Diversity of Latino Dance Highlighted at Three-Day Fest Starting this Week

THE SECOND ANNUAL Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival runs March 11-13 at MATCH. Presented by the Houston non-profit art organization The Pilot Dance Project, the festival features three days of solo, duo and ensemble works performed by over 20 dancers and dance companies representing the diversity and stylistic range of Latino choreography.

Given the fact that 40 percent of Houston’s population is Spanish speaking, and that the city continues to grow as a creative hub for artists from across Latin America, the festival is a welcome opportunity to see work by a community that is all too often underrepresented in the world of dance.

Returning to the festival this year are Alas Dance Company; Roberta Paixao Cortes, who co-directs the Houston-based dance and music collective Group Acorde; and dancer Kristina Prats. The festival also includes performances by Monica Villarreal, who performs the traditional La Danza Azteca of Central Mexico, and will present a work inspired by the stories of Mesoamerican mythology.

Houston choreographer Dorianne Castillo will perform “Silenced Souls,” an ensemble work created in collaboration with Lysette Portano in remembrance of the over thousand women gone missing or murdered along the border of the United States and Ciudad de Juárez, Mexico.

And The Pilot Dance Project artistic director, Adam Castañeda, who is the mastermind of the Texas Latino/a/x Contemporary Dance Festival, will present three sections across the three nights of the festival from Lazarus in the Promised Land, an evening-length work inspired by the complex life story and religious beliefs of his paternal grandparents.

Dance fans burnt out on Zoom will be relieved to hear this year’s festival will be live, with performances for an in-person audience. Masks are strongly recommended. The full line-up of this year’s performers is available on the MATCH website.

De La Rosa Dance Company / Photo by Matthew Rood

Alas Dance Company / Photo by Ulisses Rivera