Devotion
Choreographed by Rosie Herrera in collaboration with the dancers.
Commissioned by The American Dance Festival 2022 with additional support from The Miami Light Project.
Performers:
Luciano Cortes
Victoria Mora
Gerardo Pilatti
Katie Stirman
Britney Tokumoto
Leah Verier- Dunn
Cecilia Andrea Benitez
Guest performers:
Andrea Angostini
Cecilia Andrea Benitez (choir rehearsal director)
Maria Burt
Kayla Castellon
Kia Condoroursis
Lauren Gaspard
Luiza Lamoglia
Alexa Mendez
Barbara Caridad Meulner
Melissa Nieto
Cristina Ramos
Emma Perez
Amelia Seeman
Stage manager: Tiffany Schrepferman
Lighting Designer: David Ferri
Company manager: Britney Tokumoto
Original Costume Design: Gerardo Pilatti and Kikimora Fashion
Original bodysuits by: Kikimora Fashion
Costume Supervisor: Gerardo Pilatti
Heaven Set Design: Gerardo Pilatti
Sound editing: Ross LaBrie and Rudi Goblen
Special thank you: George Echevarria, Luisa Buitrago, Beth Boone, Gerardo Pilatti, Olga Saretsky, Emma Pfaeffle, TAME Dance Academy, Young Arts Miami, David Brick, Simon Thomas-Train, Ivonne Batnero, Rayne Raney and the students and staff at the University of Reno who helped in the research of this material as a part of our film collaboration Encanto. They include Abigail Rosen, Hanna Walkinshaw, Cheyenne Baker, Maria De la Puente, Dwight Jones, Cameron Mauer, Andrew Paiz, Sarah Ziolkowski, Geri Wachtel, Corrine Undercoffer, Forrest Airola and Kendra Bell.
Music credits:
Coconut by Fever Ray
Come Wander by Me by Jeff Alexander
House of Woodcock by Jonny Greenwood
Fistful of Love by Antony and the Johnsons
Piel by Arca
To Know Him by The Teddy Bears
You Are Excrement You Can Become Gold by Lichens
Church-Going Bell by Ringers of Kiev
Lo Que Paso, Paso by La Lupe
Together Clinging by Psychologist
Luna Negra by Dylan Cifuentes
Tonight Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre presents the third and final work in their religious iconography trilogy Devotion. Performed alongside a community choir of dancers, Devotion casts a more reverent eye on the rituals we already engage in to reflect back the beauty in the labor of loving, being loved, and finding your faith.
About the Company:
Since their discovery in 2009 by Charles Reinhart after the premiere of Various Stages of Drowning: A Cabaret, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre has quickly become a beloved fixture in the contemporary arts scene in Miami. With a whirlwind success that has taken them from sold out performances at the prestigious American Dance Festival (ADF), The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami Dade County and The Baryshnikov Arts Center NYC, the company's unique aesthetic and commitment to rigorous collaboration has gained them a cult following.
Known for its diverse ensemble that consists of some of Miami’s most brilliant performers and creators ranging in genres from theater, performance art, opera, drag, and contemporary ballet, RHDT has had the privilege of performing several ADF commissioned pieces and premiering them at the festival as well enjoying unprecedented success in Miami. Their NYC premiere of Various Stages of Drowning: A Cabaret was said by Kayt MacMaster of BroadwayWorld.com to be “so innovative, searing and disturbing…” that it warranted “repeat viewings…” and their NYC premiere of Dining Alone was hailed by Deborah Jowitt as “earthy, poetic and beyond dada imaginative.”
Choreographer bio:
Rosie Herrera is a Cuban-American dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in Miami. She is a graduate from New World School with a BFA in Dance Performance. She has been commissioned by The Miami Light Project, The Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Ballet Hispanico, Jose Limon Dance Company, Moving Ground Dance Theater, Houston Met Dance, New World Symphony and the American Dance Festival (ADF) in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2016 and 2018. Her company, Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre, has been presented by the Northrop Dance Series, New World Symphony, Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami Light Project, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Texas A & M University, Duncan Theater, The Annenberg Center, Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Dance Place, Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans, The Yard at Martha's Vineyard, Alys Stephens Center, Wilson Center at Cape Fear University, The Rialto Center, Gotham Dance at Skirball and Focus Dance at The Joyce as well as by The American Dance Festival at the Joyce NYC in 2016 and 2018.
