contra-tiempo is a Los Angeles-based activist performance ensemble founded in 2004 by choreographer Ana María Alvarez and a dynamic group of community artists. The company fuses Salsa, Afro-Cuban, West African, Hip-Hop, and abstract dance-theater, to create an invigorating blend of physically intense and politically astute performance. While their performances are consistently electrifying, what sets the company apart most is its unique relationship to its own community. contra-tiempo is, much like the community it reaches, a tapestry. contra-tiempo is an active and uncompromisingly radical take on the ways in which artists function within communities. Its members are immigrants, teachers, activists, organizers, artists and movers of all types living and working in Los Angeles. Each member lives and struggles within the varied and infinitely complex political and personal landscapes, which Ana María seeks to address in her work.