NYC’s Innovative Ballet Nepantla Performs “Valentina” at TAMIU’s CFPA

An innovative ballet performance exploring the strength and resilience of women during the time of revolutionary México will bow at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts’ Theatre Friday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.

The performance, hosted by TAMIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, will be brought to life by Ballet Nepantla, a New York City-based affiliate of the Edinburg Dance Theatre. Admission is free, but donations in support of TAMIU Dance Scholarships will be gratefully accepted.

TAMIU dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Claudia San Miguel, said the College was thrilled to be able to bring the unique fusion performances of Ballet Nepantla to TAMIU and Laredo audiences.

“Ballet Nepantla has carved out an impressive place in the dance world with a daring fusion of traditional folklórico, contemporary dance, classical ballet, and West African dance.  We are thrilled to host their artistry here at TAMIU and to share it with our students, campus, and community at large,” Dr. San Miguel explained, noting the company will also be leading masterclasses for TAMIU’s Ballet Folklórico students and guests during their campus visit.

“Ballet Nepantla is a celebration of our border and the things that define and bind us, so I’m especially grateful that TAMIU, an international university located on the U.S.-México border, can present this opportunity,” she concluded.

The evening’s performance is “Valentina,” an original collection of stories that address the resilience and strength of women during the revolution in México, 1910-1920.  The performance fuses contemporary dance and traditional folklórico, telling stories of struggles and triumph while exploring the spaces between love and hate and hope and despair.

Ballet Nepantla was founded in 2017 by Andrea Guajardo and Martin Rodríguez.  Both say Ballet Nepantla tells stories to provoke imagination and help others see the beauty of the Mexican and Mexican American people.  The ballet company’s name is drawn from the indigenous Nahuatl word for “in-between,” a concept buoyed by the late writer Gloria Anzaldúa’s borderlands theory embracing both sides of the borderland Guajardo and Rodríguez call home. 

Like the fusion they seek to present, artistic director Guajardo comes from the world of classical ballet and contemporary dance, while associate director Rodríguez draws from traditional Mexican folklórico dance.

In program notes, they observe that they, “envisioned a new form of expression that fused the two modalities…an aesthetic that would speak to the cultural, historical and social realities of a broader narrative of being Mexican, Mexican American, immigrant, and trans-cultural.”

Reviewers have enthusiastically hailed Ballet Nepantla.

The Texas Observer declared “Ballet Nepantla erases boundaries between dance forms and explores what it means to be from the Borderlands – both as a geographical space and a state of mind.”

Broadway World wrote that Ballet Nepantla’s “fusion of Mexican folkloric forms and ballet…transform…into a brochure of the Rio Grande come to life.”

The Monitor’s Matthew Wilson declared the company “an ambassador for folkórico and Mexican culture.”

TAMIU offers students the option to minor in dance (18 credit hours) or to take dance courses as general electives.  The CFPA houses two dance studios and a full-size performance theater.  Dance courses are led by accomplished faculty members in genres including ballet, folkórico, dance conditioning, flamenco, jazz and modern. In addition to performances by guest artists, each semester culminates with a major two-night performance with all dance classes represented.

For more on the Friday, March 4 performance of “Valentina” by Ballet Nepantla at TAMIU’s CFPA Theatre, contact the CFPA director of operations, Elizabeth Rubio, at elizabeth.rubio@tamiu.edu or call 956.326.2646.

To learn more about Ballet Nepantla, visit balletnepantla.com