Mareas/Tides, Department of Theatre and Dance at University of Richmond

Mareas / Tides Friday, September 27, 2024 Acting Studio, Modlin Center for the Arts The University of Richmond

Photo Credit: Michael Eltringham

Mareas/Tides traces island cosmologies and diaspora geographies of the Caribbean, Atlantic, and Pacific seas and gravitational power of the moon through storytelling, song and improvisation.

Mareas/Tides is a dance performance by Denison Dance and Music faculty celebrating sacred celestial-ocean relationships through story-telling, song and improvisation. It traces the storied geographies between and through Puerto Rico to Guåhan to Aotearoa to Alabama to Senegal. Marion Ramirez, a somatic dancer-choreographer from Puerto Rico inspired by bodies of water, explores the ocean and human biology as primal energy. Black Chamoru/Pacific dancer-anthropologist/choreographer Ojeya Cruz Banks maps her interwoven lineage across the Black Atlantic and Blue Pacific Ocean. The performance braids the artists’ distinct island cosmologies together and embodies the gravitational power of the African diaspora flowing through the Caribbean and Indigenous Pacific worlds.

This project is done in solidarity with the activist movements Campamento Carey and Las Playas son del Pueblo, and their continuous efforts to protect the shores and natural resources of the Puerto Rican archipelago from privatization and illegal construction that endanger the natural resources and communities of the islands.

Curated by: Marion RamÍrez Choreographic collaboration by: Ojeya Cruz-Banks and Marion Ramírez Live music by: Pete Mills (Sax), Timothy Carpenter (Piano), Matthew Dixon (Drums), and Dean Hulett (Bass) Digital images: Chris Faur Lighting design: Gretta Daughtrey Light and Projection Supervisor: Robby Williams Tech Crew: Cameron Peterson and Charlotte Donelan Special thanks to Alicia Díaz and Patricia Herrera for envisioning this residency and to the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Humanities Center for their generous support to make it possible.

The Mareas /Tides Residency and Performance co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre and Dance (Chair, Olivier Delers; Administrative Coordinator, Rhonda Jackson, Production Manager, Erica Hughes) and the Humanities Center (Director, Nathan Snaza, Administrative Coordinator, Addison Hunter), with support from the Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences.

This event is part of the Humanities theme “How (and Why) Do We Represent Nature?” and was curated by the 2024-2025 Humanities Connect: “Decolonial Feminist Resistance: Climate Justice for Puerto Rico.”