HERITAGE:

I’ve been thinking a lot about heritage—and what heritage I have the right to claim.

I was born with Mexican blood. Throughout my life, I’ve taken pride in that fact, as if I somehow earned it. I celebrate my Mexican butt; I brag that I tan—and never burn; I cherish my thick, dark hair, my big, brown eyes. But my right to be Mexican ends there: in blood. To inherit a culture, to inherit an identity, you need a point of access—and I was never given a key. My father, the bearer of my Mexican blood, actively disengaged from his Latino identity. Maybe it was a choice or maybe it wasn’t. Perhaps he too was deprived his point of entry into a culture he didn’t know…(I never asked). But if my father didn’t pass me the key, who would? Who could? 

Most people don’t see the tan, the butt, the hair, in which I take so much pride. They don’t see my roots, dug deep into the ground. They can’t see my heritage. 

DIVERSITY:

There’s a definition of diversity that calls “identity” its antonym. There are mathematical, philosophical ways to validate this claim. But I can’t support it. 

My identity is diverse. I am Mexican. I am Jewish. I am Eastern European. I am a dancer, a farmer, and a woman. I’m a four-year-old child, goofy, curious, and joyful as can be. I’m a daughter (to my mother) and a mother (to my friends). I’m an eighty-four-year-old woman, slow in my pace and woefully out of touch with current technology. I’m a performer and an introvert…yet also an extrovert. I’m a twelve-year-old boy, quick to laugh at fart jokes and anything about sex. I’m a talker, a listener, and a big-bellied laugher. 

I am all these things and more. 

LOVE:

I identify myself very closely with love. I love puppies. I love people. I love vegetables, rivers, and hillsides. 

I love deeply and I love often. 

So what is love?

For me, it is the sharing and giving of one’s self. It’s the opening of one’s spirit…to an experience, a place, a person. 

BEAUTY:

In the studio, as we all work together to create this new work, I feel lucky to partake in our collective beauty. 

 *****

The dance Matthew is creating is about all these things. Dance (and music) allow visceral and intimate access to a person’s heritage. When we truly perform a dance, we open a window into our souls, where each of us can be all the people we are. Matthew’s dance abounds in love: the sharing of each of ourselves with one another. Matthew’s dance abounds in beauty. 

Thank you Matthew and Renee for allowing us to realize and share our collective beauty.