FREE MOVEMENT, CREATIVITY, AND PERFORMANCE WORKSHOP AT EL SALON THEATRE
Saturday, June 28th 2025 from 10am to 12pm
Presented by PORTAL
Facilitators and co-creators: Jessica Renee Humphrey, Miroslava Wilson, and Briseida López
El Salón Theatre – 114 W Hall Ave, San Ysidro CA 92173
Parking – All parking at El Salón Theatre is for residents only. We ask that all attendees use available street parking, as well as encourage the use of public transit – the nearest Trolley station is Beyer Blvd.
Synopsis:
Through the joining of our hands as an ancestral and essential gesture, the relationship between leadership and followership, and the idea that borders exist in the tension between their sides and the body that crosses them. Amá becomes an invitation to let ourselves dance, to soften the effort, and to remember that, in essence, we are water.
10:00 AM
Open Portal
Interactive workshop open to the community
Duration: 1 hour
Audience: Open to anyone interested in movement research, anyone interested in exploring movement, with or without prior experience.
11:00 AM
Amá – Work in progress presentation
Credits:
Creators, performers, and co-facilitators of Portal:
Jessica Renee Humphrey, Miroslava Wilson, and Briseida López
Assistance (as ‘sister’): Gizeh Muñiz
Music: Various
Photography: Alex Chiu
Video recording: Ron Humphrey
Special thanks: San Diego State University, California, National Endowment of the Arts
Social media: @briseidalopez @jesshumphrey @miroslavawilson
About Portal:
Portal emerges from the convergence of three elements: the US-Mexico border, a binational cast of dancers (aged 29-54, with a combined collaboration of at least 50 years), and their somatic and contemplative practices. It is a study in contrasts and intersections, embodied through crossfades: a space-time where moving bodies are dynamic enough to simultaneously contain binaries (borders) and continuums (also borders) within a single development.
Translations between Spanish and English shape the dance and reveal the complexities of identities and labels such as Hispanic, Latina/o/x, Latinae, White, and American. Over the past 3.5 years of practice, both virtual and in-person, led from within by Jess Humphrey, the cast has worked with techniques from Body-Mind Centering, BM Movement, contact improvisation, Authentic Movement, and the disruptive questions of dance artist Deborah Hay to reimagine both physical and metaphorical boundaries.
«Portal» has also come to represent the dialogue between the conscious and unconscious minds, a fertile ground for healing and transformation within the dance-making process. After multiple performances of short pieces, one full-length work, two academic presentations, and six workshops, Humphrey, Briseida López, and Miroslava Wilson continue to co-facilitate Portal’s evolution into a liminal space. It’s not exactly a dance company, but it does have a more defined leadership than most collectives. The group is held together by shared values of care, emergence, and sustainability.
All the artists involved are committed to building structures for experimental dance creation and somatic dance education in the San Diego-Tijuana border region. Within the group, there are teacher-student and mentoring relationships, but intergenerational transmission is bidirectional, promoting cultural circulation, dynamic and healthy hierarchies, respect for tradition, and openness to innovation.