Sacred Sky Sacred Earth: Jacumba
Opening Ceremony • Telemagica Festival • June 10, 2011
Writer and Director
Since 1974, Peter Terezakis has created interactive works of varying scale possessing a distinct technological character. Heart Beats Light had its beginnings on a hillside deep in the Pennsylvania countryside. It has been reproduced in six countries on two continents. No two installations are the same. This evening's event will be different yet again. Carpe Lux!
Director of Music
Percussionist John Charles Flood has performed as featured soloist with the San Diego Symphony under the direction of Jung Ho Pak in David Ward-Steinman's Millennium Dances, and has played with traditional drummers in Ghana, West Africa. He holds a Master of Art degree in Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego, and served as Director of Percussion and African Ensemble at San Diego State University. John is a freelance percussionist and has worked as an Artist in Residence for Visual and Performing Arts in San Diego City Schools, bringing World Music to K–12 students. He received the Multi-Cultural Teacher of the Year Award from the California Music Educators Association.
Director of Choreography
Allyson Green (MFA, Choreography, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) is a choreographer and visual artist who was based in New York from 1986–2001 and joined UCSD in 2003. She performed and served as rehearsal director in the companies of Yoshiko Chuma SOHK, Charles Moulton, Doug Varone, Randy Warshaw, and Bill Young. Her company Allyson Green Dance has been presented in Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia, Romania, Venezuela, and the United States. Allyson has collaborated in over thirty productions worldwide with life and creative partner Peter Terezakis. She subsequently served as Dean of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University.
Dancer and Associate Producer
Martita Abril began dancing in Tijuana, Mexico, where she spent her childhood, and earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from San Diego State University in 2009. She worked with dance artists on both sides of the border, including Lux Boreal, and was lead organizer for the 2010 Fronteras México project. She received the PECDA Jovenes Creadores Scholarship from the Mexican state of Baja California for her project Unión Artística Sin Fronteras. Martita has since developed a significant career as a performance artist in New York, presenting work at Danspace Project, The Kitchen, La MaMa, and Movement Research.
Dancer and Associate Producer
George Willis, MA, MFA, Professor Emeritus, SDSU School of Music and Dance, is a founding member and President of the Board of Directors of Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theater. He has performed with the Charles Weidman Dance Theatre, San Diego Dance Theatre, San Diego Ballet, the Harry Partch Ensemble, Starlight, Fantasia Española (Flamenco), and 3's Company & Dancers. A past President of the San Diego Dance Alliance, he received the Tommy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 and, in 1999 at the Cultural Center Theatre (CECUT) in Tijuana, the first Felipe Segura y Margarita Robles Art of Dance medal. As director of the SDSU Studio Theatre, he presented over 500 concerts of student and professional dance, and in 2007 received the Outstanding Faculty Award in the Dance Division.
Dancer
Matthew Armstrong earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California, San Diego, and built a career working on both sides of the San Diego/Tijuana border with artists including Allyson Green and companies such as Lux Boreal Danza Contemporánea and Péndulo Cero. He has since joined San Diego Dance Theater. Matthew has competed in Ballroom and Latin Partner dance at the collegiate and amateur levels, receiving the Champion title at multiple Dancesport competitions. Photograph by Jaime Coanalo.
Danza Contemporánea
Lux Boreal Contemporary Dance, based in Tijuana, was founded in 2002 and directed by Angel Arambula and Henry Torres. The company burst onto the national dance scene with dynamic and technically strong performers whose choreography exemplifies a style and personal language unique to Mexico's northwest. Allyson Green and Lux Boreal have been collaborating since 2002. The company continues to represent Tijuana at international festivals and has performed at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.
Péndulo Cero • Choreographer and Dancer
Born in Mexico City, David Mariano began his professional studies at the National School of Dance. He danced two years with Contempodanza, then from 2004 to 2009 with Lux Boreal in Tijuana, before joining Péndulo Cero as dancer and cultural collaborator. His career has taken him to the Lila López International Dance Festival, the Puebla Dance Festival, the Cervantino, and international venues in Germany, New York, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Spain. He was supported by FONCA (Mexico National Fund of Culture and Arts) as Escenic Creator, 2010–2011.
Péndulo Cero • Dancer
In addition to her professional studies in Engineering and a Master's degree in Sciences from UNAM, Miroslava Wilson studied at the Professional School of Post-Modern Dance in Mazatlán. From 2003 to 2006 she co-directed the Chilean-Mexican company Huabkú Contemporary Dance. She has received support from FECAS (Sonora), FONCA (Studies Abroad, Chile), and the TELMEX Foundation. She co-directs Péndulo Cero and has been supported by PECDA (Individual Artistic Development, Baja California). Her work has been presented in Argentina, Chile, the United States, and throughout Mexico.
Péndulo Cero • Dancer
Born in Tijuana, Baja California, Iliana Jiménez has directed the Academia de Ballet Rosarito since 2003, where she has been a driving force in the education of young artists of the Rosarito and Tijuana region. She is a graduate of the Teacher Degree of the CBTS of the Royal Academy of Dance (2006–2008) and holds a degree in Business Management. Her dance formation developed through the English Program of the Royal Academy under the guidance of Nicte-Ha Escobosa. She has worked with Librae Danza-Teatro-Movimiento, the Company of Dance of Baja California, the Border Chamber of Ballet, and the Ballet Conservatory of Chula Vista, and is a dancer at Péndulo Cero.