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Dance, not song, carries the emotional weight in Matthew Lopez’s “Somewhere,” now onstage at the Guthrie Theater. 

In the play, a Puerto Rican family of performers struggles to hold onto art — and home — as their neighborhood disappears in 1959 New York City. 

“There is something to be said about the art of dance, where words can't really express what the feeling is,” said Preston Perez, who plays the lead Alejandro in the Guthrie Theater’s production.

“Even in a song, you have the lyrics that accompany the melody. But with dance, it's purely how something feels in your body,” he added.

“Somewhere” is similar to other intimate family dramas, like Tennessee Williams’ “The Glass Menagerie.” Here, the play focuses on a family of Puerto Rican performers, whose dreams of landing roles in shows like “West Side Story” stand in contrast with the reality that their neighborhood is being torn down. 

“I think one of the primary tensions in the play is sort of this question, can I afford to be an artist?” said the show’s choreographer, Maija Garcia, who is coming off of debuting a new work with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater called “Jazz Island.” 

“I really admire and respect Matthew Lopez as a playwright. I think he’s arguably one of the greatest playwrights alive today,” Garcia added. 

Garcia has a range of dance influences, including West African movement and Cuban salsa. She uses those styles to shape the production alongside director Joseph Haj.

One of the show’s key influences is “West Side Story,” making it a natural collaboration for Haj and choreographer Garcia on “Somewhere.” The two crafted the Guthrie’s 2018 production of “West Side Story.”

“It's full circle for Joe Haj and I,” Garcia said. “There’s a lot of nostalgia and trust in the room. So that's been, that's been a particular delight.”

“Somewhere” runs at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis through Feb. 1. 

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In Matthew Lopez’s “Somewhere,” now onstage at the Guthrie Theater, dance takes the place of song to tell the story of a Puerto Rican family fighting to preserve art, identity and home as their 1950s New York neighborhood is erased.

‘Somewhere’ at the Guthrie explores family tensions through drama and dance

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