ROSANNA TAVAREZ
Los Angeles, CA
Countertechnique Instructor, CalArts Faculty
Choreographer: deluge
Biography
Rosanna Tavarez received an MFA in Choreography from The Ohio State University and a BFA in Choreography from University of Michigan. She has a diverse background as a performer/entertainer and has had the honor of working with Marina Ambramovic, Ryan Heffington, Travis Payne, Tony Michaels and Rosanna Gamson/Worldwide. She also toured with N’SYNC and Jessica Simpson as one-fifth of the girl group Eden’s Crush and covered the Emmys, Grammys and Oscars in addition to hosting her own shows as a television personality for FOX, E!, TVGuide Network, and Telemundo/NBC.
As a dance educator, Tavarez is on faculty at CalArts Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance. She has taught as faculty and guest artist at numerous institutions including USC Kaufman School of Dance, University of Michigan, Loyola Marymount University, Scripps College, CalState Long Beach, Studio School, University of Southern Mississippi, Texas State University and Cal State LA.
She also creates her own work under the moniker LA DANSA DANSA. This work has been presented at The Broad Museum, ODC Theatre, REDCAT, Dance Camera West, The Odyssey, Breaking Ground Dance Festival, LA Department of Cultural Affair’s LA Dance Platform, Sarasota Contemporary Dance and Highways Performance Space.
Interview
Tell us a little more about your background. What moments shaped your dance and choreographic career?
Both of my parents are from the Dominican Republic and much of my work is inspired by my familial and ancestral culture, knowledge and history.
What's important to you in a creative process?
First, research is really important to me, in the form of reading, writing and collecting visual inspiration. Then, once I am in the studio, sharing the research and having dancers find individual connection to the material via their own mental and physical interpretations.
What was your "entry point" for this piece?
The climate crisis has been extremely worrisome and it has pulled me into researching stories and mythologies that center order, chaos, creation and destruction. The Taina Hurricane Goddess Guabancex and the Orisha Oya, who controls storms, rebirth and change, were entry points for this work. Both of these deities form a part of my cultural heritage and I have been very inspired by how their power and energy speak to the current response our planet is having to our exploitation of it.
From inside the piece: Michelle Parkhurst on dancing Rosanna's work
deluge feels like waves rushing through my body. There is an external force moving us and somehow we are still in control. It feels untamed, messy but also calm and beautiful.