Embracing Un Año Nuevo
through Reflection and Acknowledgement

by Cristina Marte
Published January 2026

¡Adiós 2025!

2025, you were an adventure.

¡Te mando un abrazo 2025!

Relationships with an entire year of life experiences embody a broad scope of positive, neutral, and negative feelings that influence our transition into a new year of encounters and connections. It is a common practice to reflect upon and process the story we lived for the last 12 months - recognizing gained insights, celebrating our accomplishments, facing our challenges. What we discover and gather can be gratifying, revealing, hopeful, or disheartening. The year 2025 encompassed much to be dissected. As a society, we experienced uncertainty on grand scales. For many, personal storylines were filled with turmoil and complexities. Familiar themes amongst my community circles were escalating responsibilities and calls-to-action with diminishing support; an increase in fatigue; and erosion of infrastructures and sense of safety.

Within my personal practice of self-reflection, I recently recognized the importance of also examining the year through the lens of how the many roles we play in our lives converge and influence our lived experiences. I explored this lens because many times I failed to observe the number of situations that were happening simultaneously due to my multiple life roles. Sometimes these roles interacted with each other with ease and harmony, but many times they clashed and battled for the primary position. In my casual discussions, it was evident how the rising themes were also exacerbated by the ways their multiple life roles were uniquely impacted and the need to put energy into addressing the intersecting layers in hopes of realigning them.

So, how can we highlight and amplify the celebratory experiences from 2025 that may have helped or rejuvenated us in difficult times? The most reliable way, in my opinion, is engaging in the arts, which for me is taking part in the act and art of dance. My personal story of accomplishment in a heavy year involved leaping into a choreographic opportunity to share the valiant stories of migrants in Central Jersey through a dance film. When invited to be an artist, my first response was no because I have not engaged in my role as a choreographer since 2020, and I was feeling the intense tug of my conflicting life roles. Thinking more deeply about the meaning of the opportunity I was given to use my art form as an amplifier in a dire moment of our country’s history and the people that reside in it, I changed my mind and dove in holding my breath. I was honored to be one of a collection of community artists in the NJ Monuments To Migration And Labor, a three-year initiative honoring immigrants’ contributions to the state, first commissioned by Monuments to Migration and Labor, a project of Rutgers University in collaboration with coLAB Arts, Newest Americans, and Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton University, with funding from the Mellon Foundation. Through public events, and monument installations, it celebrates their resilience, hard work, and cultural impact, blending art, history, and storytelling to inspire reflection and appreciation. For our artistic contribution, I, along with fellow LXDEA member Laura de la Garza Noble, attended a community dialogue session and researched archived session materials exposing the prominence of larger themes within the stories emphasizing a community’s strength. In our dance film “Stories del Sacrificio,” we embodied themes of hope, struggle, and the epitome of sacrifice to achieve dreams at every stage of the migrant’s journey. The experience inspired me personally and resulted in reviving the feelings of hope and motivation as I navigated the ebb and flow of my life roles.

As dance educators and artists, we know that reflective practice is highly beneficial for personal growth, well-being, and enhanced skill development. Knowing this and while reflecting upon the peaks and valleys of 2025, I encourage our community to allow the happenings that resulted in strength, resilience, community empowerment, and personal love to be what we strive to replicate more often in 2026. I encourage more embracing of the multiple life roles we live and that others live. I embody with more self-love and confidence the layers and intersections of my identity as a mother of 3; a mother of a child with Autism; a wife, daughter, sister, niece, cousin, in-law, and friend; a New Jersey native with familial roots in Puerto Rico; a dance educator and full time faculty member in higher education; a colleague; a scholar; a dance artist; a director of a summer dance program; a curriculum writer; an arts education advocate and advisory team member; a mentor to my students; a PTO and class mom; and many other smaller roles that come and go. Own your story, own your movement, own your life—no edits.

Peace out 2025, I am in need of 2026!

Ven con amor 2026.

2026, let's build balance and serenity!

¡Feliz Año Nuevo a todos! Wishing you a year of vibrant community and dance!