Pablo Francisco Ruvalcaba
BIO
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A native of San Diego, California, and a graduate of The Juilliard School, Mr. Ruvalcaba first joined the Limón Dance Company in 1996, where he performed prominent roles—dancing opposite Carla Maxwell in Carlota and Nina Watt in Orfeo, as well as featured solos in The Winged, Choreographic Offering, and There Is a Time. During his tenure with the Limón Company, Mr. Ruvalcaba originated roles in works by noted guest choreographers such as Doug Varone, Donald McKayle, Adam Hougland, Murray Louis, Lar Lubovitch, among others. He has performed José Limón’s roles in company revivals of Missa Brevis, The Traitor, There Is a Time, Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejías, and The Moor’s Pavane, and has been featured in commissioned reconstructions of Anna Sokolow’s Rooms, Antony Tudor’s Dark Elegies, Pauline Koner’s Poeme, and JiÅ™í Kylián’s La Cathédrale Engloutie and Evening Songs, among many others.
In addition, Pablo has lectured on the themes and choreographic works of José Limón, has been an invited artist at Jacob’s Pillow in The Men Dancers: From the Horse’s Mouth, and has appeared as the Moor in American Ballet Theatre’s production of The Moor’s Pavane.
Mr. Ruvalcaba is also a seminal member of Movement Migration, a collective of seasoned dance artists collaborating to create dynamic dance works that explore the depths of the human experience. Their work is shared with audiences both locally and globally through performance and educational outreach. Movement Migration is based in Charlotte, NC, and works between Charlotte and New York City.
He is the co-founding Director of the Higher Ground Festival, a collaborative arts initiative based in the Washington Heights/Inwood neighborhoods of New York City. Mr. Ruvalcaba teaches the Limón technique and repertory extensively, both nationally and internationally, and holds an MFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.
Photo credit: Jeff Cravotta
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Artist Statement
My work deals with recollection, yet not the factual recalling of events that took place in one’s past (a useless and impossible operation), rather the result of the perfecting process of remembrance: The way one wishes those events would have unfolded. I am compelled by aspiration, melancholy, remorse, gratitude, and hope, all products of a past examined. Moreover, by experiences that have never been had, things that could never occur. Outcomes that are vastly improbable yet we all quietly wish to have happened: The secret hope of meeting a fated lover in a strange city on a rainy day, the muted expectation that our childhood home will offer the calmness and comfort “remembered” - though we are completely aware that such comfort was never really there.
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As an artist I deal primarily in movement, ceaselessly exploring variations on kinetic themes and gestures that invoke moments of recalling, a slap to the face, the pulling of hair, the grazing touch of fingertips, a lingering stare, a kiss. I strive to find the minuscule snapshots of the great and tragic events that have led to the choices we have made, events that we often revisit, and constantly reshape as we silently retell them to ourselves, ever brightening the glorious ones, ever-darkening the others. I actively seek out mnemonic triggers, things like scratchy soundscapes, the smell of diverse spices, old television and movie tropes, the taste of candy, often find their way into my work, though not in an overt manner, I have found that memory works best when unencumbered by self-reflection.
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This inner grown nostalgia is the fabric of daydream, our richest, deepest, most recognizable well of creative inspiration, and the source of our fraternal bond: though we may not have had the same experiences, we all understand what it is to be joyful and to be disappointed, to mourn and to celebrate because we all hope and we have all been without hope.
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Wishing events would have taken place in a particular way, tells us something about who we are today, it sharpens our understanding of the present and guides our actions into an ever-brightening future. I believe this glimmering path to be the fulfillment for one of the primordial functions of the arts, the creation of empathy, and through empathy, understanding.
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