JUNTOS

2010-2011 Press Kit

the power of dance to educate, liberate, heal, and build communities
 About JUNTOS
JUNTOS was founded in 2008 by Ailey/Fordham student Joanna Poz-Molesky (FCLC ’10). Originally intended for a one-time
international trip to Mexico in 2009, JUNTOS quickly expanded to an organization bridging performance, community outreach,
and intercultural exposure. JUNTOS established their New York community outreach program in January 2009, teaching and
performing in Manhattan elementary schools and retirement homes. In August 2009, twelve dancers from The Ailey
School/Fordham University, The Juilliard School, and SUNY Purchase engaged in a successful tour to central Mexico for two
weeks of performance and intercultural exchange. Shortly following this event in March 2010, JUNTOS traveled to the
Guatemalan highlands for nine days to teach, perform, and share dance in schools, orphanages, retirement homes, and other
communities that seldom encounter modern dance.

JUNTOS continues with its New York community outreach, expanding its program to other communities lacking performing
arts. The company has repeated each trip annually. JUNTOS continues growing each year: outreach trips, artists involved, staff,
and workshops among many more aspects. JUNTOS aims to bring young peoples of diverse backgrounds together and bridge a
young generation of leaders internationally by verbally and artistically exchanging cultural differences. Through the collective,
dancers build friendships across borders, create community, and provide projects of hope for surrounding communities.

dancing together
to identify a
shared human
experience

Mission
JUNTOS, a community-based organization, seeks to educate, heal, liberate, and build community through dance. We
offer students opportunities through their creative discipline to bridge insights from the classroom and dance studio to
become artists educating and serving others. As dancers, our art form enables us to identify, transform and celebrate the
range of human experience. We expose all participants - collective and partner organization members - to new cultures
and languages, using dance to create a neutral space for the expression of diversity, and as a reminder of equality. This
neutral space in turn, allows us to create a community that transcends borders.
We strive to build lasting relationships with local and global partners, communities often unrecognized and seldom
exposed to the professional world of modern dance. Through dance, JUNTOS hopes to identify a shared human
experience found in all cultures and ways of life.
 Projects and Opportunities
New York and San Francisco (Current)
JUNTOS: New York is comprised of professional student performing artists who
wish to integrate performing art and community outreach. The collective
teaches and performs in various locations, focusing on communities that are
not granted much art exposure. Artists engage and dialogue with new
audiences while sharing their gifts with others.

Mexico (Current)
This project offers a select group of dancers the opportunity to travel and
tour for two weeks to central Mexico for an international and intercultural
exchange through dance. Artists perform in cities and present their
choreography beyond New York’s boundaries. Members explore both
traditional and contemporary dance cultures: they train and learn repertoire
with groups and choreographers like Jaime Camarena’s company Apoc Apoc, a
professional modern dance company in Mexico City. Participants engage in
exchanges with ballet folklorico groups (Monserrat Guitierrez’s Mexican
youth baile folklorico company Ollin Yoliztlin) as well as perform at international
dance festivals. JUNTOS dancers are encouraged to initiate leadership
particularly while teaching movement in orphanages and to the local
community. Through JUNTOS: Mexico, artists combine their professional dance
world outreach in local communities, orphanages, and retirement homes.

integrating dance with outreach to create community

Guatemala (Current)
JUNTOS: Guatemala focuses on what art can offer in a
third-world country. Dancers travel for nine days through
the Guatemalan highlands, engaging in community
outreach in Mayan villages and urban centers. JUNTOS
participants teach dance workshops in public and private
elementary schools and perform for communities
unfamiliar with contemporary performing arts. In addition,
dancers exchange with other artists in Quetzaltenango,
exploring various traditional and contemporary
expressions. JUNTOS: Guatemala offers dancers venues to
perform for large public audiences.

