White land, Colorful music

One company's unique spin on folk dance

Boom ching ching, boom ching ching. If you know traditional Mexican music, you know the tune well. It is the sound of heritage, a celebration of folklore...and a repetitive repeating redundant beat.

But Saturday at El Pueblo in Downtown L.A., a dance company was dancing a different tune. Dancers in long vibrant skirts wove patterns with their arms and told stories with their feet, this time to a blend of musical influences.

I caught up with the director of the Tierra Blanca Dance Company, Blanca Soto and her husband Gerardo Gutierrez, artistic director, to find out what their unique ingredient was.

What does the company name signify?

Soto: My husband lived close to these two mountains in Mexico City and he took a picture of it. When I saw the mountain covered with snow, for me the land was covered with the purity of heaven. Tierra Blanca [white land] stands for the purity that our land offers. Our land is open and welcomes everybody.

What type of dance do your students perform?

Soto: We try to combine different types to understand Los Angeles and the community. Musicians in Mexico get their influence from Colombia, Africa and America and its a wonderful mixture with music. If music is doing the crossover, I don’t think dance should be the exception. We do that by recognizing all the influences that we have.

Gutierrez: We take traditional folk steps and put it to new music. Especially here in L.A. with new influences like Banda, Polish. European and hip-hop, you cannot keep the same music. Today is different and we try to make that appealing for today’s youngsters. You need to know where you come from to move forward, and in order for folklore to survive it has to be challenged.

How much do you charge for class?

Soto: It varies. The YMCA proposed that the kids can use all their services for the $20 membership fee. It’s great, so the kids can take class twice a week and be members of the YMCA. For twice a week, 45 minutes a class, the fee is $20 [a month.] For 90 minutes, twice a week, its $35.

Why do you teach?

Soto: I think the excuse is dancing. Really our motive is to get them involved with the arts. This is another door to see life in a different way, to provide options.
We take them to high caliber performances like Wicked, to see the Nutcracker and get inspired. To identify with other Hispanics and see that they can be on stage as well. We try to get them involved in community service at the hospital and perform at a convalescent home for older people, to appreciate life.

What is important for a dancer to know?

Soto: It is important that everybody knows the basics, ballet technique, the mother of all dances. But you also need to take several techniques to become yourself in expression and to find your own way. You have all these tools and now you can build yourself as a dancer. The most important thing is to understand what you are going to express to the audience, because in that way, you are not just a dancer, you are a performer.

Soto demonstrates a contribution to the arts through tradition and culture. She said her goal is to get the kids off the streets and develop confidence in themselves.

To get your own taste of their style check out a class or future performance.
Tierra Blanca offers classes, at the Huntington Park YMCA, to students ranging from 3 years old to adults. More information on classes and performance dates can be found at the Tierra Blanca Arts Center website.

I Just Wanna Dance!

It doesn't take an expert to enjoy a performance or move to the beat. Studios, clubs and music halls are at your fingertips and around every corner in Los Angeles. 

Dance provides an outlet for expression, a unique workout and a chance to experience a moving art. Or if you're like me, it can be a mini-vacation for the mind and body to escape to from the rest of the world. 

This site will provide a quick click to dance experiences in Los Angeles. Whether it is taking a unique dance class, attending an underground performance or insight into a dancer's life. 

Until next time, here are a few links to peruse that touch on the dance scene in L.A. 

losangeles.citysearch.com

This site is a great place to search for places to go dancing. It lists many locations along with ratings and reviews. Many links include pictures and descriptions of the venue which allows readers to get a feel for the atmosphere. The lengthy list provides many options. Great additions to the search are the sidebar links, which can break the search down into genre of music (latin/swing), venue type (bar/club) and even age (21 & up.) The site is very user friendly and options seem endless. However, Citysearch is a large search engine that allows anyone to make comments about venues and studios. Therefore, comments are not guaranteed to be from an objective point of view. 

calendarlive.com

This site provides a pool of shows and performance events. Links on the main page provide reviews from critics and readers, which ensures readers a diverse and objective review. The calendar section lists show titles, times and dates with links to broader descriptions like ticket prices and addresses. However, these are usually popular shows at large venues. Since it is such a large search engine, smaller performances and venues are left out of the loop. Unfortunately, most of the results include musicals rather than dance performances and the site lacks any reference to classes or reviews of studios. If you are an avid dance fan and know what and when you want to see a performance, the calendars and simple searches are successful. But the site lacks a helpful voice for a new dance fans and the rows of lists can be quite discouraging.

nocturne.com   africanbeat.com  

Both these sites are specialized sites for dance. Nocturne has a site for swingers with lengthy lists of studios, clubs and a calendar of swing nights. The class list is great. It provides links, addresses and better yet, a unique review about each place. Africanbeat provides information for drummers and dancers. It provides times for music and dance classes along with a mailing list option. However, the last update was made two years ago...ouch! These two sites have the another issue. No outlet for performance announcements and no personal articles for dancers of all levels to relate to. I hope to address this by creating a page that brings together different forms of dance and all levels of dance and by blogging articles, rather than just a list of addresses and dates.