In addition to being the first professional Salvadorian dance company, El Teatro de Danza Contemporanea de El Salvador (TDC) is known for its distinctive style and ability to combine classical ballet with indigenous and contemporary dance. TDC closed its fall season at Dance Place on Oct. 8.
Founded in 1994 by Japanese-American Miya Hisaka Silva, the company's main commitment is to reflect the history and culture of El Salvador, especially the country's struggle during and after its civil war. Over the past 12 years, the company has acted as an artistic representation of El Salvador through its ability to weave the Salvadorian people's passion and poignancy into its performances.
The performance opened with "Natural," the company's showcase of indigenous dance. With heavy beats and powerful music, the company's male dancers used stomping and sharp movements to mimic the music's rhythm. All four dancers were expressive, communicating the beauty of El Salvador's environments and the native culture of the people. Dancers used myriad moves from break-dance-styled choreography to jazzy stances. In this section of the performance, the stances symbolized the Salvadorian culture's oneness with the land.
The country's natural period was followed shortly by a starkly contrasting classical ballet performance. "Concierto" paralleled the country's introduction to contemporary and classical culture including dance culture. Playful and flirtatious, the piece was the audience's first introduction to one of the company's most prominent themes: love. Clad in pale-green upscale costumes that were reminiscent of the 19th century European era, the dancers took the stage with graceful and precise movements to tell the story of two lovers. The entire piece was set in a symbolic "springtime" period of experience and adaptations in an otherwise wholly primitive culture.
While the country was being introduced to new lifestyles, "Recordando el Silencio (Remember the Silence)" showcased the feelings of isolation and seclusion of a people existing outside the new cultural reformation. One of the company's choreographers, Danilo Rivera, took the stage as the sole dancer. Representative of the counterculture, the piece slowly revealed a poignant story of what it feels like to be culturally pushed out of one's own country. His simple, white linen costume, basked in a warm orange spotlight, symbolized plainness and minimalism. His last move before the spotlight cut out was a symbolic "unmasking" of the counterculture as if saying to the cultural reformists, "Here we are, this is our people, take us or leave us."
One of the performance's most powerful pieces, "Stabat Mater," featured a movie discussing the country's civil war through photographs. The company's dance repeatedly made use of outstretched arms, as if asking, "Why such destruction to our people?" The movie featured photos of the war, soldiers, violence, destitute areas, troops and helicopters. At the same time, it interjects photos of women and children to magnify the disruption of everyday life. The most memorable part of the piece features dancers in synchronization planting seeds into the ground, foreshadowing a time of restoration and of putting back into the land what was so fiercely taken from it.
The company's showcasing of the different styles of dance certainly conveyed versatility and talent along with the underlying sense of culture and adaptation throughout Salvadorian history. Without a certain background in Salvadorian history, the underlying themes and concepts of the performance might go unobserved. However, the passion and vivacity of the company's energy will always be well received.
