Dr. Neo Gutierrez stages annual dance workshop
& cyber barrio rem room reunion

The latest moves of precision dance technique will be the highlight of this year's dance workshop in the Neo Gutierrez Dance Festival of Laredo 2003. Laredo dancer, Ani Vera, who recently became a Silver Dancer for the San Antonio Spurs Dance Team, will teach the workshop Sunday, Dec. 28, from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Nixon High School Annex. The workshop will be free to the first 50 Laredo dancers who sign up by calling Cynthia Haynes Ramirez at Nixon High School, which will host the workshop.
Vera, 20, was recently selected for the 16-member Silver Dancers Team, one of the NBA's most elite dance groups. She was selected from among 150 skilled dancers who auditioned for the 16 slots on the 2003-04 team.
Vera, a lifetime dancer, danced for four years at the Vidal M. Treviño Magnet School of Communications and Fine Arts. She was also a member of the Nixon High School cheerleading squad and went on to join the Texas A&M International University High Twisters during her first year there. She is now a student at Northwest Vista College, where she is pursuing a dance degree with plans to finish at Sam Houston University.
"The dance workshop will be televised on Laredo Public Access TV beginning the first week in January, along with 10 other programs that recognize excellence in the performing arts or public service, " said Dr. Gutierrez, who holds a Ph.D. in dance and related arts. He has staged the Laredo dance workshop for over 35 years, traveling from Los Angeles to Laredo to do so.
He is now retired after teaching for 32 years at Beverly Hills High School. In 1997 he was named Señor Internacional de Beverly Hills by the mayor of Beverly Hills. More recently he was recognized for his yearly community service work in Laredo by being named a Martin High School Tiger Legend in 2002.
Gutierrez taught in Laredo at L. J. Christen Middle School at the beginning of a teaching career that spanned 45 years.
From 1997 to 2000 he was on the faculty of Churchill High School in San Antonio. He has also taught in Germany.
Along with Normis Rodriguez Adamo of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, Gutierrez will host a Rec/Rem Room Barrio Party on Saturday, Dec. 27, at the Holiday Inn Civic Center. Over 40 internet friends from Laredo and other parts of the world will attend. Two years ago this internet group was recognized as Laredo's newest barrio -- all in cyberspace -- by Laredo Mayor Elizabeth G. Flores.
Among other Laredoans or ex-Laredoans featured in the 11-program Public Access TV lineup are Gus García, former mayor of Austin, a native of Guerrero Viejo and a Martin High School graduate; Armando Hinojosa, a nationally recognized master sculptor who recently completed the Laredo Veterans Monument and is currently working on the Tejano sculpture for the grounds of the Texas Capitol; Liz Gallego, folklorico dance specialist at Molina High School in Dallas, where she sponsors the largest folklorico festival in the country, the Folklorico Festival of North Texas; Joel C. Uribe, author of a book on the brothers Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara and the Rev. Antonio Gutierrez de Lara, who became leaders in the Mexican Revolution; the Nye Elementary School Chorus, under the direction of Sonia Morales; dance educator Bede Leyendecker, associate professor of dance at TAMIU; Sara Puig Laas, producer of the Border Voices of the Arts, in dialogue with Tricia Cortez on the writing of Oscar Casares of Brownsville; Julia Vera, Hollywood actress in Real Women Have Curves plus many major national television appearances; and the work of former Laredoan Janie Isabel Schafer, who has worked in several Hollywood films made in Texas. Other subjects of the Public Access program are Javier Uribe, a Martin High School graduate now of Los Angeles, who donated $151,000 in scholarships to MHS graduates last May; Cynthia Haynes Ramirez, Laredo producer for Neo Gutierrez projects, this year's SAM'S Teacher of the Year in Laredo; the Rogelio Rodriguez Spanish Dance Company of Houston; and a promotional video for the UCLA Band.
The staff for all projects includes Dr. Gutierrez, executive producer Cynthia Haynes Ramirez, local producer; and Estela Kramer, producer emeritus. Special effects are by Hard Times Cafe/Rolando Lopez Video Productions.
For further information, direct inquiries to www.neodance@aol.com.