Notable Quotable: Vanessa Sanchez of La Mezcla
Vanessa Sanchez of La Mezcla. Photo by Danica Paulos, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow
"To be consistently equitable and accessible across the board takes a lot of thought, a lot of planning, a lot of process…. [O]ur work is not 'I'm going to read a book, and then we're going to go into the studio, and we're going to develop movement, and then perform it.' We need to do the fieldwork. We need to see people in their space. This new project we're developing, Ghostly Labor, is rooted in the history and legacy of labor in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. That’s not something you can read a history book on. I spent a year volunteering with a farmworkers organization to be invited into the community to start holding interviews. That's being equitable. You want to respect people's spaces. You want to respect their process, and it takes time." —
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. Whether it’s the role of women in the Zoot Suit movement of the 1940s or the complexity of how migrant farm workers feel about their work, Sanchez is interested in telling overlooked stories of the Hispanic/Latinx community. Hear more from Sanchez in our conversation with her for American Artscape.
