The commute to Liberty Station begins hours before sunrise for Diane Campaña, with a wait at the San Ysidro border crossing that can stretch one, two, sometimes three hours before she reaches the trolley that carries her the rest of the way.
That waiting, the ache of moving between two countries, two homes, has become the raw material for the work she is creating as one of four dancers selected for Arts District Liberty Station’s Emerging Artists Residency Program.
“I’m interested in the body, memory, belonging and what it means to move in between these different places,” said Campaña, a contemporary dance artist and choreographer who was born in San Diego and grew up in Tijuana.
Campaña is joined in the 11-month residency, which runs through May 2027, by fellow dancers Nick McGhee, Aisha Reddick and Odessa Uno. The program, part of the district’s Art in Public Places initiative, gives the artists free studio space, mentorship and a request that each stage at least four public activations during the residency.
That studio time has become a way for Campaña to translate the border crossing itself into movement. She is developing a piece exploring “this idea of a threshold,” questioning what happens “when we are between places, identities and emotional states.”
Campaña has already staged an activation inviting the public to contribute anonymous notes — things they wished they had said — which she read aloud as she improvised movement on Liberty Station’s north promenade. A workshop took place this fall, with a work-in-progress performance planned for November and a final piece to close out the residency.
“I like when the artwork gives you a question, not the answer,” Campaña said.
McGhee, who trained in modern dance, ballet and improvisation before returning to his hometown of San Diego after studying in Long Beach, said connection is central to his art. When he choreographs, he wants dancers to feel connected to one another regardless of their distance onstage and he wants that bond to ripple into the audience, including between strangers sitting side by side.
Watching two performers move together, an audience member can’t know exactly what their relationship is, he said, “but you know they have a very profound influence on each other.”
That ambiguity, McGhee suggested, leaves room for viewers to project their own experiences onto what they’re watching.
“You’re able to imbue your own story, your own identity into whatever it is you’re seeing,” he said.
McGhee is working on his first activation with a composer, planned for the fall, and described performing as a kind of transcendence.
“There aren’t enough words in the English language to really describe what that feels like,” he said.
He credits his mother, his biggest champion, with instilling the mindset that keeps him growing.
“We’re always students,” he said, “and we always love to maintain that questioning of how can I improve, how can I get better, how can I take in other people’s perspectives.”
Binational character
Overseeing the program is Gaby Quevedo, Arts District Liberty Station’s associate director of creative programs, who grew up in Tijuana and is now based in San Diego. Quevedo said the residency’s binational character reflects a reality that border communities have long lived but rarely seen publicly celebrated.
“It wasn’t really spoken about in such a nuanced and real way,” Quevedo said. “It’s so important to highlight and elevate places where we’re making it work. We’re a beautiful example of how much benefit can be drawn from a multicultural space where everyone gets to see so much beauty from both of our countries.”
Arts District Liberty Station launched its residency program for visual artists in 2019 and added dance in 2022. Since then, the dance cohort has grown into a fixture of the district’s programming.
Quevedo said watching an artist emerge from the residency and go on to bigger opportunities, or simply seeing the finished work at a showcase, reminds her why she does the job.
“It makes me emotional to see the impact that something you could consider minimal in terms of being able to offer studio space, how much impact it has on a single individual’s life, someone who is local and you can see reflected in your own family members and your own ancestry.
“I feel lucky to be in this position,” Quevedo said. “I get so excited that we dedicate this whole program to the artists in this region.”
Visitors can meet Campaña, McGhee and their fellow residents during open studio hours and community workshops throughout the year, with culminating showcases planned as each artist’s residency draws to a close.
More information is available at www.artsdistrictlibertystation.org.
