Research Catalog

Interview with Violeta Galagarza

Title: Interview with Violeta Galagarza, 2021 / Conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia on February 23 and 24 and March 2, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.
Author: Galagarza, Violeta
Publication: 2021

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections Dance to submit a request in person.	Moving image	Supervised use	*MGZMT 3-3502	Performing Arts Research Collections Dance

Details

Additional Authors

Rokafella

Description

3 streaming video files (approximately 4 hrs. and 25 min.) : sound, color. +

Summary

Streaming file 1 (approximately one hour and 24 minutes), February 23, 2021. Violeta Galagarza (also known as Fire Starter) speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about her childhood including her place of birth (the El Barrio neighborhood in New York, N.Y.) and her adoption by her (maternal) aunt; dancing with her sisters [adoptive sisters, i.e., her cousins] at clubs and in the neighborhood at informal street gatherings; performing with her sisters at hotels, festivals and parades as the Sleek Dancers; their costumes; deciding she would like to dance as a career when she was around 14 or 15; her four-year scholarship at Alvin Ailey [The Ailey School]; incorporating moves and styles she learned at the School into her street dancing; her mother's view of her dancing; taking class at the Martha Graham studio [Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance]; learning different types of dance including ballet and African dance at The Ailey School; her style of salsa, which she learned informally, from dancers in her family and community; in the 2000s learning that there was another, more formal world of salsa including the Cuban style (salsa on 1) and the Puerto Rican style (salsa on 2); creating a work that included both salsa styles; educating herself about the differences between the two styles including the music; having a baby when she was a teenager but managing to graduate from high school; leaving dance to take care of her son and going through a very difficult period; returning to dance by establishing a relationship with La Guardia/Corsi Houses [NYCHA] and its director James Sola; his requiring her to produce a Broadway-style show as a condition to giving her and her dancers space at the House; doing everything from making costumes, deejaying, and dancing to organizing bake sales in order to produce her show; how the success of the show gave her confidence in her abilities; her gratitude to her mother, who was essential to Galagarza's successes; drugs and drug dealers in the community including how dance could provide an escape from their influence; dancing with her sister [cousin] Jeannie at clubs like Studio 54 and Roseland; dancing with And More and with Coro as the start of her dancing outside of her neighborhood; the circumstances that led her to working on the music video "Mǔvelo" and going on tour with El General [Edgardo Armando Franco]; her impressions of El General; the sources of her motivation to work hard and keep producing; renting a studio for her and her dancers while continuing to use the space at La Guardia/Corsi House for shows; her increased responsibilities in her personal life at this time; her step-father's death just as they were rehearsing a new show; losing the studio (and her apartment) after she and her partner broke up; meeting and starting to work with Gabriel "Kwikstep" Dionisio and Ana "Rokafella" Garcia around this time including how much she appreciated their support and friendship; moving back with her (now) two children to live with her mother; her determination not to fail; being hired as a dance teacher at a New York public school; taking on additional jobs at this time including teaching at other schools and choreographing; Ana "Rokafella" Garcia comments on the fact that Galagarza was part of the first wave of people (and women) teaching hip-hop; her sense that (professionally) she has always been treated with respect; the origins of the first name for her company, CBS (Can't Be Stopped) and why she changed it to KR3TS (Keep Rising to the Top); incorporating and obtaining non-profit status with the help and guidance of Maria Falcon Lopez; her feeling that she has always had to rely on herself in the street dance scene and that the challenge to keep going is always there.
Streaming file 2 (approximately one hour and 35 minutes), February 24, 2021. Violeta Galagarza speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about how initially she performed without or only minimal compensation; reasons she now requests payment for her and her dancers' work; her flexibility regarding her fees depending on ability to pay and other factors; some of the problems she has encountered (in producing shows) including the lack of adequate time and affordable space for rehearsals and performances; her knee injury, incurred while performing in Canada on a sprung floor and how she dealt with it, including her lack of medical insurance; her weight, in particular her acceptance of her body type; her designing of costumes that are flattering for all of her dancers; her prescient championing of the concept that a person of any size can dance; how she deals with her less-than-perfect Spanish language ability when interviewed by Spanish-language media; the constant efforts required to obtain media coverage including an anecdote about how she introduced herself to a television journalist at a hip-hop conference; how she deals with (professional) rejection and disappointments; the importance of protecting one's good reputation including anecdotes about dancing in Jim Jones' video "Purple City Byrdgang" without having first listened to the lyrics and accepting the sponsorship of Smirnoff [Vodka] for a youth program; her experience with bias as a Latina in a hip-hop world including recognizing that it is not personal; teaching public high school students including the challenge of getting them to like and come to her class; some of her students who have gone on to have professional careers in the arts including her son Noah [Catala] and Bryan [Arias] who became a ballet dancer; her relationship with other dancers and dance crews, in particular in her neighborhood; why she characterizes what she does as "giving to the community" including how frequently she and her dancers work without pay; how she finds music to choreograph and how she stays abreast of current trends; the differing levels of involvement and interest in dance of her sons; choreographing for own projects, where she has complete control as compared with choreographing for other people's projects and events; her frustration when segments she has choreographed for a video are poorly filmed, poorly edited or cut altogether; the crisis she experienced around 2001 arising from her partner's infidelity with a member of her company; how this led to her choreographing an autobiographical work, Who's laughing now?; why she feels it's best to be honest and open about the reverses of fortune in her life and how she overcame them.
Streaming file 3 (approximately one hour and 16 minutes), March 2, 2021. Violeta Galagarza speaks with Ana "Rokafella" Garcia about helping some of the young dancers in her company [KR3TS] with their college applications; finding inspiration in the [1984] film Breakin'; Iris Cha̤cn as a role model; more on producing her first show at LaGuardia/Corsi House; how the process of creating that show compares to her process for creating shows now; her practice of incorporating elements in her shows that reflect what is happening in society, in her community, and in her life; how she approaches new commissions; her frustration that the depth of her experience as a dancer and choreographer is not always valued; touring in Puerto Rico to raise relief funds in the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo [in 1989]; winning the Màms Latinas Award; other awards she has received including the [2012] Bessie Award [for "Special Achievement in Dance"] and the [2012] Latin Grammy Award for "Best Choreography Flash Mob"; an anecdote about TLC [The Learning Channel] putting her image on a billboard in Times Square [New York, N.Y.]; an anecdote about a friend's reaction to her choreographing and dancing in [the video game] Grand Theft Auto III; being included in Grand Auto IV as an anime character; the term "urban dance" and how she uses it; returning to the classroom as a student and taking a dance class taught by her son [Noah]; how her training at The Ailey School has helped her as a teacher of hip-hop and other styles of dance; her sense that women in hip-hop have gained opportunities and respect; her experience with "street dancers" [non-studio-trained] who come to train at her studio; the challenges that "street dancing" poses for dancers who have only trained in studios; reasons she does not have mirrors in her studio; the advice she would give to putative presenters of hip-hop or urban dance; her advice to up and coming young dancers; advice she would give to dancers who are also mothers; her own experience with pregnancy and maternity while still a student and as a working mother; her gratitude that her story and the worlds of Spanish Harlem and hip-hop are being archived at The New York Public Library; her joy that she and her son Noah were in the [2021] film In the Heights; managing her website [http://www.kr3ts.com].

