Community Arts with ALAS
La Mezcla & Ayudando Latinos A Soñar: A Collaboration to Bring Dance to the Fields
Invisible Labor on California’s Central Coast
Ghostly Labor: A Dance Film explores the history of labor in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands through tap dance, Mexican Zapateado, Son Jarocho, Afro-Caribbean movement, and live music. The film is the culmination of a years-long collaboration between new media artist John Jota Leaños, San Francisco-based dance company La Mezcla, and non-profit Ayudando Latinos a Soñar or ALAS. A Professor of Film and Digital Media at UCSC, Leaños’ work explores the convergence of memory, social space, and decolonization using animation, participatory cinema, installation, and performance. Leaños is a firm believer in art’s potential for both personal and social transformation. He initiated the collaboration with La Mezcla to explore the history of labor exploitation on California’s Central Coast while uplifting the power and joy of collective resistance. A multi-disciplinary dance and music ensemble rooted in Chicana, Latina, and indigenous traditions, La Mezcla is led by Vanessa Sanchez, a lecturer in UCSC’s Department of Performance.
The third partner, ALAS, is an advocacy organization dedicated to serving Latino/a farmworkers and their families in Half Moon Bay founded by Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, a community activist and Assistant Professor of Education at the University of San Francisco.
Documents: ALAS PDF