{"id":5138,"date":"2018-01-12T02:43:01","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T07:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=5138"},"modified":"2018-01-13T19:15:06","modified_gmt":"2018-01-14T00:15:06","slug":"danza-organica-melaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2018\/01\/12\/danza-organica-melaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Danza Organica Rehearses \u2018Melaza,\u2019 A Dance About U.S. Oppression Of Puerto Rico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cMelaza\u201d (Molasses)<\/a>, the new work from the Boston-based social justice oriented dance theater company Danza Organica, addresses the United States\u2019 colonial oppression of Puerto Rico.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shed light on the situation of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora,\u201d writes Artistic Director Marsha Parrilla, who is herself from Puerto Rico. \u201cHow does the American Dream look like for us? What are some key ways in which the USA has impacted the socioeconomic and political climate in the island?\u201d<\/p>\n

They premiered the first incarnation of the dance on Oct. 13 and 14 at Boston\u2019s Hibernian Hall. On Wednesday, I photographed them rehearsing in Jamaica Plain as they prepared to perform it again from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15, followed by a 15 min talkback, during the free-admission Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service at Gardner Museum<\/a>, Boston. They\u2019ll be joined by special guest, poet Martin Espada.<\/p>\n

\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMelaza\u201d is danced to music, poetry, an old timey news broadcast reporting a shooting in the U.S. House Chamber at the Capitol in Washington in 1954 by Puerto Rican activists seeking independence from U.S. rule. One section seems to model racism affecting people\u2019s advancement in society.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, America. I made it. America the beautiful, land of the free, home of the brave,\u201d a dancer says at another point. \u201cOh, America, where dreams come true. The land of opportunity. The land of \u2026 opportunity?\u201d<\/p>\n

The October performances took place just three weeks after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. They quickly added new scenes that \u201cdelved into the emotional response of families affected by Hurricane Maria, based on accounts of family members, friends, and extended family. As a group committed to social justice, we thought it was imperative to reflect theatrically on these recent events, which unveils so much about the colonial relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States of America.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Help us keep producing our great coverage of local arts by contributing to Wonderland’s Launch Fundraiser<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica members discuss their rehearsal of \u201cMelaza,” Jan. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica rehearses \u201cMelaza,” Jan.. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Danza<\/a>
Danza Organica members huddle up at the end of their rehearsal of \u201cMelaza,” Jan. 10, 2018. (Greg Cook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cMelaza\u201d (Molasses), the new work from the Boston-based social justice oriented dance theater company Danza Organica, addresses the United States\u2019 colonial oppression of Puerto Rico. \u201cWe shed light on the situation of Puerto Ricans in the diaspora,\u201d writes Artistic Director Marsha Parrilla, who is herself from Puerto Rico. \u201cHow does the American Dream look like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5157,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,108,110],"tags":[37,213,214,215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5138"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5194,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5138\/revisions\/5194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}