2018, Events, Lower East Side, Music, Neighborhood, Partnerships, Past, Performance, Photography, Puerto Rico, Visual Art

El Semillero Benefit Event

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Tuesday, February 27th 2018 – 6:30 pm

Doors open at 6:00 pm – Loisaida Inc. 710 East 9th Street New York, NY 10009

El Semillero

El Semillero is what we call the new 2018 Media & Technology component at the Loisaida Inc. Center. It is an idea-activator, a makerspace for creative cross-training, prototyping, and multi-disciplinary collaboration. The community can make use of our low and high-tech equipment and facilities in addition to the roster of workshops we’re offering for personal and professional development.

Creativity and its profound effect on our own well-being and that of the world are bound together. Therefore, art, culture, fulfillment, and productivity are interdependent. We believe that neighborhoods should act as their own cultural developers and sustainable economic engines. El Semillero is a space for our youth and elders, mentors and mentees, artists and scholars, experts and beginners. We welcome students, young professionals, local entrepreneurs, parents, and grandparents. We’re building an accessible idea incubator where all Loisaida community members can come together to dream, collaborate, and create. El Semillero is for our future-makers.

Loisaida has survived these past 38 years because of the support of the community. In this, our first ever fundraising campaign, we’re asking you to invest in El Semillero, our programs, and projects that support the resilience of our Latinx community footprint and legacy.

Purchase tickets to event:


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Artist Level Perks

We are here for you! As an artist-level contributor, you can gain access to the fundraiser celebration, enjoy libations and eats from local vendors, and exercise your right to party to the sounds of D’Marquesina.


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Seedling Level Perks

Make us grow! Dig in at the seedling level and your contribution gives you all of the “Artist” level benefits, plus a signed limited edition print by artist Adrián “Viajero” Román.

adrian viajero roman


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Germinator Level Perks

You are truly making us blossom! At this level, recieve all of the “Artist” level benefits, plus the first six Germinators get a pair of tickets to their choice of either Shakespeare in the Park’s Othello, Twelfth Night, or The Public’s run of Quiara Alegría Hudes’ Miss You Like Hell. All other Germinators will receive an autographed print by photographer Máximo Rafael Colón.

Silent Auction Now Live!

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EVENT HONOREES:

* After completing the PayPal/Credit/Debit card transaction to purchase tickets above, depending on pledge level, further instructions and information will be provided. Please note that no tickets will be mailed. You will receive confirmation that your contribution has been received. If you have questions about making a credit card donation, please contact or email us. If you are interested in Sponsorship Opportunities at the Presenting level or for any other questions, please fill out contact form below:
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Give any amount you want!

2018, Education, Events, Family Activities, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, New York History, Partners, Past, Photography, Politics, Youth

Soul of a City – Ryan John Lee

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Loisaida Inc. is proud to present Soul of a City
Exhibition ongoing from Friday, January 19 through March 19, 2018
By Appointment. To coordinate a visit email Program and Outreach Manager; Andrea Gordillo andrea@loisaida.org

Lee is a photographer/filmmaker based in New York City. He is a longtime resident of the Lower East Side.

The soul of a city is manifested through its inhabitants: the newspaper sellers, subway riders, pavement pounders, and window shoppers. These seemingly banal routines and daily chores are what feed a city’s energy and identity. Soul of a City represents a collection of these everyday moments I’ve been fortunate enough to capture. Some are humorous or touching, while others are heartbreaking. In these photographs, I’ve aimed to transform the ordinary into something more magical and highlight the calm within the chaos of the urban landscape.

2017, Bilingual, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Events, Music, Past, Performance, Poetry, Politics, Puerto Rico, Storytelling

Teófilo Torres es: Pateco en Loisaida

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Thespian Maestro, TEOFILO TORRES, performs about post-hurricane María crisis in specially commissioned X-mas show. One night only @ LOISAIDA CENTER.

