Company Rep Class
Feb
1
3:30 PM15:30

Company Rep Class

  • Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This monthly open class centers excerpts from Agua Furiosa, a powerful former company work by CONTRA-TIEMPO that challenges audiences to confront the realities of race in America. Inspired by Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Oya - the Afro-Cuban deity of wind and storms - the work is rooted in the company’s unapologetic Afro-Latin Diaspora movement language. Led by artistic director and choreographer Ana María Alvarez, this class invites participants to learn repertoire excerpts while exploring the cultural, political, and embodied context behind the choreography. Through fierce physicality, call and response, and collective reflection, participants are invited to move the archive and locate themselves within an ongoing conversation about race, power, and transformation. Open to all levels and backgrounds.

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Company Rep class
Mar
13
5:30 PM17:30

Company Rep class

  • Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This monthly open class centers excerpts from Brackish Water, a former company work by CONTRA-TIEMPO commissioned in 2008 by New Dance at Saint Joseph Ballet. Set on the men of the company, Brackish Water is a fierce exploration of physicality, strength, and vulnerability, interrogating the intersections and contradictions of manhood, survival, and community within the context of war. Through explosive movement, partnering, lifts, and falls, the choreography embodies tension, resilience, and collective struggle. In this class, participants will learn repertoire excerpts while engaging the embodied and political questions held in the work—invited to move the archive and reflect on how bodies carry histories of conflict, care, and solidarity. Open to all levels and backgrounds.

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Company Rep Class
Apr
26
3:30 PM15:30

Company Rep Class

  • Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This monthly open class centers excerpts from I Dream America, a former company work by CONTRA-TIEMPO that explores the tensions, solidarities, and shared histories between Black and Latino communities. This movement opera engages themes of immigration, Hurricane Katrina, compassion, and peace—offering a layered critique of contemporary life and injustice. Originally debuted in Los Angeles and presented nationally and internationally, including at Festival Internacional de Teatro de Los Ángeles, the work holds deep political and emotional resonance. In this class, participants will learn repertoire excerpts while unpacking the social, historical, and embodied questions within the choreography—invited to move the archive and reflect on belonging, survival, and collective liberation. Open to all levels and backgrounds.

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Open Company Class w/ Ana Maria
Nov
21
5:30 PM17:30

Open Company Class w/ Ana Maria

  • Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Experience the energy of CONTRA-TIEMPO in our monthly classes, led by company members. Dive into Afro-Latin and contemporary dance forms, open to all levels, and connect with our vibrant dance community.

Join us for Ancestral Technologies of Resistance, a movement practice that invites you to liberate, awaken, and embody the spirit of protest through dance.

Part of the nationwide creative campaign, “Fall of Freedom is an urgent reminder that our stories and our art are not luxuries, but essential tools of resistance,” said Lynn Nottage. “When we gather in theaters and public spaces, we are affirming our humanity and our right to imagine a more just future.”

“As artists, we cannot be silent in the face of fascism — our art is our power, and Fall of Freedom gives us the space to express ourselves together,” said Dread Scott.

As Ana Maria Alvarez shared: “I would love to teach ancestral technologies of resistance! Folks can come move their bodies to liberate and enliven the spirit of protest and resistance.”

Come sweat, breathe, connect, and tap into the deep-rooted wisdom that lives in our bodies.
Whether you're a long-time mover or stepping into class for the first time — YOU are welcome here.

Register here!
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Arts Administrators of Color 2025 Annual Convening
Nov
9
9:30 AM09:30

Arts Administrators of Color 2025 Annual Convening

this interactive activation invites participants to move together in community, exploring ancestral technologies of joy, call-and-response dance traditions, and somatic practices that restore and resource us. Whether opting into high-energy group dance or reflective bodywork, the session offers inclusive options for all bodies and states of being—reminding us that our bodies matter, that rest is resistance, and that moving together is a powerful practice of repair and resilience.

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Open Company Class w/ Ruby
Oct
10
5:30 PM17:30

Open Company Class w/ Ruby

  • Nate Holden Performing Arts Center (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Experience the energy of CONTRA-TIEMPO in our monthly classes, led by company members. Dive into Afro-Latin and contemporary dance forms, open to all levels, and connect with our vibrant dance community.

