Organizers

Dancing with Spirit
An artist’s statement

Carmen R. Nelson

The teachers that we have the honor to have as guests are all mentors of mine. Meeting Liliana Valle in Costa Rica in the late 1980′s changed my life. She instilled in me a deep respect for dance not only as a form of movement but also as a voice for an entire culture’s joys and collective sorrows. Dance was for me a transforming tool. I was a very shy individual who lacked the gift of oral communication. Then, I found in dance a way to express myself, to let go of my many insecurities, and to allow me to touch my students and share with them the light I felt rising up through me. During the 12 years that I have been teaching in Boulder, I have witnessed many similar wonderful miracles of transformation. One of the best compliments I have had is that I help my fellow Latin-Americans remember and reassert how proud we are to be descendants of our Afro-Indo-Ibero-American heritage. We come from a joyous, vibrant, warm, emotional culture; all qualities that are expressed in the way we dance.

Researching the origins of popular dances from Latin America, I discovered that their roots are in the sacred movement of the Orisha/Orixa dances that African slaves brought to the Americas five hundred years ago.

From Richard Gonzalez and Rosangela Silvestre, who I met through the Colorado Dance Festival, I have learned what a profound spiritual connection is felt when you dance. I am so lucky to have visited Rosangela’s Salvador de Bahia in Brazil, and experience the joy of dancing in such a magical place.

It is my immense pleasure and joy to present this festival to all of you so that you can share with me the inspiration that refreshes and informs our teaching efforts in the Boulder community. These teachers share my conviction: that dance involves the spirit, that it should come from the heart, and that we should nurture the spirit rather than the ego. As teachers and as dancers, we have to opportunity to express love clearly and loudly to our fellow human beings.

Carmen Reina Nelson

A native of Guatemala, introduced Baile Popular, a Caribbean language of movement, to the Boulder population in 1992. She has studied dance with Liliana Valle while living in Costa Rica during the 1980′ and at the Escuela Nacional de Arte in Havana, Cuba .

She has been teaching at the Colorado Dance Festival from 1992 to 2000 , and has been the Latin American Projects Coordinator for the festival. She has served as liaison for artists such as “Los Munequitos de Matanzas” from Cuba.

· In 1996 and in 1999, Carmen was an artist in residence at the Department of Theatre and Dance at Bates College and at the University of Colorado in Boulder respectively. Since 1997 she has won grants from the Boulder Arts Commission (the Boulder County Citizen Cultural Advisory Committee and the Addison Mini-Grant to present “Alma, Corazon y Ritmo” – a compilation of folkloric and social dances from Afro-Indo-Ibero America presented in schools, community sites and at the Boulder Public Library . In 1997 she was the recipient of the Boulder County Ninth Annual Multicultural Award for the Arts. Carmen travels frequently to Latin America to research dance. She teaches at Bolder Moves, The University of Colorado Recreation Center and at various schools and universities in the Boulder area.