NEW YORK, NY, DECEMBER 15, 2017 – Puerto Rico’s most treasured monologist, Teófilo Torres, whose acting career spans over 40 years ––will perform at Loisaida Cultural Center on December 28th with his new creation: Pateco el Sepulturero (Pateco the Gravedigger).

Pateco’s character is borrowed from an old Puerto Rican folk tale. Legend has it that in 1899, after the deathly devastation of hurricane San Ciriaco, so many people died in the island -both during and in the hurricane’s aftermath- that dead bodies were left piling up at the gate of a local cemetery. The gravedigger was called Pateco, it is said. From then on, after someone has passed away, the people in the island have been known to say that ‘Pateco took them under’, ‘a fulano se lo llevó Pateco’.

Torres’ take on Pateco comes back to life in 2017, this time after hurricane María devastated Puerto Rico, to take to the grave those “dead bodies” and zombies now piling up all over the island. Torres’ Pateco character is portrayed as a half-drunk, half-political pundit, that has found a new devotion to singing jíbaro folk music “Décimas”. He is a jokester, however a complicated character that takes a swing at killing us (the audience) softly with his rhymes, and makes us aware of the current political and fiscal crisis facing the Caribbean island.

You can find more information online at loisaida.org/events

Loisaida Inc. has produced many performances throughout this year, some that recasts the current fiscal crisis of Puerto Rico, and more recently others hosting visual artists, musicians and academics interpreting through their work the impact on Puerto Rican communities in the wake of the 2017 hurricane season. Loisaida keeps the creative diaspora stemming from the Caribbean island to present a forward-looking merger of eco-urbanism and art-based community making.
                                                                                    

Teófilo Torres (born 6 March 1954 in Ponce, Puerto Rico) is a Puerto Rican actor, director and professor of theatre. He has acted for both television as well the big screen, and has performed in Puerto Rico and internationally.

2017, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Events, Neighborhood, Partners, Past, Puerto Rico, Visual Art

Mercado de Puerto Rico

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Loisaida Inc., PRIDA and Coquito Masters present:
Mercado de Puerto Rico

Presenting traditional and original Art and Crafts from Puerto Rican artists, also presenting the work of artisans currently displaced by Hurricane Maria. Also, “Coquito” tasting by Coquito Masters!

Loisaida Inc.
710 East 9th Street NY, NY 10009

2017, Dance/Movement, Events, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, Past, Senior, Talk / Panel, Theater

Senior Day – December 2017

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‘SENIOR DAY’

PROGRAMA DICIEMBRE 2017

12:00-1:30pm:

  • REGISTRO

1ra Sesión de Talleres

  • ETIQUETAS NUTRICIONALES  – Teatro
  • ZUMBA (ejercicio) – Salón 1

1:30-2:30pm:

  • COFFEE BREAK

2:30-3:30pm:

2da Sesión de Talleres

  • ETIQUETAS NUTRICIONALES  – Teatro
  • ZUMBA (ejercicio) – Salón 1

3:30-4:30pm:

  • MUSICA con Jeannie Sol
This Senior day is sponsored by: UnitedHealthCare
2017, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Events, Music, Partners, Past, Performance, Puppetry, Storytelling, Theater, Visual Art

Tale 53;Snowhite

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Loisaida Inc. & Maskhunt Motions proudly present:

Tale 53;Snowhite

with: Deborah Hunt & Shanti Lalita

Tale 53; Snowhite is a sinister story told inside an intriguing wooden artefact that houses a toy theatre (with two- dimentional painted puppets moving on tracks), objects, a kamishibai (for backdrop changes) and a cranky or moving panorama. It is based on “Snowhite”, the creation of reknowned Spanish author and illustrator Ana Juan.

Deborah Hunt, (theatre maker, maskbuilder and operator, puppeteer, teacher and autor) has adapted and directed the tale and manipulates the puppets and backdrops. Shanti Lalita, (cellist, poet and performer) is the composer and live musician.

