SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon, a Filipinx American choreographer, interdisciplinary artist, and cultural producer of Bikol, Kapampangan, and Ilokano descent, wishes to extend a heartfelt invitation to you as well as the Bruin community members to attend her upcoming MFA capstone performances on Thursday April 27th at 8:00pm and Friday April 28th at 8:00pm in the Glorya Kaufman Dance Theater.
FILIPINX AMERICAN CHOREOGRAPHER SAMMAY PEÑAFLOR DIZON
PRESENTS behind the house is the garden RITUAL PERFORMANCE
– Artist, Activist, Cultural Producer and Founder of SAMMAY Productions Presents Capstone
Performance on Ancestral Memory, Resilience, and Intergenerational Healing –
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 27, 2023 — behind the house is the garden is the latest work
from Bay Area-bred choreographer SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon now living in Los Angeles, CA.
Dizon creates experimental performance work and produces catalyzing community-centered
gatherings for decolonizing and re-indigenizing. Dizon identifies as Filipinx American and
proudly recognizes their Bikol, Kapampangan, and Ilokano ancestry from what is colonially
known as the Philippines.
What most audiences might not know is that Dizon was actually born and raised in Los Angeles
– hailing from the city of Carson, CA. Dizon is enthralled to present their work at home base for
the very first time in their eight-year professional career. Never would they have thought their
homecoming would align with a Master of Fine Arts degree. Never did they think it was possible
to make work about home – at home.
In 2018, Dizon was the inaugural Featured Artist for the United States of Asian America Festival
presented by the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center in San Francisco. In 2021, Dizon was
commissioned by ODC Theater to create an evening-length work to close out the first ever State
of Play Festival. Dizon’s early screendance work has been featured through Los Angeles Asian
Pacific Film Festival (LAAPFF), CAAMFest, and San Francisco Dance Film Festival (SDFF).
Dizon is presently an MFA Candidate in the Choreographic Inquiry program at the UCLA
Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. Their research centers ritual performance as a
site of re-membering and reclamation for diasporic peoples. As a contemporary dancemaker
steeped in ancestral and spiritual tradition, Dizon is committed to finding pathways that bring the
seemingly opposite worlds closer to one another and in shared critical dialogue.
behind the house is the garden is an intimate retrospective ritual performance that prioritizes
ancestral memory and the resilience in our veins. The work honors the life of Dizon’s late
paternal grandmother Nanay Carling and her journey with Alzheimer’s disease.
behind the house is the garden will have two performances only at the Glorya Kaufman Dance
Theater on the UCLA campus. The performances are set to take place on Thursday, April 27th at
7:30pm and Friday, April 28th at 8:00pm. A reception in the Kaufman Courtyard will follow each
performance.
For more information, visit the Eventbrite page.
Eventbrite Registration Link: https://sammaymfa.eventbrite.com