San Diego Unseen: An Urban Portrait
A few of the performers in the new Divine Desi Dance company
- Photo by Goria Lanuza / dreamcaptors.com
The distance between San Diego and India’s capital city, New Delhi, is about 8,109 miles. Gloria Lanuza is doing her best to close that gap—at least culturally.
The 24-year-old founded Divine Desi Dance in April 2010 to bring a bit of Indian and other Far East culture to this city. The dance troupe performs traditional Indian dances, Bollywood-inspired numbers and other styles at festivals, private events and dance performances.
And it’s all very D.I.Y. Lanuza choreographs every dance piece, creates the brightly colored costumes and holds rehearsals in her parents’ Lake Murray-area garage, which has been converted into a studio.
Despite dedicating her dance career to Indian culture, Lanuza is actually of Mexican and Central American descent, as are the majority of the nine dancers in her company.
“I’ve always been really interested in Middle eastern and Far East culture,” says Lanuza, who began her foray into Indian dance while studying at UC Riverside. “Dance is my strong point, so I felt that was my way to connect and relate to all the cultures.”
She and her dancers are often asked if they’re Indian and are met with surprise when they say they aren’t. That may have something to do with Lanuza’s dedication to authenticity.
“We have a big responsibility to perform well,” she says, and to accurately represent the “culture etiquette that comes with it. The performance is not just on stage; it’s as soon as we get out of the car, how we greet people, how we look.”
Lanuza even translates the words in each song so that the choreography matches the lyrics, and she makes sure the entire company is well versed in the history of the dance styles they perform. It’s added pressure, but she feels it’s the least they can do when sharing someone else’s culture.
It also serves as a solid defense against anyone who thinks she may not know what she’s doing.
The Divine Desi dancers hope to break down racial prejudices. Some members of the communities whose ethnicities are being honored find it odd that a Mexican woman has chosen to immerse herself so deeply in a culture so different from her own. Some even doubt that she can truly play the part. That is, until they see her dance.
“The arts are so powerful,” Lanuza explains. “It’s the best way to share culture and ideas without getting offensive politics or religions involved. People are so shocked that we are not from these cultures. I see a lot have prejudice towards Latinos. They have no idea we could be interested in this dance form. But then they’re surprised.”
Devine Desi Dance will perform at the Indian Festival of Lights, Diwali Mela, happening from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29, at Shri Mandir Plaza (9474 Black Mountain Road).
More dance events
Clang, Clang, Clang: Trolley Dances roll back into town with six debut pieces performed by members of Jean Isaacs San Diego Dance Theatre. The site-specific performances occur along trolley stops starting at the Grantville Station. There will be six tours daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sep. 24 and 25 and Oct. 1 and 2. $15-$30. sandiegodancetheater.org/trolleydances2011.html
Team effort: Peter G. Kalivas of the PGK Project got a little help from his friends at Alexander Salazar Fine Art and the San Diego Symphony to bring back San Diego Dances. This year will feature projected-video dance installations and several small dance pieces performed in various parts of Alexander Salazar’s 5,000 square-foot gallery at 1040 Seventh Ave., Downtown. It happens at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 and 8. $15-$20. thepgkproject.org/san-diego-dances-festival
Just visiting: Every year, La Jolla Playhouse opens its theater to arts organizations as part of its Resident Theatre Program, giving them a space to create and showcase a performance. This year, the Playhouse invited Eveoke Dance Theatre, which is performing an original piece, Las Mariposas, inspired by Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of the Butterflies. The run ends this week with performances Thursday, Sept. 22, through Saturday, Sept. 24, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 25, at 2:30 p.m. at the Shank Theatre (2910 La Jolla Village Drive). $20-$25. eveoke.org/2011/las-mariposas
Shock and raw: Malashock/RAW returns for a second year of edgy, thought-provoking dance. John Malashock premieres his character study Piece of Work!, Michael Mizerany’s Desperate Love focuses on the quest for ideal love, and Harem from Lux Boreal Danza Contemporanea explores the struggle for control and success. Performances run Oct. 20 through 22 at 8 p.m. at the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre (2910 La Jolla Villa Drive in La Jolla). $20-$25. malashockdance.org/the-company/current-projects
Mana mania: Artistic directors Noa Werthaim and Adi Sha’al of Vertigo Dance Company debut their latest work, Mana, at UCSD’s Mandeville Auditorium at 8 p.m. Oct. 19. The performance explores the idea of physical extremes and will be followed by a post-performance talk with the Jerusalem-based artists. $10-$40. artpwr.com
