DZUL MISSION & HISTORY

Dzul Dance fuses dance with aerial arts, contortion and acrobatics as a means to communicate indigenous pre-Hispanic and Mexican culture and create bridges between contemporary art and historical heritage. By transforming bodies into earthbound and airborne forces of nature Dzul breaks physical, cultural and political boundaries. This daring and unique company connects the ancient and the modern in order to illuminate the vast array of drama and beauty inherent to the natural world and the human condition.

Dzul Dance was created in 2003. Artistic Director Javier Dzul and his culturally diverse company of dancers and aerialists have been presented throughout New York and Mexico and in South America, Europe, Canada, Asia and the Virgin Islands garnering reviews along the way that hail Dzul’s “acrobatic wizardry” (Attitude: The Dancer’s Magazine) and his ability to turn his dancers of “remarkable elasticity” into “creatures of the air as well as of the earth” (The New York Times). His choreographies have been described as “electrifying” by Magazine.Art, “sophisticated and eloquent” by Attitude: The Dancers’ Magazine and “beautiful…extremely effective” by The New York Times.

Dzul Dance’s intense physicality and creative appeal have won them invitations nationally and internationally to perform at a variety of venues that include: the United Nations, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, El Museo del Barrio, Banff Centre for the Arts (Canada), Xcaret (Mexico), Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Saint Mark’s Church, Kaye Playhouse, Baruch Performing Arts Center, American Indian Community House, Dixon Place, Teatro Cancun (Mexico), Castillo Theatre and Reichold Center for the Arts (USVI). International festivals include; Mexico Now Festival (NYC), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Bard College Summerscape, Mazatlán Cultural Festival (Mexico), The Open Project (France), Festival de Vida y Muerte (Mexico), Festival Indigena de Puebla (Mexico), Gunvor Festival (Switzerland), , Festival Internacional del Centro Historico (Mexico), Festival del Arte Contemporaneo (Mexico), Muestra Internacional de Danza de Oaxaca (Mexico), Festival Santiago de Queretaro (Mexico), National Dance Week (NYC), Dancers’ Responding To AIDS (NYC), Festival Otonos Culturales en Merida (Mexico), Teatro IATI’s Performing Arts Marathon (NYC), Latin Choreographer’s Festival (NYC) and Performing the World.

Dzul has created performances for a number of corporations and production groups that include: NYC Big Events, Latin Grammy Week (NYC), Canadian International Bank, Conde Nast, Mexican Tourism Board, Pineda Covalin (Mexico), Whirl Inc. (Canada) and Em Polham (NYC/Korea).

The Company is also widely supported and promoted by several Hispanic and Mexican organizations including: United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce (Northeast chapter), Adelante: JPMorgan’s Hispanic/ Latino Employee Network, Mexican Board of Tourism, Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and Mano a Mano.

Dzul has collaborated with a variety of artists. Among them, Guatemalan composer and musician Sergio Reyes, Columbian singer/songwriter Lucia Pulido, photographers Tim Petersen, Rojelio Rodriguez and Acey Harper, internationally acclaimed vocalist Sussan Deyhim, sound/image artist Jacob Robinette and award winning filmmaker and human rights activist Rebecca Sommer.