Projects
COMPÁS(Work-in-Progress)
COMPÁS is a contemporary flamenco-based piece that explores points of origin and shifts that follow. A collage of solo dances, it juxtaposes the flamenco idiom with a montage of diverse Latino histories. The compás, the repetitive rhythmic pattern that guides flamenco, is heard throughout in the music score accompanied by a text drawn from personal and historic sources. The percussive sounds that emanate from the body through the hands and feet - with contrasting energies, sounds and tones – drive the work. COMPÁS connects flamenco to diasporic themes. In the excerpt, Sometimes People Need to Make a Noise, the sense of invisibility that immigrants experience is addressed through the powerful sounds of castanets that serve as voice. In They Worked, the beautiful and mysterious consistent circling of hands that are a hall mark of flamenco, are intertwined to transform repetitive actions into meditations on work, prayer and ancient symbols.
NOCHEBUENA (THE GOOD NIGHT)
Before my eyes adults were transformed into elegant men and women who danced to stay alive. During the week they labored at jobs that could crush the human spirit. Connecting to their humanity, a healing would occur as they cha-cha’d and mambo’d away life’s losses and burden
At the core of Nochebuena is a celebration of the Puerto Rican community. Drawing from previous work created for El Museo del Barrio’s annual Three Kings Day event, this full length dance piece brings together members of the community and professional dancers. Amidst a Christmas Eve party a swirl of festivity is experienced as history and culture is expressed through traditional jibaro music, aguinaldo carols that are sung and the roots of salsa are explored. The narratives of the solo and group dances recall memories of past lives, of things left behind. Within each story, dances emerge of loss – loss of land, life and livelihood. In the opening dance, Jibara, a day in the life of a Puerto Rican country woman in the early 20th century is depicted as she dances out her daily existence of labor, loss and survival. A contemporary dance, it incorporates the folkloric dances of seis chorreao and Afro-Puerto Rican genre bomba. The latest dance in development, Salsa, focuses on a unique slice of the Puerto Rican diaspora—the Nuyorican experience. The power of social dance to connect to one’s heritage is explored, and stories held in the body are recalled and choreographed to reveal moments of strength, valor and survival.
BAILES DEL PUEBLO
Informed by the educational programs that Rivera has created with such institutions as Ballet Hispanico, The Abrons Art Center and El Museo del Barrio, her program, Bailes del Pueblo, engages literature, history, culture and a knowledge of Latino dance forms. Thematic content has included dance studies based on the lives of key figures such as Frida Khalo (Viva la Vida), Sonia Sotomayor (Isla Linda) and explorations of Central and South America (The Gentle People). Strongly based on the research she does, Rivera engages students through performances and a process of co-creating with them well-crafted choreography for the students to perform.
FLAMENCO
Rivera approaches teaching flamenco through a wide variety of styles in Spanish dance that she has been exposed to through training with such master teachers as Tina Ramirez, Jose Molina, Luis Montero and Mariano Parra. This training was anchored in the four styles of Spanish dance: the folkloric dances, the classical escuela bolera, the traditional repertory of dances from the bailes andaluz, such as the sevillanas, leading to a strong foundation in flamenco. Through this thorough training, she absorbs the distinct aesthetics of Spanish dance—strong spine posture and musical development—and passes that knowledge to students contributing to the development of dancers in training, the general public and arts-in-education programs.