More than a dance and music ensemble, La Mezcla is a polyrhythmic creative force rooted in Chicana, Latina and Indigenous traditions. Founded in 2015 by Dance/USA fellow Vanessa Sanchez, the San Francisco-based company integrates African-American tap dance, Afro-Caribbean rhythms and percussive Afro-Mexican son jarocho in productions that bring hidden histories of communities of color to stages, streets and fields. In their YBG Festival debut the company presents a sneak peek at their new show Ghostly Labor and excerpts from the award-winning production Pachuquísmo, an all-womxn tap and son jarocho performance about pachucas and the Zoot Suit Riots in World War II-era Los Angeles. While earning the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Production, Pachuquísmo brought La Mezcla to prestigious national stages such as Dance Place, Jacob’s Pillow, and Lincoln Center. Ghostly Labor explores the legacy of labor in the US-Mexico borderlands and the joy and power of collective resistance. In an ideal pairing, Laura Rebolloso, singer, dancer, poet, co-founder of the great Veracruz son jarocho band Son de Madera and virtuoso on the low-pitched four-string leona, opens the afternoon. She composed and arranged several of the songs featured in La Mezcla’s Pachuquismo, and for her set she’s performing a program of son jarocho with an excellent cast of Bay Area musicians, including bassist Saul Sierra, a YBG Festival regular.

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