Far from the disneyesque version of Snow White, our tale relates the life of a young woman who falls prey to a blood thirsty stepmother, an hostile city, hustling dwarves and a rapacious prince. Based on the original story Tale 53 (The Little Snow White) of the Grimm Brothers published in 1812, the story of Ana Juan offers a biting and pertinent stare at the situation of women still relevant to our times. Justaposed with the beauty of the puppets, objects and painted backdrops, Tale 53;Snowhite promises a unique theatrical experience.

Toy theatre is a kind of theatre in miniature that flourished in the 19th century in Europe. The small theatres, scenery, backdrops and characters were printed on paper, painted and cutout and the stories were presented in the salas and drawing rooms of private houses, often accompanied with live music.

Hunt has presented the work in Puerto Rico (San German and San Juan) at the Odin Teatret in Denmark and now in New York. It will be presented at the Festival Internacional de Títeres de Matanzas en Cuba in 2018. Additionally I can offer a daylong workshop using the artefact of the show (toy theatre, kamishibai, cranky) as a point of departure. Participants work in groups creating short stories using these techniques.

2017, Caribbean, Events, Lower East Side, Music, Partnerships, Past, Performance, Politics, Puerto Rico, Storytelling, Style, Talk / Panel, Visual Art

Fantasy Island – Exhibition Performances

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For Shey Rivera Ríos and Huáscar Robles, Hurricane María is an atmospheric manifestation compounded by the fiscal crisis troubling Puerto Rico’s urban landscape. The installation and performance Fantasy Island is an experience that explores how tourism and consumer culture sell a “fantastical” luxury lifestyle, a tropical paradise twisting crisis into “opportunity”. A door opens into a real estate office selling dreams of luxury and reconstruction and the viewer delves into a dizzying spell of animated gifs, performance and altars.

For Fantasy Island, Rivera transformed Loisaida’s space into a real estate office surrounded by a black and white grid that envelops visitors while monitors flash GIFs that borrow aesthetics from the vaporwave movement. In one image, a hand waves a wad of cash to a “Puerto Rico” neon sign while icons of the Virgin Mary and a ram, both cultural symbols of Puerto Rico’s syncretism and colonial history, spin in an enticing, dizzying spell. Viewers are also inspired to reflect on how natural disasters such as the path of hurricanes affecting not only Puerto Rico but also our Caribbean neighbors maybe twisted into “opportunity” after the crisis subsides.

For the Loisaida Center, a cultural enterprise with deep roots in the Nuyorican and Latinx New York community, Fantasy Island stretches the island to New York and its Puerto Rican and Caribbean diaspora as it hits common issues they all grapple with.

StormWater performance:

For Shey Rivera Ríos and Huáscar Robles, Hurricane María is an atmospheric manifestation compounded by the fiscal crisis troubling Puerto Rico’s urban landscape. The installation and performance Fantasy Island is an experience that explores how tourism and consumer culture sell a “fantastical” luxury lifestyle, a tropical paradise twisting crisis into “opportunity”.

Shey Rivera:  

Ixchel performance. Video projection and audio of poem.

Pick 5 poems from Hienas y Los buitres.

La jíbara bruja performance, with reading from “Naty and my chaotic stench”

Huáscar Robles performs:

“Héroes del estéreo”

“Salt and wine”

“Pupilas y gaviotas”

“Drenched”

“Las manos del campo”

Video projections: Sharks, Hurricane, Beach floor and photos of the devastation, sent by friends and family.

Audio files: Cocoon poem, Coquis by Fofe, Rain storm

Exhibition Viewing Hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm and by appointment.

Throughout the fall, and beyond, the Loisaida Inc. Center’s programming will provide opportunities to pledge support to the relief and recovery efforts in the Caribbean.

