About the Work

“Hey… in here, you will be safe” explores the reconstruction of women’s instinctive capacity, based on the interrogative of what happens if they stop fulfilling the role that society assigned to them. This work deepens this question through three women who obey the rules imposed by the same social system. What happens if the hunch to listen to themselves becomes more potent than their need to follow expectations? That could allow them to rediscover the inherent existence of all those qualities that the system labeled prohibited to women.

Dancers: Francesca Dominguez, Isabele Rosso and Lucia Flexer-Marshall
Choreographer: Maria Angela Talavera Tejeda
Premiere Dates: Tue, March 28th & Wed, March 29th
Venue: LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC)

What Your Funds Will Support

"Hey… in here, you will be safe” is being developed with support of Mare Nostrum Elements' (MNE) Emerging Choreographer Series (ECS) 2023, which provides an intense performance and production residency. MNE ECS currently grants emerging choreographer an essential amount to assist in developing new work, however, this piece requires additional funding for:

Costume Comission
Costume Material
Audio Editor Comission
Artist remuneration

About the Choreographer, Maria Angela Talavera Tejeda

Mar (she/her) is a choreographer and dancer born and raised in Peru. In 2016 she obtained a BA in Audiovisual Communications and, in 2019, became a Reiki Healer. Therefore, her creative process is based on interdisciplinarity, focusing on movement language as the integrative element to convey a more profound message and knowledge of ourselves, generating narratives, and filling our bodies with meaning and purpose through form, space, and sound.

She presents her work as a performance or film with psychological dramatism showing the connection between movement and intuition. Her research connects with narratives that serve as triggers, allowing the viewer to link with their own "shadow," reconnecting with those deep identities that inhabit us. This way, she inspires on topics such as femininity today, the mother-daughter relationship, the inner journey, and transgenerational roles in different social environments.

Mar moved to NYC in 2021 to be part of the choreographic track of the professional training in Gibney. Since then, she has created dance films and choreographic pieces in NYC and Perú. In 2021 her dance film "Las Que Habitan" was selected and honored by the "Nukhu Film Festival," "Serbest International Film Festival," "Mujeres Audiovisuales Film Festival," and "Give me a break!" Film Festival", "Mignolo International Screendance." In addition, she is the founder and member, along with six other Peruvian women, of the independent dance company "Una Hebra."

Meet Dancer Francesca Dominguez

Francesca Dominguez (she/her) is a performing artist, teacher, and choreographer currently based in New York City. She is one of ten certified Countertechnique teachers in the USA and holds a Master's degree in dance from Hunter College where she was the recipient of the school-wide Shuster Award for Outstanding Master's Thesis 2022. As a certified Countertechnique teacher, Francesca enthusiastically teaches as an adjunct professor at the Juilliard School and is a teaching artist at Gibney Dance Center and Peridance Center. Francesca carries immeasurable gratitude for her influential educators at Hunter College, CSU Long Beach, the Alonzo King Lines Ballet Training Program, Anouk Van Dijk, and Springboard Danse Montréal. She has worked professionally with; Soluq Dance Theater, Manuel Vignoulle, Thomas Noone Dance, Grayscale, and Keith Johnson/Dancers, and performed works by choreographers such as Doug Varone, Sidra Bell, and Vim Vigor. Francesca began choreographing, producing, and directing her own work in 2021. The following year she premiered a sold-out, evening-length show entitled Galvanizing Steel and shortly thereafter she was selected as a choreographer for the Doug Varone Devices workshop, which also premiered at the Gibney Dance Theater.

Meet Dancer Isabele Rosso

Isabele Rosso (she/her) is a dance artist and movement educator born and raised in Brazil. Rosso has worked professionally with Nimbus Dance Company, and she is currently a dance member with Kizuna Dance and Rovaco Dance Company. Since moving to NYC, she has had the privilege of performing works by Sofia Nappi, Cameron McKinney, Yoshito Sakuraba, Dawn Marie Bazemore, LAJAMARTIN, Jennifer Archibald, and others. As a choreographer, Rosso created “When the Center Becomes the Edges” on Nimbus Dance Company, performed at many venues including New Jersey Performing Arts Center; and “Immensity”, a dance film directed and performed by Rosso that was the opening piece at LA Dance Film Festival 2022. Her experience with film and dance on camera extends to KAZVMA’s music video where she improvises to electronic music; and as sound operator and background actress to “Chrissy Judy”, a feature film, and Centerpiece at the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival. She is currently a freelance artist, a movement educator, and Yoga instructor, always looking for more opportunities to create, to perform, and to discover new ways of communication and expression.

Meet Dancer Lucia Flexer-Marshall (she/her)

Lucia Flexer-Marshall is a contemporary dancer based in Brooklyn, holding a BA in Dance from UC Santa Cruz. Growing up in California, she trained at the Oakland Ballet School and Shawl Anderson Dance Center. Lucia’s professional experience includes work with Garrett & Moulton Productions, Ziru, Erin Yen/Dragons Dance, and Fullstop. She is also the co-creator of the dance film project Soap Impressions, with her creative partner Joaquin Bear. Working collaboratively, the duo specialize in short works inspired by dance theater and early cinema. @soap_impression

ABOUT ECS

The Emerging Choreographer Series is an intensive crash-course in self-producing; offering rehearsal space, dancer and choreographer pay, career development consultations, and professional mentorship to selected choreographers. During the course of the program, choreographers will create, develop, and premiere a new work at CUNY’s LaGuardia Performing Arts Center (LPAC) in Long Island City.

Mare Nostrum Elements, Inc. is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

“Hey… in here, you will be safe" by Maria Angela Talavera Tejeda

New Work for Emerging Choreographer Series 2023