Alternative Title

Dance Oral History Project.
Dance Audio Archive.

Subject

Genre/Form

Video recordings.
Oral histories.

Note

Interview with Violeta Galagarza, in the Bronx, New York, N.Y., conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia, in New York, N.Y. on February 23 and 24 and March 2, 2021 for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
For transcript see *MGZMT 3-3502
As of March 2023, the video recording of this interview can be made available at the Library for the Performing Arts by advanced request to the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, dance@nypl.org. The video files for this interview are undergoing processing and eventually will be available for streaming.
Title supplied by cataloger.

Access (note)

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Funding (note)

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Source (note)

0# PAMI;

Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3502

OCLC

1339094224

Author

Galagarza, Violeta, Interviewee.

Title

Interview with Violeta Galagarza, 2021 / Conducted remotely by Ana "Rokafella" Garcia on February 23 and 24 and March 2, 2021; Producer: Dance Oral History Project.

Imprint

2021

Playing Time

042500

Type of Content

spoken word

two-dimensional moving image

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

video

computer

Type of Carrier

online resource

volume

Digital File Characteristics

video file

Restricted Access

Transcripts may not be photographed or reproduced without permission.

Event

Recorded remotely for for the Dance Oral History Project of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts 2021, February 23 and 24 and March 2 New York (N.Y.).

Funding

The creation and cataloging of this recording was made possible in part by the Howard Gilman Foundation.

Connect to:

Added Author

Rokafella, Interviewer.

Research Call Number

*MGZMT 3-3502

*MGZDOH 3502

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