 

2017, Dance/Movement, Events, Lower East Side, Neighborhood, Past, Senior, Talk / Panel, Theater

Senior Day – November 2017

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‘SENIOR DAY’

PROGRAMA NOVIEMBRE 2017

12:00-1:30pm:

  • REGISTRO

1ra Sesión de Talleres

  • ETIQUETAS NUTRICIONALES  – Teatro
  • ZUMBA (ejercicio) – Salón 1

1:30-2:30pm:

  • COFFEE BREAK

2:30-3:30pm:

2da Sesión de Talleres

  • ETIQUETAS NUTRICIONALES  – Teatro
  • ZUMBA (ejercicio) – Salón 1

3:30-4:30pm:

  • MUSICA con Jeannie Sol
This Senior day is sponsored by: UnitedHealthCare
2017, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Caribbean, Education, Events, Partners, Past, Performance, Poetry, Storytelling, Talk / Panel, Visual Art

The Avant Ricuas: A Cross-Generational Poetry Bombessa

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Featuring:

Victor Hernandez Cruz

Urayoan Noel

and Edwin Torres

 

This event is a reading, performance, and discussion among three Puerto Rican luminaries, celebrating the publication of Hernandez’ new book, “Beneath The Spanish” (Coffee House Press). It will take place at our Center on Wednesday, October 25th at 6:30pm

 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Beneath the Spanish is history, the clash and melt of cultures, the conquest of the New World, colonialism, bilingualism, fragmentation, and cubism. Poems built of tobacco, sugar, café; Spanish, Arabic, English; José Martí, Federico García Lorca, and William Carlos Williams. A history and exploration of Hernández Cruz’s Caribbean roots as well as a documentation of and counterpoint to the origin of the European cultural intrusion into the New World, Beneath the Spanish deconstructs and reconstructs a wounded history, offering a prayer for communication between distances, oceans, music, dance, and mountains, revealing the past in the present moment we live.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

VICTOR HERNANDEZ CRUZ is the author of several collections of poetry including, most recently, The Mountain in the Sea and In the Shadow of AlAndalus. Featured in Bill Moyers’s Language of Life series, Cruz’s collection Maraca was a finalist for the Lenore Marshall and Griffin Poetry Prizes. He divides his time between Morocco and his native Puerto Rico.

 

2017, Caribbean, Caribbean Heritage, Dance/Movement, Education, Events, Music, Partners, Past, Workshops

Merengue Prieto New York 2017

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Loisaida Inc. Center and Afro-Inspira presents:

Merengue Prieto New York 2017

Marily Gallardo, choreographer/artivist and founder of Kalalú Danza Artes Escénicas, has come from Dominican Republic to share with us her work and provide a master dance class, interactive talk and healing circle. All funds are to support Kalalú Danza Project in keep moving forward their mission and work in Los Mercedes, Dominican Republic.

You are coordially invited to:

MASTER DANCE CLASS: Merengue Prieto / rhythm dance session – traveling steps with TAMBORA. Incorporate another perspective that focuses on the origins of popular tradition and its makers through the execution of poly rhythmic-gestural patterns and to enjoy “merengue” afro. 
INTERACTIVE TALK: “Mujeres de la Candela” (Women of the Fire) / pedagogical experience on identity and black women power such as how women power and values are transmitted within the afro-descendant communities, like courage, daily intelligence, and spiritual beliefs, etc.

HEALING RITUAL: Creative full moon circle.

Class starts prompltly at 5pm followed by talk and healing circle.
Suggested Donation: $25
This event is FREE, no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Please bring comfortable clothes and shoes.

Eventbrite - Merengue Prieto - Master Class

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Mission:

Kalalú Danza, Dominican Republic
For Kalalú Danza, the Afro-antillian concept is presented as one that encompasses and is a synthesis of thought and expression of the socio-cultural diversity of the Caribbean. From that premise, Kalalú’s pedagogical approach affirms a particular study of rhythm and movement, of its oral tradition, and symbolism which influenced by “the Afro” can be found in the popular artistic manifestations of such cultures. Such artistic manifestations provides the basis to generate performance, scenic, and pedagogical proposals which contributes to the development of the local communities as well as the individual and social transformation.