Lord of the Dance: Rafi Maldonado-Lopez

Rafi Maldonado-Lopez — multidisciplinary dancer, choreographer, and teacher — is taking the Sanctuary of the Arts to new heights.

I find Rafi Maldonado-Lopez behind a desk in his office at the former First Church of Christ Scientist, a neoclassical structure situated directly across the street from Coral Gables City Hall. He leaps up to greet me. The Principal Managing Director of Sanctuary of the Arts is a man of boundless enthusiasm, with an infectious smile, short black hair, and silver hoop earrings. He is wearing a fitted Sanctuary of the Arts logoed T-shirt that reveals a dancer’s toned body.

After many successful years in arts administration, education, and community outreach with organizations including the Minnesota Dance Theater, New World School of the Arts, and Miami City Ballet, Maldonado-Lopez founded the Inter-American Choreographic Institute (ICI) in 2014. Today, it has morphed into the international arm of the Sanctuary.

Taking me on a tour, he points out the major alterations needed to transform the church into a performance space. Built in 1942 by noted architect Phineas Paist, the building had to be retrofitted with sound panels, a proper stage, and a new electrical system; a large movie screen will soon be installed for the center’s new film series. Maldonado-Lopez explains that the venue (which holds 314 people) is unlike a traditional theater. With no wings it is more like a concert hall. But with ample dressing rooms and rehearsal spaces, productions come together seamlessly despite the architectural constraints.

Interspersed throughout our conversation is effusive praise for his benefactor, the leading attorney, historic preservationist, philanthropist, and champion of the arts, Mike Eidson. Along with his wife, Dr. Margaret Eidson, Mike Eidson founded the Sanctuary for the Arts in 2019 and obtained a long lease for the historic building. With Eidson’s steadfast commitment, the center has rapidly expanded; some 110 performances have been held since it first opened last year.

Maldonado-Lopez and Eidson have a long history of collaboration, the pair having first worked together at the Miami City Ballet two decades ago. Today, they share a vision for a cultural space that attracts top-tier talent to train and mentor, as well as to perform. “With Mike, you have someone who has the bird’s eye view of the arts, while I have the worm’s eye view,” Maldonado-Lopez says.

The Sanctuary of the Arts complex across from City Hall comprises several spaces: the main church-cum-theater, a grassy courtyard surrounded by offices and classrooms, and a smaller church used as a rehearsal and instruction space. The Sanctuary also owns St. Mary’s First Missionary Baptist Church on the fringe of the Gables next to Coconut Grove. It has been restored and converted into a rehearsal and training space for dance, Maldonado-Lopez’s passion, and as a space where free concerts are occasionally offered to the community.

The Sanctuary has five resident companies: Miami Chamber Music Society; New Canon Chamber Collective; the Syncopate Collective (dance); Sanctuary of the Arts Dance Ensemble; and the Inter-American Choreographic Institute (international productions).

Unlike most arts institutions in South Florida, SOA doesn’t have a season and performs year-round. Recent programs have included flamenco dance performances, a weekend long Brazilian festival, and solo recitals by acclaimed Puerto Rican flautist Néstor Torres. This month there is a three-day celebration of the music of prolific Cuban composer and pianist, Ernesto Lecuona.

With 70 productions already under its belt, the center is amping up its programming and expanding internationally. Next year, Peru, Ecuador, Canada, and possibly Spain will be added to the existing partner countries of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil where Sanctuary troupes will perform.

While there are other venues for music in the Gables, especially at UM’s Gusman and now Knight Center, a performance space for dance is new to Coral Gables, and it’s what drives Maldonado-Lopez. He takes me to see the small church rehearsal space, where students are practicing energetically under the experienced tutelage of Brazilian consultant, Alice Arja. (Her daughter, Nathalia, is currently the principal dancer with the Miami City Ballet.)

Maldonado-Lopez persuaded Arja to join the Sanctuary having realized that many of the talented young Brazilian dancers he met had studied at her school in Rio de Janeiro. Most of the current pupils have come from abroad, learning dance in the U.S. on four-month J1 visas. Conveniently, the Marriott Aloft Hotel located just steps behind the church, provides accommodations for their stay, as well as a venue for social events.

Especially dear to Maldonado-Lopez’s heart is his production of “Men Who Dance,” which is an exploration of gender, staged by the largest all-male dance troupe in the U.S — with over 40 dancers from 25 countries gracing the stage during Thanksgiving weekend. The Miami show also travels to Latin America, where smaller workshops unearth talent to perform back in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Next year, Maldonado-Lopez hopes to take Men Who Dance to Canada, and he is currently weighing a request to perform in Spain. In 2024, the troupe will perform in São Paolo.

Another show that Maldonado-Lopez tours internationally is “Carnival of the Animals,” which was initially conceived as a family production for the Arsht Center in Downtown Miami. Maldonado-Lopez, who studied behavioral development research from toy maker Fisher-Price, says that to keep the attention of youngsters the colors of the costumes have to change constantly, while for older children the music needs to be varied. “Carnival of the Animals” takes place in three international locales: the Amazon; the African savannah; and urban New York. Maldonado-Lopez says this global backdrop underscores his ambition to showcase the diverse cultures of Latin Americans, Africans, and African Americans.

Fifteen years after its first foreign premiere in Rio de Janeiro, “Carnival of the Animals” is now in line for a comprehensive makeover. Once completed, Maldonado-Lopez says the ballet will head to Mexico, Argentina, and then back to Brazil. He is particularly excited about creating new costumes, which will be made in Latin America, at a fraction of the cost that their manufacture would require in the US. He adds proudly that even the dancers’ tights will be handmade!

Maldonado-Lopez also runs two educational programs in Latin America: The International Teaching & Pedagogy Seminar, and the International Summer Intensive Dance Program.

Nonprofit organizations must wait three years before they can apply for public funding, so more than 90 percent of the Sanctuary’s costs are currently met by private donors. Maldonado-Lopez aims to create what he calls “cultural economics” and is determined to engage Coral Gables’ business leaders. In December, the second “State of the Arts” will take place, with a slew of community leaders in attendance. The invitation’s tag line sums up the event’s mission: “Supporting the creative community to the benefit of the business community.”

I leave the Gables’ new center for dance and music impressed by Maldonado-Lopez’s conspicuous passion for the arts and his devotion to the success of the Sanctuary. In a very short time, he has been able to expand the center’s programs exponentially. Proudly he tells me about a compliment that Eidson gave him on a recent visit to his office: “Oh my god, I thought I had a vision but this, this is crazy.” The next 12 months are set to be a big year for Sanctuary of the Arts, both in South Florida and around the world. 

Learn more about Sanctuary of the Arts and the visionary behind it in this month’s cover story, “The Eidson Factor.”