Rosie is also a classically trained lyric coloratura soprano and performs with the Performers Music Institute Opera Ensemble as well as works as an independent director and creative consultant throughout Miami. With over a decade of experience in both dance and cabaret, she has collaborated on productions with Walter Mercado, Pig Iron Theater, The South Miami Dade Cultural Arts Center, New World School of the Arts, The University of Central Florida, Six Floor Ensemble, Zoetic Stage and the New World Symphony as well as with the interdisciplinary performance ensemble/avant- garde cabaret Circ X. She has also collaborated with filmmakers Adam Reign, Lucas Leyva, Jonathon David Kane, George Echevarria and Clyde Scott to create original short films and music videos. Rosie is a 2016 USArtist Sarah Arison Choreographic Fellow, a 2010 and 2018 MANCC choreographic fellow, a 2014 Bates Dance Festival Artist in residence, a 2016 Bessie Schoenberg Fellow and a 2011 and 2016 Miami Dance Fellow. She was awarded a Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship for her work with Ballet Hispanico in 2013.
Company Bios:
Cecilia Andrea Benitez was born and raised in Miami, Florida where she attended New World School of the Arts High School and later received her BFA in dance from Point Park University. While living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania she frequently performed with The Pillow Project and also served as the lead dancer and rehearsal director for the production of the brand-new musical Milton by Kaylin Horgan. Now a freelance artist based in Miami, she has danced for Rosie Herrera Dance Theater, Pioneer Winter's Grass Stains, and Miami Movement Collective. Her most recent endeavor includes her choreographic debut as a commissioned artist for Miami Light Project's Here and Now 2022 program.
Luciano Cortés (performer) is an actor graduated from the Metropolitan School of Dramatic Art (BA, Argentina). He trained in the fields of physical theater, masked theater, commedia dell’arte and clowning as well as aerial and contemporary dance. He toured internationally as a part of companies such as Fuerza Bruta, Cuerda and Urgen. After several years of world tour with Fuerza Bruta, he moved to Miami in 2018 where he created the company “Salvaje Teatro" where he presented numerous theatrical experiences. At the same time, he has performed as an actor in TV, advertising and various productions in different theaters in the city. In 2020 he opened his own theatrical space also called “Salvaje Teatro" where he currently develops his work as an actor, director and theatrical instructor.
David Ferri (Lighting Designer) has worked with prominent choreographers such as Pina Bausch, Shen Wei, Doug Varone, Yin Mei, Eiko and Koma, Jane Comfort, David Rousseve, Jody Sperling and Ballet Preljocaj. He has been the Production Manager for the prestigious American Dance Festival since 1996 training upcoming designers in America. Recipient of 1987-1988 BESSIE AWARD for his design of Doug Varone’s “Straits”, and 2000-2001 BESSIE AWARD for Sustained Achievement in Lighting Design. Mr Ferri is the resident Lighting Designer – Technical Director for The Vassar College Dance Department, Mr. Ferri was also resident lighting designer and technical director at PS 122 from 1985-1991. Mr. Ferri lives in New York between his travels and projects. He has been working with RHDT since 2010.
Victoria Mora (performer) graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.F.A in dance, and during her time there, she had the privilege to perform works by Charles O. Anderson, Paul Taylor, Ohad Naharin, and Robert Battle, among others. She first attended ADF back in 2013 as a student where she met Rosie and performed in her piece for Footprints. Since then, she has danced with Ad Deum Dance Company, Moving Ethos Dance Company, Ramdance Movement, and Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre. Most recently, she stepped away from dancing to attend Baylor College of Medicine and graduated with a Masters degree in Physician Assistant Studies in 2021. She recently moved to Miami to dance with RHDT.
Katie Stirman is a multi-disciplinary artist from Miami, FL. She joined Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre in 2010 and has participated in the creation of a large part of Rosie’s repertory. Katie has collaborated with a vast array of artists from different disciplines, entering rolls as dramaturge, artistic director, choreographer, performer, set designer, sculptural design and fabrication; Artists including Rosie Herrera, Tatiana Bagaova, Gerri Houlihan, Monica Lopez De Vistoria, Christina Petterson, Magnus Sodamin, Hattie Mae Williams, Jenna Balfe, Paula Wilson, Raquel Glottman, Helado Negro, Dim Past, and Kandi Stirman. She has also performed in the The Donkey Show: A Midsummer’s Night’s Disco at the Adrienne Arsht Center 2012. She received a commission in 2017 through Miami Light Project that launched her exploration into set design. During the pandemic, one collaboration branched to artistic swimming with Monica Lopez De Victoria where she served as dramaturge and choreographer in her O’ Miami commissioned performance, “Submerging Geometry”. Her newest collaboration is leading her to designing, project managing, and fabricating large scale rope sculptures with Kandi Stirman, her mother, installing in hotels and restaurants internationally.