California (Future)
Coming August 2012, twelve JUNTOS members travel to
California mixing the professional dance worlds of both
the East and West Coast. Members engage in workshops
with San Francisco dance companies then sponsor
movement opportunities in Salinas Valley for children of
agricultural workers. JUNTOS performs for communities
that seldom experience modern dance as well as for the
general public in the Bay Area.
 JUNTOS Visionaries
Joanna Poz-Molesky, Founder/Director
Joanna, born in Berkeley, California, began dancing at Berkeley Ballet
Theater in 1991. She co-founded En Pointe Youth Dance Company in
1999, initiated and organized its Mexico summer immersion trip in 2005,
and directed the company through 2006. In 2008, she founded JUNTOS,
and in 2009, Joanna directed and organized JUNTOS: Mexico,
collaborating with New York and Mexican artists for performance and
intercultural exchange. She continues to organize and direct outreach
projects internationally. Joanna graduated from The Ailey
School/Fordham University’s BFA dance program in 2010. Joanna has
been awarded with several special recognitions for her community
outreach and leadership (Hitachi National Award, 2006-07; Guardian Girl’s
Going Places Award, 2006; Berkeley Community Fund for Leadership and
Community Service, 2006; City of Berkeley Mayor’s Award, 2006).

David Claps, Financial Manager; Marketing

David, a New Jersey native, is an NYC-based dancer, choreographer and
arts administrator. David is a 2010 cum laude graduate of The Ailey
School/Fordham University BFA in Dance Program along with a minor in
Business Administration where he had the privilege to perform repertory
by Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor and Bill T. Jones, among others. David has
been a member of Kazuko Hirabayahi Dance Theater, ZviDance
apprentice and performed with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in
“Memoria” during their 2009 New York City Center Season.
Additionally, David has interned at many arts organizations such as Mark
Morris Dance Group before assuming his current role as Fiscal
Administrator for Pentacle/Danceworks, Inc. where he services notable
organizations such as Buglisi Dance Theatre and Shen Wei Dance Arts.

Adrienne Cousineau, Business Initiative Coordinator

Adrienne started dancing at age 9 in Salinas, California. She trained in San
Francisco with Richard Gibson and Zory Karah at the Academy of Ballet
in addition to dancing at SpectorDance in Marina, CA. Adrienne has
performed several original works choreographed and set by Charles
Anderson, Lawrence Pech, Michael Lowe, and Fran Spector Atkins. Since
moving to New York City, Adrienne has continued to dance at The Ailey
School. After studying abroad in Paris, France and Santiago, Chile,
Adrienne was excited to join JUNTOS on its first trip to Guatemala,
since it allowed her to combine her love of languages, intercultural
exchange, dance, and outreach. She holds a BA in French Studies and
Philosophy and a minor in Spanish from Fordham University. Adrienne
finished an interim administrative position at Alvin Ailey, and is currently
pursuing a career in dance while freelance translating, tutoring, and
babysitting.

Student Leaders
Select students are encouraged to take on leadership positions and assist
in company management. These students are chosen after demonstrating
passion and commitment to the company and its vision. They must first
perform well in academic and dance classes then accomplish their
assignments for JUNTOS. Current Student Leaders include:

Alicia Delgadillo (Ailey/Fordham ’12), Event Coordinator

Maia Dunlap (Ailey/Fordham ’13), School Coordinator
Helen Hatch (Ailey/Fordham ’11), Rehearsal Director
Marisa Martin (Ailey/Fordham ’11), Student Program Coordinator
Amy McMurchie (LINES/Dominican ‘13) California Program Coordinator
Scott Willits (Ailey/Fordham ’13), New York Coordinator
Kelli Youngman (Ailey/Fordham ’11), Fundraising & Budget Management
 Artist Statement: the Artists’ Calling
A Note from the Director and Founder of JUNTOS

