Boca Tuya is a contemporary dance company based in New York City. It’s led by award-winning Puerto Rican choreographer Omar Román de Jesús. 🇵🇷
Like other great Latin artists Omar Román’s work is filled with el Lamento Boliviano (the Bolivian lament). It’s a cry for justice, the same opportunity that everyone else gets, and to be accepted as you are, without being forced to try and be someone else.
Boca Tuya in New York City
New York Puerto Rican Contemporary Dance
Boca Tuya, led by Omar Román de Jesús, performs three contemporary dances for the Harkness Dance Center’s 90th Anniversary: “Caress them in a way that hurts a little” about love, “Like those playground kids at midnight” about individuality, and “Los Perros del Barrio Colosal;” in Buttenwieser Hall at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan’s Upper East Side; on Thursday-Friday, November 14-15, 2024, at 7pm. From $40. 92ny.org 🇵🇷 ~ 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇨🇳 🇨🇷 🇮🇱 🇯🇵 🇲🇽
Dancers: Margaret Jones, Yusaku Komori, Ali Pfleger, Omar Román de Jesús, Rachel Secrest, Lieana Sherry, Ian Spring, Marco Vega, Santiago Villarreal, Nat Wilson. Lighting design by Ben Rawson; Costume design by Omar Román de Jesús; Costume alterations by Anna Alisa Belous
This is the program.
New York Premiere
Caress them in a way that hurts a little
Choreography by Omar Román de Jesús
Music by OKRAA “Ola De Luz”
To say “Caress them in a way that hurts a little” is to embrace the paradox of intimacy: the simultaneous desire for gentleness and the need for a touch that stirs the soul. It speaks to the complexity of human connection, where vulnerability and passion intersect. This work evokes a longing for a depth of sensation that transcends mere physicality, delving into the realms of emotional intimacy and the bittersweet ecstasy of love.
This is a dancer’s piece. Dancers have a unique physicality because they spend so much time touching each other, maintaining connection even when apart, while projecting emotions to an audience. To penetrate a dancer’s soul requires a fine balance between hard and soft. It’s the essential balancing act of life and love, just with a little more “gasolina” in it.
Like those playground kids at midnight
Choreography by Omar Román de Jesús
Music by Jesse Scheinin
In a world that often seeks to stifle individuality, Like Those Playground Kids at Midnight stands as a beacon of defiance, encouraging all to embrace their uniqueness and challenge the boundaries that confine them. It invites us to traverse the enigmatic landscapes of desire, identity, and aspiration, all while advocating for the liberation of the soul.
This is el Lamento Boliviano. It is midnight in the barrio where everyone is free. Some Americans think the barrio is a hard place, but I’d rather live in the barrio than anywhere else. Why? Because the barrio is alive. It’s unmasked. It’s real. And in the barrio, people take care of each other. El amor del barrio es amor verdadero.
Los Perros del Barrio Colosal
Choreography by Omar Román de Jesús
Music: Homenaje al Gran Lucho by Lucho Bermudez and Liebestraume, S541/R211: No. 3: Nocturne in A-Flat Mayor by Franz Liszt
Through the exaggerated mannerisms of daytime television, the 8 characters of Los Perros del Barrio Colosal take us on a wild romp through the challenges of creative decision making. Diving dramatically into the adventure of an imagination yet to be physicalized, they ask us to consider the far side of the moments when our ideas threaten, with disjointed urgency, to swallow us whole.
Daytime television is more important in the Latin world than it is in the United States. Many artists’ careers are launched by performing on Latin variety shows. Culturally, they are more important than movies. If you are not mainstream, performing on television can be challenging because the Latin world tends to be very conservative, and yet Latin audiences like it served hot.
New York City Venues
- 92nd Street Y ~ Performing at the 92nd Street Y’s Harkness Dance Center is a right of passage for modern and contemporary dance companies in New York City. Many famed dance companies got their start at the 92nd Street Y. If you can dance here, you can dance anywhere.
Boca Tuya
Boca Tuya (your mouth) is led by award-winning Puerto Rican choreographer Omar Román de Jesús. The Company looks like New York City with African American, French Canadian, Chinese, Costa Rican, Israeli, Japanese, Mexican, and Puerto Rican dancers. 🇺🇸 🇨🇦 🇨🇳 🇨🇷 🇮🇱 🇯🇵 🇲🇽 🇵🇷
Puerto Ricans are generally gifted with a natural poetry. Omar Román De Jesús turns his poetic gift into contemporary dance.
We first saw Omar Román’s choreography at Ballet Hispánico, then danced by Limón Dance Company for the 92nd Street Y’s 150th Anniversary celebration, and now Boca Tuya is the headliner. This is the emergence of another great young dance company who speaks to the issues of our time. Don’t you wish you saw Alvin Ailey’s first public performance at the 92nd Street Y in 1958? Here’s to a great future!
Information
Instagram @boca.tuya