Imperial Silence: Una Ópera Muerta

Sunday, September 16, 2012
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM

The sixteenth MCA Stage season opens with John Jota Leaños' daring multimedia music and dance work. Cultural taboos around silence, death, and dissent are explored through a performance that fuses dark, humored animation with Mexican neo-folkloric dance, Mariachi, hip-hop, bossa nova, and blues. The work is created by San Francisco-based animated film artist and director John Jota Leaños along with Chicago-based choreographer Joel Valentín-Martínez; New Mexico-basedDJ/composer Cristóbal Martinez; and the Tucson-based Mariachi ensemble Los Cuatro Vientos. The performances are presented by MCA Stage through September 16, 2012.

In conjunction with the performance, the MCA is exhibiting a customized 1968 Chevy Impala, El Muertorider, on the MCA Plaza from August 31 to September 16. The lowrider, designed by artist Artemio Rodríguez and Leaños, pays homage to the history of cruising and lowriding in California. In the tradition of the Day of the Dead celebration, the paintings commemorate victims of Hurricane Katrina and lives lost in war.

Leaños is known for his work as a social critic as well as his multidisciplinary art. For Imperial Silence, he involved dozens of artists, writers, and community members for this reimagining of historical and current events. The performance is conceived as an opera in four acts that feature live music and dance with video animations.

Full schedule online.

Website: http://www.mcachicago.org/performances/now/all/2012/750

Event type: Theatre - Local

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