Miami, April 24, 2019 – Miami Dade College’s (MDC) MDC Live Arts presents a triple bill of new works by dance-focused Live Arts Lab Alliance (LALA) artists: Laborers by Ana Mendez, The Stage Show by Adele Myers, and Tropical Depression by Rosie Herrera on Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10 at 8 p.m., at the MDC Live Arts Lab in downtown Miami.
The original pieces, created and developed during an artistic residency at the MDC Live Arts Lab, are as diverse, thought-provoking and colorful as their creators.
Professional dancer and performance artist Ana Mendez—a recent mother—reveals Laborers, a performance about transformations. Inspired by creation mythology and space travel, the piece showcases the transmutation from one state of existence to another.
Dancer, choreographer and educator Adele Myers premieres The Stage Show, employing robust physicality, personal theatricality and a sense of humor to navigate the mercurial chemistry between performers and their audience. Created specifically for an intimate theater in-the-round, Myers’ signature style of unpredictable, audience-friendly interaction will have viewers teetering on the edge of their seats.
And choreographer and artistic director Rosie Herrera debuts Tropical Depression, a cabaret show that incorporates dance, film, and burlesque to explore the unique glamour and humor of the Caribbean.
This event marks the final of LALA commissioned premieres. With the support and guidance of MDC Live Arts, the cohort of six artists bonded deeply over the past two years through peer-led gatherings in which practice, technique, feedback and ideas were shared. Intent on celebrating, expanding and deepening the practice of Miami’s community of working performing artists, MDC Live Arts presented each of their new works this season, opening with Juraj Kojs’ The Black Queen and continuing to a double bill with Pioneer Winters’ Dov and Claudio Marcotulli’s Blasting Pixels.
This final performance received additional funding from the Miami Downtown Development Authority, and will be celebrated with pre-show treats and post-show receptions.
WHAT: MDC Live Arts presents Laborers, The Stage Show and Tropical Depression
WHEN: Thursday, May 9 and Friday, May 10. at 8 p.m.
WHERE: MDC’s Live Arts Lab, Bldg. 1, 300 N.E. Second Ave. Miami, FL 33132
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Tickets are $10. To purchase please visit mdclivearts.org
About Rosie Herrera
Rosie is a Cuban-American dancer and choreographer and the artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami. She is a graduate from New World School of the Arts and holds a BFA in Dance Performance. She’s been commissioned by The Miami Light Project, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Dance Place, Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Ballet Hispanico, Moving Ground Dance Theater and the American Dance Festival (ADF) in 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016.
Rosie is also a classically trained lyric coloratura soprano and performs with the Performers Music Institute Opera Ensemble and also choreographs and stages operas independently throughout Miami. With over a decade of experience in both dance and cabaret, she has collaborated on productions with The South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center, New World School of the Arts, The University of Central Florida, Six Floor Ensemble, Zoetic Stage and the New World Symphony as well as with the interdisciplinary performance ensemble/avant-garde cabaret Circ X.
Her company has been presented by the Northrop Dance Series, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Texas A & M University, Duncan Theater, The Annenburg Center in Philadelphia, Gotham Dance at Skirball and Focus Dance at The Joyce NYC as well as by The American Dance Festival at the Joyce NYC in 2016. Rosie is a 2010 MANCC choreographic fellow, a 2014 Bates Dance Festival Artist in residence and a 2011 Miami Dance Fellow. In 2013 she was awarded a Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship for her work with Ballet Hispanico. In 2015 she premiered her first solo work, Cookie’s Kid, at Miami Light Project as well as a duet with NYC based choreographer Larry Keigwan at The American Dance Festival. Last summer her newest work, Carne Viva, premiered at The Joyce Theater in NYC.
About Ana Mendez
Born in Miami and a graduate from the University of Illinois, Ana Mendez is a professional dancer and performance artist. She’s been commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht Center through Miami Light Project’s Here and Now Festival, the de la Cruz Collection, Miami Art Museum, ArtCenter/South Florida, Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and the Bas Fisher Invitational. She is an artist fellow for the Artist in Residence in the Everglades program. In 2014, Mendez was commissioned to present her first ever sculptural installation Fortress at Bas Fisher Invitational.
Mendez was also selected to perform in the highly acclaimed Auto Body group show in Miami Beach during Miami Art Week 2014. This year, she was selected to create a site-specific dance performance for the Grass Stains program to be presented December of 2016. Mendez has also performed for Dara Freidman, Jenny Larsson, Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Natasha Tsakos, Octavio Campos, Miami Contemporary Dance Company, Miami Theater Center and Circ X.
About Adele Meyers
Adele Myers’ formative life as a mover began with ballet, track and field events, balancing on top of big red oil drums while rolling down steep hills, and other fearless feats of childhood dare-devilry, all of which shaped her vision as a dancer, choreographer and educator. Brimming with exuberance and strength, her choreography features the physical, mental and emotional prowess of female dancers as dynamic and passionate athletes of the heart. A curator of chemistry between people, Adele’s approach to dance making is collaborative and often infused with visual art.
Smart with wit and an accessible honesty, her work is known for its high-octane referential themes against a backdrop of bold abstract choreographic design. Her company, Adele Myers and Dancers (AMD) has performed in theaters and at festivals throughout the U.S. In 2015, AMD was awarded a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund grant for the development and touring of its new evening length-work, “The Dancing Room”. AMD was awarded a National Dance Project grant in 2012 for the creation and tour of “Einstein’s Happiest Thought” which premiered at onStage at Connecticut College and kicked off the Company’s 2013-14 season taking them to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), Boston; Coker College, South Carolina; International Festival of Arts & Ideas, New Haven, Conn., The American Dance Festival, North Carolina, The Redfern Arts Center, New Hampshire and, Hillsborough Community College, Florida. From 2000-2002, Adele was an Assistant Professor of Dance at Tulane University. Subsequently, she earned an MA and PhD (ABD) in Performance Studies from New York University in 2005. From 2006-2013 Adele was an Assistant Professor in the Dance Department at Connecticut College. Since 2015 she has enjoyed being part of the dance faculty at New World School of the Arts. Adele is proud to call Miami her creative home base.
About MDC Live Arts
MDC Live Arts is Miami’s most eclectic performing arts series. Created in 1990 as Cultura del Lobo, MDC Live Arts has a celebrated history of bringing extraordinary national and international performing artists to Miami. The annual series presents today’s most exciting artists and designs meaningful engagement between these artists, the students of MDC, and the greater community. MDC Live Arts seeks artists from across the globe who push boundaries and honor traditions relevant to Miami’s diverse community, and aims to offer audiences opportunities to discover new ideas, perspectives and forms of expression. For more information, please visit www.mdclivearts.org.
MDC Live Arts Contacts: Alexa Burneikis, Marketing Manager, 305-237-7733, aburneik@mdc.edu, Lisa Palley, Palley Promotes, 305-642-3132, lpalley@bellsouth.net