ASU alumna makes her way back to the ASU Gammage stage for '¡azúcar!'
Ruby Morales and other CONTRA-TIEMPO cast members perform in “¡azúcar!” Photo by Tyrone Domingo
As the Los Angeles-based CONTRA-TIEMPO dance group prepares for its upcoming production “¡azúcar!” at ASU Gammage, for one member of the dance group it is also a nostalgic return to her home.
Born in Chicago, dancer and ASU alumna Ruby Morales moved to Arizona at 7 years old. She lived with her parents, who migrated from Mexico City, and her brother.
Growing up, Morales was constantly surrounded by music and dance, whether it was dance classes at a local studio or moving to cumbia music with family.
Morales was exposed to hip-hop and breakdancing as she grew older, and her passion only grew as she made her way to ASU, studying biology. However, Morales felt a sort of “intuition or ancestral knowledge” that inspired her to switch her major to dance, more specifically hip-hop.
During her time in ASU’s hip-hop program, Morales found that her classes gave her the help she needed to move into the next stages of her career.
“(ASU) developed me into an artist that is easy to work with, an artist that’s very creative, an artist that is willing to, you know, think outside the box,” Morales said.
She describes their show “¡azúcar!” as the “embodiment of what it means to heal and to heal ourselves as individuals.” The performance tackles this while also reckoning with the history of the United States. By telling this story through movement, Morales believes that the audience will be able to connect to the piece on an emotional level.
“There's something about movement that inspires empathy,” Morales said.
As a Latina and the daughter of two immigrants who were undocumented for a part of her life, performing gives her the opportunity to tell her story in a new light
“When that story is being told, I am re-humanizing myself and my people and my ancestors because the system has dehumanized me,” Morales said. “The system has dehumanized my story.”
Morales believes that bringing her story, along with the stories of other marginalized groups, to the stage through performance art can make a mark on the Arizona community and beyond.
“Dance and movement and the understanding of dance and movement can be a tool for changing the world,” Morales said. “We really do believe that.”
“¡azúcar!' show details
What: CONTRA-TIEMPO's "¡azúcar!" explores the complicated history of sugar — a plant that once aided in our healing, used as a way to sweeten medicinal concoctions, now extracted, refined and used as weaponized poison — and confronts the often-unspoken anti-Blackness in Latin American communities. Twenty artists and collaborators take audiences through a journey of Celia Cruz’s vibrations, unearthing history embedded in our bodies. Master artist and Afro-Cuban practitioner Kati Hernandez is a core collaborator and guest performer in the work.
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 16.
Where: ASU Gammage, Tempe campus.
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