Commissioned by Dancing in the Streets and Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education as part of The South Bronx Culture Trail, PASEO was a roving 11 block site-specific performance created by Choreographer Joanna Haigood and Music Director Bobby Sanabria. Celebrating the Hunts Point and Longwood sections of the South Bronx and their astounding contribution to Latin music, the performance featured over 80 dancers, musicians, poets, actors, and community members. Fire escapes, stoops, and sidewalks came alive with Latin music and dance, stickball games, and street scenes evoked the neighborhoods’ vibrant street life and cultural vitality during the 1940s through 1960s.
Audience members met at the Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education and followed plena players from Los Pleneros de la 21 through Hunts Point’s and Longwood’s main streets and side thoroughfares, including East 163rd Street, Banana Kelly (the banana-shaped block of Kelly Street that was a focal point of social activism in the 1970s), Bill Rainey Park, and the Longwood Historic District. The promenade led to a grand finale on Kelly Street in front of P.S. 52, where Eddie Palmieri, Joe Quijano, Ray Baretto, and other prominent musicians got their start; and culminated at 52 Park - a neighborhood public park that is a popular urban oasis thanks to the management of 52 People for Progress, a community volunteer group.
The over 80 dancers, musicians, poets, and actors included Ramon Ramos Alayo and Franck Muhel, members of Los Pleneros de la 21, and stellar Bronx-based artists such as Arthur Aviles, La Bruja, percussionist and poet Angel Rodriguez, the Puerto Rican folklorico ensemble Danza Fiesta, the Los Monstritos percussion ensemble, Bobby Sanabria’s nine-piece ensemble, Ascensión, and guest musicians who came of age in the neighborhood, including the legendary Alegre All Star timbalero Orlando Marin, “The Last Mambo King.” Paseo also featured 30 community members of all ages, including children and teenagers playing urban street games that had thrived in the mid twentieth century, such as Skelsies, Double Dutch, and Stickball.
A Bessie Award was awarded to choreographer Joanna Haigood for PASEO in 2013 “for an outstanding production of a work stretching the boundaries of a traditional form."
Collaborators
Choreography and Direction: Joanna Haigood
Music Direction: Bobby Sanabria
Performing Artists
Dancers: Karen Amatrading, Arthur Aviles, Paul Benney, Shun Bitar, Jessica Borja, Alissa Constable, Ericka Fignole, Jean Franco, Carlos Garcia, Liethis Hechevarria, Eleanee Jimenez, Lisa Marolachakis, Carmen Marrero, Franck Muhel, Karen Ng, Alethea Pace, Aramis Pazos-Barrera, Justin Penney, Ramon Ramos Alayo, Maria Roman, Daria Sanchez, Milteri Tucker, Emma Wainwright
Musicians: Orestes Abrante, Obanilu Allende, Anthony Almonte, Baba Jimmy Cruiz, Julio Cuevas, Max Darché, Ibrahim Gonzalez, Jason Gonzalez, Matthew Gonzalez, David Gottlieb, Mary Hines, Orlando Marin, Eulis Mason, Noel Otero Jr., Don Raphael, Hilda Riveras-Pantoja, Angel Rodriguez, Pablo Stagnaro, Warren Tesoro, Duplessey M. Walker, Tony Yemaya
Ascensión: Bobby Sanabria, Obanilu Allende, Peter Brainin, Fidel Cuellar, Max Darché, Julio Melendez, Hiram "El Pavo" Remón, Leo Traversa, Ray Vasques, Chris Washburne
Danza Fiesta: Orestes Abrante, Carlos Espada, Carlos Fuentes, Matthew Gonzalez, Kyle Matthews, Eva Morales, Dharma Padron, Cristina Pagan, Elizabeth Parra, Ariel Quinones, Luis Reyes, Alexis Roque, Alexis Roque, Agnes Smalot, Franco Sosa, Noelia Torres, Raul Wilson
Community Performers: Foster Alcantara, Sean Ali, Luis E. Baéz, Napoleon Bonparté, Reina Bristol, Rosemary Clark, Veronica Gomez, Carey Gordun, Carol Lane, Bill Martinez, Francesca Melo, Mildred Nieves, Sonia Perez, Olga Seda, Patrick Tolbert, America Torres, Bill Martinez, Francesca Melo, Mildred Nieves, Sonia Perez, Olga Seda, Patrick Tolbert, America Torres
Youth Performers: Luis Carrasco, Joseph Christosomo, Dylan Contreras, Christian Delgado, Natasha Espillat, Charlene Fernando, Ashley Gomez, Lucky Gomez, Francesca Melo, Ramses Moran, Sasha Perez, Eliezel Ramos, Elvis Reyes, Irving Reyes, Sharon Vega, Chrystal Wadlington
Poet: La Bruja
Funders / Commissioners
Commissioned by Dancing in the Streets and Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education
Paseo was made possible in part with generous support from the MAP Fund, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Con Edison.
The South Bronx Culture Trail was supported by The Rockefeller Foundation’s NYC Cultural Innovation Fund with additional support from Bronx Lebanon Hospital Center, Con Edison, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and The New York Community Trust.
Premiere Date
2012
Premiere Location
Hunts Point and Longwood sections of the South Bronx, NY
All photographs, videos, and other materials on this website are owned by Zaccho Dance Theatre. All rights reserved.
Please contact Zaccho Dance Theatre at office@zaccho.org for permission to use and/or access additional materials not currently made available on this website.
