Pictured: Miami-based dancer and choreographer Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez. Photo by Nicholas Philips.

This Friday night, Sarasota Contemporary Dance will premiere its final In-Studio Performance of the summer featuring a new work in process titled Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa from Miami-based dancer and choreographer Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez. The company’s In-Studio performance series serves as an incubation platform for artists at various stages of their careers and allows the public to peek inside the artistic process.

Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa is really about exploring the memories I associate with home. For me, much of it revolves around Cuba, where I’m originally from, and all of the different ways my upbringing impacts what I call home - home can have so many different meanings to people, whether it be a place, a person, a memory, or a metaphysical realm,” says Cobblah Gutierrez.

Joining Cobblah Gutierrez in the performance are fellow Miami-based dancers Alina Speaks and Erika Loyola, both of whom Cobblah Gutierrez has worked with in the past. What’s so intriguing about Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa, however, is the fact that the performance is far from a finished product. “Friday night’s performance is the first ever iteration of this work. It’s an opportunity for people to see our artistic process and what we’ve gathered so far,” says Cobblah Gutierrez.

The work draws on themes that Cobblah Gutierrez has explored in her past performances. Born in Cuba, but raised in Ghana and Cape Verde before moving to the United States at age 14, Cobblah Gutierrez has explored her Afro-Cuban identity throughout her career. “Los Recuerdos de Mi Casa is still very much an evolving work, and one that’s been developing for a long time inside of other works that I’ve done,” says Cobblah Gutierrez. “Its purpose, to me, was to continue to excavate my roots - it’s critical for all of us to look back so we can understand who we are and continue to find healing and transformation going forward,” she adds.

Sarasota Contemporary Dance, 1400 Blvd. of the Arts Suite 300, Sarasota.

Pictured: Miami-based dancer and choreographer Melissa Cobblah Gutierrez. Photo by Nicholas Philips.

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