Whitman welcomes Alex Escalante to campus as part of this years Spring Studio Series.

Channeling mazoyiwua and other catharses revisits a solo Escalante performed 22 years ago while dancing for a professional Mexican FolkloricoCompany. La Danza del Venado (Deer Dance) is a theatrical version of Mazoyiwua, a ceremonial dance performed by the indigenous tribes of northern Mexico. Through investigating its historical and contemporary iterations, Escalante attempts to uncover the ritualistic meaning of the deer dance/dancer and uses it as a metaphor for society’s current cultural, political, philosophical and spiritual struggles.

Alex Escalante is a New York based choreographer/performer employing various mediums including dance, theater, film and live music. In the past 10 years, Escalante has striven to make work that is relevant to his experience as an individual consciously engaged with current socio-political issues. Born in Los Angeles, Escalante received a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. Escalante’s choreography has been presented in the US at venues such as The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, and Abrons Arts Center among others. Internationally his work has been presented at Teatro El Milagro (Mexico City, Mexico), Barroquísimo-Performatica (Puebla, Mexico) and at Tanec Praha (Prague, Czech Republic).

The SPRING STUDIO SERIES is an initiative to present local and nationally recognized experimental performance-based artists in a low-tech and intimate setting. These events are free, open to the public, and will be followed by a discussion with the artists.