Hometown: I was born in Mexicali, Baja California Norte. I spent the first thirteen years of my life there, and then moved to Fresno, California for the next 12 years. My parents owned and operated a ranch in Mexicali where my siblings and I were all born. I was the youngest of twelve. By the time I was born, a lot of my family had immigrated to Fresno. I really think of Fresno more as my hometown, because it felt safer and less turbulent than my life in Mexicali.
Current City: Oakland, California
Attended an arts high school? I attended Roosevelt School of the Arts in Fresno, Ca.
College Degree: I received an AA in Dance from Fresno City College and a BA in Dance from California State University Fresno.
Graduate school and degree: I went to California State University Long Beach for my MFA in Dance, with a focus in Choreography. I began my graduate program when I was 25 years old and finished it when I was 30 years old.
How you pay the bills: I pay the bills by working full time at Saint Mary’s College, teaching a weekly class at Shawl- Anderson Dance Center, dancing for different local dance companies, and doing guest work for different colleges.
All of the dance hats you wear: I spend the majority of my time teaching, which has its own hat collection including: choreography, contact improvisation, set design, set construction, costume design, costume construction, modern technique, and lighting design, all of which I dabble in professionally. As a dancer, I have performed for several amazing choreographers in recent years. Some examples are: Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, and Mary Armentrout, to name a few. I am a choreographer, and I am in the process of establishing my own dance company, Rogelio Lopez & Dancers.
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In my early twenties, my dance life centered on my involvement with El Sol Dance Company, performing Mexican folkloric dances at parties and theater venues, mostly in Fresno, California. I was introduced to modern dance while attending Fresno City College. Modern dance quickly became an art form that felt therapeutic, safe and powerful, and a way for me to express myself. My early twenties, and the life I had lived prior, were times filled with adversity, and I was quick to become overpowered with uncontrollable anger. My family lived close to the proverbial “poverty line,” and I often helped my dad collect recyclables from other people’s trash cans and worked in the fields on the weekends, as ways to make money. I felt shame from doing this and held a sense of worthlessness. Dance allowed me to process all of these feelings, and helped me to begin to regain my self worth. I was able to express my feelings through movement, with the safety of abstraction, and began to let go, as if millimeter by millimeter, of some of the guilt, pain, shame, and anger I had. Dance set me on a path that lead out of this environment and in a way, saved my life. By my mid twenties I had followed this path to grad school in Long Beach, California, where for the first time I was living independently away from my family, and began to live a more open and honest life towards my sexuality. Through this time in school, which lasted up to my thirties, I met one of my biggest mentors and influences on dance and life, Keith Johnson, whom I was fortunate enough to dance for in original works throughout my schooling and eventually professionally.
After finishing grad school at age 30, I had the intention of pursuing a career in technical theater, which I liked and enjoyed, but also because I did not believe my dance technique was strong enough to land me a job in a dance company. However, the connections that I made in grad school helped me stay in dance. Through what seemed like a series of coincidences and chance, the strong bond I had with my friends and teachers at CSULB helped propel me into a college teaching career. By my mid thirties, I was teaching at two universities, Cerritos Community College and Loyola Marymount University; this was due in large part to people taking chances on me and letting me learn on the job. I believe that I was given these opportunities because of my strong work ethic, and a willingness to try anything, and less so because of talent and ability.
I was also pleasantly surprised to have had a professional dancing career, touring nationally and internationally with a few dance companies, including Keith Johnson and Dancers (whom I occasionally still dance for). During these years I was paving a professional dance life for myself, one that I never thought I would have, and I began to realize what I had to offer as a teacher and a dancer and a choreographer. Dance to me is not just an art form; it’s a survival kit. Movement allows me to abandon my body and mind for a while and find a sense of lightness and purity. Dancing lets me forget all the fear and ugliness that sometimes resides in my heart and that of others. So my teaching and practice comes from this place, and is about letting one’s self come through in movement with sincerity and authenticity.
In the midst of all these events I fell in love with my now husband Andrew Merrell. We moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, and my dance world grew wider. I secured full time employment at Saint Mary’s College of California, and taught at many other Bay Area colleges. I’ve had the privilege to dance for and learn from other local artists such as Joe Goode, Holly Johnston, Hope Mohr, Deborah Slater, Cathy Davalos, Mary Armentrout, Nina Haft, and Randee Paufve. I have also ventured into the start of a dream turned reality, of my own professional dance company, Rogelio Lopez and Dancers. My thirties were about constant, always shifting self-discovery and solidifying my place in dance.
I turned 40 on May 14, 2016, and I feel like I’m still at the beginning of my dance career. I hope to be brave enough to ask for help and to keep surrounding myself with kind human beings.
Rogelio Lopez dancing with Paufve Dance; photo by Tony Nguyen, courtesy of Paufve Dance
Major Influences:
Daniel L. Wheeler is an amazing lighting, costume, and set designer, and my very first instructor who inspired me to get involved in design. He taught me the importance of collaboration between the choreographer and designers. Also how design can support the choreography.
