DANCING THE MURAL: Tortillas

“YA BASTA!” Arlene López screams before throwing a bowl of white flour across the room at the House of Neighborly Service. No, she is not angry, she is in rehearsal for the much anticipated “Dancing the Mural” performance. Arlene is one of three senior citizen dancers from the South Tucson community that will be taking the stage alongside professional performers for the unveiling of “Color the Mural” in March.  Arlene will be joined onstage by friends and fellow retirees Irma Marsical Marmion and Guadalupe “Lupita” Coburn. 

Safos director and “Tortilla Dance” choreographer Yvonne Montoya explains “One of the main goals of this project was to involve community members at every stage of the artistic process. Not only did that mean community members voted on the theme and design of the mural, and painted the mural, but that also means that the dance theatre production will feature performances by senior and youth community dancers.” This is the first time Safos will feature community members in a performance.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to perform in my community.” Arlene says. “This mural represents a lot of my history.” 

Regarding the rehearsal process, Yvonne says “This is very exciting!  I love working with the ladies. They are motivated, naturally talented, and they are fast learners. I am not taking it easy on them and they are rising to the challenge. I am very proud of them!” 

Checkout Arlene’s interview about her role in “Dancing the Mural” and what this project means to her in its entirety below and stay tuned for an interview with Irma coming in February.

Then come check out this dance March 27+28^th at Dancing the Mural!

#GivingTuesday

On Tuesday December 2nd, Safos participated in #GivingTuesday to raise funds for subsidized tickets to send youth and seniors from the City of South Tucson who painted the mural to the mural unvelining at "Dancing the Mural" March 27+28, 2015. We raised $179, which is enough to send 12 youth and seniors to the event.

A HUGE thank you to all of the donors who gave on #GivingTuesday!

For those of you who still want to help, there is still time!!  You can still make a donation on our #GivingTuesday site OR support us on Indiegogo!

Check out what the artists have to say about supporting this project!!

DANCING THE MURAL: All the Colors of the Rainbow

DANCING THE MURAL: All the Colors of the Rainbow

When Sacramento-based choreographer Diego Campos first laid eyes on the South Tucson community-inspired "Color the Mural," he was immediately drawn to the vibrant colors of the folklórico dancer's skirt.  Diego says, "As soon as I saw it, I was immediately reminded of my childhood in Mexico City." As a former folklórico dancer, Diego recalled many good memories of dancing for his family and friends at school performances. As he kept looking at the picture, he was inspired to take the colors of the young girl's dress and create a piece about color, including the meanings and various symbolic representations of different colors.

'Corazón de Acuarela (Watercolor Heart)' is a dance theater piece about a man's journey through a rainbow of colors that represent different moments or stages in his life. The piece will examine the connection between colors and moments happiness, sadness, anger, harmony, struggles, peace, etc. The duet, which will feature Diego, Safos director Yvonne Montoya, and live music by Armando Castellano.

Diego says "We dance through life feeling all sorts of things, so I chose to portray this journey in the shape and colors of a rainbow. Every moment and experience we go through in life serves as paint for the canvas of our own being. We paint our own reality based on the choices we make."  He adds "I am very excited to share my work with the community of South Tucson and see the rest of the choreographers' work. This will be my first time presenting a choreography outside California, so I am very much looking forward to this experience."

Come check out this dance March 27+28^th at Dancing the Mural!

November Color the Mural Updates

In the month of November, we hosted 3 community paint days! Thank you Mission View Elementary School Student Council, the House of Neighborly Service National Night Out, and Corazón de Tucsón for hosting us!  To date, 282 community members have painted the mural! There may be one last paint day before the end of the year. Stay tuned.... 

LAST CHANCE to Color the Mural!!

LAST CHANCE to Color the Mural!!

Tucson, YOU are invited to our LAST community mural paint day this TODAY

Nov 18th during South Tucson's National Night Out taking place at the House of Neighborly Service/La Escuelita from 4:30-5:30pm!

Bring the whole family! We will see YOU there!!

Rehearsals in San Jose

Rehearsals for "Dancing the Mural" are underway in San Jose!! On Monday Nov 11th, Safos artists, composer Jordane Lafitte, and choreographer, Yvonne Montoya, rehearsed with musician (French Horn) Armando Castellano at Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA). There, the three artists worked on finalizing the live music selections for the performance and mural unveiling in March. We are excited to be working with musician Armando Castellano of Quinteto Latino this season! Tucson, we look forward to introducing YOU to Armando!

Can't wait to meet Armando? Check out Quinteto Latino HERE!

DANCING THE MURAL: Guitars and an Ode to the Sonoran Desert

Choreographer Grace Rhyne loves the Sonoran desert.  Last season, Grace debuted “The Sonoran Situation” a dance about the intense heat of the Sonoran desert before monsoon season. When Grace saw the rays of sunshine radiating from the center of the mural, she knew she had the perfect piece of choreography for that image.

Grace will be re-staging what she lovingly refers to as the “desert piece,” for the debut of "Dancing the Mural." There will be some changes to the dance this time around.  Drawing upon the mural's depiction of a guitar teacher leading a summer music camp at the House of Neighborly Service, the 67 year old  social service agency in South Tucson on which the mural is based, Grace will be performing the piece with guitarist Eugene Shem.  Eugene will provide live musical accompaniment. Grace says “I am excited about this collaboration and fusion of artistic forms.” She adds “Fusion is a tenant of Safos.”

