Video

Bachata in Canada

Kimberly Ramos and Geovanny Ricardo By Spenser McRae

Video courtesy of Araguacu Latin Dance Company

Toronto-based Latin dance couple, Kimberly Ramos and Geovanny Ricardo, have established themselves as a powerful force in the Canadian bachata dance community. Recognized for their smooth, yet strong, energy and presence, the couple has gained national and international success through numerous avenues including competing, performing and instructing at a professional level.

Ramos and Ricardo direct Araguacu Latin Dance Company, which specializes in salsa and bachata, and are also organizers of Dame Tu Bachata, one of the largest bachata socials in North America. Their goal is to broaden the scope of the bachata dance community in Canada and expose Canadian dancers to the international bachata dance scene.

The dance partners were featured contributors in The Dance Current’s 2017 November/December issue where they highlighted bachata’s origins, evolution and eventual rise to popularity - particularly, its massive success in Canada. They attributed this success to a number of individuals and institutions such as Francisco Garcia (DJ Sisco), Aventura and iFreestyle Dance Company, along with the exposure provided by social media channels.

As bachata continues to develop through more frequent events and artists garnering attention in the global dance community, there is plenty of room for the form to flourish in Canada.

Posted June 26, 2018

Caribana is Our Stage

Themes of becoming, shaping from and returning to are central to Caribbean performance arts. As one of these art forms, Carnival is a nuanced performance art practice rooted in the cultural memory of the lives of Caribbean peoples throughout Canada and the diaspora. But whose story is told (or not told) and in what context? The telling or omission of stories can be traced to a lack of understanding of the complexity of the Caribbean and its Carnival – a performance tradition that is more than the mass commodification, sexuality and “loud music” we often associate it with.

Video

Phases of Dance: Lo Dice La Gente bachata Animated Short (2017) by Iveta Karpathyova

Phases of Dance: An Animated Short

Four months of production, with over 2100 individual drawings, culminates in three minutes of bachata technique expressed in animation. Phases of Dance by illustrator, animator, bachata dancer and instructor Iveta Karpathyova explores the movement potential of rotoscoping in documenting embodied knowledge.

Listing