Danza Floricanto Presents 'Fiesta del Día de los Muertos' 10/27

Some cultural traditions date back to pre-Columbian times. Some have been expanded and given new meanings through a cultural blending of past and present. One such tradition is being revived at Harris Center/Three Stages as Danza Floricanto presents Fiesta del Día de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).

In California, where so many cultures come together to negotiate everyday life, the blending of music and traditions of the Day of the Dead is not only unstoppable, but also incredibly vital to this remaking of tradition as the old and the new come together to celebrate.

Danza Floricanto: Fiesta del Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead Celebration) will take place on Sunday, October 27, 2013 at 3 pm. Tickets are $19-$29; Premium $39; Students with ID and Children $12. Tickets are available online at www.harriscenter.net or from Harris Center Ticket Office at 916-608-6888 from 10 am to 6 pm, Monday through Saturday, and two hours before show time. Parking is included in the price of the ticket. Harris Center is located on the west side of Folsom Lake College campus in Folsom, CA, facing East Bidwell Street.

Floricanto Dance Theatre's Fiesta del Día de Los Muertos takes its inspiration from the very traditional Day of the Dead activities in Mexico-altar offerings of favorite foods and flowers honoring our dead, processions to the grave sites, songs, candles, sugar skulls, skeleton dioramas, and paper cuttings-and gives it a contemporary flavor, designed to entertain and delight the whole family.

Choreographed by Gema Sandoval, this program is a series of dance theater vignettes orchestrated by "LaCatrina," the skeleton like figure created by turn of the century Mexican graphic artist, José Guadalupe Posada. These snapshots of life-a mother who lost her child, star crossed lovers, a bull fighter, field hands, among others-become an affirmation of life through dance.

Floricanto's program combines traditional folklore with contemporary themes and humor in order to appeal to the whole family. Additionally, in the lobby of the theater, a community altar will be set up. Here audience members are invited to include the name of their departed loved ones as they come in to watch the performance and in this way become part of the event.

Mexican lore says that "we experience death three times, one, when we leave our body; two, when our spirit leaves us; three, when we are forgotten by our loved ones." Let us not forget!

Danza Floricanto/USA was founded in 1975 by Gema Sandoval. From an Aztec ritual to the vibrant fiestas of today's Jalisco, from the Spanish-influenced tropics of Veracruz to the conflictive realities of the Chicano experience, Danza Floricanto/USA presents the bold, colorful panorama of its Mexican heritage as it interacts with its American reality. This award-winning 39 year old company has been enthusiastically received on tour throughout California and the American Southwest. Danza Floricanto/USA, has recreated the movement, costume, and song of 17 different regions of Mexico, and over half a dozen works on the Chicano experience which celebrate cultural identity for the Mexican American community and the immigrant experience for the rest of America.

THREE STAGES, BRAND NEW NAME!

Originally named Three Stages at Folsom Lake College in 2011, the facility has been renamed to honor Brice Harris, Chancellor Emeritus of the Los Rios Community College District, for his many contributions to the capital region, including the vision and leadership he provided in opening this regional arts center. Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College presents touring artists from around the world; partners with the best regional arts organizations, and supports productions by FLC students and faculty.

The Harris Center is a $50 million facility built with a combination of state, regional, local and private funds. Harris Center has three intimate theaters, an art gallery, a recording studio, elegant teaching spaces, plenty of safe parking and all the other amenities of a state-of-the-art performing arts venue.

EVENT SUMMARY

What: Danza Floricanto: Fiesta del Día de los Muertos

When: Sunday, October 27, 2013 at 3 pm

Where: Harris Center for the Arts at Folsom Lake College

10 College Parkway

Folsom, CA 95630

Price: Tickets are $19-$29; Premium $39

Students with ID and Children $12.

Tickets: www.HarrisCenter.net

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