“Los Colores de la Muerte: A Day of the Dead Festival”
Local middle school students invited to submit their art for display during the month-long exhibition; entries due by Oct. 25
The California Center for the Arts, Escondido is seeking art submissions from talented youngsters to accompany an upcoming museum exhibition commemorating the festive and reflective Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos.
“Los Colores de la Muerte: A Day of the Dead Festival” will open to the public at 6 p.m. on Nov. 1, the first day of the annual festivities during which family and friends gather to honor and celebrate the lives of those who have passed. The exhibition will run one month only, concluding Sun., Dec. 1.
Any media is acceptable, so long as it follows in the traditions of the arts and crafts associated with the Día de los Muertos holiday. All work submitted must be of a size and weight to hang easily from a suspended wire.
Interested schools or teachers should contact Education Coordinator Kirsten Vega at (760) 839-4176 or kvega@artcenter.org. The deadline for submissions is Fri., Oct. 25.
Escondido Art Center offering master class in the art of Mexican Folkloric dance
Ballet Folklorico Tierra Caliente, will lead the Oct. 27 class at the Escondido campus
The California Center for the Arts, Escondido (the Center) has partnered with Ballet Folklorico Tierra Caliente (BFTC) to offer local dance students the opportunity to explore the history and movement of Mexican Folkloric dance.
The two-hour intensive will take the students through the meaning of the movements, costumes and steps, and culminate with them learning a choreographed folkloric number. Participants must be at least 14 years old and have basic dance experience.
The master class will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sun., Oct. 27 in Studio 4. Tickets cost $15 for Center Members and $20 for non-members.
The price of the master class includes admission to BFTC’s performance in the Center’s Concert Hall on Fri., Nov. 1.
That dance show will fittingly take place on the Day of the Dead— the annual Mexican holiday during which family and friends gather to honor and celebrate the lives of those who have passed. Like the holiday itself, BFTC is preparing a vibrant, cheerful and celebratory show. The dance company will be performing an exciting repertoire incorporating music, costumes and choreographies in interpretation of Mexican regional dances.
Ballet Folklorico Tierra Caliente was founded in 2005 by Jose Jaimes, who serves as the company’s artistic director and dance instructor. BFTC’s mission is to represent the various visual and performing artistic branches that Mexican Folklore has to offer, serving as representatives of the moving art. Through Ballet Folklorico, members experience the richness of their heritage and grow in confidence and expertise, soon becoming performers in front of both small and large audiences. Along with dance education, the students learn to appreciate the Mexican arts, culture, tradition and history.
For more information about the BFTC master class and the troupe’s Nov. 1 performance, or to purchase tickets, visit www.artcenter.org/performances.
Panteón Fronterizo
Día de los muertos
Call to Artists, Community Members, Families, Organizations, Clubs, Everyone!
Participate in San Ysidro’s Dia de los Muertos Panteon Fronterizo for a chance to win $4,000 in cash prizes!
When: Friday November 1st, 2013
Where: San Ysidro Community Park + Civic & Recreation Center
Dia de los Muertos is celebrated throughout Latin America as an act of remembrance. On these days, every year, families celebrate their dead, by remembering them and welcoming them back into the world of the living for a visit always too short. It is a tradition very deeply rooted in community, history and culture. Traditionally, communities have processions into the cemeteries where families clean and decorate the graves of their loved ones, leave ofrendas and serenade them with foods and songs of comfort.
On this side of the border, Dia de los Muertos is celebrated as an act of reassertion. Reassertion that traditions like Dia de los Muertos need to be practiced and celebrated in order to survive when they cross the border into the United States. In border communities, the reality of familial separation is made all the more obvious by the wall that separates most families from their homelands. Grandparents are usually buried in other lands, and opportunities are missed to pass along family stories to the younger generations. In San Ysidro, the little town nestled against the US/Mexico border fence, we celebrate Dia de los Muertos to keep these traditions alive.
With live Mariachi, Balet Folklorico and Danza Azteca, Casa Familiar, San Ysidro’s leading Social Services and Community Development organization, hopes to pay homage to the dead by paying homage to the tradition of day of the dead itself. The San Ysidro Community Park is transformed into El Panteon Fronterizo, (a mock cemetery), where artists and community members will create graves and bring their offerings such as, food, photos and momentos to best honor the dead they may not be able to visit this year. The graves are ofrendas and their creation will pose the question, Who do you celebrate, and how to you remember? The Panteon Fronterizo is a collection of creative graves, in honor of those who have passed, of those who’s graves are inaccessible to us for whatever reason. In our little park by the border, these graves will become our access points. to our families, our traditions, our cultures, our histories. all of ours. celebrating the bridging of borders of time and space. celebrating our dead, and keeping them alive by re-membering our stories.
The celebration will take place at The San Ysidro Civic Center, an indoor space, where families will be able to sit down and enjoy performances by our local Balet Folklorico. Adjacent to the Civic Center, is the San Ysidro Community Park which will house our Panteon Fronterizo, craft vendors, food trucks, and a live performance by our musical highlight.
The Celebration is free to all, and champurrado and pan de muerto will be given as is customary in Latin American countries.
Contact exhibitions Director, Leticia Gomez Franco at Leticia.g.franco@gmail.com