Migguel Anggelo’s new dance-theater piece to open its wings in DC

According to transdisciplinary accomplishing artist Migguel Anggelo, Julie Andrews and Freddie Mercury have a whole lot in prevalent. In addition to their substantial, virtuosic, and theatrical voices, the two performers have lengthy served as inspiration for Anggelo’s imaginative observe. His most up-to-date piece, English with an Accent — premiering for one particular evening only on April 1 at GALA Hispanic Theatre — will be a hybrid theatrical encounter that blends dance, musical theater, and opera to convey to the tale of immigration to the United States. Anggelo himself immigrated to the U.S. from Venezuela, and he hopes that the piece will resonate with all those “from any immigration journey.”

English with an Accent tells the tale of Anggelo’s individual transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. In this semi-autobiographical tale, a new caterpillar arrives in New York Town, only to be mistaken for a lowly worm. This theatrical working experience will observe the caterpillar protagonist as he explores the metropolis and commences to question not only his individual identification but also the extremely premise of the “American Dream.” Starring Anggelo and 10 dancers, this piece interrogates what it is like to be queer, Latino, and an immigrant in the United States even though exploring the functionality of the “artist” in today’s culture.

Anggelo has often pressured the relevance of diaspora and ensemble. Many of the folks associated in the clearly show, from forged to imaginative staff, are immigrants or have some link to immigration. Anggelo thinks he and the ensemble are equivalent players: “It’s like me reflecting on them, and they are reflecting on me. So it is like a mirror.”

Out of the 260 dancers who auditioned to execute in English with an Accent, only 10 were being decided on for this clearly show, which has been rehearsing for the previous month in New York City. Anggelo is specifically fired up for audiences to witness Israeli choreographer and director Avihai Haham’s breathtaking movement as 11 bodies variety a person huge caterpillar, Tuce Yasak’s (from Turkey) dynamic lights, and Ryan Park’s eye-catching costumes.

The clearly show also consists of 13 news tunes by Anggelo’s longtime collaborator and new music director, Jaime Lozano. These string-dominant pieces ended up recorded by a live orchestra that involves a string quartet (violins, viola, cello), horns (trumpets, trombones, clarinet, saxophones), and a gospel choir for backup vocals. Anggelo and Lozano refer to the music as “organic tracks,” as quite a few of the parts use uncovered and sudden sounds that heighten the show’s theatricality.

For Jaime Lozano, producing English with an Accent was a “shared journey” and “open collaboration.” He emphasizes that both equally he and Migguel Anggelo are “immigrant artists pursuing our desires, trying to come across a property in a new area.” According to Lozano, English with an Accent is the fruits of two yrs truly worth of “writing music together, staying in the room, throwing ideas all-around, imagining about new melodies, and obtaining the proper way to notify this story” and “speak from our hearts,” which has only served to strengthen their bond and friendship. 

Each time Migguel Anggelo makes a new piece, he imagines himself in the place of the viewers. What would a person coming to the theater like to see on phase? For this function, which initially commenced as an strategy for a music album, Anggelo requested himself a different similarly significant question: How can English with an Accent tell the story of immigration in a way that it hasn’t been informed prior to?

Anggelo received his U.S. citizenship in 2020 whilst the entire world was in quarantine. He stresses that the pandemic introduced him “something positive and pleasant,” and he used his newfound no cost time to visualize what it would glance like to bring his budding thought about immigration to the phase as an alternative of to the creation studio. A metaphor held turning all around in Anggelo’s mind — one particular that in contrast immigration to insect metamorphosis. For Anggelo, the comparison is all much too distinct.

“People get so frightened about worms,” Anggelo says. But what some men and women see as “worms” can in actuality be larvae that endure a gorgeous transformation from caterpillar to butterfly. This is the inspiration powering English with an Accent, but the journey that received Anggelo to this point most likely starts off as he was expanding up and singing opera to his cows on his Venezuelan farm. 

Anggelo’s father was a mechanic and a chef. When his dad was repairing cars and trucks or cooking, he would normally play Pavarotti. The young Anggelo also grew up listening to Freddie Mercury and viewing The Audio of Tunes, where he fell in enjoy with Julie Andrews. Anggelo refers to Andrews in particular as his vocal “mentor” to whom he owes his illustrious significant notes. Imitating and emulating the stylings of these artists, Anggelo trained himself to sing for an audience that couldn’t communicate back: the animals on the farm where by he grew up. But this instruction proved thriving: as a teenager in Venezuela, Anggelo landed gigs on the stage and on television. 

