‘Dance accesses humanity’: A profile on Stephanie García
By Allison Shafter
As the White House issues executive orders to “protect the American people against invasion,” Mexican artist Stephanie García turns to dance to find moments of peace and sanity, she said.
García, now based in Salt Lake City, has spent more than two decades blending dance with other performing and visual arts. She will launch Corriente Alterna next month, a project celebrating Mexican, Chicanx and Latinx artists from Mexico and the United States. The event, running April 10-20 in collaboration with PROArtes México and loveDANCEmore, comes at a critical time for representation, she said.
“There is a need to celebrate these makers,” García said of the event, which will showcase local and international dancers performing styles from folkloric to contemporary.
There are current efforts being made in the dance world to include more backgrounds and perspectives, she said, but there is less recognition of contributions from Mexican, Latinx and Chicanx artists. García’s organization PROArtes México helps to facilitate international exchange of art and artists between the United States and Mexico.
Corriente Alterna aids in the bridging of cultures in a time where these exchanges feel less supported, García said. According to thePew Research Center, the U.S. Hispanic population reached 62.1 million in 2020, yet in the art world, Hispanic and Latinx populations are underrepresented. A recent study published by PLOS One in collaboration with scholars from Williams College and UCLA found that Hispanic and Latinx artists make up only 2.8% of exhibits in United States’ art museums.
García said that underrepresentation was the impetus for PROArtes México, which she cofounded in 2018. Beyond organizing exchanges of visual and performing art, PROArtes México connects artists to their local communities and is committed to the promotion of contemporary Mexican art.
García said that PROArtes works to counter eurocentrism still present in the art world.
“We still have these big structures [arts organizations] that I grew up admiring, but I question more and more how they preserved the colonial view of the arts,” she said.
Dance plays a vital role in the organization’s mission and García’s story, she said. As co-director of Punto De Inflexión, a company featuring Mexican and American dancers, García said dance is a major subset of PROArtes México. She describes dance as a physical practice, but a discipline that transcends athletics as an expression of “humanity” that ties global culture with strength and agility.
“Dance is a means of expression,” García said.
Class field trip
García grew up in Mexico City in a working-class family, she said, attending private elementary and middle schools through scholarship.
In second grade, García recalled her school going on a field trip to a local theater. It was a small space, with low ceilings and an up-close view of the performers. Students watched a native Yaqui dance where the male soloist impersonates a deer.
“It was so powerful,” García said.
Inspired by the performance, García got more involved in dance. When it came time to choose where to attend high school, her mom found a brochure about the Fine Arts Institute and encouraged García to audition.
About 300 people attended the national open call for the program, García recalled. She was one of the 14 dancers selected for the program in 2004. The curriculum was designed to produce industry-leading professional dancers.
Dancers were required to attend rehearsal six days a week, offering little room for anything else. While sports like soccer and softball have off seasons, dance demands strict commitment year-round, she said.
“You have to quit everything, your personal life, your family life, or you will not be in the choreography,” García said, who at 15 years old, was one of the youngest in the program.
Overuse injuries and extreme body fatigue make it difficult for dancers to push through weeks and weeks of full-day class and rehearsals.
“Burnout was a struggle,” García said.
After graduating the program, García began to choreograph and present work in Mexico City, finding that choreography offered an outlet to navigate internal and external challenges.
“It allowed me to relieve some of the tension inside me,” she said.
‘Two main issues’
García began touring with her dance company in the United States in 2006. A pivotal moment came during her company’s performance at Living Arts Tulsa in Oklahoma, where she met her husband Peter Hay at an arts event. They coordinated an international exhibition at the Oklahoma gallery and quickly discovered the complexities involved, she said.
“There are two main issues: money and migration policies,” García said.
Low funding for the arts limits opportunities for creation, she said, making it difficult for international artists to profit from their work in the United States, further complicating exchange efforts. That’s when García and Hay had an idea.
“We wanted to create an organization to facilitate that, and that is how PROArtes México was born,” she said.
During the 2020 pandemic, when the couple was living in Mexico City, Hay encouraged García to attend the MFA Dance program at the University of Utah. The program is well regarded in the dance industry, offers a stipend for graduate students and has waived tuition.
Through both her work during the MFA program, and following her graduation in 2023, García has been praised by her peers for her talent and character.
Kellie St. Pierre, a dancer, choreographer and graduate of the MFA program, praised García.
“She has set a high example of how we can use art in visceral connection,” she said.
Daniel Clifton, a multidisciplinary artist and professor at the University of Utah, said he finds similar excellence in García’s work, acknowledging her use of athleticism.
“There is a real connection to exhaustion [in her choreography] and how feeling can relate to that,” he said.
Floorwork or movements performed in close proximity to the ground often utilizing arm strength and leg coordination frequent García’s classes and choreography. Tempo changes and full bodied movement keep audiences and students eyes’ glued to her work.
Corriente Alterna will demonstrate García’s choreographic skill through her work in collaboration with Hay, “From the Borderlands to the Roots”, that addresses Latinx and immigrant experiences.
“International exchange is about knowing otherness,” García said. “It is not about traveling to another city to see how wonderful and beautiful the cities and architecture are. The architecture wouldn’t be there if someone hadn't built them. We are talking about humans.”