We are taking this month to introduce one of our international liaisons: Sussan Hrozek.
Sussan is the reason why our JUNTOSAbroad trips can even happen! Along with Christian Barrios, she communicates with communities around Central America to bring JUNTOS to various communities. She also helps with the programming, scheduling, travel and lodging for the dancers that travel abroad.
Sussan has worked and travelled with the collective for 6 years now, and is one of the JUNTOS favorites. She is a passionate, strong woman, who always manages to navigate the stony roads of Xela, Guatemala, in her 4 inch heels with ease.
We interviewed Sussan recently– read on to find out about one of the people who help us make JUNTOSAbroad such an amazing experience!
JUNTOS: Where are you from originally and how did you hear about JUNTOS?
Sussan: I’m from Quetzaltenango, the second largest city in Guatemala. In 2010, I heard about JUNTOS and Director Joanna Poz-Molesky’s interest of working in Central America. I wondered how I could help her bring dance workshops and cultural exchange to my community.
J: Favorite place you have travelled?
S: In Guatemala, there are so many different cultures and languages that all live in the same country, but feel so far away from each other.
That is why I am so proud of how JUNTOS creates community.
It is also a great feeling traveling to México and Nicaragua with JUNTOS, where we can learn about others and their culture. We think they are completely different from us, but in the end, we all find our own ways to be human and express ourselves through art.
J: What made you want to work with JUNTOS?
S: At first, I wanted to work with JUNTOS to bring people together and share culture. The way we learn about others through the arts inspires me.
Now, after six years of working with JUNTOS, I can add that this work inspires others in many different ways: people from different backgrounds are now creating their own projects, teaching, learning, sharing, living with a different purpose. They want to be a changemaker, they want to be someone meaningful and leave something behind in the world, which I think is great.
J: Do you have a funny or Inspiring JUNTOS memory that you want to share?
S: I have many remarkable memories. One of my favorites is how a 6 year old boy, in one of the hospitals we visited, promised his father that he would take all of his medicine if his father allowed him to follow the performance. The dancers were walking through the pediatrics wing of the hospital to reach all of the kids that wanted to see but could not move from their beds.
During that same performance, we talked to many parents who were so grateful to have given their child a different kind of medicine, a “soul medicine” as they described it.
J: What is one of your dreams?
S: Working with JUNTOS has inspired me and affected my dreams. I am currently working on an incubator for people to make work and social projects by learning and teaching about problem resolution. I want this to affect our community and make a sustainable change.