Transitions of a Nuyorican Cinderella

Mar 23, 2013 @ 7:30pm

Maria Aponte reads from her book, Transitions of a Nuyorican Cinderella, accompanied by members of Retumba!, Nancy Friedman and Yvette Martínez.
Mari Aponte is a poet, performance artist, and playwright. Born and raised in New York City’s East Harlem (El Barrio), she has worked extensively in Latino theatre and in video productions that deal with racial discrimination and women’s rights. Maria’s one-woman show, “Lágrimas de mis madres,” is a biography about the women in her family. She also wrote and performed “I Will Not Be Silenced,” based on the life of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexico’s first feminist poet and playwright. In April 2010, Maria received the Vagina Warrior Award, a special recognition from the Eve Ensler Organization for “someone who has suffered or witnessed violence, grieved it, transformed it, and then does extraordinary work to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else in their community.” Maria currently works at Fordham University and lives in the Bronx with her husband, Bobby Gonzalez, a multicultural lecturer, storyteller and poet.
Retumba!
¡Retumba! is a multi-ethnic all-female music and dance ensemble found- ed in March 1981 in celebration of Women’s History Month. Interweaving traditional rhythms, beautiful ancient melodies, with its very own unique interpretation, ¡Retumba! bases its work on the music and dance of Africa, Europe, and its expressions in the Americas and the Caribbean: Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. ¡Retumba! has performed throughout New York City as well as museums, community and senior centers around the United States. ¡Retumba! has an Arts-in-Education component that offers presentations, lecture demonstrations and dance, music and percussion workshops for family events, schools, colleges and universities.
Yvette Martinez- Artistic Director, Dancer Nancy Friedman – Artistic Director, Percussion