Modern Movements: An Evening Celebrating Mexican Choreographer Claudia Lavista

An evening celebrating Mexican choreographer Claudia Lavista 
In collaboration with filmmaker Alexander Dahm

Celebrate the works of Mexican choreographer and dancer Claudia Lavista (2024 Fulbright Scholar). "If we want to talk of the great figures of Latin American Contemporary Dance, the name of Claudia Lavista is unavoidable." (Valerio Cesio; Danza Magazine, Madrid)

The Covid-19 pandemic slammed humanity with ruthless fury. "Be isolated or die" seemed to be the choice. And naturally, the scenic arts area was shut down, as almost every collective activity. But an artists' drive can simply not be stopped, and Claudia Lavista had no choice but to explore the videodance world, or dance film as she prefers to call it, along with film director Alexander Dahm. 

A new universe was revealed, as cinematographic language offers an infinite mosaic of perspectives not usually seen in a theatre; a closer look at the nature of choreography where the exposure of emotions is enhanced by the subtle yet bast power of the lens and the fascinating possibilities of editing as an invaluable ally of rhythm and pace. What do we see? How close to we see it? Where do we see it from? These questions, whatever the answer, expand the choreographic work to an unlimited creative and expressive scope by inviting the camera to join the joy as another dancing element. 

This event will include a Q&A after the screening with Claudia Lavista. 

February 23, 2024        
7:00 - 9:00 p.m. 

RESERVE TICKETS

This event is free and open to the public. Reservations recommended.

Modern Movements will include screenings of: 

Rastro (Trail)         
Best Dance Film - Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival 

We flow imprisoned by a weightless yet heavy burden, tied by tight yet incorporeal ropes that enclose us into endless circles that we walk through over and over until we vanish leaving invisible yet indelible trails. Hung on to an imaginary ballast, we live an existence diminished by our own condemn and we relinquish our transcendence.

Created and choreographed by Claudia Lavista      
Directed, edited and photographed by Alexander Dahm         
Performed and co-created by Xitlali Piña, Surasí Lavalle, Johnny Millán, Daniel Marín, Jonathan Alavés and Diego Alcalá. 

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Nudo (Knot)       
Best Cinematography - Experimental Dance and Music Film Festival      
Best Dance Film - Beyond the Curve International Film Festival

Get away from the spirit, get attached to the material. Forget the simple things that connect us to the universe. Looking the other way, burying empathy, clinging to individualism and losing the essence to give up the throne to the artificial, to frivolity. Implicit decisions that, little by little and without noticing it, condemn us to dehumanize ourselves and become what, seen from the outside, disgusts us.

Created and choreographed by Claudia Lavista      
Directed, edited and photographed by Alexander Dahm         
Performed and co-created by Johnny Millán, Daniel Marín, Jonathan Alavés, Diego Alcalá and Rodrigo Agraaz.      
Music composed by Albert Mathias     
Costume Design by Johnny Millán

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Imán      
Best Dance Film - Experimental Dance and Film Festival 

Broken souls. Silence and darkness reign. Senses seem to have turned numb and no shred of light can show us the way. Blackness is the only canvas where we can start over...and yet, black seems alright when we open our eyes to the grief of our peer. We recognize each other and empathy is born. By sharing the colors of our harsh journeys, the canvas begins to grab life. The natural balance of existence returns. As we embrace each other's pain, hope surrounds us. Everything will be alright.

Created and choreographed by Claudia Lavista      
Directed, edited and photographed by Alexander Dahm         
Performed and co-created by Xitlali Piña and Surasí Lavalle.    
Music composed by Albert Mathias     
Costume Design by Johnny Millán

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Ofrenda    
Best Cinematography - Experimental Dance and Film Festival     
Best Experimental Short - Toronto Awards Film Festival

Grief is a dark, complex, mysterious territory that can seem almost inaccessible. A shock surprises us, a loss comes, changing our lives in an instant; no matter how prepared we think we are to face it, it will never be enough, when it happens, everything falls apart and, for a while, nothing makes sense. 

But life goes on and presents us with a portal that must be crossed to move forward and assimilate. Then, certain responses are revealed to us; one of them, perhaps the most important, is that every response already exists within us; the way out is within ourselves. We are interconnected; made of the same stuff as everything else - and an apparent end is perhaps just the beginning.

Created and choreographed by Claudia Lavista      
Directed, edited and photographed by Alexander Dahm         
Performed by Julia Mezhetskaya   
Music composed by Mario Lavista (Ofrenda for tenor flute interpreted by Horacio Franco)   
Camera and Drone Operation by Igor Farberov   
Costume Design by Adi Yair   
Line Production by Naama Shmueli    
Executive Producer, Elad Schechter (C.A.T.A.M.O.N. Dance Company and Elise Bernhard for the Jerusalem International Fellows) 

About Claudia Lavista

Claudia Lavista is a choreographer, performer, professor and interdisciplinary project creator with 37 years of experience; for her artistic work she has received multiple national and international awards. Degree in Dance Pedagogy. Co-founder of Delfos contemporary dance company and the Professional School of Dance of Mazatlán/EPDM considered two pillar projects of the Latin American dance scene. Claudia has created more than 65 works that have been presented in 27 countries from Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. She teaches continuously in dance faculties from Mexico and abroad. The University of Chicago awarded her with the prestigious Mellon Fellow. She is a member of the National System of Art Creators; in 2022 she is distinguished with the Jerusalem International Fellows Award, and in 2024 with the Fulbrigth Garcia Robles Fellow. She has collaborated in opera, theater and multimedia projects and created dance pieces for theater, site specific, video dance and digital platforms. Claudia is interested in interdisciplinary collaborative projects that generate works created from an artistic/human dialogue. "If we want to talk about the great figures of contemporary Latin American dance, the name of Claudia Lavista is inevitable.” (Valerio Cesio, Dance Magazine, Spain)

About Alexander Dahm

Alexander Dahm was born in Chile and is a self-educated writer and filmmaker, avid reader and art consumer. A film director, screenwriter and producer with 35 years of experience, he has worked in creative and strategic areas of filmmaking all around the world. During the COVID 19 pandemic, he explored video dance for the first time, finding a surprisingly comfortable creative space to develop his expression needs. In collaboration with renowned choreographer Claudia Lavista, Alexander created the suite Las Cosas Simples, composed by five video-dance segments, that were immediately recognized with invitations and awards in festivals from the United States and Europe. In October 2022 he released Ofrenda, his most recent video-dance work, entirely filmed in Jerusalem as part of the contemporary dance show Luz Sonora celebrating Mario Lavista within the prestigious Festival Internacional Cervantino.