This Weekend: Breakdancing Choreographer — and a Superstar Tween Dance Troupe — Make Moves at MATCH
Jan. 9, 2023
Mezclada (photo by CS Visuals)
IN 1973, A first-of-its-kind performance by Twyla Tharp Dance with the Joffrey Ballet changed the dance world. Combining contemporary dance, classical ballet, and a then-burgeoning, multi-disciplinary art form called hip-hop, Tharp invited a crew of graffiti artists to spray paint the stage backdrop live while her dancers shimmied and pirouetted to the sunny sounds of The Beach Boys.
On Jan. 12-13 at Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston (MATCH), Mezclada Dance Company presents its own 21st-century take on hip-hop culture, house dance, breakdancing, and salsa in their first public evening-length work, All of the Above. The title is a succinct statement of purpose from a company dedicated to developing and blending existing forms of street, classical, and modern dance to create something new.
“If you ask what dance styles will be involved,” says Mezclada’s 27-year-old artistic director Joel Aguilera when asked what to expect to see this weekend, “the simple answer is, ‘all of it.’” As a Colombian American, Aguilera grew up hearing and experiencing Latin jazz and salsa dancing in its many forms. At Westside High School, he took classes in hip-hop, house dance, and breakdancing (or “breaking”) and later earned his BFA in dance at UH. Taking the Spanish word for “mixed” as the name of his company, Aguilera began developing his hybrid style of choreography in 2018, and formally founded Mezclada Dance Company last year.
Though versatile in many styles, Aguilera names breakdancing as his primary focus as a dancer, and feels there is much more to be done with the art form. With that in mind, All of the Above incorporates a performance by guest company NorthBeast, a lively, thoroughly entertaining Houston breakdancing troupe made up of dancers all under the age of 12. “They’re very, very talented,” says Aguilera. “Hip-hop is all about community, and I wanted to reach out and bring that community into a space that is not super common for hip-hop.”
Set to a score of groovin’ ’70s-era Latin jazz and salsa, with clave patterns guaranteed to keep the feet moving, All of the Above will be performed by Mezclada’s diverse core dancers, including Aguilera and his new bride and assistant director Lizzy Aguilera, with Julia Cipriani, Hector Cisneros, Sonia Engman, Sydni Lee, Kenny Louis, Jeffrey Louis, and Elyssa Vega rounding out the cast. Each dancer specializes in a certain style of dance, and in performance, Aguilera expects each person in the audience will see something relatable, and at the same time, see something entirely new.
“Our goal is to find unity within diversity,” says Aguilera, “and create an art form that has not yet been made.”
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Second Servings founder Barbara Bronstein and, right, Fanny Frederick and Bronstein on Food Rescue
UNDER HER LEADERSHIP, $60 million worth of perfectly edible food has been rescued, and nine million pounds of food have been diverted from landfills in Houston. Founder of nonprofit Second Servings Barbara Bronstein — set to be honored at a luncheon this month, with food prepared in a unique way that speaks to her mission — first had her aha! moment when attending one of many banquets where guests either don’t show, or too much food was ordered and it was being thrown away.
“Food rescue was working all over the country, but not in Houston,” says Bronstein. She put on her marketing hat — one she had worn formerly as a marketing exec — and got to work. “After tons of research and connecting the dots, we figured out a way to rescue perfectly good, fresh food by picking it up from donors in refrigerated trucks and delivering it to the food insecure,” says Bronstein, who founded Second Servings in 2015.
To date, thanks to grocery and retail stores like Whole foods, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, Aldi and Spec’s, major sports arenas, hotels, banquet halls and caterers, along with 400 other food donors, perfectly fresh food is being delivered to Houston’s hungry. Second Servings works with about 100 Houston area nonprofits. Bronstein says that we throw away 40 percent of the food we produce, even as 20 percent of Houstonians have food insecurity.
Second Servings’ latest project is pop-up mini “grocery stores” around Houston in low-income sites and community centers using fresh food donated from grocery donors, which Bronstein started to help fight inflation at the supermarket. “This gives shoppers a dignified shopping experience, one where they can choose what they want,” says Bronstein. “People are getting to try new foods risk-free, and it could lead to better food choices.” So far, the grocery donations have reached about $10,000. “Trader Joe’s has been an amazing donor,” adds Bronstein.
Bronstein’s first rescue mission in 2013 was at the Hadassah Women of Courage luncheon. Ten years later, she will be honored by the 2023 Houston Chapter of Hadassah as the first “Women Who Do” award recipient at a luncheon this January 17, 2023, at Congregation Beth Israel. Three Houston chefs will pick out the food at a rescue at Trader Joe’s and prepare the lunch.
“This is very meaningful to me because my first rescue was for Hadassah in 2013, and when I told the guests that all the unused and uncooked food would be donated, the crowd broke into applause,” says Bronstein. The award gives us opportunity to educate others on what we do for the community.
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