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Staff report

EPCC Dance program to stream films

Please join EPCC Pasos College of the Community and El Paso Community College Dance Department in screening “Elements,” a dance film choreographed and directed by Alexis Anderson-Chaves, EPCC Dance Faculty Coordinator, and “Staccare,” a dance film choreographed and directed by Daniel Garcia, BFA.

The screening of these two dance films will take place at 9:00am on Wednesday, April 21st and will be followed immediately by a live Q & A with the choreographers and dancers. Join the event using the following link.


Can’t make it to the Q & A? Your next opportunity to view “Staccare” will be at the Opine Dance Festival in Philadelphia, PA.


However, you can still join us for the YouTube premiere of “Elements” on Thursday, April 21st at 7:00pm and watch party on the El Paso Community College Dance YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChhd9-KzbwfWzBZPDbge0rg


Both the dance films of Mrs. Anderson-Chaves and Mr. Garcia reflect the beauty of El Paso, TX, using locations in Downtown El Paso, the Franklin Mountains, EPCC Valle Verde Campus, and other locations in the Chihuahuan Desert as the backdrop for these two site-specific dance for camera works.


EPCC Dance would like to acknowledge that the land we dance upon is the ancestral home of the Tampechoa Manso, Piro, and Tigua, Tiwa, and Isleta del Pueblo people, as well as the Mogollon Apache.


Elements, choreographed and directed by Alexis Anderson-Chaves, is a collaboration with the dancers in the EPCC Freshman Performance class, and with the site.


The dance was filmed on the EPCC Valle Verde campus and deals with the theme of climate change and the elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air.


Alexis Anderson-Chaves, a Corpus Christi native, received her BFA and MF in Dance from Sam Houston State University.



She was a company member with Urban Souls Dance Company for five seasons. Anderson-Chaves has performed repertory from NobleMotion Dance Company, Von Ussar Dance Company, Frankfurt Ballet, Batsheva Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company and Bare Dance Company, at such venues as Jacobs Pillow in Lee, MA and the Alvin Ailey Theater in New York, NY.


Alexis is the Faculty Coordinator for Dance at El Paso Community College.


Staccare, choreographed and directed by Daniel Garcia, takes its name from the Italian word meaning “detached.” Staccare started as a feeling and self-exploration at beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic while being in a stay-at-home order in Austin, TX.


The dance expresses the emotions of artists trying to find light at the end of the tunnel and inspiration and beauty from dark places.


Daniel Garcia is a Mexican American choreographer originally from El Paso, Texas, he received a BFA in Performance & Choreography from Texas State University.


Garcia attended El Paso Community College and The University of Texas at El Paso, where he was part of Sun Desert Dancer’s City Company, UTEP Desert Dance, and president of Canvas Dance.


His work has been showcased regionally, nationally and Internationally at the Reel East Texas Film Festival, Opine Dance Festival, the American College Dance Association, Texas State Art in the Park, Instituto de Arquitectura, Diseño y Arte Cd. Juarez Chihuahua, the Universidad Autonomá de Chihuahua, Mexico, as well as the COCO Dance Festival in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and Tobago, and Contact Dance International Film festival in Toronto, Ontario.


The Pasos Program brings together motivated educators and a community that view our location, population, and stories as assets to student success. Pasos is dedicated to advancing our US/Mexico border community through family engagement, equity in the classroom, inclusion, and social justice.


The El Paso Community College Associate of Arts in Dance encompasses the first two years of a 4-year Bachelor’s degree in Dance.


The Dance program exposes students to a well-rounded curriculum of ballet, modern, ballroom, and jazz dance techniques.


It also introduces students to skills in performance, composition, choreography, concert production, and improvisation as well as cultural, historical, and aesthetic aspects of dance to prepare students for advanced studies and professional careers.

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