Pepatián

Merian Soto Dance & Performance

Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Pepatian and
Artistic Director of Merian Soto Dance & Performance

Bessie award-winning choreographer Merian Soto has been creating and presenting solo, group, and collaborative pieces in her native Puerto Rico, across the US and internationally since the mid-seventies. The latest artistic works of Merian Soto center on the use of Salsa the dance and music of Pan-Latino collective experiences as source and subject. Presently, she is working on La Máquina del Tiempo (Time Machine), the third in a series of multidisciplinary dance-theater works celebrating Salsa (previous works include the celebrated Asi se baila un Son and Prequel (a): Deconstruction of a Passion for Salsa which premiered at The Joyce Theater, January O02). Currently, Ms. Soto is an Associate Professor of Dance at Temple University.

NEW WORK
La Maquina del Tiempo / The Time Machine

La Maquina del Tiempo, the third in a series of multidisciplinary dance projects celebrating Salsa, investigates popular dance and music forms as "time machines" that are rich in historical references and continuity. La Máquina del Tiempo also explores the merging of dance and music improvisation. The choreography draws from post-modern dance techniques, and popular forms such as Hip-Hop, Swing, and Mambo.

Directed and choreographed by Merián Soto, La Máquina del Tiempo features video by Irene Sosa; musical direction by Elio Villafranca; and a cast of five < 3 dancers (Pablo Amores, Marion Ramirez and Noemi Segarra) and 2 musicians (Elio Villafranca and Yunior Terry). The choreography, video, visual design, and costumes in black-and-white-and-sepia reference early and contemporary Hollywood and Mexican musicals and dance documentaries.

The creation of La Máquina del Tiempo is made possible with major support from The National Endowment for the Arts, Temple University, Dance Theater Workshop, and the New York State DanceForce. La Máquina del Tiempo is made possible by the Doris Duke Fund for Dance of the National Dance project, a program administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W.Mellon Foundation, and Altria Group,Inc. Presentation of live music is made possible in part by the Live Music for Dance program of the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, administered by the American Music Center.

www.meriansoto.com

Performances of Merián Soto Dance & Performance is made possible through support of the New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Mary Flagler Cary Community Trust. Assisted by Pepatian.

This artist was selected for inclusion in the Pennsylvania Performing Arts on Tour Roster. Funding may be available to support performance engagemens with presentesr in DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, WV and the U.S. Virgin
Islands.

Photo Credit: La Maquina: Doug Herren
Prequel: Cylla Von Tiedemann