2014, Dance/Movement, Events, Film, Music, Performance, Screenings, Visual Art

Plena Workshop with Tito Matos in amity of Bomplenazo

Posted on October 1, 2014March 12, 2016 by Alejandro

The Loisaida Center presents:

Tito Matos

founder of: Viento de Agua

2014 Latin Grammy Awards Nominee.

Tito Matos is one of the most impressive requinto players of the plena tradition. He plays other percussion instruments: bomba barrels, congas, among others. He is the founder and director of Viento de Agua. He has previously recorded, played and toured with: Eddie Palmieri, David Sánchez, Miguel Zenón and Ricky Martin among many others. He is still a member of New York’s iconic bomba and plena ensemble Los Pleneros de la 21. Tito is the founder of Plenazos Callejeros a movement that takes plena to street corners in different Puerto Rican towns.

[add_eventon_list number_of_months=”1″ event_count=”1″ ft_event_priority=”yes” only_ft=”yes” fixed_month=”10″ fixed_year=”2014″ ]

1:00pm – 3:00pm

Taller de Plena

Master percussionist Tito Matos teaches a basic plena workshop suitable for all levels. The Puerto Rico native has traveled the world playing plena, an Afro Rican musical genre. Students will learn basic rithmic patterns from the traditional to the contemporary style of playing the hand held drum known as pandereta.

Bring your own Drum or Pandero.

All ages Welcomed!

3:00pm – 5:00pm

Screening of Plenazos Callejeros

Documentary, followed by Q&A with producers and musicians

Plenazos Callejeros is a documentary about a movement that revolutionized Afro Puerto Rican musical genre: plena. Every month a bunch of pleneros would gather at a street corner to play and talk about music. The video takes viewers on a journey through the last 30 years of the plena tradition.

Director: Mariana Reyes Angleró

Producers: Mariana Reyes and Tito Matos for Viento de Agua Inc.

Editor: Juan C. Álvarez Lara

Performance, Residencies, Visual Art

2014 Artist in Residence – Dey Hernández-Vázquez

Posted on August 23, 2014March 12, 2016 by Alejandro

The Loisaida Center is proud to announce our current

2014 Visual Arts-Performance Residency Recipient:

Dey Hernández-Vázquez

Hernández will present the installation/performance piece:

Casita: for Julia de Burgos

About the piece:

In the danger of having the memory of Julia reduced to “the stereotype of the bohemian poet who lived a tragically short life…”The artist will use Julia’s poetic images to create a space that lifts off from the page allowing the spectator/participant to drift into the actual space where the artistic experience is taking place, la “Casita”. The architectural installation will mark out personal territory in the public realm.

About Dey:

Deymirie “Dey” Hernández-Vázquez is an Architect, Teaching Artist, and Puppeteer who works in a variety of media. She is a passionate advocate for the arts as an active educational tool. Issues of race, identity, language, and community are fundamental to her work as a cultural educator and artist. For the past 6+ years, she has designed and facilitated art workshops with AgitArte, a non-profit organization dedicated to initiate and support artistic and popular education projects in disadvantaged and marginalized communities to further the struggle for social justice. Dey is also an artist and puppeteer of the radical workers’ heater collective, Papel Machete. Their performances in community, theaters, streets and protests employ puppets, masks, objects and music to denounce exploitation, build solidarity, and agitate to action in the struggles of the working class. All of their cultural work is generated collectively through facilitated creative processes and construction workshops using papier mâché as their medium and exploring a wide range of forms and styles that include toy theater, cantastoria, shadow theater, table-top puppetry, humanettes, cut-outs, masks, and giants. Dey’s arts and architectural background are key to the design and construction of giant puppets, puppetry booths, shadow shows and toy theaters. Dey Hernández-Vázquez received a MA from the School of Architecture, University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico in 2010. She currently lives and works in Boston.