My aunt always told me we are what we do in our childhood. One of my cousins used to construct buildings with blocks in his
early years and is now an engineer; another one of my cousins used to investigate every plant and animal – he’s now a biology
researcher. I, on the other hand, took yarn and wrapped it around everything I could reach: doorknobs, chair legs, the sofa, my
bed. I created large nets throughout the house. I loved weaving.
I’ve graduated from weaving household objects together to bridging communities. I love people and diverse cultures. Yet if I’m
so passionate about different people and cultures, why pursue art? As a young woman and artist interested in social justice, I’ve
questioned the importance of dance multiple times. I must ask myself what purpose art has in the global context? Why should
dance be important when food, shelter, and clothing aren’t evenly distributed in the world?
In my years before college at the Ailey School/Fordham University, my years before JUNTOS, I founded a youth dance
company. During my six years as director, En Pointe Youth Dance Company developed into a solely youth-coordinated pre-
professional dance company where youth explored effective leadership styles. All aspects of the diverse company, from
choreography to the design and production of costumes, from lighting and sound to set design, from fundraising (at least
$8,000 per year) and publicity to dancing, were organized by youth. I slowly began to experience art as bridging differences and
creating community. The company has been distinguished for its originality, technical excellence, aesthetic success, and youth
leadership in the San Francisco Bay Area and was featured in U.S. magazines, newspapers, and television stations.
Two years after graduating from Berkeley High, I founded my second dance group. Inspired by a theology course at Fordham
University in 2008, I founded JUNTOS. It emerged from a child that constantly traveled back and forth from Guatemala to visit
family, a girl with a voice in art, a teen placing her bi-cultural heritage into her place in segregated communities, a young woman
weighing the importance of art versus social justice on a global level. At its core, JUNTOS works to build community and share
everything art can offer: expression, inspiration, healing, and unify among many other qualities. Utilizing my acquired skills from
my past and a new, clear articulation of dance as sharing truth, I began to build a base for artists to learn, teach, and share their
art in various communities. A year later, this collective (dancers from the Ailey School, The Juilliard School, and SUNY
Purchase College) was traveling to Mexico for two weeks of performance and intercultural exchange.
I understand that being an artist is not a career; it is a calling. Using art as my expression, I have developed my own voice as
one screaming for justice, community, and unveiling truth. As an artist, I strive to bridge communities and cultures so we can
share and learn from each other as oppose to combining them. Using social justice and community outreach in art, I hope to
offer expression, inspiration, healing, sharing, and most importantly, love.

