As the daughter of two union organizers, being an advocate for social change is in Ana Maria Alvarez’s blood. “I’ve been very clear throughout my life that dance is not just something I do, but something that has the ability to move the world and be transformative,” describes the Cuban-American dancer and founding artistic director of CONTRA-TIEMPO: in Los Angeles.
After receiving her degrees in dance and politics from Oberlin College, Alvarez began working at the Family Life Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, in their Life Lines community arts project. “I think this job really solidified for me the power of dance and what it can do,” says Alvarez, who is also permanent faculty member: in the Department of Dance at UC San Diego. Now CONTRA-TIEMPO inspires the next generation of “artists” through it Futuro Summer Dance Intensive: in Los Angeles, August 12-21 (registration closes July 22).
Under the themeNone: from us are free until: all: from us are free”, Futuro will conduct technique classes in Salsa, Hip Hop, House, Afro-Cuban and more. The program will also dive deeper into these ancestral movement practices, their history and the methodology of CONTRA- TIEMPO “art as social action.” Renowned poet Amanda Gorman is a notable graduate of the Futuro Summer Dance Intensive.
We: spoke with Alvarez about what Futuro participants stand to gain.
Who is Futuro for and what sets it apart from other dance intensives out there?
We describe it as a 10-day transformative experience for anyone interested in both dance as a physical practice and social change through their work. Artists who are committed to seeing the world as a different place than it is right now. As a company, CONTRA-TIEMPO is deeply integrated with the community, dance education and concert scene; all of these things are deeply in conversation with each other and the Futuro program really reflects that. We dedicate part of each day to what we call “art as social action”, thinking micro and macro; yourself as the starting point of your activist work, and when that embodiment of self is solid, it allows you to contribute to the world.
Artists really come to us [from all walks of life]. We have high school and college students, graduate students, professional dancers, and those working in other industries such as community organizing, urban work, and nonprofits. It’s not just focused on how to be a dance practitioner, but how you can actually be a whole human being as an artist, and how we can collectively build this idea that art has the capacity to transform the world as we know it.
What is the level of training and experience required to participate in Futuro’s technical classes?
The beauty of the program is that we run two tracks simultaneously. We usually have about 45 to 50 participants each year. There are some classes that we do collectively, such as rueda de casino, a Cuban style of salsa that is done in a circle and has partner switching. But then we branched out into many other technical classes, [which are divided] in professional and beginner tracks. Every day we show what classes are being taught and you can choose what song you want to do. You can bounce back and forth based on your own desire and how hard you want to push yourself.
Can you talk more about the practices of the Ancestral Movement and the methodology of art as social action?
Our framework in teaching dance thinks of them as ‘ancestral technologies’ as I like to call them. When you think of technology, it is something that is created by human beings to solve problems. When I think of dance, music, and art, I think of the ways in which they are created by human beings to make sense of the world, overcome obstacles, and find deep connections and meaning in their lives. These ancient technologies are all the things we teach – salsa, Afro-Cuban, hip-hop. We also teach somatic movement practices to deepen the body as a physical practice, viewing the body as a site of social change and activating meaning.
“Art as social action” has different approaches – there is that of Augusto Boal Theater of the Oppressed and on Theater of the Sphereby Luis Valdes. These are the lines we share in the program. We teach intersectionality and liberating frameworks as a way for people to gain a deeper understanding of the tools they already have and the practices they can acquire to build a more liberating future for us all.
There is also a Future Artist Leadership Intensive that runs parallel to Futuro. What can dance teachers gain from this program?
The Artivist Leadership Institute isn’t a program we’re running after COVID, but it’s something we’re looking forward to trying to restart. It focuses more on the activist part of what we do, almost taking the art-as-social-action aspect of the Futuro curriculum, and really having an immersive two-to-three-day experience around that. The way we think about it is a training facility for people who [want to] to address these topics in their classrooms. With that said, right now the Futuro Summer Dance Intensive is still the best place to be, even if you’re an educator or someone who works with youth. Futuro will give you a complete experience in addition to physical practice. I hope in 2025 we can give back [redesigned] Artist Leadership Institute.
Who is the sponsor of a student initiative?
Futuro often has grant funding, but this year we don’t have a full sponsor like in the past. Typically, about 75 percent of our students are on some type of scholarship. So we ask our community and everyone who believes in this work to join us website:. You can sponsor an individual student ($1000) [or donate another amount]. Currently, all donations on our website go to Futuro Scholarships.