"Ellas y Yo Mexicanas: Frida"

By Tristan Bruns from See Chicago Dance


"Silvita Diaz Brown’s Ellas y Yo Mexicanas: Frida” is a tribute to painter Frida Kahlo, with three dancers—Ileana Nadine Mauricio, Juan Enrique Irrizary and Brown—wearing long, flower-print shawls, skull earrings, carnations threaded through their hair and penciled-in, connected eyebrows that resemble Kahlo’s signature look. Each dancer takes a solo. They slither and twirl, trying to jump out of their own skin. Arms flap explosively! Spines bend like rubber. The costume is wonderfully transformative, at one time becoming the feathered fan of a peacock’s tail. The sultry soundtrack by local musicians Wiebe Ophorst and Marshall Greenhouse is a perfect complement to the piece. Live guitar accompaniment, only makes the piece better. Brown’s “Ellas y Yo Mexicanas: Frida” combines strong performances with vibrant colors to create the feeling that you are watching a Kahlo painting come to life!



Full review here 

"Visita a Nuestros Muertos"

By D'onminique Boyd from See Chicago Dance

"Visita a Nuestros Muertos" a multi-sensory journey transcends time to bring us closer to those we've lost. Brown emerges from a cloud of cigar smoke. Specifically, what I recall was the palpable energy that stretched through Diaz’ pointed feet and fingers as she connected to physical memories of her late mother. Tapping into her fountain of experience in acroyoga and lyrical dance, Brown captivated us with a solo, open-air vignette dedicated to her mother, who was the inspiration behind this project."    

Full review here

 

"Leyendas y Realidades"

By Brianna Alexis Heath from See Chicago Dance.

"The projections, that often mimic what the dancers are doing on stage, at times blur their bodies together into what becomes a beautiful mural of shapes and colors. This, paired with the how the dancers play with illusion—bending their bodies into shapes and pushing their bodies past what we believe is humanly possible—helps to further blur this line between reality and myth. At one moment, Brown seems to be levitating and circling in the air as Knowlton rotates her around on his feet. It’s not clear where her body begins or ends as she continues to pull herself through and dangle from his legs, the projections morphing with their bodies to create other shapes and images." "...it celebrates these women’s strength, resilience and place in Mexican history with underlying commentary on the way women—their bodies and voices—have been used to propel the agenda of colonialism. Like the controversial myths of Pocahontas and Sacagawea, the narratives of women who are praised for having sacrificed their lives working for peace between the colonizer and the colonized, connect to the modern discussion of who owns women’s bodies and labor." Full Review here.

"Leyendas y Realidades"

By Ayako Kato from Performance Journal

Silvita successfully conveys Mexican mythology, history and her heritage. Applying the strength of the Acro Yoga training, she elevated the mentally and physically challenging practice into her own art form, and the serene and careful movement execution by dancers even reminds us of the historical pyramids of the Sun and the Moon in Mexico. Her music collaborator Wiebe Dirk Ophorst also generously takes us into the journey through the ancient land of Mesoamerican cultures and the history of the Aztecs with the hints of contemporary sound essences freely combining electronics. Silvita has been accumulating her discipline step by step as those pyramids are built, and the strength and suspension themselves represent her own character of living through her life in the United States overlapped with the one of La Malinche. Witness and feel her magical craft of uniting all the ancient and contemporary elements with her peer resonating collaborators. We will feel hope. Full review here.

"Secretos, Conexiones y Revelaciones"

By Andrea Mikenas from Gozamos magazine

The pièce de résistance, however, and I doubt anyone in the almost-at-capacity audience would disagree, was the acroyoga performed by dancer and choreographer Silvita Diaz Brown and Christopher Knowlton. I have never seen acroyoga before, had never even heard the term before attending Braiding Rivers, but after seeing Diaz Brown and Knowlton perform it, I implore you: go see some acroyoga! A chorus of four women dressed in white performed movements in the back right corner of the stage with Knowlton as Diaz Brown performed the beginning of the story, which was enthralling, but once the pair got rolling, I don’t think a fire alarm would have caused the audience to move from their seats unless flames were licking at our feet. Knowlton was tossing Diaz Brown in the air with his feet at times, but he made it look so effortless that it wasn’t until after the show that we saw most of his kabuki-looking stage makeup had melted into droplets on his face. Full review here.

"Encuentros"

By Heather Schoering  from The Chicago Tribune

A yoga studio isn't the only place to experience what the ancient Indian discipline has to offer. One dance troupe uses the practice as an artistic performance tool. And these yogis fly. Choreographer, dancer and yoga instructor Silvita Diaz Brown will debut her performance in progress, "Encuentros" (Spanish for "encounters"), Tuesday at The Cliff Dwellers Club. The performance blends acrobatic yoga (a type of yoga that requires two people and combines gymnastics with traditional yoga) with contemporary dance, spoken word and live music. Full review here.