Our Celebración JUNTOS Virtual Global Danza-thon is a 12 hour long, dance and movement exchange featuring 24 performers from our diverse community of global artists! From 8am-8pm ET/5am-5pm PT on Saturday, May 22nd, experience the joy, passion, and vibrancy of our amazing partner artists.
Keep reading for a sneak peek of four of our Global Danza-thon performers!
Jon Lehrer started his company in 2007 in Buffalo, NY and has since received critical acclaim nationally and internationally. Under his artistic direction, the company showcases Jon’s unique choreography and embodies his definitive style. His extensive background in both the modern and jazz dance idioms fosters choreography that is organic, artistic, accessible and often humorous, reflecting life experience and the human condition.
The company’s expressive style is based on three main elements of movement – Circularity, 3-Dimensionality, and Momentum – all of which combine to create a form that is best described as “Organically Athletic”. With creativity, athleticism, and the ability to make new and innovative modern and jazz dance accessible to all audiences, the company has made quite a name for themselves in the dance world. Striking the elusive balance between art and entertainment, Jon Lehrer Dance Company showcases unique choreography and a fun, distinctive style which fuses jazz and modern dance, creating a true spectacle on stage that can be enjoyed by dance experts and novices alike!
The company tours extensively, bringing their trademark artistic, athletic, and accessible style to audiences worldwide including Europe in 2013, 2016, and 2018, as well as their US State Department-sponsored Russian tour in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, where they were chosen as a company that could “bring the best in American modern dance to the people of Russia.”
“The company took the house not so much by storm as by quantum physics,” – Dance Magazine
“Dynamic, Powerful, Elegant – brings an absolute passion for the dance.” – Galerie Ortenau (Offenburg, Germany)
To learn more about Jon Lehrer Dance Company, visit their website here and follow them on Instagram at @jonlehrerdance
NicaPhoto has been one of JUNTOS’s Community Alliances for many years, and we wholeheartedly support their mission, values, and community work. NicaPhoto’s mission is to empower disadvantaged children and their families living in the poorest barrios of Nicaragua to reach their full potential, and in doing so, break the cycle of extreme poverty.
They do this in a holistic manner by offering educational support in the forms of tutoring, art, and enrichment to develop critical thinking and creative spirit, as well as programs in health, nutrition, and personal and community development.
Through community workshops, visiting volunteers and disaster relief assistance, NicaPhoto is changing not only the lives of the children of Nagarote but the community as a whole.
Dance is a large part of the Nicaraguan culture and an important outlet for the children of NicaPhoto. Although not a regular part of the curriculum, dance is enjoyed on a regular basis at the project. The children learn to dance informally as well as with volunteers and partner organizations, like JUNTOS Collective, who bring dance workshops to the children of NicaPhoto and performances for the community of Nagarote. The children’s enthusiastic performances bring joy to all of the staff at NicaPhoto as well as their visitors.
To learn more about NicaPhoto, visit their website here and follow them on Instagram at @nicaphotoproject
The only constant for DancEthos is change. Since its founding in 2010 by Tiffany Haughn, every DancEthos performance has been entirely different than the previous one because they are committed to presenting a variety of artistic voices and visions; therefore, they collaborate with a number of different choreographers and guest artists on each performance.
By making dances that reflect the beliefs and spirit of their culture, DancEthos works towards representing the true purpose of art in reducing the distance between two people. DancEthos hopes to foster dialogue through dance and broaden the DC metropolitan dance audience base by creating and performing work that is accessible to the non-dancer audience member. The company’s repertory is moving and high-spirited, and the full ensemble of 11 dancers perform their dynamic works with boundless energy and abandonment.
“[DancEthos is] where imaginative choreography collides with extraordinary emotions” – DC Theatre Scene, 2015
“[DancEthos] repertory shows off not only the range of the dancers, but the range within contemporary dance itself” – The Washington City Paper, 2015
“[DancEthos is] a local treasure” (2015) and “[their performances are]…stunning, captivating, relatable, romantic – everything I desire.” – DC Metro Theater Arts, 2013.
To learn more about the company, follow them on Instagram @dancethos.
Founded in 1996, in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, Fundación Salvación has been driven by their goal of providing a safe and secure home for up to 60 previously at-risk boys and girls. They aim to offer a nurturing and safe home with a family that encourages growth and development. Their work helps motivate youth to become productive members in their communities, by giving them the tools and opportunities they need to flourish and forge their own path to success.
The incredible team at Fundación Salvación is committed to the protection, restoration, and transformation of vulnerable children and teens in the community. They hope to promote a better quality of life for the at-risk people and vulnerable communities in Huehuetenango through the use of inclusive programming, and educational projects and training that positively contribute to familial and social development.
To learn more about Fundación Salvación, visit their website here and follow them on Instagram at @fundacion.salvacion
Founded under the artistic directorship of Elijah Alhadji Gibson, Social Movement Contemporary Dance promotes social consciousness through creative arts and community engagement by expressing the breadth and depth of the human condition through dance and storytelling.
Gibson creates from the well of personal experiences, current issues, and systems that affect him. He has a passion for creating work that evokes thought and excites action. It is this passion that moved Gibson to start Social Movement Contemporary Dance in the summer of 2018.
The artists that comprise Social Movement Contemporary Dance embrace diversity and inclusivity. The members of the group possess a range of styles and techniques, through which they cultivate the company’s versatile aesthetic. Under the direction of Elijah Alhadji Gibson, the company performs original works that address cultural boundaries and expectations of the human experience.
SMCD focuses on presenting work to diverse audiences that reflect the historical ramifications of social injustices of all peoples, as well as their impact on contemporary social ideas and values.
To learn more about Social Movement Contemporary Dance visit their website here, and check them out on Instagram at @socialmovementdance