Youth at the East Boston Farmers Market helping us set up for our opening celebration

In a collaboration with the Veronica Robles Cultural Center and youth staff, the Dancing Elotes project is a literal and conceptual vehicle for cross-cultural culinary, dance, and sculptural experiences.  Weekly, at the 2016 East Boston farmers market, the team served elotes from a traditional bike cart that is used on the streets in Mexico. People used the husks and cobs from the elotes to outfit a large-scale sculpture of traditional Latino dancers. Participants also had the opportunity to learn La Danza del Permiso (to request permission from mother earth to work the soil). The project culminated in the installation of the sculpture and performance of the dance in observance of the Day of the Dead where Dancing Elotes honored the lives of the young victims of street violence.

VROCC stars wearing traditional costumes representing various Latin American countries at our kickoff celebration at the East Boston Farmers market

For the weekly blog on this project visit:  www.vrocc.org

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Some process pics!

Scale model:

The structural frame is covered in chicken wire, and each week people weaved corn husks into the chicken wire. By September, the entire sculpture was covered in corn husks.

The bike cart was shipped from Mexico, and I customized the inside of the cart so that the team can prepare elotes inside it.

Dancing Elotes was made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ Creative City Program, with funding from The Barr Foundation.