Artistic Director Yvonne Montoya chose to open the show with this piece to situate the audience in the desert landscape.  Grace is excited to restage this dance outside in a site specific location in South Tucson. She says “This season the piece will be outside in nature, where it belongs.”
 
Come check out this dance March 27+28^th at Dancing the Mural!

Color the Mural Update

These past two months, Safos artistic affiliates and mural artists Mel Dominguez and Wesley Creigh have held paint days with the John Valenzuela Youth Center after school program, Our Family Services “Las Comadritas” senior program, and Our Family Services “La Escuelita” after-school program. To date, an estimated 203 community participants have painted the mural with 86 participants being youth under the age of 18 and 23 participants being senior citizens over the age of 55. The mural is coming along nicely! Stay tuned for more updates and upcoming community paint days!

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DANCING THE MURAL: The '65 Chevy

When mural artists wanted to incorporate a classic car in the South Tucson mural, they asked Salvador “Chava” Angulo, a life-long South Tucson resident and Safos fan, if they could use an image of his truck. He agreed. Angulo’s fully rebuilt 1965 Chevy C10 Truck will be featured in the community “Color the Mural” in its original color, light green.

The idea of creating a dance about a truck flustered director and Safos lead choreographer Yvonne Montoya. That was, until she had the idea to ask Angulo if she could use his truck in the piece. He agreed and Montoya began rehearsing with the truck in August.  “That’s the beauty of site-specific performance,” Montoya says. “We aren’t restricted by the limitations of the theater.” The dance will highlight the importance of car culture to the City of South Tucson community. More specifically, the piece is inspired by 6^th Avenue’s status as a hot spot for cruising up in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Montoya will dance in the piece's debut and guest artist Armando Castellano of Quinteto Latino will play live music for the performance.

Montoya says, “Armando and I are super excited about this piece! What is great about this dance is that it has the potential to reach many audiences; we can literally drive this dance into any community.  Armando and I are passionate about making sure art is accessible to all communities, especially those who experience many barriers to getting to a theater.  With this piece, we can take the art to them.”

Come check out this dance March 27+28^th at Dancing the Mural!

Color the Mural gets an ACA Community Catalyst Grant!!!

The Safos familia is proud to announce that we are recipients of a 2014 Arizona Commission on the Arts’ Community Catalyst Grant for our Color the Mural Project!! Thank you Arizona Commission on the Arts for your support! Safos fans, we look forward to painting with you!!

La Estrella de Tucsón

We made the front page of "La Estrella" AZ Star!!
Click here to read the article.
"El espíritu de Sur Tucsón cobra vida" January 30(in Spanish)

Tuesdays with Melo

WE HAVE STARTED DRAWING!!
Yay! Mel and I meet every Tuesday to draw and talk - and all I think about is 'Tuesdays with Morrie' Latina style.

Yes, Mel loves to talk. We get to share ideas, stories, and I get to learn about her Chicana culture.
We bounce off ideas about art. I also learned she is color blind (is that gray?.... brown?.....Let's just mix them together and we might get taupe!!)  .... but as we talk and we learn about each other's cultures, lives,
we catch up on the latest happenings in Tucson, we get to draw about South Tucson's culture and its past. How cool is that?

I am also beginning a book of quotes.
Last Tuesday quote of the day:
 "No thinking is awesome!" - Mel
(this was in regards to tracing lines)

Have you seen Mel's work? Check this out: Mel "Melo" Dominguez Website

Testing - testing - 1, 2, 3

We are testing the products we have on our logo. We have a bit of paint, pellon and sealers... and we just could not wait for some action!

The logo will be going up soon on the wall and it will be there until the final mural is ready!

First I trace the logo Mel created onto the pellon, and Melo will paint it.

Once it's done it will go up on the wall.

We also purchased a bottle of primer and here you can see Melo testing it.  Before we do any painting, we need to cover the pellon with primer. We tested the pencils and markers we will use for drawing, making sure the primer will not smear the marks and that they are visible as well.

Color the Mural 2013 In Review!

Hello All and Happy New Year! 

This is my first blog entry –I have been promising Carla and Mel that I would write and I finally did! 

As we begin 2014, I wanted to take the time to share with you all, the wonderful work that we did for the Color the Mural project in 2013!

First, we collected votes in the community!  Mel, Carla, and I collected 264 votes from community members at events at JVYC, HNS, and online. We also collected mural votes from community organizations like Corazón de Tucson and Our Family Services Senior Programs and After School programs. We collected July – September. 

We have a winning mural!!!  The mural the community selected is Mural C!!  Below is a mock up of the mural on the wall we will use, which brings me too….In September, Carla and I met with HNS leadership and they gave us a wall on building #5, the main office building.  We are very grateful for the support for the project!

 

Mel and I also went hunting for supplies.  Here is a picture of Mel with some pellon!

We had some wonderful donations to the project.  Thank you Long Realty Cares Foundation for their generous contribution.  We also got some oops paint from Sherman Williams.  If you have any oops paint you would like to give, please let us know!

Right now, Mel and Carla are putting the final touches on the mural and preparing for Phase II of the project…the part where you come help us paint!!

SAVE THE DATE!!  Mural painting starts Sunday April 6^th at HNS on 9^th St during Cyclovia!!  Take a break from your route and come paint with us!  This is day after our 5 year anniversary performance, so it will be one crazy weekend for the Safos family!  Of course, we want you to spend it with us!

And we still are in need of donations! We need supplies!  Aprons, brushes, paint, pellon, a utility sink, etc etc.  Please feel free to contact me if you want to make a donation or find out more information about the project!

Feliz Año 2014!!

Yours Truly,

Yvonne