Warning: Film contains two brief graphic images from the documentation of the missing 43 of Ayotzinapa.
SPARC’s ongoing Multidisciplinary Arts Program has concluded its first semester at Pio Pico Middle School. This year, SPARC Teaching Artists facilitated a range of workshops in vocal music, printmaking, and dance.
As part of their culminating project, 6th and 7th grade students produced a dance film titled “43”. Led by Rayven Armijo, Urban Folklórico Choreographer/Performer and recent UCLA WAC/D MFA Graduate in Choreography, Pico students created an original dance choreography and composed an original film using tablets about the 43 disappeared students of Ayotzinapa. Over the course of 7 weeks, students learned about the 2014 disappearance of Mexican college students from the southwestern city of Iguala through movement and Armijo’s practice as an Urban Folklórico Choreographer. Armijo introduced students to movements and techniques in hip hop and baile folklórico, and supported students in expressing their creative agency as they worked in groups to choreograph and film this video.
SPARC’s arts programming combines contemporary events with student experiences and technology to advance conventional forms of expression. Students develop critical arts practices alongside practicing interdisciplinary artists and mentors whose own work intersects with activism and critical scholarship.
SPARC’s Arts Education Program is made possible in partnership with LAUSD’s Arts Education Branch as part of the Arts Community Network. For more information on SPARC’s Arts Education Program, contact our Arts Education Coordinator, Davida Persaud.
Music by Changüí Majadero–”Changüí Pa Ayotzinapa”