I was thrilled that Tampa City Ballet chose the Palladium for its first foray across the bridge to St. Pete earlier this year. That show focused on historic Ybor City in the days when the cigar industry flourished.
This Friday at 8 p.m., Paula Nunez is bringing her young company back to the Palladium with a work built around the diaries of Frida Kahlo. The show is called If I Cry. For tickets and more information on the show you can follow this link to our box office.
Nunez, an acclaimed dancer and teacher, now on the faculty at the University of South Florida, has built a professional company with a growing repertoire of narrative based work. I spoke with Nunez earlier this week and she talked about using narrative stories to address contemporary themes and issues.
Nunez called Kahlo – “an artist ahead of her time.”
Kahlo’s struggles with severe injuries from a bus accident as a young woman and her often traumatic marriage spoke to Nunez about the struggles contemporary artists and their lives.
“We wanted to offer in insight into her difficult life and create images and movement that reflects on her reality -her broken body, her pain and anguish that she suffered during her life after the accident,” she said. “She gave us a template for today about how endurance is a way to cope with our daily problems.”
Having that narrative backdrop allowed Nunez to turn a story like Kahlo’s into something larger. Something that speaks to audiences and artists in the 21st century.
“I teach at the University of South Florida. I have a lot of young students and I see their struggles. If they have examples (like Frida) that can be impactful,” she said.
Paula Nunez
She started her company in 2012 so her students could have a track toward a career without leaving the community and as a place where older dancers could also find a home.
“It is beautiful because it’s coming from people seeing the importance of building something for the future,” she said. “Audiences can feel their passions around it. ”
I’m excited to have the company back at the Palladium and so is Nunez.
“We love performing at the Palladium and I love to bring the piece to a different space that works so well for us.”
If you love contemporary dance and enjoy some story along with the movement, please join me Friday night for the return of Tampa City Ballet and the performance of If I Cry.
And here’s a brief bio of Paula Nunez from the company’s website:
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Paula Nuñez trained at the Gustavo Franklin School. Nuñez is a former company member of the International Ballet of Caracas, Ballet Nuevo Mundo, and the Cleveland – San Jose Ballet.
Nuñez performed throughout the world at prestigious theaters in Spain, Italy, Germany, Greece, France, Russia, Romania, Austria, Hungary, China, Japan, Taiwan, North, Central, and South America. Her work includes classical and neo-classical styles of renowned choreographers such as, Balanchine, Choo San Goh, Alvin Ailey, Agnes de Mille, Terry Orr, Judith Jamison, Jhon Butler, Elisa Monte, Carlos Orta, Dennis Nahat, Ulysses Dove, Vicente Nebrada, Hans Van Mannen, Hector Zaraspe, Flemming Flindt, and Margo Sappington.
Nuñez has participated in numerous festivals such as Spoleto in Italy, Cervantino in Mexico, and Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. She has shared the stage with esteemed ballet artists such as Cynthia Gregory, Rudolf Nureyev, Fernando Bujones, and Julio Boca.
In 1993, Nuñez became Artistic Director of “Ballet de las Americas”, a successful professional ballet school in Venezuela and has remained dedicated to teaching students of all ages. Many of Nuñez’s former students have attained professional positions in dance companies throughout the world. Nunez was appointed as Artistic Director of the Juvenil Ballet Las Americas in Venezuela for her outstanding work developing young dancers.
In 2002, Nuñez opened America’s Ballet School, in Tampa, Florida. In 2004, she became a member of the University of South Florida dance faculty, while continuing to develop contemporary and classical choreographies.
To the delight of Tampa audiences, Nuñez has staged full-length classical ballets that include Sleeping Beauty, Le Corsaire, La Fille Mal Gardeé, Coppelia, Don Quixote, and Paquita.
Nuñez has received “Outstanding Teacher, Choreographer, and Coach” awards from the Youth America Grand Prix (YAGP), American Dance Competition and American Ballet Competition. America’s Ballet School has been awarded “Outstanding School” for five consecutive years at the YAGP regional semi-finals.
In 2012, Nuñez became Artistic Director of the non-profit Tampa City Ballet, dedicated to creating and presenting high-quality works of classical and contemporary ballet; also developing community involvement through outreach programs.
Tampa City Ballet in partnership with America’s Ballet serves the local community by providing scholarships, community engagement and training for children, as well as for committed pre-professional and professional dancers.
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