In the heart of America, the language of the bodies follows a tortuous path. In a performance midway between dance and theatre, two Indigenous artists from Mexico, of Nahua and Mixteco descent, share with us their quest for identity by drawing on their cultures and the history of their ancestors.

They present scenes of their metamorphoses through time, revealing the upheavals and constantly driven by the hope of finding themselves.  Languages and myths propel this inevitable voyage that redraws borders and casts off the hides adopted both freely and forcibly. Revealing that which unites us and that which tears us away from each other and ourselves, Tlakentli considers the issue of identity in relation to migrations and explores the myths of our original elegance.

Artist Talkback
Thursday, January 23
Stay after the performance to meet the artists, ask questions, and learn about the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating the performance.  Free event with ticket to performance. 

Media Gallery

Artist Bios

Carlos Rivera

Co-choreographer and performer Carlos Rivera is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, rehearsal director and actor based in Toronto and originally from Mexico. He is of Mixteco indigenous descent. Carlos graduated from the Escuela de Danza de la Secretaria de Cultura where he studied Mexican Traditional Dance and later attended the Centro de InvestigaciЧn CoreogrЗfica– CICO where he graduated in Contemporary Dance and Choreography Studies. He has been an active artist of the Canadian stage scene for the last 16 years. He is an associate artist with Red Sky Performance, with whom he has performed and choreographed many of the company’s productions such as Raven Stole the Sun, and lately Mistatim, in which he also played the main character. With Red Sky, Carlos toured in China, Mongolia, Australia, USA, Mexico, Iceland, Switzerland and across Canada. He has attended on several occasions the Indigenous Dance Program at The Banff Centre. He is, since September 2016, enrolled in the Artist in Residence Training Program at National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal.

Leticia Vera

Director, co-choreographer and performer

A Mexican of Nahua descent, Leticia Vera specializes in dramaturgy of the body and movement, choreographic creation and contemporary performance. She holds a diploma in contemporary dance performance from the INBA’s (national institute of fine arts) Escuela Nacional de Danza ContemporЗnea in Mexico. A resident of MontrОal since 2006, she works there as an independent artist, performer, and choreographer.

As an active collaborator in the artistic initiatives of the Ondinnok theatre company since 2010, she has developed an original and authentic language. She has served as Ondinnok’s associate artistic director since the fall of 2016.

Hugo Monroy Nájera

Musician from Mexico, he completed his studies in composition and classical guitar in Mexico City. He has been devoting himself for fifteen years to traditional West African music (percussion and guitar) while exploring other worlds such as dance, children's theater and sacred songs inspired by Vedic texts. Since he arrived in Montreal in 2007, he has participated in various projects, groups and artistic companies. He was a musician accompanist for the school Africa en Mouvement and the school S'Temps of African Art for several years, as well as for the groups Bolokan (whose album Afo Gne, realized in 2011, was nominated to Juno in the category Best Music Album of the World), Tiriba and Lamogoya, with whom he has appeared on several stages and in various festivals.

He is currently actively involved in the Jaya Sangha group, whose interactive shows offer original contemporary compositions inspired by the spiritual traditions of India. Working in the company Motus Theater since 2013, he was a musician for the play Luna in the eyes of my father as well as musical designer, musician and comedian for the play The paths of dreams.