2014, Dance/Movement, Events, Family Activities, Festival, Film, Music, Partners, Partnerships, Performance, Theater, Visual Art

Muchas Julias

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Muchas Julias / Many Julias

 The first multimedia production by the new Loisaida Center!

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The new Loisaida Inc Center, in association with the Society of the Educational Arts, inc. (SEA), proudly presents: 
Muchas Julias / Many Julias as part of the Borimix: Puerto Rico Fest.  

In this multi-disciplinary event, art enlivens a space long known to harvest projects and services of great importance for the Latino community, the original Loisaida, Inc. building at 710 9th Street & Ave C, in the Lower East Side.

This time is the poetry of the great Julia de Burgos, whose centenary we celebrate this year, presented in five (5) distinct pieces representing different disciplinary approaches; in Muchas Julias / Many Julias visitors will stroll through the extensive premises of the new Loisaida Center to stop only at determined points and intimately experience the aesthetic pieces (from dance to theater, from film to installation), all inspired by the work of Julia de Burgos, one of Latin America’s greatest poets

Conceived by Yaraní del Valle, Muchas Julias / Many Julias is a site-specific montage that features the participation of artists and scholars such as: Oscar Montero, Deymirie Hernández, Gabo Lugo, Caborca Theater,Right Minded Creations, JecaRodríguez, Veraalba Santa and Tres Tristes collective.

 Venue: 710 E 9th Street and Avenue C

Date: Saturday November 15, 2014

Time: 7:30 pm

(Presentations will begin at 8:00pm)

Price: $10 suggested donation (Help Us Grow) 

Click  to RSVP for this event.

Sponsored in part by:

2014, Afro Puertorrican Bomba, Dance/Movement, Events, Music, Partners, Partnerships, Performance

Introduction to Primo Drum

Posted on by Alejandro

Rafael Maya - Primo Drum Workshop

Click on promotion above to purchase tickets for this workshop.

Loisaida Inc. logo

 THE LOISAIDA CENTER IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE:

In partnership with Afro-Inspira and Proyecto Unión

INTRODUCTION TO PRIMO DRUM

With Master Bomba drum percussionist Rafael Maya

 (Dance interpretation and Improvisational language)

Workshop description:

This workshop will be about dance interpretation using the language and drum of Puerto Rico’s Bomba. We will be discussing what is needed in preparing for your quest into primo drum playing and will be going over basic variations and language used during improvisation. We will also be diving in hands on with examples of different forms of looking at interpreting dance. Finalizing with ways of adding your own individuality and energy to the equation. Join the Bomba community through movement and song!!!

Bring your own drum/conga/djembe

Requirements: Basic knowledge of Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba rhythms a plus! No one will be turn away for lack of skills.

Saturday October 25th, 2014 3:30pm to 5pm
Cost: $15
Residents of the Lower East Side $10
Djembes for rent $ 5.00 (first come first serve)

 

Bio:
Rafael Maya Alvarez was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. He is the founder and director of Desde Cero and founder and director of Proyecto Union. Rafael also has participated in Bomba groups such as Majestad Negra(Member and Coreographer), Compania Folklorica De Loiza, Restauracion Cultural(VP, Co-Director), Tambuye, Tendencias(Co-Director), Carabali, Sabor a Bomba, Fiesta Bombera, Son de Plena, y Bomba Tour. Rafael is currently teaching with the project Gigantes de la Bomba who offers classes twice a week in the Plaza de Recreo of Carolina and to schools in the Municipality of Carolina. Rafael has participated as an instructor in programs such as “Vida Plena”, “Head Start,” “Upward Bound”, “Taller Fotoperiodismo”, “Instituto de Cultura Puertorriquena”, “Program of continued education”, “Early Start” and “Bomba de Oro”. Rafael also gives bilingual Bomba workshops for the Univeristy of Puerto Rico’s(Rio Piedras campus) exchange student program and is currently giving class in The U.N.E. University(Carolina). He was invited and gave his latest Master Class in Berkeley College of Music in Valencia, Spain. For several years he was one of the dance and percussion instructors for the Corporacion Pinones se Integra in Loiza an also for Arthur Murray Dance Studio is Santurce. Rafael has travelled to numerous countries providing lectures and performing, because for Rafael, the most important element in his work is cultural education.

 

2014, Bilingual, Book Readings, Books, Children Friendly, Dance/Movement, Events, Family Activities, Festival, Film, Music, Partners, Performance, Plena, Puppetry, Screenings, Storytelling, Theater, Visual Art

El Mini Fest

Posted on by Alejandro

Un Pasadía Familiar

El Mini Fest – Family Day

at The Loisaida Center

 With The Wonderful Musical Duo:

¡ACOPLADITOS!

Day long activities for the entire family!

Beginning Saturday October 18th 2014 from 12 to 5 pm

 El Mini Fest Schedule of Activities:

12:00pm – 1:35pm

Open Yoga for the Family & Creative Movement for the Family

 with: Jeca Rodríguez and Sandralis Ginés

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1:00pm – 3:00pm

Screening of: 

Pura Belpré:Storyteller

Documentary on loan by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College

 

Creative Stations will open at 1:00pm

1. Paper Puppet Creations with Rojo Coquí Robles (El Kibutz del deseo) (2hrs)

2. Upcycling Arts with Visiones Culturales

3. Bilingual Storytelling with Maestra Coral Nogueras Ortiz

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 2:00pm – 3:00pm

 Interactive Bomba Performance: with María Eugenia Rodriguez & TheLegendary Mic

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3:00pm – 4:00pm

Headliner Concert by:

¡Acopladitos! 

