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KINGSTON FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS PRESENTS DZUL DANCE
Kingston, NY – Dzul Dance will perform excerpts from their latest choreography, Mexico MAYA, as part of the Kingston Festival of the Arts on Saturday, August 24th at 8pm at the Andy Murphy Center in Kingston, NY.
Dzul Dance fuses dance with aerial arts and contortion as a means to communicate indigenous pre-Hispanic, Mexican and Latino culture. By transforming his company into earthbound and airborne forces of nature Dzul creates bridges between contemporary art and historical heritage while breaking physical, cultural and political boundaries.
Mexico MAYA is an evening of choreographies that illustrate the unique story of Artistic Director Javier Dzul. The choreographies offer evocative glimpses of a journey of an artist through three cultures and languages and how it has shaped his artistic vision. The dances illustrate the rich history of Mayan and Mexican cultures and are performed by Javier Dzul and principal Dzul Dance company members; aerialist Robin Taylor, contortionist Anna Venizelos (former Cirque du Soleil soloist) and dancer Noriko Naraoka (former principal with Dance Theater of Harlem). With spoken word in Mayan, Spanish and English.
Mexico Maya premiered at the Gerald Lynch Theater in NYC in May and has since been performed at the Bloomberg/Mexico 2013 Conference (NYC), and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland) The choreography will be presented at El Museo del Barrio, Harlem Stage International Performance Series, Koger Center for the Arts (SC) and throughout Mexico in 2014.
The performance will take place at the Andy Murphy Center 467 Broadway Kingston, NY 12401 @ 8:00pm. Ticket price is $12 general admission and may be purchased online at www.kingstonfestival.org.
About the Artistic Director: Javier Dzul was born and raised as a Mayan ritual dancer in southern Mexico. He grew up speaking Mayan and studying ancient teachings from his parents until the age of 16. As a ritual dancer Javier learned to transform his body into different animals and elements as a means to communicate with Mayan gods and nature. Due to the changing political climate in the country regarding indigenous populations his parents decided to seek new opportunities for their son. After an anthropologist witnessed Javier’s dancing he suggested he receive professional training. Javier moved to Xalapa Veracruz to study dance and to learn to read, write and speak Spanish. Javier received numerous scholarships to study dance in Mexico, Cuba and the United States. He has danced with some of the most famous companies in the world.
Javier created Dzul Dance in 2003. In 2009 Javier became the founder of Compania de Danza Contemporanea y Aerea del Gobierno del Estado de Campeche; a second company funded by Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (CONACULTA) of Mexico and the Government of Campeche. In 2010 the Mexican government awarded Javier el Premio de San Fransisco, an outstanding lifetime achievement award, for raising international awareness about Mayan culture.
Javier has been featured by National Public Radio, Univision’s Despierta America, American Latino, Bloomberg TV, NY1 and in photographer Acey Harper’s Private Acts: the acrobat sublime, published by Rizolli in September 2009.
About Dzul Dance: Created in 2003, Artistic Director Javier Dzul and his diverse company of dancers, contortionists and aerialists have been presented throughout New York and Mexico and in South America, Europe, Canada, 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, Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), El Museo del Barrio and Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and have performed in world renowned festivals such as Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland) and Bard College’s Summerscape (New York).
In addition to performance, Javier and his company have brought the artistry and vocabulary of Dzul Dance to others through professional workshops and youth/community outreach programs in Mexico, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, Virgin Islands and the United States.
About Kingston Festival of the Arts: Kingston Festival of the Arts is a one day, all inclusive city wide celebration of arts, culture and cuisine. The whole of Kingston becomes a canvas upon which the entire city is curated with national and international talent joining local creatives in this one day launch of an annual 11 day global Festival beginning next year. Kingston Festival of the Arts is a true grass roots, artist- driven Festival for the 21st Century.
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