Suarez translated her journey from an artist to a mother into a choreographed stage performance of both spoken word and dance.
(courtesy of Cedarbough Saeji)
Raised in a bicultural household with a Venezuelan physician as a father who brought pictures of dead bodies found in swamps to the dinner table and a mother who got her master’s degree in statistics, Christine Suarez pursued an unanticipated career.
Now an owner of her own dance studio, SuarezDanceTheater, this UCLA alumna will present her most recent performance, “Mother.Fucker.” at the Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica this weekend.
Inspired by the birth of her son and the loss of her two-month-old nephew, the performance explores through spoken word and poetic dancing Suarez’s struggle with the transition from her identity as an artist and choreographer to her identity as a mother.
“There is a conception of motherhood to have a deep love but at the same time, there is a frustration of being who I am. “¦ Can I still work? Can I still be sexual? Who am I?” Suarez said. “At 35 years old you would think that I would have been ready but “¦ raising a baby is hard. “¦ I wanted to voice my story “¦ and allow other people to identify with me.”
Combining personal stories of her experiences as a mother and 50 other stories experienced by other mothers, Suarez shares her passions and fears of being both a mother and a dancer in her theater production.
“Her dancing completely reflects her personality,” said Cari Ann Shim Sham, a UCLA film alumna and Suarez’s friend. “It is straight from her head. No one else moves like her. “¦ It is quirky and honest and exciting and beautiful. “¦ It is everything she is.”
Suarez’s love for dance began in her backyard choreographing her own routines for her favorite musical, “Grease.” She said that it was in her childhood that she discovered the urge to vocalize her opinions.
“Growing up, I always liked moving, dancing and bossing people around,” Suarez said. “I always had this desire to be understood and heard. “¦ It was the driving force (for me) to be an artist.”
In 1998, she founded her own company called SuarezDanceTheater.
“No one came up to me and said, “˜You seem talented, here is some money.’ I had no money “¦ but I was going to do it anyway. It was tough but “¦ it was a time that I could afford to work (on the side) and take big risks with nothing to lose. “¦ I wanted to do what I liked,” Suarez said.
By 2006, Suarez said she got tired of running her own company and decided to go to graduate school to focus solely on her dancing. She auditioned and was accepted into UCLA. Although it was tough, Suarez said UCLA really helped her focus on her dance technique and expression.
“She is very honest about being both an artist and a mom “¦ and very conscious about finding that balance,” said Shelby Williams, a performer in Suarez’s theater production.
Outside of the theater, Suarez said she also likes to express herself in public. She reenacted different female orgasms in the Venice Cottages as a part of her performance “Wet Spots” and stripped naked in New York City as a part of a five-minute filmed performance titled “Powder.”
Though jarring, Suarez said these performances, like “Mother.Fucker.,” aim to express sentiments that she feels need to be commented on through her dance and sense of humor.
“I like the idea of the unexpected, working with unexpected people in unexpected places. “¦ Oftentimes dance is too serious and humor is a way to enter into a serious topic,” Suarez said.