L.A.-born Victor Quijada comes home with his Rubberbandance Group
The troupe, based in Montreal, is an energetic blend of hip-hop, ballet and contemporary movement.
PEERING into a photographer's lens, Los Angeles-born Victor Quijada, with his dark eyes, chiseled cheekbones and stylish black hair, could be posing for a Versace ad. Until he starts to move, that is, and his sinewy, streetwise popping and locking flow into impossibly high leg extensions, tossed-off pliés and handstands -- all exploding from a torso-torquing body built for speed.
Quijada, the son of Mexican immigrants, was nicknamed "Rubberband" after he hit the pavement of his Baldwin Hills neighborhood as a pretzel-like break dancer at age 8, and he's come full circle. In 2002, he founded the Montreal-based Rubberbandance Group. Now the 32-year-old impresario has brought the six-member troupe to his hometown, where it will make its Los Angeles debut this weekend with performances at two local stages, the Irvine Barclay Theatre and Cal State L.A.'s Luckman Theatre.
With "Elastic Perspective Redux," a collection of works commissioned by an assortment of dance festivals, the company will showcase Quijada's signature choreography: a fusion of hip-hop, ballet and contemporary movement. That his journey has been an inspiring one -- from street kid to diligent student at L.A. County High School for the Arts to dancer with Twyla Tharp and others -- makes his homecoming that much more significant.
"I left here as I turned 20," the soft-spoken Quijada recalled this week as he sat in the Luckman auditorium clad in fraying jeans, Nikes and a form-fitting black polo. "Visiting my family as part of this debut makes me very excited. We've done so much around the world, and I had wanted to come back, but this was the right time."
INDEED, Quijada, the recipient of a number of choreography awards, says that good timing has helped him seize each opportunity life has presented him -- something he ascribes to his parents' immigrant status.
"There's a sense of pride and hard work -- not giving up -- even if it wasn't talked about in my family," he said. "This is how it was for me with Twyla, because I don't think I knew what I was getting into. I was the only dancer without classical training, so I took as many ballet classes as I could. There was no turning back."
Rudy Perez, part of the New York-based experimental Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s and an L.A. dance fixture since 1979, agrees about Quijada's commitment. After teaching Quijada in high school, Perez invited him to join his postmodern troupe. Two years later, Tharp beckoned.
