Dzul Dance Presents REINCARNATION, 8/3

New York nonprofit performing arts institution IATI THEATER presents internationally acclaimed dance and aerial company Dzul Dance presents Reincarnations as part of the 2012 Performing Arts Marathon. A revival of Artistic Director Javier Dzul's 2007 choreography, Reincarnations, will be presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25 Street) in Manhattan, on Friday, August 3rd & Saturday, August 4th at 7:00 pm.

PAM 2012, dedicated to promoting Latin culture and established Latin artists, features 11 cutting-edge performances across a three week span offering the City's best of dance, music and theater. Dzul Dance's, Reincarnations, portrays pre-Hispanic mythology alongside Mexican cultural icons and traditions as a way to explore ideas of destiny and life after death.

Reincarnations is based on two souls that meet and form different relationships over the course of several lifetimes. The choreography fuses dance with aerial arts as a means to communicate indigenous pre-Hispanic and Mexican culture. By transforming bodies into earthbound and airborne forces of nature Dzul creates a bridge between contemporary art and historical heritage while simultaneously illuminating cultural ideals related to life, death and rebirth.

Dzul highlights Ih Can Cavil, the Mayan guardian of souls, and illustrates the Mayan celestial plane and the descent of the souls to earth using innovative aerial dance. Mexican icons such as Emiliano Zapata, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera are used as catalysts to explore the traditional Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) and 'la Catrina', the Mexican personification of death.

The choreography features performances by Artistic Director Javier Dzul along with Dzul Dance company members Kyla Ernst-Alper, Ji Hyeun Bang, Chellamar Bernard, Cornelius Brown, Robin Taylor Dzul, Yoo Sik Kim, Courtney Jackson, Jason Jordan, Nicole Lichau, Orlando Martinez, Steven Melendez and Naomi Relnick. Original score by Guatemalan composer and musician Sergio Reyes, lighting design by Mike Inwood and costume design by Javier Dzul, brings the magic of pre-Hispanic and Mexican culture to life.

The Ih Can Cavil section of Reincarnations was presented at the United Nations as part of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The full length choreography premiered at Bard College's Summerscape Festival and then at the Reichold Center for the Arts in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In Mexico Reincarnations was presented at Muestra Internacional de Danza de Oaxaca, Festival de Santiago de Queretaro and Teatro Francisco de Paula Toro in Campeche.

Dzul Dance celebrated a very successful 2012 Spring season at the Baruch Performing Arts Center with the sell-out premiere of Maya 2012: A New Beginning, which is based on the ancient Mayan prophecies associated with the end of the Mayan calendar. In June 2012, Javier Dzul brought the allure of his aerial and dance technique to Mexico's premiere Mayan archeological park, Xcaret, for a two week intensive workshop. The Company will return to Xcaret in October to perform Forest of Kings and again in December to perform Maya 2012. Dzul and his company were also featured in Private Acts: the acrobat sublime, published by Rizzoli International and have been recently featured on American Latino's LatiNation (http://bit.ly/NMAACI), CUNY TV (http://bit.ly/kvTsaq) and Univision's Despierta America.