[Entertainment News]
Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director & CEO of Ballet Hispánico: “We celebrate our Latinidad on a daily basis, but it is vital that we come together during this month to celebrate the strength of our voices and the impact of our cultural and artistic contributions on our nation.”
Photo: Ballet Hispánico
Ballet Hispánico will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with free events and performances, a preview of the company’s New York Season and more, with an Antojito, a Latinx Leadership Convening, Diálogos, and the 3rd Annual A La Calle Block party.
“We celebrate our Latinidad on a daily basis, but it is vital that we come together during this month to celebrate the strength of our voices and the impact of our cultural and artistic contributions on our nation,” said Eduardo Vilaro, Artistic Director & CEO of Ballet Hispánico.
* The celebration begins with the School of Dance Open House from September 9-12, 2019 including an orientation to welcome new and returning students and free trial classes for those interested in trying a new class. The Ballet Hispánico School of Dance empowers students by offering a holistic approach to movement discovery, including pre-professional training and classes for the novice dancer. The School also offers drop-in classes and workshops that provide cultural enrichment and the joy of dance to everyone. Further details are available at ballethispanico.org/classes.
* On Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 pm Ballet Hispánico will host an Antojito, an intimate sneak peek of newly created work, featuring a preview of Tiburones, a new work by Annabella Lopez Ochoa about the street gang The Sharks, made famous by the musical West Side Story. The full performance will take place at the Apollo on November 22-23, 2019. Attendance at this event is by invitation only.
* On Thursday, September 26, Ballet Hispánico will host the first Latinx Dance Leadership Convening from 9:00 am-5: 30 pm. Ballet Hispánico and Miami City Ballet will convene a group of Latinx dance leaders to confer, discuss and find ways of working together to create more visibility of our cultural contributions and new ways of assuring diversity in our field. Attendance at this event is by invitation only.
* On Thursday, September 26 from 6:30-8: 30 pm, Ballet Hispánico and Dance/NYC will cohost Diálogos: Art, Social Justice, and Latinx Dance Workers in the NYC Dance Ecology. This installation of Diálogos will feature curated guest speakers and artists including Ana Maria Correa from Miami City Ballet and Chris Núñez from Dance/NYC among others. Participants will have the opportunity to join in on a long-table discussion exploring the interconnections of the arts, social justice, and Latino cultures. This event is free and open to the public.
* Ballet Hispánico’s 3rd Annual A La Calle Block Party will take place on Sunday, September 29 from noon-4: 00 pm. Ballet Hispánico will take over West 89th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues), its home for 50 years, for a four-hour celebration of Latinx unity, dance, music, art, food and community. The event will include free performances by the internationally renowned Company and prestigious School of Dance and Community Arts Partnerships students, as well as live music, free dance classes for all ages, children’s activities, and raffles. The A La Calle Block Party is sponsored by Popular Bank, Nielson, AARP, and Wells Fargo. This event is free and open to the public.
About Ballet Hispánico
Ballet Hispánico, America’s leading Latino dance organization, has been bringing individuals and communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through dance for nearly 50 years. Whether dancing on stage, in school, or in the street, Ballet Hispánico creates a space where few institutions are breaking ground.
The organization’s founder, National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez, sought to give voice to the Hispanic experience and breakthrough stereotypes. Today, Ballet Hispánico is led by Eduardo Vilaro, an acclaimed choreographer and former member of the Company whose vision of social equity, cultural identity, and quality arts education for all drives its programs.
Ballet Hispánico, a role model in and for the Latino community, is inspiring creativity and social awareness in our neighborhoods and across the country by providing access to arts education.
Eduardo Vilaro (Artistic Director & CEO) joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. In 2015, Mr. Vilaro took on the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Mr. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico’s legacy with a bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance that reflects America’s changing cultural landscape. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education. Mr. Vilaro was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame in 2016 and was awarded HOMBRE Magazine’s 2017 Arts & Culture Trailblazer of the Year. In 2019, Mr. Vilaro was the recipient of the West Side Spirit’s WESTY Award, was honored by WNET for his contributions to the arts, and most recently, was the recipient of the James W. Dodge Foreign Language Advocate Award.
Major funding for Ballet Hispánico programming is provided by The Arnhold Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Ford Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, The Jerome L. Greene Foundation, The Francis Lear Foundation, The MetLife Foundation, The SHS Foundation, and The Shubert Foundation.
Programming is also made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.