Tiffany Schrepferman (stage manager) is the Stage Manager for Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre and freelances as a Lighting Designer/Stage Manager for many other companies including Gaspard & Dancers, Kate Weare Company, TALK Dance, Uptown Dance Company, and Dance of Asian America. She is also currently the Production Manager and resident Lighting Designer for Ad Deum Dance Company and Ad Deum II based in Houston, TX. Tiffany graduated magna cum laude from Belhaven University with a BFA in Dance, and has worked for the American Dance Festival as Production Stage Manager of the Reynolds Theater for the past eight summers. She is excited to partner with the artists and creative minds of today to bring fresh and inspiring works into the arts community.
Britney Tokumoto (performer, company manager) is originally from Honolulu, Hawaii and trained at Mid Pacific School of the Arts in Honolulu. She received her BFA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College in 2012. She has worked with Bare Dance Company, Colectivo Dos Zeta, Denisa Musilova, Schoen Movement Company, Steps Ensemble, and Tami Stronach. Britney joined Rosie Herrera Dance Theatre in 2019. In addition to her work as a collaborator, she became company manger in 2020.
Leah Verier-Dunn (performer)received her BFA in Dance from New World School of the Arts in Miami, FL. Subsequently, she launched a professional career in Miami, then New York, and eventually returned to her roots in Sarasota, where she co-founded Moving Ethos Dance in 2007. Having worked with several distinguished companies, Leah found her artistic home with Rosie Herrera Dance Theater in 2011, with whom she continues to collaborate while juggling her two children and the Artistic Direction of Moving Ethos Dance. In 2019, Leah was commissioned as the first Spotlight Florida Resident at The Ringling Museum of Art, and since has continued there as an artist-in-residence.
About Devotion:
Devotion is the third and final work in a trilogy of dances that use religious iconography as a way to explore themes of love. It aims to delve into cultural attitudes related to intimacy and celebrity worship and specifically how we navigate intimacy in relationship to technology. Reimagining technology as an equalizing force that is not yet colonized, Devotion continues the research of the other works within the trilogy, Carne Viva and Make Believe, by deconstructing iconography of the Catholic Church as a way to bridge the gap between these symbols and their contemporary counterparts. This work aims to dissect our contemporary attitudes about faith and cast a more reverent eye on the rituals that we already engage in.
The research for this work first began in 2015 with a creation for ADF students as a part of the Footprints program. From there, the seeds of many future works were planted, each focused on different aspects of religious iconography and its relationship to love. That initial seed sprouted 3 evening length dance works and 3 short films. After the ADF premiere of Make Believe in 2018, 15 minutes of material were cut, and that edited material was the beginning inspiration of Devotion. Since then we have continued our research, creating relationships with several scholars and collaborators, most notably Katherine Dubois, a romance novelist and Catholic historian who is a professor of Religion and History at Duke University.
Devotion is strongly influenced by the pageantry of the Catholic church and a belief in the disarming potential of beauty. Specifically looking at the work of Caravaggio, the balance of violence and glamor is something akin to our contemporary access to information and the disarming potential of triggering imagery and inspiring story. The choral traditions, the massive carillons, and more importantly the role of women in the church are all points of inquiry in this work that utilizes the ritualized traditions of the church as a way to explore themes of devotion and hopefully reveal the beauty, pain and glory of faith, love and doubt.
About this performance:
From Rosie: “I grew up in my father’s restaurant El Meson Madrid which was directly across the street from Miami Dade County Auditorium (where the Walgreens is currently located!). Many of the artists who passed thru the theater in the late 80’s-90’s came to eat at the restaurant and in meeting them I felt something in me come alive. I felt I recognized myself in them. So it is particularly meaningful to be doing this performance in this theater that is so dear to me, especially performing a work that investigates what I am most devoted to…dance. Thank you for being here and sharing this tender moment with me. “
Program and poster design by: George Echevarria
www.flyingpyramids.com