Brava Presents
La Mezcla's "Ghostly Labor"
An In Progress Showing
January 14, 2023
Saturday at 7:00pm
*Please note that masks are mandatory to attend this event.
Led by Vanessa Sánchez, the artistic leadership team and artists of La Mezcla gather for one week as artists in residence at Brava! for Women in the Arts to continue the development of the full-length dance theater production of Ghostly Labor which will premiere in November 2023. Uniting Tap Dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro Caribbean movement, and live music, Ghostly Labor brings to the stage the power and joy that comes from collective resistance against the (ongoing) years of systemic exploitation of labor. Join us on Saturday for the in-progress showing and interact directly with the artists of La Mezcla as part of an informal talk-back.
Tickets
$10 - $15
videos
Ghostly Labor Trailer
ABOUT vanessa sanchez
Vanessa Sanchez is a Chicana dancer, choreographer, educator and producer who focuses on community arts and traditional dance forms to emphasize voices and experiences of Latina, Chicana, and Indigenous womxn and youth. Based in San Francisco, she is a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow and the founding Artistic Director of La Mezcla. Sanchez’s work has been featured on local and international stages, with credits including John Jota Leanos’ “Imperial Silence- Una Ópera Muerta.” Her work with La Mezcla has received the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Production, Best Sound and Original Score Award for the WildSound Film Festival, and project funding from the New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network and the Hewlett Foundation. She has been featured as a guest artist and lecturer at venues and organizations including UC Berkeley, California Institute of Technology, Arizona State University, and the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy. Sanchez is currently an artist in residence at Brava! For Women in the Arts and a Dance Lecturer at UC Santa Cruz.
ABOUT La Mezcla Company
La Mezcla is a polyrhythmic, San Francisco-based dance and music ensemble rooted in Chicana, Latina and Indigenous traditions and social justice. Founded in 2015 by Dance/USA fellow Vanessa Sanchez, their work brings together Tap dance, Son Jarocho and Afro-Caribbean rhythms to bring the often unseen histories and experiences of communities of color to stages, streets and fields. Their current production “Pachuquísmo,” an all-womxn Tap dance and Son Jarocho performance about Pachucas and the Zoot Suit Riots, received the Isadora Duncan award for Outstanding Production and is touring nationally through 2022. Their new work “Ghostly Labor,” explores the legacy of labor in the US-Mexico borderlands and the joy of collective resistance. With the full theater production premiering in 2023, “Ghostly Labor: a Dance Film” is currently being screened at national & international film festivals.
Committed to using dance and music for social change, La Mezcla offers paid internships, artist mentorships, and has partnered with organizations including Lincoln Center Education, KQED Arts, and Ayudando Latinos a Soñar Farmworker Fridays to provide educational opportunities and hands-on community engagement.
press
Interview of Vanessa Sanchez & La Mezcla
by Paulette Beete
“From the son jarocho rhythms of Mexico’s Veracruz region from which her family hails to percussion styles from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Brazil to the very American rhythm of tap, Vanessa Sanchez’s work as a dancer, choreographer, and founding artistic director of the dance group La Mezcla is born from deep engagement with the music and dance traditions of the Latinx and Afro-Latinx diaspora.”
funders
The Hewlett Foundation, National Performance Network (NPN), CCI, The Rainin Foundation, Dancer’s Group