Heavy footsteps filled the studio at the Ablons Arts Center last afternoon as choreographer Mariana Valencia and her young collaborator Heila Gandu roamed the room resolutely. With his arms raised to one side and his hands stuck in his nails, he reminded me of the classic movements from Michael Jackson’s “thriller,” but his face barely betrayed his emotions. Recognizable gestures, combined with their equal energy, could say “horror movies” and “postmodern dance” at the same time, which was a proper encapsulation of their interests.
In the second half of the rehearsal, I leaned on the floor and asked each other, “How was it when you were 12?”
“When I was 12, I decorated my room with magazine pages,” Valencia said.
“Magazine-who owns it?” Heila replied incredibly. “At the age of 12, I started dancing through a rehearsal with you.”
Heila is now 13 years old, and as of two weeks ago, for the past six months, he and Valencia (38 years old) have collaborated by an age difference of 25 years. Their show, “Heila, ”Will be held on Friday in Ablons, Lower East Side. Created in a playful, autobiographical and mixed-genre style known by renowned solo performer Valencia, this project has become an exercise for equal cooperation despite generational divisions. rice field.
“Heera,” a combination of discreet movements and conversational texts in a slanting, entertaining and surrealistic way, focuses on memory, imagination, aging and coming-of-age ceremonies. At its core is the relationship between the two on stage, resisting the typical hierarchy of teachers and students, choreographers and dancers, and establishing something close to friendship. Valencia describes this work as “knowing each other abstractly in front of the audience.”
The idea for a cross-generational work came from Ablons artistic director Ali Rosa Saras, who grew up in New York and participated in similar collaborations with teenagers through a Brooklyn organization. Dance wave.. Since arriving in Ablons in 2017, she has sought to deepen the link between arts and education programs, including performing arts and visual arts classes for students ages 3-19. She didn’t start from scratch. Since the mid-1990s, this center has been Urban Youth Theater — Heera is a member — Young performers can take their training to the next level with professionally supervised productions.
31-year-old Rosa-Salas approached Valencia before the pandemic and measured her interest in working with students. According to Rosa-Salas, over the last two years, the need for powerful creative outlets that take her children and teens seriously as artists has become increasingly urgent. She points out that, as another example, Abrons is not the only one offering such space. Young Dance Makers CompanyIn a summer program for public high school students, the alumni recently co-starred with choreographer Oona Doherty at the Irish Arts Center.
“It’s been a very difficult two and a half years in a remote school, not to mention the anxieties about Covid, the anxieties about interacting with and interacting with people, and sharing your feelings. “Rosa-Salas said on the phone. interview. “Artistic practice and this kind of inventing process sounds tedious, but in reality it can heal a lot of trauma.”
“That’s my meta hope for this piece, even if it works at the micro level,” she added.
In line with the same policy, Rosa-Salas worked with choreographer Marguerite Hemmings and new media artist La Juné McMillian. Video and performance works For local high school students announced at Ablons last year. Rosa-Salas said he was attracted to artists who saw this kind of process as an exchange of education and learning, rather than strengthening the hierarchy of “learning from me as an adult expert.” .. Valencia brought her very outlook.
“It wasn’t fun to be like,’Now I’m trying to get you to do what I say,'” Valencia said in a telephone interview. “At that age, I think I remembered the experience of being taught what to do in stage practice, such as singing, instruments, and acting.” — She began to dance later — “And I felt. I remember being given this because I’m a kid. “I wasn’t interested in becoming that adult for young people. “
When I started the rehearsal in January, I knew very little about Valencia and Heila attending Tompkins Square Middle School in East Village. Much of their time in the studio has been spent discovering common interests. Among their discoveries, both love Caesar salad, “soft clothes” (such as sweatpants), and horror films, which are central themes of the work.
Heila, who lives with her family in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, who spoke to Valencia in the courtyard of Ablons on a refreshing June day, said the show was “a lot, so it would be difficult to summarize in a few sentences. He described his favorite part, the exact passage of unison movement known as the “dolphin.” It features an arm sweep reminiscent of a dolphin’s tail. “Probably the perfect dance. It’s with our play.”
Initially, Valencia envisioned a larger cast, but when only four students attended the audition in October, she saw it as a sign to reduce it to a duet.
“There was something in Heila’s movement,” Valencia said, sitting together in the courtyard, remembering the movement of the improvisational game he played in the audition. “I remember,’Oh, this kid can dance! And I don’t know if he knows it.” She thought. “As long as someone can riff and feel comfortable, that’s what I’m looking for.”
Before meeting Valencia, Heila had no formal dance experience. Acting has always been his main concern. (He also directs a horror film at his home starring two brothers, 10 and 14 years old.) However, Ablons Education Director Randy Luna is his unique performer. I was aware of my physicality. When Luna choreographed a zoomed version of the “with” of the Urban Youth Theater, he saw “this lightness”, “elegant and very peaceful” way of traveling in Heila, Luna said.
Looking back on his role in Valencia, Heila said: It’s like we’re moving and do it in a way that you’re not really self-conscious about how you’re dancing. “
In a telephone interview with his parents Dale Gandu and Monica Balma, Heila, who was named after Balma’s beloved Hindi character, reveals little detail about his upcoming performance. He said he wanted to keep his surprise. But his mother could feel that Valencia brought out his more confident side, even from the little things he shared.
“Of course, he’s a kind of introvert,” Balma said. “I think this opportunity gave him a platform to express himself, as Mariana is actually trying to ask him what he thinks.”
Just days after her professional debut in New York, Heila moves to Dallas with her family. (Gandu, who works in PepsiCo’s market research, said he’s taking advantage of her work-related opportunities there.) Heila doesn’t look so disappointed.
“I like New York City,” he said. “But I really don’t like the hustle and bustle of the city, the train or going anywhere. It’s not that easy.” He “becomes able to drive” and has his bedroom in a bigger house. He added that he was excited to be there (in Brooklyn he shares a room with his brother).
In “Heera,” Valencia created a space for him to dream more about the future. Don’t give up too much: Twenty-five years from now, he’s an actor and they’re still friends.