ABOUT | Suarez Dance Theater

MISSION

SuarezDanceTheater is a Los Angeles-based not-for-profit ensemble that stimulates social change through dance-making and creative practices. By asking what is dance, where we dance, and why we dance, the company ignites conversations and illuminates collective unspoken stories to build community.

CORE VALUES

Social Change:

Offering both brave and vulnerable viewpoints in our performance work, we encourage critical, creative, and reflective thinking.

Co-Creation:

Co-creation is at the center of our creative process.

We honor each community’s unique history.

Inclusive Dance:

Creating opportunities for all bodies to connect, collaborate, and create with the belief that dance is expansive and takes many forms.

Deep Listening:

Prioritizing deep listening with community partners and collaborators in order to activate spaces and nurture trust.

HISTORY

Founded in 2003 by Christine Suarez, the company has produced seventeen evening-length dance-theater works, numerous site-specific and community events along with partnering with schools and community centers all over the U.S. We passionately foster new communities through the act of moving and collaborating where individuals can connect with their bodies, each other and find their own expressivity. The work happens in theaters, houses, classrooms, parks, churches, galleries, sidewalks, and beaches. SuarezDanceTheater collaborators include multi-generational performers, designers and musicians along with parents, children, veterans, health care workers and high school students. Our work has been presented in over 50 different theaters in 15 different cities.

Selected Credits Include:

P.S.122, Danspace Project, HERE, and Dixon Place in New York City; REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, The Kanuti Theater in Tallinn, Estonia and the Schwartz Center at Emory University.

FOUNDER

Christine Suarez is a choreographer, performer, educator and activist. Born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana, she founded Suarez Dance Theater in 2003. Her career as a dance-maker and dance educator is deeply rooted in creating community and healing. Her work has been seen in theaters, galleries, churches, synagogues, houses, sidewalks, parks, and beaches in over 20 cities -including P.S. 122 (New York), REDCAT (Los Angeles) and The Schwartz Theater (Atlanta). As a dance educator, she has partnered with public schools and community centers all over the United States. She holds an MFA in choreography from UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Department and a BA in Theater and English Literature from Emory University. Christine was awarded a Santa Monica Artist Fellowship in 2017 and named a “Cultural Trailblazer from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in addition to receiving Artist in Residence grants from LA DCA. She is a co-creator of a Dance for Veterans - a program that builds creative expression, social cohesion and bodily authority at Greater Los Angeles VA Hospitals.

COLLABORATORS

Bernard Brown

Juana Farfan

Kai Hazelwood

Rebeca Hernandez

Ilaan Mazzini

Carol McDowell

Nguyen Nguyen

Alexx Shilling

Arushi Singh

Willy Souly

Skye Steele

Lori Teague

Shelby Williams-Gonzalez

BOARD

Tessa Blake (chair)

Carolina San Juan (vice chair)

Kai Hazelwood

David Petrarca

Mark Rizzo

Mike Stutz

Shelby Williams-Gonzalez

FUNDERS

The City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs

Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture

California Arts Council

City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

Center for Cultural Innovation

Flourish Foundation

Network Ensemble Theaters

– as well as many, loyal individual donors.

PRESS

“Ms. Suarez has had considerable theater experience… [it] shows in the savvy staging of the piece and in the way Ms. Suarez uses the stage space…”

— The New York Times

Wet Spots

“ingeniously crafted…poignant…hilarious”

— The Los Angeles Times

Mother.

“Likeable (Scored a standing ovation!)…playful…honest…heartfelt (Heart wrenchingly so – I CRIED, y’all.)…accessible…hip…”

— SantaCruz.com

“The multi-talented mater serio-comically enacted some of the labors and–sometimes unmentioned–responsibilities of post-Steinem 21st century motherhood.”

— The LAist

“Suarez says she struggles for perfection in balancing parenthood and artistry, which both play out in “MOTHER.” in a turbulent and comical self-portrait.”

— Good Times

Mother.Father.

“The choreography handles this subject with such honesty and openness...Christine Suarez has managed to focus on an important subject without being judgemental. She successfully keeps the movement out of the narrative while reflecting on the stories being told. Her choreography is abstract without being obtuse.”

— Seedance.com