The Office of Arts & Cultural Programs is committed to affordable ticket prices, with prices for all events ranging from $10-$40.  An Appalachian State faculty/staff and retired faculty/staff discount is available when tickets are purchased over the phone or at the box office. To purchase tickets, call or visit the Schaefer Center for the Performing Arts Box Office at828-262-4046 or go online at http://theschaefercenter.org/.

About “The Schaefer Center Presents”

“The Schaefer Center Presents” is a series offering students, faculty, staff and the community a diverse array of music, theatre and dance designed to enrich the cultural landscape of the campus and surrounding area. By creating memorable performance experiences and related educational and outreach activities, the series promotes the power and excitement of the live performance experience; provides a “window on the world” through the artistry of nationally and internationally renowned artists; and showcases some of the finest artists of our nation and our region. For more information, visit http://theschaefercenter.org.

Corporate Sponsors

McDonald’s of Boone and Boone Area Visitors Bureau.

Media Sponsors:

Charter Media, Our State Magazine, High Country Radio, High Country 365, WDAV 89.9 FM, WFDD 88.5FM, and WASU 90.5FM.