Sharing Love: Our Responsibility as Artists

Spring semester sophomore year of college, I took a class titled, “Mysticism and Social Justice.” In spiritual beliefs, mysticism is
an experience of God. From this, a deep yearning emerges, then prayer, and an interdependence developing in God and the
universe. This leads to a mystical consciousness in which the individual, now mystic, embraces action and justice. In my class,
however, I recognized that it was not only people of religious backgrounds who were granted this gift of divine love. In The
Silent Cry Dorothee Soelle writes, “Whether someone believes in God or assumes the existence of a higher being seems
irrelevant in the face of a real experience of “swimming” in God” (28).
Dancing, I realized that we experience moments of God every day. How often do we recognize this gift? Inquiring into this new
understanding of mysticism helped me illuminate dance as liberating for all participants, whether dancers or audience – we are
sharing our true selves with one another, a form of God, or divine Love.
Love. Being in love does not consist of loving everything; being in love with life and with what you do exerts kindness,
imagination, drive, and how you live your life. Being in love can lead to a compassionate and honest world. I propose to offer a
piece of this love with JUNTOS. I hope to inspire others to share love, weaving communities, people, and differences together
to create a more peaceful world.
 The Power of Dance:
What participants say about JUNTOS…
Excerpts by JUNTOS Members to the Director, Guatemala 2010
This trip has ignited a spark in me and I have this overwhelming desire to do more… I feel as though I can
conceptualize my place in this big world and know that I can use my art to inspire and motivate others… Dance
has the ability to transcend race, religion, ethnicity, and gender and enables us not as
Guatemalans or Americans but as human beings to connect on the most essential level.
Despite the language barrier, I saw the power of dance and its ability to promote creativity, confidence,
and individuality… Interacting with the people of Guatemala and being immersed into their way of life has been life
changing… I have come to realize there is so much excess baggage in my life that I concern myself with that is
completely superficial and a waste of time. …This is something that I would never have learned sitting in a
classroom at Fordham, listening to a professor lecture. These revelations only come from face to face cross-cultural
encounters. This trip has been one of the most valuable and influential experiences of my life. I was able to see how
much I have to give and share with the world to create a powerful, positive impact. … Although we leave tomorrow,
I am bringing back with me new memories, friends, and a profound appreciation for the power of dance, as well as
the power of our dreams!
- Katie Berry, FCLC ’11
From you and from these trips, I have witnessed the true power of art form: its ability to transcend languages,
cultures, customs and to bridge people together. … The great thing about JUNTOS is that it takes
this idea [that the understanding of different cultures is what will bring peace to the
world] and connects it to concrete actions… Something inside me has really changed. I feel so inspired
to do more because there is so much to be done.
- Marisa Martin, FCLC ‘11
I am going home with an entirely different perception of the world, the power of dance,
and of myself… I never understood the power of dance. When my brother passed away, it really made me
hate myself for dancing. For being so “selfish” and I struggled so much with my feeling of needing to do more, to
help the world become a better place and I just didn’t see dance in that way. JUNTOS seemed to be a great
outlet… I always used to believe “everything happened for a reason” in a sort of magical way, but since my
brother’s passing its been really hard for me to see the world in a positive way or be able to think good things can
happen. This trip has made me be able to accept the way things are and realize things happen the way they are
supposed to if we are open to them. … My heart is now open and wanting to do so much more.
- Kelli Youngman, FCLC ‘11
Before this trip I wanted to think dance was important, because it’s so important to me, but deep down I didn’t
believe that it was. In a world with so many problems, I thought that dance and art were almost indulgent. I
definitely didn’t think dance was something worth dedicating my entire life to, and this left me torn between what I
love and what I thought was important, diminishing both. This trip completely changed all that. Through teaching the
workshops and performing at the places we did, I realize that dance and art hold a place in the world that cannot
be underestimated. I saw that the power of communicating through movement, of having dance as a tool to express
yourself and share, is extraordinary. Dance and art bring a light into the world that is essential.
Even, maybe even especially, in places of tremendous poverty and hardship, where so
much other work needs to be done, dance cannot be taken out of the equation.
- Maia Dunlap, FCLC ‘13
I think I finally saw the power of dance. I’ve slowly been learning that I love dance because it humanizes
whoever performs it. Yet, I finally saw here how much I can give of myself through dance. I also saw how much each
member of our group was able to give through dance as well. Finally, it wasn’t about anyone’s technique and ability
to execute steps, but it was about each person’s personality and humanity. I finally stopped judging and was able to
appreciate and receive what everyone had to offer. I let go of judging myself as well, and for the first time in my life,
I performed without being nervous and most importantly without any filter… I finally found out how to perform.
- Adrienne Cousineau, FCLC ‘10
Performing, teaching, and living in Xela for those few days gave me so much of this culture, its generosity, and
passion. I realize how this place has given me an entirely new outlook on what is important in life…the people you
share it with, and the beauty that you share to the world.
- Helen Hatch, FCLC ‘11

