Two Latinx/e Performance Festivals Come to 51���� This Fall

Two Latinx/e Performance Festivals Come to 51�� This Fall

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre’s Second Annual Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival brings contemporary movement artists to the Dance Center for a concert, workshop, and community conversation Oct. 2–3.

INSÉKTA’s world premiere “MATADORA” opens the Dance Center’s 53rd season Sept. 24–26 as part of DESTINOS: 9th Chicago International Latino Theater Festival.

51�� hosts programming from DESTINOS and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre’s Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival this fall.

51�� will welcome two celebrations of Latinx/e performance to the Dance Center this fall.

The world premiere of presented Sept. 24–26, is part of the citywide . The following weekend, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre brings its expanded, two-day Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival to 51�� Oct. 2–3.

Together, the programs explore heritage, migration, identity, queerness, resilience, and joy through contemporary theatre and dance.

“MATADORA” Brings DESTINOS to 51��

Presented by the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance, brings Latine theatre artists from Chicago, across the United States, and Latin America to venues throughout the city Sept. 15–Oct. 11.

51��’s presentation, “MATADORA,” is a world premiere by INSÉKTA, the artistic practice of Dance alum Camila Rivero Pooley ’18. Co-produced by Synapse Arts, the work combines dance, physical theatre, film, and visual culture to examine suppressed Latine rage as a source of dignity, agency, and transformation.

Drawing on Latin American futurism, mythology, migration, body horror, and ancestral memory, “MATADORA” centers on an untamable creature confronting the forces that make monsters of women’s suffering.

The production opens the Dance Center’s 53rd season and features 51�� students and alums among its performers and creative team.

Cerqua Rivera Festival Expands to Two Days

Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre presents the in partnership with the Dance Center.

Launched in 2025, the festival provides a platform for contemporary, queer, and experimental work by Latinx/e movement artists. Its expanded two-day format includes a concert, workshop, post-show discussion, and community conversation.

The concert features Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre performing an excerpt from a new work by Omar Román De Jesús. Six artists and collectives selected through an open call will also perform: Anniela Huidobro Castro; Anise Fernández and Amanda Ramirez; Ruben Andrés Castillo Gomez; Mark Travis Rivera, The Professional Storyteller; Paula Sousa; and Victoria Villamil.

Their work engages with binational and multiracial identities, multigenerational experiences, immigrant narratives, identity politics, and gender expansiveness.

“The Latinx/e experience is a beautifully complex and layered mosaic of stories shaped by heritage, migration, identity, queerness, resilience, and joy,” says Wilfredo Rivera, associate professor of instruction and artistic director and CEO of Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre. “Through this festival, we uplift and celebrate the depth and diversity within our communities.”

Saturday’s programming includes a workshop and a community conversation led by David Herrera of Latinx Hispanic Dancers United.

Both festivals further the Dance Center’s role as a gathering place for performance that reflects Chicago’s communities and connects local audiences with broader cultural movements.

“Oftentimes, there’s a one-dimensional view of what Latine or Latinx work could be or should be,” says Jimmy Noriega, professor of theatre and dean of the Schools of Theatre and Dance and Audio and Music. “Both DESTINOS and the Chicago Latinx/e Contemporary Movement Festival are pushing against the boundaries of expectation without losing connection to heritage, instead pushing that connection forward in new and unconventional ways. We are excited to have both festivals at the Dance Center for the first time this fall.”

Theatre and Dance

51��

News