“Breaking taught me this…” with Ruby!

Breaking makes us confront our resilience, our creativity, and how we show up in community. Let’s get down together!

Register here!
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Zona Libre
Sep
14
3:00 PM15:00

Zona Libre

Join CONTRA-TIEMPO for a FREE public event! The day will include free legal services, family programming, food, a song writing workshop with Martha Gonzalez, conversations, musical performances curated by Grand Performances with Rubén Albarrán and Making Movies and others, and more.

Dance Workshop with CONTRA-TIEMPO: Moving Fear Into Joy - A joyous community dance jam led by CONTRA-TIEMPO activist dance theater for participants of all ages and skill levels. Dancers will lead participants through Afro-Latine ancestral movement technologies such as salsa, rumba, samba, and hip-hop grooves, embodying joy as a tool to build community and restore hope.

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Sep
2
9:30 AM09:30

Movement for the Movement: Arts + Activism Workshop in South LA

Movement for the Movement: Arts + Activism Workshop in South LA

CONTRA-TIEMPO in partnership with Community Coalition will share through embodied experience - how artists and oganizers collaborate & build lasting community impact. through movement-based activities, dialogue, and storytelling, you’ll learn strategies for:

  • Building authentic partnerships across sectors

  • Engaging communities through creative pratice

  • Using the arts as a catlyst for social change

  • Set in the heart of South Los Angeles, you’ll meet the artists and organizers who are behind-the-scenes, hear their stories, and witness how the arts can fuel social movements and strengthen community bonds. Along the way, you’ll see a part of Los Angeles that’s often overlooked but essential to understanding the city’s dynamic cultural lansdscape.

Movement for the Movement is open to the public and located at the CoCo headquarters in South Los Angeles.

You’ll leave feeling inspired and equipped with practical tools, fresh perspectives, and real-world examples you can bring back to your organization, your community and your audiences.

Register here
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Erin Cooney's "AIRE LIBRE" film premiere
Mar
29
6:00 PM18:00

Erin Cooney's "AIRE LIBRE" film premiere

Erin Cooney’s Aire Libre is a dance-based video installation that examines air and soil pollution in Los Angeles County and its disproportionate effect on lower-income communities of color living amidst the heavy industry and infrastructure that underpin our capitalist, fossil-fuel-based economy. Join us for the premiere featuring special performances by the collaborating artists!

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"Aire Libre" at Torrance Art Museum
Mar
29
to May 24

"Aire Libre" at Torrance Art Museum

  • Torrance Art Museum (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Visit Torrance Art Museum today to watch Aire Libre, a dance-based video installation that examines toxic air and soil pollution in Los Angeles County and its disproportionate effect on lower-income communities of color living amid the heavy industry, infrastructure, and polluting facilities that underpin our capitalist, fossil-fuel-based economy.

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Dance DTLA: Special Edition
Mar
28
7:00 PM19:00

Dance DTLA: Special Edition

Join us March 28th at 7pm and 8:30pm at the Walt Disney Concert Hall! This is a FREE, one-night-only dance party is an open invitation to all Angelenos to connect with one another through the universal language of dance and music. Follow along with instructors Jannet Galdamez, Jasmine Stanley, and Amainary Contreras

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CT + CPC : Bonding and Belonging Workshop Series
Mar
21
to May 10

CT + CPC : Bonding and Belonging Workshop Series

  • Boyle Heights City Hall (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Dancing Home- with CPC, CONTRA-TIEMPO, and RESPONSIVE BODY

‘roots of loving us’ related workshops

We want to learn ways to re-build trust and connection with one another creating our own ‘communities of care and villages of love’.  We will get together in Spring 2025 over 11 workshops to build skills and to practice using our body, voices, movement, and collective power to expand justice, equity, and housing for all of us.

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CONTRA-TIEMPO is a 501(C)3 non-profit arts organization. Your donations are tax-deductible. (TAX ID#20-5477825)