PROGRAM

Cuerpo de quién

Choreographed and Performed by 

Gabriel Mata and Armani Colón

Music by OKRAA by Janet Paulus

Cuerpo de quién is the mysterious unfolding of queer bodies as they grapple with identity and movement.The performance builds from moments of contact and embrace when same sex bodies come together to move otherwise. This is an act of undoing from heterosexual social norms of love, embodiment, and coming together. 

OPENING REMARKS

Niño joto

Choreographed and Performed by:  Angel Ramirez

Music by Cesar Hernández Martinez and Vaquer mix with Maurizio

Niño joto dives into the experiences the queer Latine/x community face from a young age through slurs, mental, and physical abuse. Through dance and storytelling, Niño Joto develops in motion through a sense of identity, resilience, and pride.

Soy más que un…

Choreographed and Performed by Armani Colón

Music by Marc Anthony Los Eclipses Murcof

If you could tell the world with one word that you are more than one title that you hold so close to your cultural identity, what would that word be? 

Todavía estoy aquí

Choreographed and performed by  

Gabriel Mata and Angel Ramirez

Music: Ezmeralda Murcof

Todavía estoy aquí is a duet that draws from "Con Gabriel" and "Con Angel”  solos in response to the political climate experienced by the immigrant community and the forceful removal of loved ones mandated by the current administration - embodying and relating the absence and erasure experienced by undocumented immigrants.

INTERMISSION

Bailando con él

Choreographed and Performed by 

Gabriel Mata and Manuel Cuellar 

Guest Artists Adrian Gaston Garcia and Lady J

Music by Alberto Iglesias, Los Terricolas, Hermanas Benítez, Selena, El Grupo Nahuacalli, Los Villalobos, José Alfredo Jiménez, Ezmeralda, Lila Downs, and Carlos y José

Vaqueeros: Gabriel’s father was a rancher and his uncle was a bull rider. Using telenovela style imagery, Gabriel takes on machismo and vaqueros through a queer perspective. In this dance, we destabilize heteronormative associations by using the theme of heartbreak, love, desire, and abuse.

Estampa folklórica: A suite of varying Mexican folklórico dances staging key moments and memories of Manuel’s dance trajectory in Mexico and the United States, simultaneously longing for his dancing life in Mexico and a folklórico queerness he’s been carrying in his body all along.

Des/amores: A choreography that rehearses different iterations of bailando con él/dancing with him: from the heartbreak that scars you for life and the yearning of a life left behind or never experienced to enacting the queer worlds that always linger in the horizon of the possible.

Sabores: Gabriel was trained in ballet and modern dance. Yet, even as a 34-year old, his hips and sense of grounding continue to yearn for Latine/x queer ways of moving. Join him in this journey of discovery. 

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About Gabriel Mata 

(pronounced: gah-bryehl mah-tah) is a Mexican American dance choreographer, educator, and performer based in Washington DC. He is the director of the Latinx Movement Festival. His dance performance work, motion memoirs and teaching of contemporary sabor, are leading his research on the performance of queerness, Latinidad, immigration, bi-nationality, and brownness.

Mata's dance works have been performed in California, New York, Minnesota, North Carolina, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Texas, New Jersey, Washington DC, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His work has been presented at Stanford University, San José State University, Georgian Court University, Howard Community College, the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, and American University.

Mata is part of Dance Place’s Thresholds Community Artist Initiative as well as the inaugural Social Justice Commissioned Dance Artist at Dance Loft on 14th as well as the inaugural Arts Lab Fellow at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. He has received the S&R Evermay Washington Award. Additionally, he has been awarded the Amplify Grant, DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.

About the Artists and Performers

Manuel R. Cuellar is Associate Professor of Latin American and Latinx Studies at The George Washington University and an academic advisor and dancer at Corazón Folklórico​ Dance Company in Washington, D.C. His research engages questions of performance, focusing​ on dance, indigeneity, and Afro-mestizo imaginaries in Mexico. Currently, he is working on a manuscript that engages and deconstructs the political and cultural production of “undocumentedness,” brown intimacies, queer migrancy, and LatinMex masculinities. His book, Choreographing​ Mexico: Festive Performances and Dancing Histories of a Nation (UT Press 2022), examines the​ role that traditional and regional dance has played in post-revolutionary Mexico.

Armani Colón is a 21-year-old Puerto Rican dancer from Chicago, Illinois. He trained at The Chicago High School for the Arts, studying Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Partnering, and Contemporary, and is now a senior in the BFA Dance program at The Peabody Institute under the direction of danah bella. Armani has worked with renowned choreographers such as Kevin Lega, Bernard Brown, Vincent Thomas, Diedre Dawkins, Mike Esperanza, and Homer Hans Bryant, expanding his artistry across styles.

Angel Ramirez is a queer latino contemporary modern dancer, teacher, and choreographer from El Salvador based in Washington D.C. Angel’s is interested in creating works through storytelling and past life memories. He is inspired everyday by the local community and is inspired to inspire others through his dance works and teaching.

Adrian Gaston Garcia (aka AGG) is a queer Latine storyteller whose mission is to share narratives that build community. His work is largely based on his experiences and the intersectionality of his identities. It is a shout out to all the queer brown boys who choose joy as their form of resistance. He is the co-host and producer of Los Bookis Podcast, a podcast for queer Latine bookworms who love queer Latine stories and also the organizer of Tintas DC - a Latine writers group in the DC Metro Area. Adrian is a 2025 Pride Poet in Residence at the Arts Club of Washington.

Julio Acevedo, known on stage as Lady J Monroe, is a Mexican-born immigrant, DACA recipient, and award-winning drag artist and activist based in Washington, D.C. Since beginning drag in 2017 in Southwest Florida, Lady J has infused performances with vibrant Latinx culture while supporting numerous benefit events across Florida and the DMV. Julio serves as Vice President of the Latinx History Project, contributes to DC Latinx Pride planning, and hosts drag queen story hours. His community work has earned honors including LULAC Lambda’s Board Member of the Year and TransLatinx DMV’s Committed Activist/Artist Award.

This engagement of Gabriel Mata is made possible through Mid Atlantic Arts’ Special Presenter Initiatives program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts and DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Special thanks to City Wide Facility Solutions for sponsoring our season