Finally, on the other hand, Anggelo still left his property to travel to Germany. Strapped for funds and seeking to keep on backpacking in the country, Anggelo took to busking in the streets. It was there that he met a college student from the Conservatory of Audio in Cologne who encouraged him to audition. Anggelo was admitted to the conservatory with a personal scholarship, and there he educated as a countertenor, a scarce voice style sung by male-recognized singers who sing in a selection related to a classical mezzo-soprano. On a whim, Anggelo auditioned for the Latin American tour of Fame the musical. He landed a major function and stayed with the tour for around 4 years.

Throughout his numerous many years as a performer, Anggelo has lived in the United States, Germany, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Colombia, and Argentina. By means of his travels, he obtained to know the intersecting issues of politics, immigration, and the arts very properly. Though in Argentina, Anggelo recognized issues with political corruption. “Corruption follows me,” Anggelo quips. So he returned to Venezuela just as Hugo Chávez was coming into power. This growing unlivable political climate — which Anggelo notes is tricky for artists, specially queer artists, to prosper in — prompted him to emigrate forever to the United States, at first on an artist visa. Anggelo has been living in the U.S. for the previous 17 decades.

Operating in a garments retailer in Miami, Anggelo encountered David Stark, an event planner, and the two grew to become inventive partners. Both of those moved to New York Town to additional their careers and make new transdisciplinary items. Stark in distinct has been instrumental in finding English with an Accent off the floor. In addition to its premiere in Washington, DC, the present is set to be executed at Lincoln Center in the near potential. Anggelo also hopes to deliver the get the job done to Miami and the city’s massive Venezuelan populace.

The context of place is a central narrative of the present. A single song in certain, Anggelo notes, will be controversial offered that the entire world premiere of the piece is set to consider put in Washington, DC. The tale of immigration is not often as wonderful as the metamorphosis metaphor implies, and this song alludes to the earlier U.S. presidential administration and its stance on immigration. And even though Anggelo has not had the chance to be a repeated visitor to the DMV, he expresses not only his fondness for the space (he enjoys Annapolis) but also how significant it is that his piece can make a political statement suitable below at the seat of the United States government.

In addition, Anggelo simply cannot support but locate ways in which his piece relates to the war Russia is raging on Ukraine and what can materialize to a country just simply because “a man or woman would like much more power.” Anggelo stresses that democracy, even in the United States, is extremely fragile and that his piece speaks to that. “It’s about poetry,” Anggelo says. “It’s about racism. Discrimination. How you combat so significantly about your desires. And how anytime it seems like negative items are going to take place, they are never ever gonna earn.” 

According to Anggelo, English with an Accent illustrates that in the conclusion, “love is normally the real truth.”

English with an Accent is getting introduced for one particular night time only on Friday, April 1, 2022, at 8 p.m. at GALA Hispanic Theatre, 3333 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, built possible with commissioning support from the Cultural Arts Centre at Montgomery College. Tickets are $40 each and every (common admission) and are available through Washington Carrying out Arts and GALA Hispanic Theatre.

GALA Theatre is located a person block from the Columbia Heights Metro station. Parking is out there at a $4 discounted rate (with validation of the parking ticket at the theatre lobby) at the Large garage with an entrance on Park Highway NW.

COVID Safety: GALA Hispanic Theatre requires all patrons to use a mask at all occasions, and patrons ages 5 and up to clearly show evidence of vaccination or new negative COVID exam (taken inside of 72 several hours prior to showtime) to be admitted to the theater. For a lot more details about the security safeguards executed to secure the wellness of patrons, artists, workers, students, and volunteers, click on in this article.

CREDITS
Conceived by Migguel Anggelo
Music and Lyrics by Migguel Anggelo and Jaime Lozano
Musical Direction and Preparations by Jaime Lozano
Directed, Choreographed, and Created by Avihai Haham
Affiliate Way and Choreography: Jakob Karr
Costume Structure: Ryan Park
Lighting Style and design: Tuce Yasak
Stage Supervisor: Thomas Dieter
Government Creative Producer and Production Design: David Stark
Dancers:
Orla Baxendale
Reed Tankersley
Mathilde Guerrero
Nathaniel Hunt
Kody Jauron
Jordan Lombardi
Daisia Pulzz
Maia Schechter
Shota Sekiguchi
Ian Spring

SEE ALSO: A Venezuelan American’s ‘English with an Accent’ to perform GALA April 1 (information story)