When we asked Liliana Gomez what is the most important thing about BlakTinx and she answered “the brown and black experience through movement,” our knees jerked a bit y sudamos frío de la emoción.

The last two BlakTinx festivals have been pretty legit! Photo: Eduardo Robles.

Although the festival focuses on contemporary dance, the aim for 2019 is to go beyond contemporary or modern and include categories that encourage choreographers to produce work that represents their experience as People of Color (POCs).

“We wanted artists to submit work that was reflective to their own Black or Latinx experiences regardless of how it showed up in movement,” said Lili, director of BlakTinx PHX, a dance festival that amplifies the experiences and work of Black and Latinx dancemakers.

The festival encourages dancemakers from all experience levels to produce work that represents their experience as POCs. Photo: Audrey Pekela.

From what we’ve heard, the lineup for August’s event is fuego, and all about new work from dope dancemakers based in La Phoenikera and other parts of Arizona and Los Angeles.

We kinda feel bad for the panelists who had to go through dozens of applicants before selecting only eight people from Phoenix, it must’ve been really hard to choose only a few.

“The festival is about the brown and black experience through movement”– Liliana Gomez. Photo: Audrey Pekela.

“I am excited!,” says Lili about the lineup. “It’s made up of emerging and established artists, and I envision this experience as an indirect mentorship.”

For the organizers, this festival is the perfect opportunity for people to show their work and the journey that made them, but to also share a space with other dancemakers from all levels of experience.

Let the work at this festival take you where you must go. Photo: Audrey Pekela.

The BlakTinx Dance festival originated in Los Angeles, California, premiering for the first time in 2013 and is produced by choreographer, Licia Perea.

This year’s event will take place on August 23 and 24 at the Phoenix Center for The Arts located on 1202 N. 3rd St. Phoenix, AZ at 7:30 p.m. and there will be workshops on August 24. Tickets are $15 pre-sale and $20 the week of the event. For more information or questions about the event visit their website.

Meet the talented group showcased at this year’s BlakTinx:

La Phoenikera / Arizona

Zarina Mendoza and Alicia-Lynn Nascimento Castro present “Solace”
Zarina, who was born in Mexico, moved to Arizona two years ago. She has a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts degree) in dance from the School of Arts of the Autonomous University of Baja California. Since moving to Arizona she has been busy teaching, dancing and creating while driving back to Mexico a few days to teach her company Tranza Dance.

Alicia transitioned into dance after training as an elite gymnast. She graduated from the University of Arizona with a BFA in dance. She is a dance maker who teaches dance at Grand Canyon University and Glendale Community College.

Emigdio A. Martinez presenta “Mi Triste Palomar”
Born in Guanajuato, Mexico, Emigdio moved to the United States in 2008 and began dancing at the age of 15. He is a dancer and choreographer based in Tucson Arizona. He received his BFA from the University of Arizona and is currently working on his master’s at the same institution.

Hannah Victoria presents “Nothing or No One Remains the Same”
Born in Atlanta, Hannah is a dancer, performing artist, choreographer, and visionary. She is a second-year graduate student at Arizona State University. She is passionate about giving people experiences of connecting to the community, their own dopeness, and movement whether in the classroom, workshops, rehearsals, or conversations.

Martha Patricia Hernandez presents “Danza rancheros”
Martha is from Mexico and started dancing at age 15. She has received training at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance and Steps on Broadway and earned her BFA in Dance with an emphasis in Media for Dance from Arizona State University. Everything Martha choreographs is made of layers. Martha uses non-dance influences to help better understand her body movement and broaden her movement vocabulary to collaborate with others.

Kyara Nycole presents “Why Must I Feel Everything So Deeply?”
Kyara is a dance major at Estrella Mountain Community College, and a choreographer in the beginning stages of dancemaking. So far, her work has received The Maricopa Community College’s Artist of Promise Award of First Place in Dance Performance for her work “And I Asked God, ‘Why Must I Feel Everything So Deeply?,'” which will be in the BlakTinx Dance Festival 2019.

Angelina Ramirez presents “Menudo”
Founder and artistic director of Flamenco Por La Vida in La Phoenikera, she is an established artist, recipient of a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, a member of the leadership institute for the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures and her company Flamenco Por La Vida was awarded the 2014 Phoenix Mayor’s Arts Award for Best Dance Organization.

Shaniece Brazwell presents “One”
Shaniece is a modern dancer and choreographer based in Phoenix, Arizona. Her first dance training was in church, learning liturgical, West African and step dance. She then studied dance at Glendale Community College to later graduate from the University of Utah in August 2015. She believes that art is a connection; connection with self, our community and the world around us.

Steven Redondos presents “Seven”
A dance artist in La Phoenikera, Steven has been performing and choreographing solo work for the past four years. His work has been presented through NueBox initiatives and at Mesa Arts Center and Phoenix Art Museum.

Los Angeles

Alan L. Perez presents “Trepidity”
Alan was born in Lancaster, California and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. He received his BFA in dance at California Institute of the Arts and attended the Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company International Dance Journey. He has danced for multiple companies in Los Angeles such as B. Dunn Movement, Kybele Dance Company, Siza, and Pasadena Dance Theatre.

Bernard J. Brown presents “Leanin’ In”
Artivist, choreographer, professor, and director of Bernard Brown/bbmoves, Bernard is a dance artist with performance credits that include Lula Washington Dance Theatre, David Rousseve/REALITY, TU Dance, Shapiro & Smith Dance, Doug Elkins Dance Company, Donald McKayle, Kamasi Washington, Aveda, Nike, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

​

SHARE IT: