UNM Artist-Scholar Ninoska M’Bewe Escobar Brings New Dance Film Festival to Albuquerque
Roots and Routes: A Dance Film Festival – April 14-15, 2023
Albuquerque, NM – The University of New Mexico Department of Theatre and Dance Postdoctoral Fellow, Ninoska M’bewe Escobar is proud to present “Roots and Routes: A Dance Film Festival” coming to Albuquerque April 14 th and 15 th , 2023. The festival will take place on UNM campus at the Elizabeth Waters Center for Dance and in various locations across Albuquerque, including Main Library, Keshet Center for the Arts and Studio Sway.
This two-day festival is free and open to the public and offers a unique opportunity for audiences of all ages and backgrounds to experience dance through film, movement and conversation. In addition to the screenings, the festival will include public dance classes and artist panels on a variety of topics. Open dance classes will be taught by local dance experts and offer a chance for attendees to engage with the festival’s themes through movement. The artist panels will feature discussion with choreographers, dance scholars, and performers, providing the opportunity to learn about the creative process behind dance making and engage in dialogue with artists.
The festival will showcase a diverse selection of dance films that expand our understanding of the importance of dance in our society, promotes broad participation, and fosters connections with diverse UNM and Albuquerque communities. With a focus on African and African American choreography, Ballet and Contemporary, Social Dance, and Artist Activism, the festival promises to be a thought-provoking experience for audiences in Albuquerque.
“The dance icon Alvin Ailey said dance comes from the people and should be given back to the people – because dance belongs to everyone. One of the powers of dance is its transmission of history – the stories dance tells about people and their times,” said festival producer Dr. Escobar. “This festival offers multiple ways to engage with dance. I hope the films, open dance classes, and conversations with artists will inspire people to bring dance into their everyday lives, learn more about the work of dance, and support the creators who take dance from the community and streets to the concert stage.”
“Roots and Routes” promises to be an exciting two days that celebrates dance and film. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience the power of dance and engage in a diverse community of artists and thinkers in Albuquerque. The Department of Theatre and Dance and Dr. Escobar gratefully acknowledge the contributions from community sponsors Albuquerque Main Library, Keshet Center for the Arts, and Studio Sway.
Five College Dance Department Newsletter, Fall 2016
Ninoska M'bewe Escobar is engaged in an ongoing critical appreciation of the work and legacy of dance pioneer Pearl Primus (1919-1994). Her project undertakes new perspectives in the historiography of Black dance and performance by examining Primus’s choreographies in conversation with shifting perspectives in the Black performance arena during the latter half of the twentieth century.
As a young artist Primus supported progressive political causes and figures, performing for diverse audiences in both small venues and before thousands at political rallies. Primus openly criticized the failure of American democracy in the everyday lives of Black people, and her signature solo dances brought attention to persistent inequity and Black suffering. Despite Primus’s influence upon other well-known dance icons including Donald McKayle, Alvin Ailey and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, she remains a lesser figure in American dance history. Escobar’s project centers Primus’s legacy in dance/performance studies and African American studies, and theorizes Primus in the contexts of her politics, feminism and relevance to historical and current Black cultural production and mobilization around social and political justice issues in the United States.
Escobar’s interdisciplinary approach, auto/body/graphy, demonstrates Primus’s value to the project of Black dance in the twenty-first century as it draws on Primus’s aesthetics and works, Black feminist thought, and the significance of life stories in Black arts to situate Black experiences in their cultural, social and political contexts. At the intersection of African American history, U.S. history and dance history, auto/body/graphy mines history and memory carried in the Black body, and is an aesthetic influence upon choreographers, dance companies and acolytes whose work echoes Primus’s approach to choreography, immersive research and commitment to social justice.