New York
Church of St. Paul the Apostle
The Esplanade Retirement Home
FaceAids at Fordham Lincoln Center
Hearthstone Alzheimer’s Care
Momentum Project
PS 191
West 74th St. Home
San Francisco Bay Area
St. Mary’s Center
Outreach Partners
Mexico
Apoc Apoc (Mexico City)
La Casa de Ancianas (Guanajuato)
La Fábrica (Quéretaro)
Ollin Yolitzli (San Miguel)
Hogar Santa Julia (San Miguel)
Hogar El Mexiquito (San Miguel)
Hogar Don Bosco (San Miguel)
El Sindicato (San Miguel)
Guatemala
Asilo de Ancianas Santa Luisa de Marilac
Atrezzo Marketing
Barrios La Transfiguracion
Centro Cultural Los Chocoyos
Centro Cultural Casa No’j
Escuela de Dr. Rodolfo Robles
Escuela Fray Bartolomé de las Casas
Hogar de Protección y Abrigo
Teatro Municipal de Quetzaltenango
 Current Upcoming Events

April 2011, Easter Weekend

New York
JUNTOS performance and workshop St. Paul the
Apostle

May 6, 2011 12pm

San Francisco
JUNTOS performs repertoire at Dominican
University

May 29-June 12
JUNTOS: Mexico
Dancers perform in Mexico

Past Public Events

March 12-20, 2011: JUNTOS Guatemala
March 17: Teatro Municipal, Totonicopan. Daytime performace
March 18: Teatro Municipal, Xela. Daytime performance
March 18: Centro Cultural Casa No’J, Xela. Evening performance
February 12, 2011: New Jersey
Church of the Sacred Heart: Performance
October 24, 2010: New York City
St. Paul the Apostle, Performance and Teach-in
May 31-June 15, 2010: JUNTOS Mexico
June 12: Teatro Principal, Guanajuato. Full Performance
June 10: Radio UNAM, Mexico City. Full Performance
June 5: La Fábrica, BILATERAL, Querétaro. International dance festival
June 4: El Sindicato, San Miguel de Allende. Performance
June 2: El Jardín, San Miguel de Allende. Evening Performance with Ollin Yolizlin
May 7, 2010: New York City
Fordham University, JUNTOS Performance: Performance and Presentation of Mexico Project
April 18, 2010: New Jersey
Church of the Sacred Heart: Performance
March 13-22, 2010: JUNTOS Guatemala
March 17: Teatro Municipal, Quetzaltenango. JUNTOS full performance
November 21, 2009: New York City
Fordham University, Fundraiser: Performance, slideshow, and discussion of JUNTOS: Mexico 2009
August 3-17, 2009: JUNTOS Mexico
August 15: Teatro Principal, Guanajuato. Full performance with baile folklorico company Ollin Yolizlin
August 10: Plaza Civica, San Miguel de Allende. Performance with baile folklorico company Ollin Yolizlin
August 9: Cineteatro Rosario Solano, Querétaro. International dance festival
August 8: La Fábrica, BILATERAL: Querétaro. International dance festival
May 10, 2009: New York City
Pope Auditorium, Full performance
February 27, 2009: New York City
Fordham University, Evening of Inquiry: Dedicated to presenting the project
 Current Press
“Danza por amor: ‘Juntos Collective’ de Nueva York, llega a
Quetzaltenango”
El Quetzalteco, March 13, 2010
http://www.elquetzalteco.com.gt/13.03.2010/?q=sociales/danzan_por
_amor

Across the Floor: “Bridging Cultures & Campuses”

Dance Magazine, January 2010
http://www.dancemagazine.com/issues/January-2010/TeachLearn-
Connection

“Fordham Conversations” (last three minutes)

WFUV: December 12, 2009
http://wfuv.streamguys.us/archive/9651.asx

“Art as Exchange: Director of JUNTOS Reflects After Mexico

Trip”
Fordham University Observer: September 23, 2009
http://media.www.fordhamobserver.com/art-as-exchange-director-
of-juntos-reflects-after-mexico-trip-1.1910203

“Ailey/Fordham Dancers Explore Modern and Traditional

Culture in Mexico”
Fordham eNEWSROOM: August 2009
http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/ar
chive_1631.asp

“JUNTOS: From NYC to Mexico City”

