"For Kristine: A Family Diary."

The American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) will be held at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU), starting February 28, 2012 through March 3, 2012. One of the choreographies that will be showcased includes a Modern Dance piece, "For Kristine: A Family Diary." This piece, by TAMIU student Selma Gonzalez, portrayed the tragic story of the death of a family member due to domestic violence.

Selma's work and dedication was recognized by the University dance professors as one of the best student choreography's of the Fall 2011 semester. With this recognition, Gonzalez was chosen the TAMIU Dance Program at the American College Dance Festival Association.

Prior to attending TAMIU, Selma went to John B. Alexander High School, where she participated in the color guard program for four years. In this program, she learned the fundamentals of Ballet and was introduced to Modern Dance. Selma's love for Modern Dance did not begin until she had the opportunity to experience the technique at TAMIU. Selma expressed, "It wasn't until I came to TAMIU were I learned a lot more about modern, and that's where I started to grow, and my love for modern grew as well."

Selma's family tragedy served as the inspiration that led to a strong dance choreography. A lot of organization and thought is what Selma put into her dance choreography, while she prepared for ACDFA.

In memory of Kristine Meza, the Modern Dance piece was entitled, "For Kristine: A Family Diary". Kristine Meza was murdered outside of her home, by her boyfriend, in February 2011 in San Antonio, Texas. The dance represents the pain the family felt by the murder of her cousin, and what the pain does to the victim's family. Through this piece, Selma is trying to portray how the family of a domestic violence victim copes with loss of their loved one. Selma stated, "Many people just think about the victim and the person who committed the crime… it's never thought about the family of the victim how much they have to go through."

This dance choreography involves meanings, symbolism, and abstract ideas.  This young choreographer explains how there was a thought and meaning to every movement she created. During Selma's performance, she would reminisce the moment in time when it happened.

Starting with the audio, Selma's piece holds a very innovative way to showcase her work. The actual audio that will be heard by the adjudication board members will be recordings that the family made. The sound bites of this audio include Kristine's family sharing their thoughts about who Kristine was as a person.

Furthermore, Selma uses chairs to symbolize the process that was needed to overcome their tragedy. The adjudication board members will see a pile of broken chairs that eventually grows into one complete chair. Selma commented, "I wanted to start with the chairs broken, because that's how we started this journey of our healing… as you go along you see the chairs slowly building up, and that's how we were."

For Selma Gonzalez this choreography involved more than just a dance technique. She wanted to portray an awareness of domestic violence, its consequences, and the scars it leaves on a victim's family. As a result of this tragedy, Selma's family established "The Kristine E. Meza Memorial Foundation". This foundation was created to foster awareness and raise money for scholarships.

Selma expressed her deepest gratitude towards the TAMIU Dance Program and her professors for being chosen to represent the university at this dance conference. Selma mentioned, "I am honored actually, I was not expecting it but I'm very honored to represent TAMIU at this conference ACDFA… I'm very blessed."         

For more information about ACDFA and its history please visit their website at www.acdfa.org.

(Neguif Angeles may be contacted at neguif.angeles@dusty.tamiu.edu)