It's an abandoned place, where abandoned people meet. They come wearing half underwear, half office clothes. They are trying to recreate the routines of their former lives—their work, their culture, their food, their speech, their dancing. They are being watched. They are speaking out on the microphone—where they become stars, where they reveal secrets, maybe sing a song. They collide with each other in good ways, in bad ways. Sometimes they dance for themselves, sometimes they dance for the camera, for those who are watching. A large screen projects their intimate, violent, sorrowful movements.

Mixing contemporary dance, salsa, disco, Beethoven, pedestrian actions, masks, real-time video, real-time processed sound, speech, and pop music from Latin America and the US, Decadere takes its dancers through a whirlwind interdisciplinary performance. Amongst this oppressive collection of cameras, microphones, fast food, office chairs, and refuse, two American and two Latin American dancers find their cultures clashing on every level—their dancing, singing, language, food, posture, work habits, sex, even their dreams—and the results swing from comical to terrifying.

"The Cuban-born veteran choreographer of international stature combines wit, craft, and serious techno-smarts."
Lisa Kraus, The Philadelphia Inquirer

In short: dance of culture collision, unmatched halves, caught on camera, survival mode, intimate exhibitionism, fast food.

Marianela Boán is an internationally known choreographer and recognized as one of the most important artists of contemporary Cuban dance. A leader of the Hispanic American dance vanguard, her revolutionary style, Contaminated Dance, merges all the arts into dance performance.

Choreography Marianela Boán in collaboration with the performers Composer and Musician Jason Carr Costume Design Marianela Boán Performers Bethany Formica, Carolina del Hierro, Marcelo Rueda, Scott McPheeters

Post-show discussion moderated by Carolyn Merritt, anthropologist and dancer, Temple University, following the performance on September 16.

This show includes nudity.

To read blog articles about this show, click here.

Marianela Boan (choreographer) is an internationally known choreographer, recognized as one of the most important artists of contemporary Cuban dance. She is a leader of the Hispanic-American dance vanguard. Her revolutionary style “Contaminated Dance” merges all the arts in dance performance to produce an original form. Boán has worked in more than 40 countries and created more than 50 choreographies. She founded BoanDanz Action Company and Studio in Philadelphia in 2005. She is a recipient of a Rocky Award 2008, commissions and grants including from Cuban Artists Funds 2005, Painted Bride Arts Center, NPN 2006, Dance Advance 2007 and 2008, Independence Foundation 2008. She is a member of the International Dance Council (CID). The pieces created BoanDanz Action in Philadelphia have been performed in Dominican Republic, Colombia, Mexico, and New York.

Bethany Formica (performer) is a highly physical dancer and actress with a particular interest in partnering, humor, and collaboration between artists and non-artists alike. She is currently a performer with Megan Mazarick, Melanie Stewart Dance Theatre, Curt Haworth, Nichole Canuso Dance, and J. Ferron Hiat, and an adjunct professor at Rowan University. She graduated with a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 1994. Bethany received a 2008 Fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and a 2009 Rocky Award. In her spare time she is a wood turner.

Scott McPheeters' (performer) movement education began with gymnastics training from his toddler years until the age of thirteen. In his sophomore year at Dickinson College he began his dance training and switched majors from biology to dance/theater. Since graduating in 2005, Scott has performed with many local dance and theater artists. He works regularly with Nichole Canuso Dance Company, Kun-Yang Lin / Dancers, and Marianela Boán's BoanDanz Action. Scott has toured throughout the United States and has performed in Colombia, Dominican Republic, and Singapore. Scott is also a certified massage therapist and, in May of 2010, he founded Kudzu Bodywork.

Marcelo Rueda (performer) is cofounder and former artistic director of Danza Comun. For 2004–2006 he received Fulbright grants to study technique and choreography in New York and was invited to the Missa Brevis revival project by Jose Limon Dance Company. In 2007 he was selected by UNESCO as artist-in-residence to develop choreography in India. In New York he worked with Christopher Williams, Lawrence Goldhuber, and Geraldine Cardiel. His Philadelphia collaborators include Kathleen Hermesdorf, Sebastienne Mundheim, and Marianela Boán. He has danced in international festivals in Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, and India. Marcelo has taught dance professionally since 1998 to performers from universities and high schools. He recently completed his MFA at Temple University where he received the Rose Vernick Choreographic Achievement Award.

Carolina del Hierro (performer) is a native of Cali (¨The Heaven's Branch¨) in Colombia. She holds a BFA in anthropology from Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). She has trained extensively in dance, and in the United States has attended classes at Limón Institute and Movement Research in New York City. In Philadelphia she has worked with Marinaela Boán as a member of BoanDanzAction and with Willi Dorner in Bodies in Urban Spaces at last year’s Live Arts Festival. She loves teaching yoga and has also been a dance educator for children and young dancers. She has shown her work in Colombia, India, and the United States. She recently completed her MFA at Temple University.

Jason Carr (composer and musician) was born and raised in Detroit, and now lives in Philadelphia where he has been an active and integral element of the electronic music scene throughout the city since 2004. Affiliations include Inciting, Broketronica, and Rizumu. He is a pianist/keyboardist, composer, theorist, DJ and laptop performer. His influences include Motown, techno, hip hop, Western classical, jazz, and improvisational performance. His live performances imply many different modes within the dance music genre. He has shared the bill with artists from all over the globe, including Move D, Par Grindvik, Eats Tapes, Derek Plaslaiko, Geoff White, Terrence Dixon, Dietrich Schoenemann, Detroit’s Own DJ Surgeon, DJ Nehpets, David Last, Starkey, Po Po, and more.