Debra Parola was the very first choreographer that I witnessed giving meaning to movement. It is because of her that I fell in love with modern dance and decided to major in dance.
Keith Johnson continues to influence the way I think about choreography, imagery, storytelling, and design. He is such an amazing artist, and every work that he does makes me want to go back to the studio and explore and rethink my choreographic choices.
Andrew Milhan (my mentor and lighting instructor) and Liz Carpenter (my costume design instructor) at Long Beach State University, gave me the technical skills and the inspiration to design, which has greatly deepened my own work.
Witnessing dancers like Nina Haft, Randee Paufve, and Mary Armentrout perform reminds me and inspires me about the bravery and beauty of being sincere and vulnerable on stage.
Working alongside all these wonderful artists has taught me the crucial importance of craftsmanship and detail in dance making. My parents taught me how to be respectful and work hard.
Empty Spaces Revisited; choreography by Rogelio Lopez
What is on your calendar for the rest of 2016? (teaching, performing, travel, commissions, etc.)
I will continue teaching at Saint Mary’s College in its MFA and BA programs and at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center. I am touring to Italy this summer to perform a site-specific work with Davalos Dance Company. This will be my first time in Europe, and I am excited and frightened! I will also be rehearsing and creating a new work for my company, Rogelio Lopez & Dancers.
Please describe your most current project and a little a bit about your choreographic process.
Currently I’m working on a new piece, “Potential Embrace” (working title). As I mentioned before, I grew up with a lot of anger, fear, insecurities, and depression. I went from believing that everything that happened to me was my fault, to condemning everyone for my broken upbringing. I now have more clarity that allows me to see the truth and the lies in both of these scenarios. In this new work I am researching my past again and asking: What makes someone have the need to attack another human being? How do these arbitrary things like race, sexual orientation, gender, social status, age, etc. relate to this kind of violence? I sometimes feel as if humanity is dying, and greed and hate will conquer all. At the same time, I also believe in the potential of embracing the good things life offers. When I look at myself in the mirror I tend to only see the negative. How can I embrace the world and myself with confidence, love, respect, and joy? How can I forgive and forget, so I can move forward? “Potential Embrace” will be an exploration of witnessing and seeing life happening while it’s happening, and maybe, possibly, understanding.
How do you find dancers? What do you look for in a dancer?
I usually find dancers in dance classes. I love dancers that are willing to be vulnerable enough to be human beings on stage. Honesty in their movement and emotions is what draws me to them, more than their technique.
The role of teaching in your career….and the interplay between your work as a teaching artist, choreographer, and performer….
The role of a teacher allows me to get inspired by the future generation of dancers. Also it makes me feel extremely satisfied to pass the little knowledge that I possess onto other dancers. The working etiquette that I expect from my students is a reflection of how I want to be as a professional dancer. Working with younger generations makes me appreciate working and dancing with my own and older generations because I get to witness the differences, the evolution, and the deeper understanding of movement qualities that comes from experience.
How do you balance artistry with administration/logistics of building a company?
It is very difficult to administrate a dance company and have a full time job, so I just sleep fewer hours to get work done! Working with dancers that inspire me in the studio and believe in me, as well as the work, makes it possible and enjoyable to keep working, and allows me to push myself to create the art despite the tiredness. Hopefully one day I will have the courage and money to ask someone to help me with the administration side. At this point, I find the “balance” part not very realistic.
You also are a talented designer - costumes, lighting, and sets. Can you talk a little about this work?
I considered myself a designer/collaborator. I have enjoyed working with professional choreographers like Nina Haft, Dana Lawton, Cathy Davalos, and Keith Johnson on different design aspects such as creating sets, lighting or costuming. The design process and concept, with these particular choreographers, tends to evolve organically due to their clear concept and their willingness to talk about their process, ideas, and images. As an instructor in the two Saint Mary’s College MFA programs in Dance: Design and Production and Dance: Creative Practice, it is one of my goals to clear up the common misunderstanding of the difference between a seamstress and a costume designer, an electrician and a lighting designer, and a carpenter and a set designer. They often can be one in the same, but they are two separate jobs. I feel that some choreographers still believe that telling a designer what they want and expecting the designer to do what they want, means collaborating. When in actuality, what they really want is just a worker to fulfill their design idea. There isn’t anything necessarily wrong with this, as long as the roles are clear. Good design should evolve with the choreographic process rather than something that occurs after the piece is done.
Rogelio Lopez in "Blueprint for a good bye" by Keith Johnson
Final thoughts - Hope/believe/love of the profession:
Respecting, admiring, and supporting one another in the world of dance is important and essential. Any success I have had in my career can really be attributed to the connections and friendships that I have made in the dance community.
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Related posts:
The Choreographic Moment: Ideas from Keith Johnson
Artist Profile #100: Keith Johnson
Saint Mary's College of California Low Residency MFA Programs
A Modern Dancer's Guide to.....the San Francisco Bay Area
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Beautiful, just like the man himself.
Posted by: Dana Lawton | 05/23/2016 at 04:54 PM