 Come join us! Purchase tickets below. Only $5 for one ticket or $15 for 4 tickets!

2014, Events, Partnerships, Performance, Residencies, Screenings, Theater, Visual Art

Zoetrope: Part 1 (bilingual version)

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Zoetrope: Part 1

Caborca has been selected to present the new bilingual version of their play as part of Encuentro 2014, the largest national festival of Latino theatre in more than two decades in Los Angeles, CA.  Caborca Theatre developed their bilingual version of ZOETROPE as part of the Art Residency Program @ Loisaida Center.

They will present both the bilingual and English version of  Zoetrope: Part 1 completely FREE! 

Join us for a delightful evening of drama and theater.

11:30am-

Bilingual version

1:30pm-

English version

 Saturday, October 11th

 LaGuardia Community College

31-10 Thomson Ave

Long Island City, NY 11101

 

Map content here..
2014, Dance/Movement, Events, Film, Music, Performance, Screenings, Visual Art

Plena Workshop with Tito Matos in amity of Bomplenazo

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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.

 

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 1:00pm – 3:00pm

Taller de Plena

tito_matos

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. 
 

Eventbrite - Plena Workshop with Tito Matos in amity of Bomplenazo

Bring your own Drum or Pandero.
 
All ages Welcomed!
 

3:00pm – 5:00pm

Screening of Plenazos Callejeros

logo_plenazos

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

 
2014, Books, Events, Poetry

InVisible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam

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InVisible Movement:

Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam

 

 ¡Gracias to all who joined us for the book release!

September 17th, 2014 @ 7 PM

Poet and scholar Urayoán “Ura” Noel, an Assistant Professor of English and Spanish at NYU, presented his new book InVisible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam (University of Iowa Press, 2014), the first book-length critical study of Nuyorican poetry.

Discounted copies of the book are still available for sale.
 
 

unoel_bookcover

“A crucial contribution to our literary history, In Visible Movement charts the evolution of an increasingly visible movement in the literary arts, shedding light on many related poetries of the past six decades in the process. Noel proposes ‘an understanding of poetry performance as revisionism: operating across and along page and stage,’ an understanding that proceeds from the poets themselves.”

—Aldon Lynn Nielsen, author, Integral Music: Languages of African American Innovation
 

About the author:

Urayoán Noel is a poet, performer, scholar, and translator who is currently an Assistant Professor of English at SUNY Albany and Visiting Assistant Professor of English at NYU. His books include the poetry collections Kool Logic/La lógica kool (Bilingual Press, 2005), Boringkén (Ediciones Callejón/La Tertulia, Puerto Rico, 2008), Hi-Density Politics (BlazeVOX, 2010), and Los días porosos (Catafixia Editorial, Guatemala, 2012), and the critical study In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam(University of Iowa Press, forthcoming). His other works include the performance DVD Kool Logic Sessions(Bilingual Press, 2005, with Monxo López), the multimedia project The Edgemere Letters (2011, with Martha Clippinger), and, as translator, the chapbooks ILUSOS by Edwin Torres (Atarraya Cartonera, Puerto Rico, 2010) and Belleza y Felicidad (Belladonna, 2005). He has been a fellow of CantoMundo, the Bronx Council on the Arts, and the Ford Foundation, and his creative and critical writings have appeared in Latino Studies, Contemporary Literature, Small Axe, Bomb, Fence, and in numerous national and international anthologies. Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Urayoán Noel earned his B.A. from the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, his M.A. from Stanford, and his Ph.D. from NYU. He lives in the Bronx.

 

 

Performance, Residencies, Visual Art

2014 Artist in Residence – Dey Hernández-Vázquez

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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.

 

Dance/Movement, Residencies, Theater

2014 Artist in Residence : Jeca Rodríguez Colón

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The Loisaida Center is proud to announce our current

2014 Dance-Theater Residency Recipient:

Jeca Rodríguez Colón

Rodriguez is currently in the development stages of a piece with the working title:

(M)others.

About the piece:
 

The piece has four female characters, all women, 2 of which are ghosts or memories from the family of the main character, one character who is the mother of the main character and the main character. Through their movements and their occasional dialog the audience will be able to witness how the invasion of the United States of America influenced and affected each of this mothers. Some were affected directly by the lack of education, others by the alcoholism and abuse of her veteran husband and the others by the unspoken past of their mothers.

 
About Jeca: 

Jessica “Jeca” Rodríguez-Colón  is a Puerto Rican performer with over 12 years of experience as a dancer and choreographer. She began her contemporary dance training with Petra Bravo and Viveca Vázquez. She holds a B.A. from Hunter College with a double major in Dance and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. She was the recipient of Hunter College’s 2005 Choreography Departmental Award. Jeca is an MFA candidate at Transart Institute with Plymouth University. After participating in the EMERGENYC 2013 program at the Hemispheric Institute she began to explore performance arts and public interventions. Her work is connected to different aspects of the maternal kinesthetic language in space and the politics that surrounds it. She is currently part of inaugural cohort of The EmergeLab@BAX, a laboratory initiative with the support of the Hemispheric Institute and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Her latest work includes a street intervention in collaboration with Mette Loulou von Kohl “Manifest Collective Movement”, a future installation “Sneak into My Maternal Chaos” and future performance “Desde Adentro” to be presented August 2014 in Berlin, Germany.