Fordham University Observer: April 29, 2009
http://www.fordhamobserver.com/juntos-from-nyc-to-mexico-city-
1.1738820

“Trabajan JUNTOS por la comunidad”

El Diario: April 7, 2009
http://www.impre.com/eldiariony/noticias/2009/4/7/trabajan-juntos-
por-la-comunid-118146-1.html

“A New Dance Program Comes to Fordham”

Fordham University Observer: February 25, 2009
http://www.fordhamobserver.com/a-new-dance-program-comes-to-
fordham-1.1573259
Dance Magazine, January 2010

Across The Floor: Bridging Cultures & Campuses

By Siobhan Burke

“Maybe you guys should take your socks off, if you’re going to do this full-out. I just don’t want you to slip and
fall.” It’s a Thursday night at the Ailey studios in midtown Manhattan, and Joanna Poz-Molesky, a senior in the
Ailey/Fordham BFA program, is overseeing a rehearsal for Juntos (meaning “together” in Spanish), the
community outreach group she founded in 2008. Her tone couldn’t be more easygoing, but beneath her low-key
demeanor is the drive it has taken to rally a group of college students, raise thousands of dollars, and make
Juntos a reality.

“Joanna is a sweet, quiet, polite young woman who you don’t realize has this steel inside of her,” says Ana
Marie Forsythe, Poz-Molesky’s advisor in the dance program (and this month’s “Teacher’s Wisdom”; see p.
182). “When she first approached me about this project, full of ambition, it seemed like something she might be
able to do 5 or 10 years from now. But she really pulled it off.”

In March, Poz-Molesky will lead eight dancers from three New York conservatories—Ailey/Fordham, Juilliard,
and SUNY Purchase—on Juntos’ second international excursion: a weeklong trip to Guatemala, where they
plan to teach at a school in the city of Quetzaltenango and perform in several nearby towns. During their first
trip—a two-week tour of central Mexico last August—a group of 14 led workshops at two orphanages and a
folkloric dance camp; performed their student-directed, student-choreographed show in all kinds of venues,
from a retirement home to a public plaza to more conventional theaters; and studied with the contemporary
company A Poc A Poc in Mexico City. This was only after raising $20,000, a grassroots effort involving garage
sales, car washes, and benefit concerts.

Poz-Molesky has a track-record for spearheading large-scale projects with a resourcefulness beyond her years.
At 12, the Berkeley, CA, native co-founded her own youth-run dance company, En Pointe (see “Teenage
Impresarios,” Aug. 2002), which she directed throughout high school. Her commitment to cultural exchange
stems from a childhood spent traveling between Berkeley and the Guatemalan village of Zunil, where her father
was born. “I was part of two clashing worlds from a young age,” the 22-year-old says. “My mother is from a
white European middle-class family, my father from a poor Mayan community. The people in my dad’s town
live very, very differently. Many have almost nothing materially, but they give you everything they have to
offer.”

Out of these experiences, Poz-Molesky became interested in “bridging different communities,” using dance as
her tool. She stresses that Juntos, which also does outreach in NYC public schools, fosters two-way exchanges.
“I think that dance has such a power to bring people together, to help people understand each other,” she says.
“With Juntos, the idea is to share our gifts, to leave people with a little bit of what we know, while learning what
they can teach us.”

Many students came away from their Mexican travels with a renewed sense of purpose. “At school, going to
class every day, it’s easy to lose sight of your reason for dancing,” says Ailey/Fordham senior Kile Hotchkiss.
Through seeing “the appreciation, the exuberance” of the children he taught, “I was reminded of why I enjoy
doing what I do. It reinvigorated my need to pass on the information I’ve been privileged to receive.”

By joining forces with Juilliard and SUNY Purchase, Poz-Molesky has bridged not only cultures but campuses.
“It’s rare to get each school to break out of its individual shell,” says Forsythe, “but Joanna has managed to do
it.” See juntoscollective.org.